The Winter Flat Share

The colder weather brought back memories of a flat share with a Scottish friend in student digs in Exeter. Now some Scots are very generous, and this one I am still friends with from my time at Exeter (unless they read this poem!). Careful with money, is I think the word needed, and not mean! This is, after all, a bit tongue in cheek as well.

 

The Winter Flat Share

This time of year, the frozen earth:
Jack Frost dancing, so full of mirth,
A sheen of ice on storm felled twigs;
And I remember in my student digs,
Back in the seventies, long, long, ago,
In Exeter, and cold enough for snow;
Breath walking on the chilly streets,
A sleeping bag beneath my sheets;
Woolly hat on head, cold did reign;
When I awoke, inside window pane
Condensation, breath become ice;
I was so very cold, it was not nice:
My Scottish friend was use to this,
A hardy breed, saw nothing amiss,
In keeping heating off, save pence,
Scots always good with expense!
I’d have preferred the heating on,
But “Don’t be a Jessie, hoots mon”;
I blame porridge and Robbie Burns,
Highland weather, snow returns,
Braveheart and Scotland the bold,
Highland games however cold;
Arguments just a waste of breath
Almost better to freeze to death!