Friday 25 May 2018

COMMUTING



COMMUTING

Huge buses on tiny country lanes
Roadworks popping up overnight
Are cautiously driven as it rains
Blocking ill-timed glaring lights

Capillaries of the city clogged
With traffic moving so slow
Circulation’s faltering
How could such traffic flow

Huge trucks following sat-navs
Up tracks too small to cope
Vast queues forming right behind
It’s all grinding to a halt

Throbbing veins of the city clogged
Embolising movement
The city’s still beating heart
Stifled with discontent

The selfish cut the others up
Thoughtlessly lane-changing
Their indication’s vague at best
Fatefully rearranging

Arteries of the city clogged
With far more stop than go
Cars cardiac arresting
Striking one last fatal blow


MAWH, May 2018

WHITE JAG SONG


I wrote this little music hall number/song/poem about ITC this morning...

Not being a tunesmith, the one in my head is (I think) the "Shy, shy, shy" one that's sung by Mr Topper in the version of "A Christmas Carol" starring Patrick Stewart.

I hope you're all joining in at home.

WHITE JAG SONG

There’s a mark one Jaguar
All shiny and bright white
Going along a country road
The driver’s had a heavy night
It might not match the other one
That you saw a moment ago
But because it’s made by ITC
There’s one thing you already know

It has to go over the cliff
It has to go over the cliff
The cliff the cliff the cliff the cliff
It has to go over the cliff!

Once filmed for The Baron episode
Something for a Rainy Day
The Jag went flying off the hill
Quite expensively so they say
Still with the footage in the can
It’s not something to waste
If future scripts need jeopardy
A white Jag travelling with haste

Is going over the cliff
Is going over the cliff
The cliff the cliff the cliff the cliff
It’s going over the cliff!

They’re pouring hooch down Stuart’s neck
Then bunging him into a car
Which looks suspiciously shiny white
Guess what? It’s a Jaguar!
We know our hero will survive
But before it even starts
Our ITC–Sense is tingling
It’s going to be smashed to parts

It’s going over the cliff
It’s going over the cliff
The cliff the cliff the cliff the cliff
It’s going over the cliff!

The Cracken family’s being bumped off
Jeff Randall’s brought in on the case
When Johnny Cracken starts to drive
The car’s weaving all over the place
It’s smashing through a fence now
Careering down a great big hill
Think there’s a chance it’s going to stop
You know, I don’t think it will

It’s gone right over the cliff
It’s gone right over the cliff
The cliff the cliff the cliff the cliff
It’s gone right over the cliff!

Commander Gideon’s in pursuit
Of a nasty villain called Bailey
They’ve got him under surveillance
He drives a light grey Jag they say
George Baker’s sneaked in the car park
Looking like he’s sealed his fate
In the foreground there’s a white Jag
Now he’s got the keys - but wait…

It doesn’t go over the cliff
It doesn’t go over the cliff
The cliff the cliff the cliff the cliff
It doesn’t go over the cliff!

Usually it would have done
Gideon’s Way’s a little early
He’s living in a more gritty world
With villains who are kind of surly
In future however the rule applies
If your villain’s cutting brake lines
Or pouring whisky down a throat
It’s simply a matter of time

‘Til

It goes right over the cliff
It goes right over the cliff
The cliff the cliff the cliff the cliff
It’s going over the cliff!

Sometimes the car’s a small Renault
A vehicle of a different hue
Which got bunged off another hill
Without a camera inside it’s true
This adds a little variety
When motor cars start to fly
Now when it switches from red to white
And back you know just why

Because…

Two cars went over the cliff
Two cars went over the cliff
The cliff the cliff the cliff the cliff
Two cars went over the cliff!

It has to go over the cliff
It has to go over the cliff
The cliff the cliff the cliff the cliff
It has to go over the cliff!


MAWH, May 2018



Wednesday 23 May 2018

LOST IN THE ARCHIVES


LOST IN THE ARCHIVES

I’m casting my eye
Along the shelves
Wondering
Is it obscure enough
Is it kitsch enough
Is my telly taste
Too mainstream
Too familiar
To be able to find
Something new to say

What don’t I espy
On restocked shelves
Remembering
Was I wrong to do it
Was it a mistake
To take so many
Old VHS tapes
Old recordings
Off to the landfill
Instead of hoarding

A vast collection
Extensively
Obsessing
So many shiny discs
So many books
An extensive library
So many to watch
So much to read
Sometimes I start doubting
There’s enough years left

Once I used to try
Comprehensive
Collecting
Hoping perhaps one day
Hoping some one may
Have enough interest
To allow me
To burble on
And on endlessly
About old TV

MAWH, May 2018