76 - The long hot summer of '76

The long hot summer of ’76...
When cricket in the park was played all day
Till dark, by sunburned schoolboys up to tricks
Like stealing sweets from the old shop lady.
Rock, soul, disco and Abba played all night,
While we two brothers played a mean pinball.
The girls, the music and the flashing light
Of penny arcades by the old sea wall.
The lawns were brown, the water running out,
As were the sands of time for old ideals.
The ideas of the left open to doubt:
Why should we pay for someone else’s meals?
Reagan and Thatcher waited in the wings
While holidaying families planned all sorts of things.
Sun 19 Nov 2006