[Woody Long]

See Martin's post just above regarding "Air Larry" & Joseph Harrison's poem here.

[Susan McLean]

Thanks for the link to the poem, Woody.

Susan

[Mark McDonnell]

Hi everyone!

Thank you Aaron/Aaron's scary alter ego for selecting this. I'm really quite flattered and thrilled.

And thanks to everyone who read this and took the time to comment, whether you voted for it or not. It's interesting to read how much criticism there was about the final few lines. When I first posted this I recall the main bone of contention being whether it was possible or idiomatic to 'sip on wine' haha. Funny old business poetry isn't it?

I won't thank individuals but thank you Martin and Woody for introducing me to the amazing tale of 'Air Larry' and to Mary Meriam for just being so damn nice and suggesting I enter this in the first place.

With regard to the 'previously workshopped' controversy I will say in my defence that, unusually stubbornly for me, I only changed one word of this from its original posting to when people finally got bored of the thread. Martin Elster persuaded me to change 'spores' to 'seeds'. I reckon I'd have won if I'd have stuck with the original. Damn you Elster with your botanist brain you lost me the Bake-Off!

(I am joking of course)

Thanks again all. Great fun!