Miller's Dale

By Coolhermit

Sat, 29 Aug 2020
  • 629 reads
5 comments
 

Miller’s Dale

 

a day of losing and of finding

 

 

I overslept - missed the coach

 

to a once-in-a-lifetime football match

 

Orient at Manchester City -

 

I was Leyton through thin and thinner -

 

I had to see the game - no question

although eighteen,

I blagged a half return

to Manchester from Euston Station

 

we made good time through Derbyshire,

Matlock, Two Dales, Rowsley, Bakewell,

until the train broke down at a station

somewhere in the middle of nowhere

 

I gave up at at five past three

'the Os won't stand a chance without me'

out the train,

onto the platform

where I read a place name,

‘Miller’s Dale’

 

through a white-paint gateway

to a dry-stone lane

standing unmoving,

awed by the burnished

bright leaves of autumn

 

tramping lanes in England’s heart,

replacing time with timelessness,

overjoyed with the heritage

of sheepdog trials, hawthorn hedges,

stone-walled inns and ancient cottages.

 

(Saturday October 6th 1962... Man City 2 – 0 Leyton Orient)

Certificate U
Poem
Travel

Comments

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

You benefitted from the forced change of plan. Football reverts to its proper place! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Coolhermit on

those of us who support our local team (however bad their results) will go to any lengths  ha ha - it was a wonder-filled day  smiley

Rick

 

 

Submitted by Coolhermit on

The event of the footy game and the train journey is true - until I reached Mller's Dale - however I did not leave the train, I stayed on drinking with some Manchester lads  - a pub had a silver band's instruments lined around the walls outside and I made Maine Road with 10 minutes to spare (free entrance by that time) and came back on the supporters' coach I missed in the morning. 

For years I searched maps for Middle Dale (blame the error on the beers consumed on the train) then upon reading the brilliant Adelstrop   I felt almost compelled to attempt un homage - so the closing stanzas were in my mind and I needed a prosaic peg upon which to hang them. And rarely are matters less prosaic than Leyton Orient.

There is a direct reference to Adelstrop  'the platform where I read the name Miller's Dale'.

Rick

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

Lovely part of the world.  Years ago I knew people who lived in Darley Dale, tucked in beside Matlock and Two Dales, some lovely walks.  When I was a kid I always thought Leyton must be somewhere magical and mysterious, because of the 'Orient' bit that I heard every Saturday on the football results.  Ah well!  

Submitted by Coolhermit on

But Leyton is magical - it's the source of the river of dreams for East Londoners (footy-wise) and when the Os were in Division one (season 61-62) rejoicing hearts were broken as the team flopped again smiley

Rick