Hotel Room

 Dear reader,

Snipes are a family of water birds characterized by their long, probing bills and secretive behaviour.   They are also known for their unique aerial displays during the breeding season, where males perform a "drumming" or "winnowing" flight.

Snipes have a global distribution with several species found in various parts of the world, including the common snipe.   The word "sniper" actually originated from the difficulty of hunting snipes as the are camouflaged and swift fliers, making them a challenge for hunters.

Snipe live on wet grasslands, marches, and moorlands throughout the U.K.  The common snipe usually stays hidden in the grass but if it is startled it will burst out from its cover and fly in a zig-zag pattern to evade predators.  They are secretive, highly camouflaged birds that use their very long bills to probe mud and sand flats for tasty creatures to eat.

 

                                                                                * 

From Dorothy Wordsworth   April 29th  1802  in Westmorland

'A beautiful morning - the sun shone and all was pleasant......William lay, and I lay, in the trench under the fence - he with his eyes shut, and listening to the waterfalls and the birds.  There was no one waterfall above another - it was a sound of water in the air - the voice of the air.  William heard me breathing and rustling now and then, but we both lay still, and unseen by one another; he thought that it would be as sweet thus to lie in the grave, to hear the peaceful sounds of the earth, and just to know that our dear friends were near.'

From D.H. Lawrence   April 30th  1915   in Sussex

'There is a wagtail sitting on the gate-post.  I see how sweet and swift heaven is.  But hell is slow and creeping and viscous and insect-teeming;  as is this Europe now, this England.'

                                                                                        *

 Hotel Room

 

Imagine the cellars, 1718

 storing meat

fruit and onions,

apples on slats

maturing, ripening

within peeling walls.

Mouse holes and

a smell of damp and decay.

 

A smaller room attached -

 a game larder,

where pheasants, snipe,

partridges, rabbits, hares

and ducks are hung on hooks

or from the rafters.

Large clay pots sit in the corner

full of earth and potatoes.

 

See the rooms, basement now, 2018.

Pristine white walls, Farrow and Ball,

arches and pillars over large bed

black sofa, black cushions,

lush bedside lamps,

the bathroom heats underfloor

large bath, rolled white flannels

gold taps.

 

Where has all the magic gone?

                                                                                 *

With very best wishes, Patricia