A 1 - Cherished Number Plate

The first car registration plate was A1 and issued by London County Council in 1903. From 1^st January, 1904 it was compulsory for every motor vehicle to be registered and have a registration plate. In modern times, it became a status symbol to have a private registration on a car, personal initials, for example, and the fewer letter and numbers, the higher the value. The most recent information I have found on the A1 plate is that it is registered to a Mini Cooper in London and the estimated value of the plate is between five and ten million pounds. The lovely photo from my I Spy Car Numbers book reminds me of one of my dad’s Jags. He never indulged in a ‘cherished number plate’.

Once, a long time ago, I think I had a ‘cherished number plate’. It was on a Vauxhall Viva, circa1969. I bought the car in desperation in 1980. Home from visiting family in the U.S.A., I needed wheels but had very little money, fifty pounds, in fact. Fifty pounds couldn’t buy much of a car, but sometimes there might be a ‘good runner’ for sale with only a month or two left on its MOT. It was worth reading all the adverts in the used car section of the local paper. This was one such car. Many shades of green, lots of filler on the sills and a very snatchy clutch, it was worth every penny of my fifty pounds. And my dad loved tinkering with cars, which was just as well. Nearly every day there was something. While I was at work, my dad would be at the nearby scrap yard looking for parts. We would guess if the car would start or not each morning. It became more efficient as my dad replaced bits and pieces under the bonnet. I did the Advanced Drivers Course with the local traffic police in that car. My tutor, a lovely police officer, used to mock my car, mostly in fun, and blame my driving, not the funny clutch, until he drove it himself. By the time I could afford something better, my dad had virtually rebuilt the engine. The bodywork, which was half metal, or more correctly, half rust, half plaster, or whatever they fill holes with, was in a sorry state. Slam the door and a bit more would drop off. It was up for sale. My neighbour thought that was hilarious and suggested I scrap it, but no, I needed some money for it. The first person to see it, bought it, and for my asking price of £100. He didn’t actually want the car, he was after the ‘cherished number plate’, which meant nothing to me but everything to him. That was the one and only time I made money on a car. HEN 63F.

A1, that was Blackpool FC on Saturday against Swansea. Another win, another three points, first class.  I was so happy to have my husband back at the stadium for the first time since November, though I’m grateful to the family members who have taken his place and kept me company at home matches during his absence.

My poem, nothing to do with A1, and not even a poem, just thoughts.

Carrying whatever they can,
Walking for miles,
Someone’s child,
Hungry, tired, scared.

Someone’s parent,
Anxious for family, friends.
Someone’s partner,
Sick with worry.

No sleep, no rest, just tears and fears.
War-torn people, devastated lives.
Broken burning buildings,
Homes, hospitals, schools.

Soldiers fighting for Ukraine,
Their lives, their families,
Their all.
Someone, something,
Put a stop to Putin.
Russians rebel,
End this now.


Thanks for reading, Pam x

 

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Magnetism - Hold Tight

 I love the way the little trains and carriages of the Brio hold on to each other, like magic. Setting it up, I’ve explained to my grandchildren that opposites attract and pull to stick together. Do it the other way round and they push away. Fascinating to me, but not to those who know how it works and just want to get on with playing. Magnetism.

“We know, Nanna.”

And of course, they do. Or at least, they did before lockdown separated us for what feels like eternity. I hope they can come back soon.
 

We’ve done the bit about magnets having north and south and it only works on metal. We’ve checked different things in my house as we’ve wandered around with Brio trains. The fridge is good, and the freezer. We already know that because my collection of picture magnets are holding the children’s art-work in place. Central heating radiators are good, but not the metal legs on the small table.

“Why?”

 “They are made of a different metal that is not magnetic. You’ll learn all about it when you’re older and have science lessons at school.”

One started school in September and is bursting to get back.  He loves it and misses it. One will start this year, if life gets back to normal and two of them will return to nursery. Luckily for them, I’m fine with science up to Key Stage One.

When I was a child, I had one of those magnet-based toys which consisted of a face and bald head beneath a thin, clear screen. At the bottom were lots of iron filings which could be carried clump by clump on a magnetic pen up to the screen, and placed to make hair, eyebrows, moustache and beard. I played with it for hours.

Science was not a core subject when I was at school. I chose the option of History in preference.  These days I would choose both.  I’ve found some interesting stuff on BBC Bitesize, electromagnetism and magnetism on KS3 Physics. We’re never too old to learn.

I found this children’s song on a primary education website. Author not credited.

It’s a magnetic world.
The Earth’s a magnetic place.
Everywhere, all around, you’ll find magnets.
In computers and t.v sets
and microphones,
They even hold doors closed around your home.

Every magnet has a north pole,
A south pole too.
Each pole has its own molecules.
They create a force,
A magnetic field,
That attracts metals like iron and steel.

Magnets, many sizes and shapes
Horseshoes, bars and cylinders
Magnetic discs large and small
Magnets working for us all.

It’s a magnetic world.
The Earth’s a magnetic place.
Put two magnets together, what can you tell?
North and south poles will attract
And like poles together will repel.

Every magnetic field if it’s strong enough
Can pass through paper, wood or plastic.

You can make a magnet with electricity
And it’s very strong, you will see.

Magnets, many sizes and shapes
Horseshoes, bars and cylinders
Magnetic discs large and small
Magnets working for us all.

It’s a magnetic world.
The Earth’s a magnetic place.
Everywhere, all around, you’ll find magnets.

Thanks for reading. Stay home and stay safe. Pam x

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More precious than metal ....

It makes me laugh how only certain metals are deemed "precious". In an age of technology and industry, ALL metals are precious, we would be lost without them. There is a vast amount of Silver used in the manufacture of day to day gadgets, usually on microchips. Some metals may be more abundant than others, but at the rate it is being mined, even they will become scarce. Obviously, we have been extracting and mining since the Bronze Age, but how long will it last? Thank goodness for recycling!

I realised this week exactly how precious one particular piece of metal is to me and how I miss wearing it. For some reason my fingers are allergic to wearing gold and as a consequence I was unable to wear my engagement and wedding rings for much of the time while my husband was alive. These days, they hang on a chain which I wear on special occasions. I can't wear it every day, as it gets tangled in my hair. The old adage is true .... "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone!". My marriage meant so much to me. I know many people don't see the need these days, perhaps thinking "Why bother? It's only a piece of paper!". But to me, it's more than that. It was our way of declaring and showing the world (and each other) that we were completely committed to the other, 'til death do us part.

So with that in mind, I wrote this weeks' poem. Thinking back to how hard my Hubby worked to save enough money to buy me an engagement ring.


More Precious Than Metal ....

Chipping away at the sheer rockface
of his life
he grafts
day in day out.
Tracing the seams
which will bring him fortune
more precious than metal,
but that of security,
love, family.
Money hard earned
Striven for in earnest
One metal exchanged for another,
composite for pure ore,
coins for a gold ring,
the latter bringing a more satisfying reward.
It's a dead-end dirty job,
but he's more than happy to do it.
His prize? - That smile,
the joy of being with the one he loves
when she says "Yes!"
The circle of the band,
representing infinity,
a love to last forever 
and continuance of mankind.
A precious piece of metal after all!


I hope that makes sense. My brain is rather befuddled this week. ;-)

Thanks for reading. x

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Preserving Memories

Floating

I imagine you sitting on a pool of mercury

Like Styrofoam on water

You do not sink

The faces of your family and friends

Dark shadows cast on the light

That now holds you

Somewhere beneath the surface

Memories are suspended

in glass storage jars

Like catching smoke

I struggle to remember the details

Blurred with time

Until one rises from the haze

Sharp and clear

Perfectly preserved

Like an ammonite in sedimentary rock

It places you in this world

Still here.

(In memory of Laila Antoun)

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Iron Filings

electrons leap from atom to atom

we don’t ask to see their papers

These lines are shavings, iron filings, left on the floor after I had taken a poem through several drafts of attack.  I like the sentiment behind these lines, especially this week, given the political atrocities, but the thought was a distraction when set in a poem whose subject was the quiet moment after an argument with my daughter.  What I wanted was a sense of metal cooling.  These lines were inappropriate.

can she see yet?                                                                                  

how the silver slips through my fingers?

how I rust, unburnished? 

These lines are from the same poem.  Also discarded. The 'rust, unburnished' comes from Tennyson's Ulysses.  This was more appropriate in terms of subject but, by the time I came to the fifth draft, it didn't quite fit the narrative.  I had decided to focus on the conflict between the dark, quiet room and her heated words.  This introverted metaphysical questioning prevented the reader from directly relating to that scene.  Again, I like the lines but not in this place.

Looking back, I can also place a finger where I replaced the word 'unfathomable' with 'recondite' - following Norman Hadley's wise advice that four syllable words do not scan easily and therefore five syllable words should be kept for special occasions.  Recondite is pleasing because it sounds like a mineral and reflects the title of the poem: Among a mineral of metals base.

The title was taken from Gertrude's line in Hamlet.  It's a line which I only noticed for the first time when I saw the play in Stratford-Upon-Avon with my daughter.  It relates to a chink of morality among madness and Hamlet's tears after murdering Polonius.  This seemed appropriate. 

The poem in question has a sub-theme of metals as it was written for a competition on that theme.  In its initial drafts it was creatively arranged on the page, so that it read as three columns which could be understood separately or taken as a whole.  The feedback I received told me that this style was confusing to read and unnecessary.  The final piece is a simple poem, left-aligned, in six stanzas.  When I showed the final draft to my other half he told me he had quite liked it when it was arranged in three strands.  I reminded him that he had found this confusing to read, as had others, hence the change to a simple layout.  He thought I had lost something in conceding to my readers. 

I agree that I lost something of the elemental (if you don't mind) fierceness of the original layout when I rearranged it into a more standard page poem.  Having said that, in working those three strands into one I was able to concentrate the image into something more immediate.  It comes down to how hard I would like my audience to work.  I think they might have found the initial style more satisfying after a few readings but perhaps it's a tad rude to expect them to have to work that hard? 

What do you think?

 

 

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