FOOTSOLDIER

as i leave the house on the hill
the sky threatens grim and grey
the menacing air damp and chill
mud spatters up from the road
stippling my jacket and shorts
the terrain slopes down to the river rea
then rises again abruptly to the eastern suburbs
i top the crest of another hill
then drop down into an unfamiliar suburb
a part of town where the faces are all alien
south asians
indians
pakistanis
bangladeshis
now the clouds part
and the dirty rain falls from the sky
soaking and blanketing me in a grimy cold chill
i park up the machine
and begin to make my way slowly
up the long curving terrace
draughty victorian houses
with steep gables
sheltering gothic windows
split in two by corinthian mullions
new pvc porches are de rigeur
but i focus on the letterboxes
some are at waist level
others strangely positioned
a mere inch above the step like a cat flap
a few are vertical
most horizontal
occasionally boxes have been built into the brickwork
unfortunately
draughty wide-open old-fashioned slots
convenient for sliding a leaflet through
are few n far between
most are more like man-eating plants
clamping my hand and stubbornly refusing to let go
as the rain pours down on my unprotected head
i quickly gain more respect for postmen
i gingerly extract damp yellow 'climate chaos' leaflets
one by one from a plastic bag
endeavouring not to pulp and shred them
as my knuckles are jammed between the stiff nylon brushes
the water overflows the gutters
and courses down drainpipes of porches
decorated with greetings written in arabic
a few cliched barking dogs cower behind curtains
but none is as lethal as the man-eating letterboxes
face to face encounters are few
an afro-caribbean man humps a gigantic tv set up the stairs
a lady in a headscarf thanks me
for retrieving her keys from her front door
an over-excited dog sets on me
as his owner sets out on a walk
i reach the end of grove road
double back on myself and turn into nansen and greswolde
where do these names originate?
as the sun pokes its head out
i run out of leaflets
and head damply homewards
footsoldiering done for the day