{"id":12604,"date":"2023-01-21T19:50:44","date_gmt":"2023-01-21T19:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.co.uk\/?p=12604"},"modified":"2023-01-21T19:54:49","modified_gmt":"2023-01-21T19:54:49","slug":"on-a-street-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/21\/on-a-street-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"On a Street in South Africa<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I worked as a crossing keeper <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a lightly used railway <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were five trains a day <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In each direction <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this remote single line branch <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last train of the day <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passed the crossing <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At seven in the evening <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I then locked locked the gates <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until nine the following morning <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the first train passed by <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The routine was the same each day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the exception of Sundays <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When no trains ran in either direction  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A crossing keepers cottage <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was provided for me <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a small allotment nearby <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I lived there with my three cats <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We went to a city by the sea  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip was organised by the church <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the last day as we had time to kill <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We left our luggage at the coach depot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And visited a nearby bookshop <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a while we separated and agreed <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To meet at the third coach stand near the river wall  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You wanted to purchase some confectionary for the journey <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I wanted to purchase two poetry books and a magazine <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was as I was searching for another poetry book<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That I noticed that the bookshop had become crowded <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that my chosen volumes had been purchased <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By someone else which I found rather frustrating <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I left the bookshop I noticed a storm <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the high hills not far from the sea\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tried to photograph the grim gray clouds <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I had used all of my availiable film <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a few minutes I found my family <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the low wall that overlooked the river <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My wife told me that they had become lost <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that the coach had left without us <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was rather concerned that the church <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Had not missed us as we were English <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And were dressed in similar colours <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I then rang the crossing keeper <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And asked him to pick us up <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the city by the sea <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the last train of the day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Had passed the crossing <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He happily agreed as he was lonely <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And appreciated refined company <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I then rang the church who were shocked <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And promised to send a coach to the crossing <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the afternoon of the following day <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I worked as a crossing keeper  On a lightly used railway  There were five trains a day  In each direction  On this remote single line branch  The last train of the day  Passed the crossing  At seven in the evening  I then locked locked the gates  Until nine the following morning  When the first train […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12604","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=12604"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12607,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12604\/revisions\/12607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}