It’s cold enough today for me to see my breath in the air as I walk down to Shellthorpe roundabout and the shops to pick up a prescription from the chemist’s shop, the pharmacy. In a hedge by the side of the road there are roses not only flowering but in bud. These aren’t red roses but are certainly rambling. The story of Venus and Adonis shoots through my mind and with it the song I made with Venus Aphrodite a while back now. I love the roses and I love the song too.

october mist
I’m almost hit by a lorry
with squeaky brakes

Paul Conneally
Loughborough
November 7th 2026