{"id":11458,"date":"2022-08-05T12:16:33","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T11:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuartpoetry.art\/?p=11458"},"modified":"2022-08-05T12:39:30","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T11:39:30","slug":"the-roads-to-freedom-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/05\/the-roads-to-freedom-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Roads to Freedom (Loving Strangers)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday August 5th 2022<\/em>
\nMorning<\/em><\/p>\n

What are you doing Anna<\/p>\n

I am thinking<\/p>\n

I often think when I am near the sea<\/p>\n

I do love these iron tables and chairs<\/p>\n

We are so lucky you know<\/p>\n

Are we lucky to have these table and chairs<\/p>\n

Or are we lucky to have placed them here<\/p>\n

With massive views of the sea and the beach<\/p>\n

Or both if you get my meaning<\/p>\n

If we lived with views to a motorway service station<\/p>\n

And had chairs and the table positioned at the end of the garden<\/p>\n

Would we be as lucky as the views would be tedious in the extreme<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I must say that you are looking a little tired Anna<\/p>\n

I am<\/p>\n

Liverpool at home again<\/p>\n

Yes but I had a late night on Wednesday<\/p>\n

I told you to go to bed early<\/p>\n

But I miss you when you are away<\/p>\n

I was only in London Town visiting my brother<\/p>\n

The Roads to Freedom<\/p>\n

What about the Roads to Freedom<\/p>\n

It is being broadcast on the BBC again<\/p>\n

For the first time in over forty years<\/p>\n

And it is just breathtaking<\/p>\n

It finishes at about one in the morning Anna<\/p>\n

I know<\/p>\n

No wonder you are looking like shit<\/p>\n

I always look like shit when I am near you Anna<\/p>\n

Your are far more more beautiful than me<\/p>\n

That is absolute rubbish and you know it to be<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There was a scene in one of the episodes which really made me think<\/p>\n

Which one<\/p>\n

It explored chance<\/p>\n

Passing ships maybe<\/p>\n

Explain<\/p>\n

Well Mathieu had been called up because it appeared that war was imminent<\/p>\n

It was at the time of the Munich Conference in 1938<\/p>\n

France was in a state of panic<\/p>\n

For someone who values his freedom above all else<\/p>\n

Mathieu had accepted his conscription<\/p>\n

Which was odd<\/p>\n

He was due to catch a train to God knows where and appeared to be killing time<\/p>\n

As he wanders around he comes across a young man being beaten by a mob<\/p>\n

He pretends to be a cop and with the help of a woman who is slightly younger<\/p>\n

Mathieu rescues the unfortunate youth who is quite dazed<\/p>\n

The woman suggests that they take him back to her flat so she can bathe his wounds and let him rest<\/p>\n

It is whilst there that the narrative changes radically<\/p>\n

The youth is treated by the woman and later both she had Mathieu chat together<\/p>\n

A mutual attraction is unexpectedly established and against the odds and they spend the night together<\/p>\n

Mathieu is in transit rather like Stevenson’s traveller whereas we know little about the woman<\/p>\n

Later the following day they travel to the railway station and after saying goodbye<\/p>\n

The woman suddenly rushes towards towards the gate as she has realised that they had not exchanged names<\/p>\n

It is an utterly brilliant piece of theatre and I know it will haunt me for years to come<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have you ever had a brief crossing of paths Anna<\/p>\n

No never I have always been rather boring<\/p>\n

This happened to me once many years ago<\/p>\n

Do tell<\/p>\n

I was at a cinema in Notting Hill Gate catching a movie<\/p>\n

But before I entered and being a greedy cow I purchased some sweets<\/p>\n

It was then totally by chance that a beautiful girl of my age smiled sweetly at me<\/p>\n

I instead of going directly into the auditorium decided to hang around and watch this girl<\/p>\n

Did you want to fuck her<\/p>\n

No it was more than that as I was intrigued by this girl<\/p>\n

She wandered across and chatted to me about a film poster<\/p>\n

This beautiful blonde girl was American<\/p>\n

What happened<\/p>\n

Well I did not catch the movie<\/p>\n

Pray tell<\/p>\n

We went back to her hotel room which was nearby<\/p>\n

And to cut it short we fucked and chatted and chatted and fucked<\/p>\n

For the rest of the afternoon\u00a0 night and into the next day<\/p>\n

Was it love<\/p>\n

No<\/p>\n

Attraction<\/p>\n

Yes<\/p>\n

Sex<\/p>\n

Obviously<\/p>\n

What happened<\/p>\n

Well she was flying back to JFK the following day<\/p>\n

This was her last night in London<\/p>\n

What a way to spend it<\/p>\n

Was she like me<\/p>\n

No her body was fuller than yours and her nipples were much darker<\/p>\n

She might have had Central American blood<\/p>\n

Why makes you say that<\/p>\n

Because I once read that women from these areas tend to have darker areola’s and nipples<\/p>\n

Anna you amaze me with your grasp on facts that are almost totally vacant<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She asked me to accompany her to the airport<\/p>\n

Did you<\/p>\n

Obviously<\/p>\n

What happened<\/p>\n

Nothing<\/p>\n

It was whilst we were having a coffee waiting for her flight that we realised that we had not exchanged names<\/p>\n

What was her name<\/p>\n

Pippa<\/p>\n

Did you tell her yours<\/p>\n

I will ignore that question as you are being playful<\/p>\n

Did you keep in touch<\/p>\n

No we agreed not to<\/p>\n

Why<\/p>\n

Because it would have cheapened our hours together<\/p>\n

But she left me a memento<\/p>\n

That being<\/p>\n

She cut off a piece of her pubic hair<\/p>\n

And so did I<\/p>\n

We exchanged gifts<\/p>\n

Have you still got it<\/p>\n

Yes<\/p>\n

It is in the lavender envelope next to yours<\/p>\n

May I see it some time<\/p>\n

If you like<\/p>\n

What was her colouring<\/p>\n

She had blonde body hair<\/p>\n

Do you know that Lady Caroline Lamb once send the poet Byron some of her maiden hair<\/p>\n

Yes I saw them at an exhibition some years ago<\/p>\n

I think it is a lovely way to exchange gifts as it is so intimate<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anna<\/p>\n

What was the name of the woman that Mathieu\u00a0 slept with<\/p>\n

I am not sure<\/p>\n

Irene I think<\/p>\n

But really I am not sure<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anna & Anna<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday August 5th 2022 Morning What are you doing Anna I am thinking I often think when I am near the sea I do love these iron tables and chairs We are so lucky you know Are we lucky to have these table and chairs Or are we lucky to have placed them here With […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11458"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11462,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11458\/revisions\/11462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}