Walking The Dog

Walls - hmmm - why am I building them? Why am I writing about them? Well ... we all build walls. Of a sort. From time to time. Some of us more frequently than others. What are they? Ok, so you know what a wall is; a vertical (usually, depending on their age) structure of stone or brick (again; usually) that forms a barrier, or divide, between discrete, physical spaces. Or it could be a verb, as in 'it walls us in', meaning traps or imprisons or encases. The noun version isn't necessarily bad - think the elegant weave of drystone walls, sweeping across the Yorkshire moors, or the walls, covered in favourite pictures and shelves and books, that build your home and support the roof over your head. The verb, on the other hand, traps you. So which am I writing about? Good walls or bad walls? Both, actually. First, the aesthetically beautiful example of the noun  wall,  that I have spent all weekend uncovering from beneath a tangle of ivy - Then, the penning-in verb...

Is it just me or do you also sing the 6 words in the title of this blog entry? Do they evoke memories of skipping round and round on the school playground? Do they spark off hints of other long forgotten tunes in your head? Memories of scuffed shoes, warm cartons of odd-smelling milk, an itchy, ill-fitting and snaggle-threaded-at-the-cuffs school jumper and of not having the words to explain the neediness of wanting to be included and the fear and shame of being different and alone. What power a nursery rhyme, eh! Nursery rhyme - definition: a short traditional poem or song for children. On a cold and frosty morning, specifically, is the 8 note final line of the nursery rhyme 'Here we go round the mulberry bush.' As with most traditional rhyming songs there is a history to it - Mulberries do not grow on bushes. They grow on trees. Unless clipped or stunted to restrict their growth. The frosted mulberry, burnt back to the size of a bush is probably a scathing reference ...