Thursday, July 2, 2009

Be Nice to Snails


Apparently there was a big storm in Dubland last night, no one told me tho, so I missed it... completely...
One of my fondest memories of a big storm is of my stupidence when I once cycled home in the middle of a big un in Maryland while out there on the J1, I just remember enjoying the view cycling past the graveyard, the lightening put on a little personalised horror film scene for my enjoyment. Found my buddy at the time hiding behind a bed in our rented room, askin me nervously to stand away from the windows. Only then I kind of remembered the bike was made of metal, and maybe a bit of caution would have been advisable, anyway...
I met two middle aged snails today at lunch time, they were heading towards my car, about to attempt to hotwire it I think, but I know they were merely high on the rain, the wetness of everything, the way they suddenly can skim across gravel, must be like finding out they can fly. I picked them up and put them safely back in the flowerbed.
It reminded me of the following very nice poem by Adrian Mitchell (from his "Tell me Lies" book {a gift from a friend of mine who NEVER reads this blog}, he's brilliant - if you don't know him, go out and buy it - lovely illustrations in it too) so I thought I'd share it, happy wet days everyone... and sorry if your house was flooded or you were one of those whose elective surgery was put off because of the hospital being drenched etc etc...

In the Suburbs

'Nobody can tell me what
they are meant to be for!'
Cried the suburban lady
As she poured a cardboard box full of garden snails
Into the dusty gutter.
Then she marched up and down the gutter
cracking their shells open with her heels,
Stamping the snails to death with her boots.

It was an ugly thing to do.

Nobody can tell me what
the suburban lady is meant to be for.

Adrian Mitchell

7 comments:

Domestic Oub said...

My lettuce planter got flooded by the rain :( But thankfully no snails drowned while attempting to eat it. Win some, loose some.

Colm Keegan said...

Cool poem!

Niamh B said...

DO, that's great, hope the lettuce is ok too.
Uiscebot - it is isn't it? Have to get out of the habit of putting up other people's cool poems here... darn it.

Totalfeckineejit said...

Love suburban ladies, hate snails. And the latter do make the most glorious crack/crunch underfoot.Kill the bastards!

beedlemama said...

we are only loving the rain because it has been so beautifully hot, if it had rained every day for the last three weeks then there would be utter misery....!

Anonymous said...

"Maybe Francisco" Bagnell said!!
Further to our telephone conv I remember Will Smith's lyrics from that Summer "just the two of us building castles in the sky, just the two of us, you and I"! HM

Niamh B said...

TFE!! Where've you been hiding? out killin snails by the sounds of it, you cruel and desperate man.
BM - yes, even the snails would be sick of it then I think.
HM, or should I say "Scaredy friend who was hiding from the thunderstorm" thanks for bringin that particular ear worm back to life, and for bringin to my reader's attention that revealing extract from my first interview with the North American media... x