I am the Station Master at Clifford Railway Station <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having held this position for over twenty-five years <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is an unremarkable redbrick station rebuilt in 1910 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a fire had destroyed the original Victorian buildings<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet Clifford has one claim to fame <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As it is located on the longest stretch <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of straight track anywhere in England <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means that passing express trains <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are often travelling at very high speeds <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sadly this attracts those who want to commit suicide <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Various anti-suicide initiatives were tried over the years<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But none were really that effective<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I suggested that we white wash the waiting room walls <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So that these doomed people<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Might reconsider their fates <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By writing on these reflective spaces <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was gently mocked for this obscurity <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But was asked to give it a try for a year and a day <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if one life was saved then it would become permanent feature <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Within a month a man wrote a short poem on the wall <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then asked Leo C to ring for medical assistance <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He later wrote a letter thanking the station staff for their love<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But sadly this did not always work as final message were often left <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As these wretched people died in their own silence <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In all there are about a dozen messages in the waiting room <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet one haunts me more than any other <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because I am unsure of its true meaning <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young woman of about thirty years jumped under an express <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a bleak December day of high winds and incessant rain <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She had been seen in the waiting room prior to her tragedy <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which had not seemed suspicious as she was dressed in fine clothes <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You are my murderer <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Be happy <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If an assassin can be happy <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These were her mysterious words <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am to this day ignorant of her identity <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was such an ugly and trite death <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am the Station Master at Clifford Railway Station Having held this position for over twenty-five years It is an unremarkable redbrick station rebuilt in 1910 After a fire had destroyed the original Victorian buildings Yet Clifford has one claim to fame As it is located on the longest stretch Of straight track anywhere in […]<\/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-12923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12923","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=12923"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12928,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12923\/revisions\/12928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}