Expectation and Experience

"I had a holiday once," said the woman—

Her name I did not know—

"And I thought that where I'd like to go,

Of all the places for being jolly,

And getting rid of melancholy,

Would be to a good big fair:

And I went.  And it rained in torrents, drenching

Every horse, and sheep, and yeoman,

And my shoulders, face, and hair;

And I found that I was the single woman

In the field—and looked quite odd there!

Everything was spirit-quenching:

I crept and stood in the lew of a wall

To think, and could not tell at all

What on earth made me plod there!"

Thomas Hardy