Oasis at the heart of Amazon - Judith Anne Finetti

Back in that lazy window between the Christmas hurly burly
And the rush of the New Year
My magpie eye alighted on the bling purple watch
I had been searching for all year.
A bargain at only six pounds sterling

Days later I excitedly opened the little box
But alas it didn`t start!
Also the purple wristband was far too large
In my haste I agreed to an instant refund
And its return to a drop off centre in the UK

But on the other side of the world in India
First Vignesh, then Manipal and finally Rishabh
Rushed to my rescue by e mail
Problem solved at the Bridge
Battery supplied for £4 and the strap adjusted for £1
All was resolved in one afternoon
My guys confirmed that they had reversed my refund
And refunded me my expenses
So my lovely piece of bling nearly paid for itself

And the moral of this little story is
Just be nice when you make a complaint
And Customer Service really does still exist

Judith Anne Finetti

Birds - Judith Anne Finetti

Birds - the dinosaurs who took to the skies and survived
From their dawn chorus,
Earlier and earlier in the morning in early summer
Yes 4.40 am is early for me!

From the Pied Wagtail who had a quick shower in our pool in Italy
One very hot morning
To the beautiful Buzzard who nearly hit my bonnet in deepest France on the drive down
Instruct your sat nav to avoid motorways at all costs
And you will really see nature
Navigatore -sounds so much better in Italian

Also the Hoopoe swooping through our garden
Again and again to feed her young
With her pink stripes and crest on her head
You would swear she belonged to the parrot family

Yes the bird world has so much to offer
And not forgetting the ubiquitous common Mallard with her brood
Who is prepared to stop the busy traffic to guide her ducklings
Across many a busy road to safety

And growing up by the sea
We cannot forget the vast variety of sea birds native to Guernsey
From the Brent geese who take refuge faithfully
Every winter at Bordeaux
To the Oyster Catchers with their wonderful cry across the bay
And not forgetting the little Turnstones who potter around the Bridge
Between our feet
Gradually extending their scavenging area from the beach to the
Crumbs on the pavement that the young drop as they stroll by
Grazing on the hoof

And finally the Egret who regularly forages at low tide
Largely unnoticed by passers by
I could go on and on

Judith Anne Finetti

The Wrong Room - Judith Anne Finetti

The Wedding Reception was going swimmingly
Italians know how to organise a real knees up
And its fun to get acquainted
With friends and relations of the groom who you
Have never met till now

It was a very hot day and the wine was flowing
The four of us were knocking back the prosecco
And enjoying all the scrummy Italian canapés
One more tasty than the next
And we were ravenous by then

And then suddenly it dawned on us all that
We couldn`t remember anyone at all
From the very long wedding mass in the Cathedral earlier
With its original Titian in pride of place by the altar
Yes, we were in the wrong room!

Judith Anne Finetti

The Carousel Horse - Judith Anne Finetti

On a wet Easter Monday morning
Pasquetta in Italy- but nothing special over here
Down at a nearly deserted Longue Hougue
Rusty the carousel rocking horse sat forlorn and abandoned
He had obviously been well loved by generations of children
Judging by his flaky metal exterior
Especially where children had spurred him on
To go faster and faster

Quickly placed in the back of the car
And once home sneaked in through the front door

Then two weeks of careful restoration work with loving care
No quick paint spray job for Rusty
Tempting as this may have seemed
Each detail of his noble head picked out and preserved

The two youngest grandchildren were entranced
And with seven grandchildren on board the chance of great grandchildren can`t be far off-
God willing, when they are ready

Had it been a week day Rusty would have already been bundled into a lorry for swift destruction

What luck that boredom and the now daily round of recycling
Took over and he found a new and permanent home

Judith Anne Finetti

From Desenzano to St Malo - Judith Anne Finetti

Image Source: Judith Anne Finetti

From Desenzano to St Malo - Judith Anne Finetti

Over the viaduct soon after dawn
Leaving the sparkling blue lake below

No security checks
No luggage restrictions
No weight limit and no queues
Bliss!

At the next stop Milano Centrale
We enter a cathedral of a station
We find our train to Paris and
Everyone takes their allocated seats
No pushing and shoving here
How civilised

We all wait in anticipation for our train`s departure
Italian trains are always on time

One quite elegant Milanese lady misjudges her ascent
Onto the train despite arriving in plenty of time
The doors glide shut and she is left open mouthed on the platform
As the train slips away
One can`t help wondering what she did next

All the world is on this train
The Irish missionary priest returning from darkest Africa
The students
The attractive young couple, the girl with a sleek dark bob
Who sit in silent togetherness
Until her head suddenly drops onto his lap face down and stays there
The guard entering to check our tickets might well think he has stumbled upon something else
But no one looks surprised
The asian family with a baby where the mother sleeps for the entire journey wrapped in a shawl and a big towel
And the father feeds the baby Pepsi in a baby`s bottle

Clickity Clack We`ll be back
Clickity Clack We`ll be back

As our train gathers speed we leave the totally flat pianura behind
The scenery changes as we go higher and higher as the Alps approach

The long dark tunnel under the Alps and then
At Chambery some more interesting passengers join us
How lucky we are to speak English, French, Italian, a bit of Spanish
Short friendships develop but friendships nevertheless
Details are exchanged, the internet opening up new friendships easily
Even in the knowledge that our paths may never pass again
It doesn`t matter in the scheme of things
We are all here to share the ride

After Chambery we shadow Lac du Bourget
And see all number of beautiful vistas and birdlife on this very unspoilt lake

Once clear of the mountains the train gathers speed
The countryside at times becomes a blur
Armies of wind turbines appear to march past our window

Suddenly we are on the outskirts of Paris
A dash across Paris and a change of station to Rennes
Hence another change at Rennes and we are at St Malo
We feel the wind from the sea and are near to home
A whole day has passed but what a pleasant way to spend it

Judith Anne Finetti

The Travelling Fence - Judith Anne Finetti

Image Source:  Judith Anne Finetti

The Travelling Fence - Judith Anne Finetti

Once the meadow and hedgerows are neatly trimmed
Up sticks literally and the large flock of sheep,
Four goats and three donkeys and two sheepdogs
Plus the shepherd and his lady wife
Are on the move again to the next valley
Stakes in the ground and the fence is again
An instant stockade.

The animals settle in immediately to munch away
At the rich grass and clover and daises for the farmer
In inaccessible places for machinery to reach.
The goats particularly leave a very trim edge to the fields
As they will eat anything and without the fence would quite
Happily nibble the nearby grape vines.

The older sheepdog with the limp valiantly trying to keep up with his extended family

Three months of drought in Italy but as soon as the heavens opened days later green grass had been shooting up
And wild flowers turned the valley into a patchwork quilt of colour.

The shepherd and his lady wife sleep with their flock,
Always on the alert for sheep rustlers
Their morning coffee enriched with fresh goat`s milk.

Judith Anne Finetti

The Sensual Garden - Judith Anne Finetti

My garden is a sensual feast
Of which the riot of various colours count least
Yes the blues and yellow and lilacs are kind on the eye
But it has so much more to offer,
My oh my!

They say variety is the spice of life
And the sounds in my garden of bird and bee would bear this out.
The wood pigeon, the robin and the bullfinch
All compete for their share of the bird seed
Along with a choice of insects, hedgehogs and frogs
Who take turns, night and day
Among my selection of logs.

The butterflies are also very varied
And with buddleias and echium and clover to choose from they return each year.
Then there are touch, taste and smell
Yes my garden has so much to offer
And gives so much reward for the labour I proffer.

Judith Anne Finetti

Green Rain - Judith Anne Finetti

I am so green it is even starting to tinge my hair
Well maybe that is not quite fair
I half expect green moss and lichen to grow
On my car, my shoes
You never know

But everything that can be recycled finds its way to join its kin
To be loaded up in the relevant bin
And anything that might be up-cycled to be used again
Is squirrelled away
Every shade of paint you could wish for
And sometimes a brush
Who could ask for more
But to accompany this there is always the rain
Which I have to admit is becoming a pain

In fact it has come to the point
That at ten at night at the Bridge drop off joint
I found myself getting shot of the last bottles and tins
Straight after Open Mic
Where fellow poets exchange like for like

Much to my surprise without the usual traffic and hustle and bustle
And purely because there was no rain
All I could hear was the lapping waves
Quite a pleasant experience
I might even try this again

Judith Anne Finetti

The Other Side Of The Bay - Judith Anne Finetti

Image Source:  Judith Anne Finetti

The Other Side Of The Bay - Judith Anne Finetti

Back on the other side of the bay where she belongs
The Dieu Te Garde sits high up on the beach
Living up to the meaning of her name
God really did look after her
After ten days firm on the rocks next to Amarreurs Pier
She suffered the lashing of gale force winds and spray
But did not falter
And those of us who sat in our cosy cars watching a part of the
Epic battle to re-float her for two days felt very humble
For this is the life of our brave Guernsey fishermen
Year after year to bring the fish and shellfish to our tables

It was like The Perfect Storm to watch
The two small figures in the dinghy risking being dashed on the rocks
The two figures on the pier itself facing the wrath of the huge waves
Each one of them risked their lives

And finally at 4.30 in the morning they succeeded
And she was back on her side of the bay, safe and sound
And still the fishermen and friends assessing the damage
Did not lose their sense of humour
When asked which one was the skipper they replied
“Depends if you are buying or selling”

Judith Anne Finetti

Dear Diary - Judith Anne Finetti

Since January 1961 you have been my
Companion and confidante
Spanning two centuries
Every day an entry
The family historian so to speak
We Capricorns are known for that
Correct dates and records open so many doors

The things we have shared you and I
The highs and the lows
Through puberty and an awakening to politics
and the written word in every form
Especially newspapers
Does anyone remember the children`s newspaper?
And the weight of the world and its ups and downs
Fifty one years and still counting

From a self centred teenager
To a doting mother
Then to a role reversal with a dear mother
Years so full of love
Never a duty

It is a discipline to never miss a day`s entry
Putting pen to paper puts the day in perspective
Summing up the day makes one reflect on time wasted
Must run in my family not wasting time
Precious time because life is so short

Judith Anne Finetti

The City Fox - Judith Anne Finetti

It was on a cold frosty January
Night in Morocco Street Southwark
That the City Fox crossed my path
On his way to Leathermarket Gardens

So sleek with a bounce in his walk
And so confident in his own habitat

I was the one out of place in an alien environment

With plenty of pickings for him from nearby
pubs and take aways
He knew exactly where to eat

Judith Anne Finetti

The Sea At L`Ancresse - (A beach for all seasons) - Judith Anne Finetti

The sea at L`Ancresse
A constant in my life

How many sandcastles has it carried away
During my lifetime?
The Duplo Lego of littoral art

A simple beach, no pier or bobbing boats
But a slipway which makes every
Swim at high tide a special treat

How many dog walkers and their dogs
Have left their footprints there?
Only in the winter months of course

And how many novice surfers have taken
Their first hesitant steps with the waves
Which are kindlier than at Vazon
With the big boys

How many lovers in my lifetime have
Walked across that sand at sunset?

And how many ice lollies have melted
In its baking sun?
Small children always promise they will finish them

And how many picnics have been enjoyed
On a table which is washed clean twice a day
Crumbs are not a problem and
What`s a bit of sand in your sandwiches?

And how many horses have enjoyed a canter
On soft sand after the hard tarmac of the road?

And how many skylarks have soared above this beach
With their heart lifting song?

And how many of the primitive folk
Who lived on the nearby headland
And up on The Doyle have gazed at this same sea?
So long ago

There is something comforting about the endless pounding
Of the waves
Month after month
Year after year
You can rely on it
Puts things into perspective somehow

Judith Anne Finetti