How long did you spend in Bellow <\/p>\n\n\n\n
About six months <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Describe Bellow to me <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well above all it is a railway town <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without a station <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It used to have a station <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bur it closed in 1966<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The town never recovered <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As it worshipped its railway <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do trains still pass by <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How many <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Up to thirty a day <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some are passenger trains <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But most are freight <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are the people nice <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes to a person <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are the Oliver sisters<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who are known as the Bellow sisters <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are eight sisters in total <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Originally there were nine <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Nancy Jayne drowned in the creek <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They own a cake shop opposite the tracks <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And whenever you enter you receive a gift <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That being a pastry with a raspberry enclosed <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You cannot refuse their gift without offence <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is all part of the daily ritual of the town <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They seem a little strange <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Strange yes but as sane as you and me <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Has it always been like that <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes since the end of the war <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the Smithson boys returned <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the various theatres in one piece <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mother Large and Mother Small <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baked cakes for the whole town in celebration<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has been a tradition ever since <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As not all the boys returned <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mayor Newman lost both of his sons <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And every year on the 6th of June <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The town is draped in black and the trains <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pass without a horn and the shop close<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everything is silent as the midnight hour<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Were you accepted <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes very much as Kate was born in Solitude <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Solitude <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next town <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They are so close as to be nearly twinned<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was Kate’s English husband no less <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A writer like her with a posh accent <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kate is by far the cleverest girl from these parts <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As she went to great universities <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In both America and England<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She has appeared on television <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And has written a number of books <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that said she has not lost her common touch <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She is as dusty as the town itself <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of her jobs is to run the summer lottery <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the help of the simple folk from Saint Olaf’s <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is a cross to bear to say the least <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But she does it with a smile and is cheerful <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Especially as she is followed around by Oh Henry <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who is actually a talented carpenter <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But does not understand lotteries <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will you both return to Bellow <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are planning to do so next year <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the railway has another birthday <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which birthday <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have lost count of these celebrations <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The station that closed still stands <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A little rough on the edges but in one piece <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is spruced up and the twelve noon actually stops <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The railway people must love that <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who are they to argue <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is either that or reopening the station<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which given that the line is mainly freight <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is not really needed no matter what the town folk say <\/p>\n\n\n\n
St Paul is only an hours journey and most people drive <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Could you live in Bellow with Kate <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes and No as I will always be a stranger <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A much loved stranger but a stranger nonetheless <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kate is obviously a local girl from these parts <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But she feels that she has outgrown her roots <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It pains her to recognise this fact but it is true <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She would rather be the bright Solitude girl <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who lives in an English village with her husband<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But you both live in Oxford <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I agree but that would be splitting hairs <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Oxford is surrounded by rural villages <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And my parents live in a converted farmhouse <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we are just being economic with the truth <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although we are planning to move into the country <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the little ones arrive to take their place <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we are not really telling lies <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How long did you spend in Bellow About six months Describe Bellow to me Well above all it is a railway town Without a station It used to have a station Bur it closed in 1966 The town never recovered As it worshipped its railway Do trains still pass by Yes How many Up to […]<\/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-37054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37054","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=37054"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37061,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37054\/revisions\/37061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}