Sunday 23 October 2011

Huddersfield Factfile #1 - Emley Moor Mast

Sometimes I dream that the mast is my lover or that it is falling with me in its crown. It gets me every morning over the hills, elegant and terrifying as maths. It did fall down once, in the blue chapped March of ’69, and when they rebuilt it, the beetles came. Over land and through the air, thousands upon thousands, darkling, jewel, false clown and skin, long-lipped and ironclad, mud-loving, blister and snout, and to this day there’s a team of coleopterologists up there 24-7. More than three hundred new species of beetle have been discovered at Emley Moor, seventeen of which are named after Roy Castle.

They light it up at night in case of low-flying craft but it doesn’t stop the odd accident, like the stricken kestrel that fell from the sky, causing everyone for miles around to miss Bullseye. Or the incident with the ape. I can see it from here if I stretch but I only sometimes think about licking it. It tastes like a Lemonade Sparkler and if it ever falls down again, I will be riding it.

7 comments:

  1. Ah, halcyon days, I was one of the first beatles to arrive. Those were the days, before the coleopterologists turned up and ruined our fun.

    I now reside in resentment. Woe is me. We hacve been stamped out. But we will rise again...

    John.

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  2. I wrote a song about an octopus!

    Ringo

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  3. A lot of times I have no idea what you're saying; but I love it all the same.

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  4. Thank you Ellie. I seldom know what I'm talking about either.

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  5. Paul McCartney was better with wings...

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  6. so confused cause i always know precisely what you mean. to me

    WINGS ACROSS AMERICA!

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