You see my friend when the railway was constructed there were already houses in place <\/i><\/p>\n
The engineers had to get around the problem <\/i><\/p>\n
I was sitting on the pavement outside of a newsagents shop with Andrew Jackson<\/p>\n
Andrew Jackson was the vicar of St Matthews<\/p>\n
The plan that they came up with was ingenious <\/i><\/p>\n
What do you see?<\/i><\/p>\n
The twenty-eight arches of the viaduct with the houses beneath <\/i><\/p>\n
None of the houses has a roof <\/i><\/p>\n
Each of the arches acts as a roof to the house beneath it <\/i><\/p>\n
Did the residents not complain about the noise of the trains? <\/i><\/p>\n
No <\/i><\/p>\n
Why? <\/i><\/p>\n
There were not so many trains in those days <\/i><\/p>\n
Andrew\u2019s wife Valerie waved from the other side of the busy road<\/p>\n
She was wearing a maroon dress<\/p>\n
I knew that she was bisexual and was sleeping with my sister<\/p>\n
I often joined them during railway strikes and other delays<\/p>\n
Andrew was not aware of this but I am sure that he would have forgiven me if I had told him<\/p>\n
But the trains are more frequent and faster surely the noise causes problems for them <\/i><\/p>\n
They have adapted to the noise just as fish trapped in caves gradually go blind <\/i><\/p>\n
A train screamed over the viaduct<\/p>\n
Its transit lasted twenty-eight seconds<\/p>\n
There were no noticeable vibrations<\/p>\n
In last carriage I saw Valerie\u2019s sister Vera<\/p>\n
She too was bisexual<\/p>\n
And had slept with her sister and me<\/p>\n
During our religious retreats<\/p>\n
Andrew refused to believe that all women if they admitted it to themselves were bisexual<\/p>\n
The last house on the western end of the viaduct presented the engineers with special problems as they had been constructed on higher ground <\/i><\/p>\n
If you look at the arches they are slightly higher<\/i><\/p>\n
The load is as equal as the rest of the arches<\/i><\/p>\n
Both Valerie and my sister are shaven<\/p>\n
Their cunts remind me of railway lines<\/p>\n
I wonder if Andrew considers this when he sleeps with Valerie<\/p>\n
He has never seen my sister naked as he has never met her<\/p>\n
I have seen his sister naked<\/p>\n
In her cell at the convent<\/p>\n
The convent is next to the railway and is six miles from the viaduct<\/p>\n
When erected the viaduct enjoyed the deepest foundations of any viaduct in the world <\/i><\/p>\n
The engineers were acutely aware of the instability of the ground beneath the houses <\/i><\/p>\n
This area suffers from high water levels <\/i><\/p>\n
Flooding was once commonplace <\/i><\/p>\n
If you really strain your eyes you can see the remains of a dry river next to the church <\/i><\/p>\n
This river which was much larger then flowed between the eighth and ninth arches of the viaduct <\/i><\/p>\n
Initially there was no house between these arches <\/i><\/p>\n
The house you see there today was constructed after the river was drained <\/i><\/p>\n
It is of a slightly different design <\/i><\/p>\n
Valerie crossed the road<\/p>\n
She was carrying a blue shopping bag<\/p>\n
It was full of sunflowers<\/p>\n
Blue and yellow make green how clever of you my dear <\/i><\/p>\n
Valerie did not answer and sat crossed legged opposite me<\/p>\n
She was not wearing underwear<\/p>\n
I pretended not to notice<\/p>\n
Are you boys discussing trains again?<\/i><\/p>\n
We are examining the wonders of the viaduct which so enhances our town <\/i><\/p>\n
Another express passed over the viaduct<\/p>\n
My sister waved to me from the window<\/p>\n
Our contact lasted six seconds<\/p>\n
My sister is going to market <\/i><\/p>\n
You say that in such a quaint way <\/i><\/p>\n
It is the way I speak <\/i><\/p>\n
I think you speak like Andrew <\/i><\/p>\n
You are so careful in the choice of your words<\/i><\/p>\n
Andrew kissed his wife lightly on the cheek<\/p>\n
I looked away not wanting to share their intimacy<\/p>\n
My sister\u2019s sister was in the greengrocers shop<\/p>\n
She smiled at me<\/p>\n
Valerie spotted her and rose to her feet<\/p>\n
A freight train was crossing the viaduct<\/p>\n
I had once played chess with the driver and was sleeping with his wife<\/p>\n
On alternate Tuesdays<\/p>\n
This arrangement was flexible to shift changes but did not take into account any requests for overtime<\/p>\n
Valerie crossed the road and joined my sisters sister in the greengrocers shop<\/p>\n
Within hours they would share a bed<\/p>\n
I was expected to take Andrew on a train journey<\/p>\n
A short train journey<\/p>\n
Just out of the county<\/p>\n
We would examine the only semaphore signalling left on the line<\/p>\n
It had been redundant for years<\/p>\n
But was still in situ<\/p>\n
Let us take a train journey my friend <\/i><\/p>\n
I am a busy man <\/i><\/p>\n
You are never too busy for trains <\/i><\/p>\n
That is something of a clich\u00e9 <\/i><\/p>\n
Clich\u00e9s are friendly creatures you know <\/i><\/p>\n
We crossed the viaduct just over forty minutes later<\/p>\n
I looked into the vicarage window as we passed<\/p>\n
A golden crucifix late of the church was bright in the sunlight<\/p>\n
There are angels everywhere <\/i><\/p>\n
There are angels on this very train <\/i><\/p>\n
They watch our every move <\/i><\/p>\n
And offer protection <\/i><\/p>\n
Andrew removed his clerical collar<\/p>\n
It is so hot today <\/i><\/p>\n
I think I will dispense of this <\/i><\/p>\n
God will not mind <\/i><\/p>\n
A short while later we passed the convent<\/p>\n
I thought of my nun in her small cell masturbating vigorously in the afternoon sun<\/p>\n
She was lonely for love<\/p>\n
I resolved to speak to my sister about her situation<\/p>\n
Andrew had closed his eyes but he was not asleep<\/p>\n
Do you know my friend that these are my memorable years <\/i><\/p>\n
I would like to think that they are yours also <\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You see my friend when the railway was constructed there were already houses in place The engineers had to get around the problem I was sitting on the pavement outside of a newsagents shop with Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson was the vicar of St Matthews The plan that they came up with was ingenious What […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614"}],"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=2614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}