[Ann Drysdale]

That's the way to do it!

[Charlotte Innes]

Hearty congrats to Jayne and Chris---and many happy returns! (Sorry!)

Charlotte

[Lance Levens]

What fine pieces you two have written! I'm green.

[Jayne Osborn]

Terese, Brian, Janice, Ann, Charlotte and Lance,

Thank you all for your lovely comments.

The Oldie is a really super magazine and I'll be bringing it with me to West Chester because:
a) I haven't had time to read it yet and I usually do so from cover to cover as soon as it arrives
b) It will be good to show it to people who enter the competition but have never seen it.

I've booked for the Oldie lunch in July; whenever I go, one or two people say to me, "I look out for your name in the poetry competition but haven't seen it lately..."

[Brian Allgar]

Jayne, I've just re-read the winning entries (I still prefer yours and Chris's, and that's not nepotism speaking - after all, he's not my nephew, and you are certainly not my niece), and I'm perplexed by the first one. In the main, it rhymes, or half-rhymes. But are we supposed to believe that 'purse' and 'difference' are by any stretch of the imagination a rhyme? Or are there some subtleties of prosody that have escaped me?

[John Whitworth]

I must admit, along with Brian, I can't help but feel the poet, usually a very good one, has just made an error. Could the line that ends with 'purse' be made to end with 'pence'? Or 'pants'?

[Brian Allgar]

Originally Posted by John Whitworth

I must admit, along with Brian, I can't help but feel the poet, usually a very good one, has just made an error. Could the line that ends with 'purse' be made to end with 'pence'? Or 'pants'?

You mean something like:

that same half-ticket carried in her pants

Hmmm ... not sure that would have solved the problem.