Mrs Mallowan Takes a Walk

Thanks so much Susan. Love your ‘lively’ comment too. :) I threw in Agatha Christie’s vanishing around the last line as well because I believe she did for a while. :) Greenway, her house and grounds are beautiful to walk around via The National Trust membership. Cheers - Gary

Great ideas Cay Cay. Thanks so much for the visit, read and great comments. Cheers - Gary

Thanks so much Michael. Cheers - Gary

Thanks Mark. I wasn't sure how this one would go down to be honest. Many thanks for the placement. Much appreciated. Cheers - Gary

Thank you thriveni. She was a great writer and her holiday home - now owned by the National Trust is beautiful. Cheers - Gary

Very clever analogies ;)

Hi Linda. Thank you for your comments. Yes, totally agree. Very morbid :) ..and talking of morbid.. I tried linking what she saw on the walk with a method of death so "short CUTS" became stabbings, "BREATHLESS views" became choking etc. Cheers - Gary

And a lovely comment from yourself as usual. Thanks Bryan. Cheers - Gary

Thanks Sara. My wife and daughter are the true Agatha Christie fans in my family but I'll hold my hands up and say having gone to Greenway and see where she spent her summer holidays I became more of a fan. Thanks for dropping by. Cheers - Gary

Thanks Ann! When you live here and scratch some of the veneer, I guess England is like most places. :) The Greenway Bell made us smile when my family and I stayed in Devon a few years back. We stayed in a cottage bordering the Greenway estate and..on the subject of bells.. took a train (a heritage steam train) to Dartmouth one day. While waiting on the deserted station for the train a guy on a pushbike shouted down from the bridge that we should ring the bell on the station (a push button bell). That would tell the train driver to stop at the station to pick us up and not to steam past us! You had to be there. It was like a scene from 'The Railway Children'. :) Cheers - Gary

Thanks Brian. Love your comments. :) I thought I'd try something a little different and darker this time. I'm glad you like it! ..oh and I had her 'vanish' through her door at the end. :) Read you soon. Cheers - Gary

Hi Suz! I often wonder how she came up with her ideas. :) I'm not sure I would have liked to have walked alongside her when she did to be honest. Thanks for your visit. Much appreciated. Cheers - Gary

Thanks Michael. I wasn't too sure how it would go down with Soupers to be honest but I've been very pleased with the comments. Cheers - Gary

Thanks Andrea. I've always been fascinated by Agatha Christie and her background, moreso than her stories themselves. I'm really glad you like it. Cheers - Gary

Hi Wendy. Thank you. To answer your question as to what she decided: in short: all of the methods mentioned! She was dreaming up ways to have her characters killed off in her 3 books she set around her holiday home of Greenway. Mrs Mallowan was the married name (2nd marriage) of Agatha Christie. She married Sir Max Edgar Lucien Mallowan CBE who was a prominent British archaeologist, In this fictional piece I attempted to add my own layer of mystery to the proceedings by using her married name, having her go for a walk and giving the impression she was plotting a murder of her own. That was the idea anyway. :) Glad you enjoyed it and thanks again. I've entered it into a contest but not sure its the type of poem that would win many - if any - of them :) Cheers - Gary

Hi Jeff. Thanks so much. I'm glad you mentioned nature in your comments. I wasn't sure if I had mentioned it enough in the poem and had concentrated too much on the dark thoughts. I wish I had added a cup of tea in there somewhere too..just to add more of that English feel. Thanks again. Cheers - Gary

Hi Susan. Thanks for reading and for your comments. I may not have been too accurate with tying the means of death up to the stories but I'll put it down to poetic license. :) Besides, just the word 'bludgeoning' gives a sense of 'impact' to the poem. :) EDIT: re Ordeal by Innocence: In the book Kirsten walloped Rachel over the head so I'll settle for that ..not sure what happened in the tv adaption.. by all accounts even the killer was different. Thanks again. Cheers - Gary

Lol! Hi Milt :) Yes, just a touch macabre. I tried to incorporate the means of death from the three books mentioned below into the poem. To be honest, I'm not an avid Christie fan so I had to do a bit of googling. I think the bludgeoning came from 'Ordeal By Innocence' and poisoning from 'Five Little Pigs'. Cheers - Gary

Thanks Tom. I think the BBC did the Queen proud. I agree with you - we certainly wont see the likes again. Mallowan was the married surname of Agatha Christie from her second marriage. In my poem, I envisaged her looking back to one summer when she walked around getting ideas for her 3 books (Dead Man's Folly, Ordeal By Innocence and Five Little Pigs) that she set around her holiday home of Greenway near Galmpton in Devon. Greenway now belongs to The National Trust. We visited the beautiful grounds in 2018 and were blown away by the place. You can take a steam train to it, or if you approach from across the River Dart you may have to ring the Greenway Bell outside the 'Ferry Boat Inn' or on 'Greenway Quay' to summon a 'ferry' (passenger launch). It's only a few minutes of a ride :) Cheers - Gary