Rochester Row
Eight thirty, and shutters up,
The lone drummer, swaying in the breeze,
Chimes ring out for ten,
The bookbinders bound by the awning,
For some their time has come,
With dignity, she lays them to rest,
Ants search for their next lair to colonise,
Pacing to the beat of the speaker's voice,
With wispy hair and apple in hand,
The ink pours into storytelling mode,
Back to their posts in all directions,
March the armies of orange blue and white,
Five thirty the exodus begins,
Delta, Victor, India, India.
Explanation
This poem is about Rochester Row in central London, which is a street I often need walk down to work. Kinda interesting what you notice when you really start to pay attention over a long period of time. Walk down and work on a road enough and you'll kind of figure out what the daily pattern is.
Eight thirty, and shutters up,
There's an army careers place on this street which has the opening hours of 08.30 on its door. There's also a big shutter which opens up for cars going into the barracks
The lone drummer, swaying in the breeze,
Outside the entrance to the army careers office, there's also a sign that sways back and forth whenever it's windy. I like to think of this as the lone drummer in a military band
Chimes ring out for ten,
The bookbinders bound by the awning,
A bookbinding shop sits along the street too, opening at 10am. At 10, someone always comes out of the shop to pull down some awnings over the shop to say they're open for business
For some their time has come,
With dignity, she lays them to rest,
The next shop along is a funeral directors, which is part of the dignity group. It's run by a little old lady.
Ants search for their next lair to colonise,
Pacing to the beat of the speaker's voice,
Next shop along is an estate agents. You'll see people going in throughout the day ready to find their next home. Someone that works there is a guy who often comes outside to make phone calls. He's in the "pacing" group of people who appear as if they're on sentry duty when making a phone call. I'm in that group too
With wispy hair and apple in hand,
The ink pours into storytelling mode,
Next shop along is a printing place. Basically, there's a hot girl that seems to go into there a lot :D (hey come on, I'm a guy!) I presume she works there and I just noticed she happens to have nice hair - the sort I go for anyway. There's also a guy that works there, who always seems to be eating an apple. I guess there are worse things to eat. I often wonder what the people are getting printed when they go in there. Important documents, digital photographs, all kinds
Back to their posts in all directions,
At lunch time, you'll see many people walking to and from their places of work.
March the armies of orange blue and white,
This refers to seeing people carrying bags with, I'm guessing their lunches in after they've been to either Sainsburys (the orange bags), or Tescos (the blue and white) ones. It's a little like watching an army of colours moving up and down the street during lunch hour
Five thirty the exodus begins,
Most of the shops along here seem to close at 17.30 in the evening
Delta, Victor, India, India.
Gonna have to explain this one! Delta, Victor, India, India in the phonetic alphabet would spell out DVII. DVII when expressed as Roman numerals is 507. The 507 bus is the one that goes up Rochester Row on its way to Waterloo. Kind of wonder about the stories of all those people who are on the bus and getting on and off the bus at Rochester Row. (I'm weird I know)
