[David Callin]

Very glad you like it, Carl. I grew up thinking "haggard" must be spelled "hacket", because that's what we used to say.

The midden was a mound, but with a small lake / large pond-like area just below it - more treacle-like than watery, though. As you can probably imagine. We grew up thinking of it as very like quicksand.

There is a well-known phrase starting "hanging around like ...". That's what I was thinking of in the last line. I hoped it would do its own work, but maybe it isn't working.

It was a very serious affair, Joe - and quite substantial. Thanks!

Glad you enjoyed it, Roger. Apologies for misleading you with my phonetic rendering of "abertyre", which looks far too much like a Welsh town - I should have gone with "abbatyre" for my father's pronunciation (as Ralph guessed) of abbatoir. No French for him, thank you very much.

Well spotted, Ralph! Glad you like it.

And you too, John.

And you, Jim. I think I will find a place for this in a collection of my Manx poems, but I'm not sure it will bother posterity too much. Well, we shall see, but thanks for that kind thought.

It is a good point about the repeated line. I thought of it as a poetic stratagem, as used by Norman MacCaig in his terrific "Aunt Julia", but he does far more with his repeated line than I do, so perhaps I should just have it the once and find another line to go in there. So thanks for that too.

Originally Posted by Joe Crocker

Something about your description and the word "omphalos" makes me think of a benign, farting, Jabba The Hutt.

Now, I like that.

Oh Cameron. You little rascal. That is an interesting question, but I could just as reasonably put it to you, no?

Cheers all

David