14 March 2023

Announcement

I have terrible news to share with you this evening. It's hard to find the right words so I will just come right out and say it - Bob is Dead! Kapput! Deceased! Over! There. I have said it.

Perhaps there are snowmen that live forever - in Antarctica or by some hidden bay in northern Greenland - some place where ice and snow is everlasting - but here on the edge of western Europe in our changeable maritime climate, snowmen never last for long and that's the truth of the matter

One day they stand tall and proud with their eyes of coal or 2p pieces or small potatoes and four days later they are just slushy piles of the white stuff with their bits and pieces grounded on green lawns. That's how it was for Bob. He came into our lives last Friday morning and this Tuesday evening, as I look out into our night garden, all I can see is half  a bucketful of snow under the rotary clothes dryer. By the morning there'll be nothing left. Inevitably, Bob will just be a memory. That's all.

The last picture of Bob

Bob

I  took on the job
Of building Bob
Where the clothes dryer usually stands
I  rolled a big snowball down the slope
With gardening gloves on my hands.

Another ball for his thorax
And another for his big head.
For his arms, I sourced two twiggy sticks
From the pile round the back of the shed.

Phoebe brought me a carrot nose
And potatoes, not coal for his eyes
Then Shirley gave me a hat and a scarf
So Bob would appear in disguise.

He stood out there a  too short while
For by Tuesday night he'd departed
Gone to where all snowmen go -
The land of the broken-hearted...
It's what becomes of them Jimmy.
The good old days - last Friday afternoon

33 comments:

  1. I hate to rain on your party but the snow in Antarctica and Greenland doesn't thaw enough to be able to roll into a ball. Dry snow won't stick together. Lids would cut blocks of snow to make shapes.

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  2. RIP Bob! You were a fine snowman although I found your personality a bit cold.

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    Replies
    1. I am sure that you could have unfrozen his heart Margaret.

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  3. "The good old days - last Friday afternoon" - LOL

    Bob, we hardly knew ye :)

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    Replies
    1. As the band Queen sang, "Who wants to live forever?"

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  4. Replies
    1. It could be winter again at the weekend.

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  5. For a minute I thought you meant me and I was kinda annoyed no one let me know!!!

    RIP Bob

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    Replies
    1. You just melted away
      On your old Bobsleigh!

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  6. I love your poem! At least you had Bob for more than a day.

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    Replies
    1. In Adelaide he would have been a barrel of water.

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  7. Bob is immortalised by your poem and the pictures you took.
    As for the poem, I don't get the "Jimmy".

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for asking. In 1966, "What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted?" was a big hit for a soul artist called... Jimmy Cliff. He asked the question and I gave the answer.

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  8. Not gone forever. He'll be back next year !

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    Replies
    1. That will be "Bob - The Sequel" - not the true Bob.

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  9. Poor Bob. RIP...Rest in Puddles.

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    Replies
    1. There was a sharp frost last night and surprisingly something of him remains.

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  10. Oh, poor Bob - RIP. Next winter you could "fashion" another Bob from a huge chunk of polystyrene. Much more practical and you wouldn't need to wait for real snow. He'd come out each winter and you could store him in the shed during the summer months. Of course there'll come a time when Phoebe will twig that Bob Mk II isn't the real deal!
    Love the poem - it made me laugh.

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    Replies
    1. No wonder Neil Sedaka made up that song about you! I guess you play it all the time. Why did you "treat him cruel" and let him go?

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  11. A few years ago we had a bit of snow, and I made a tiny indoor Snowman (about 6 ins tall). I was thoroughly derided on my page by the eager Snowmen Police. Yours looks (ed) quite professional.

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    Replies
    1. Sorry but your mini-snowman looked like a duck to me.

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  12. "What becomes of the broken hearted? Once a Snowman but now departed." If Jimmy Ruffin lived in Sheffield.

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    Replies
    1. There's quite a few rough'uns (i.e. Ruffins) in Sheffield - like the Cocker family. The Blades and a gang called The Human League.

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  13. I find it kind of disturbing that you just left the arms and facial parts lying on the ground!

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  14. May he water the spring flowers, or drip into an underground word forming a stalactite.

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    Replies
    1. May he dance in the land of the broken-hearted till forever comes.

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  15. It was a short but happy life and he was well loved. Not all of us can say that.

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    Replies
    1. He had no bills to pay and there were no funeral costs.

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  16. Bob was fun while he lasted!

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    Replies
    1. Bob has gone Bobsleighing to Eternity.

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  17. You scared me there for a moment, until I remembered who Bob was! He looks like Frosty the Snowman after he melted in the poinsettia greenhouse.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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