'My love letter to Grenoside' - Reader's letter
Ruth Grimsley offers a poem on her part of the city...
It's exactly a year since I left Broomhill to come and live in Grenoside.
Or rather the corner of it at the junction of the Halifax Road, the Penistone Road, and Salt Box Lane. I love my sunlit flat!
But the area's been a harder nut to crack.
Problem #1: decreasing mobility, probably due to decades of using my legs for transport round our hilly city. In particular, I've not yet been able to uncover the joys of central Grenoside properly.
Problem #2: autocorrect is still being uncooperative about "Grenoside:" its latest offering is Greenock in Maryland, USA. So I've had to find a new name for the place, one that autocorrect can't mess up. Accordingly, welcome to Squigglekins-in-rure Borealis - Squigglekins in the countryside to the North. Perfect!
It's now exactly one whole year
That I have had my home right here:
It's high and windy, so by rights
It should be called New Wuthering Heights
For this is where the gale is
In Squigglekins-in-rure Borealis
Tree leaves and branches never rest:
Two magpies came and built their nest
But then abandoned it quite fast
Because they thought it wouldn't last
And that, for birds, to fail is
In Squigglekins-in-rure Borealis
Full many times a day I spy
Cute traps with ponies riding by
And when the traffic lights green show
Straight on to Ecclesfield they go
For that is where the trail is
In Squigglekins-in-rure Borealis
But also on the road I spy
The funeral cars going by
Up to the Crematorium
Let's have a moratorium
For that is where Death's Veil is
In Squigglekins-in-rure Borealis
We're well supplied with many inns
Where we can sup ales, wines and gins
The Low'r Red Lion is to me dearest
And that's because it is the nearest
For me, that's where the ale is
In Squigglekins-in-rure Borealis
I haven't yet got very near
The centre of the village here
Not getting there, I really mind it
And one day I shall blithely find it
For that is where the Grail is
In Squigglekins-in-rure Borealis!