Resting Charabanc

 Resting Charabanc


Here's another pub spreading over an A road junction 

Coach parties are welcome, bladders are emptied and filled again

And while the driver waits with his Woodbines and daily papers

He drifts again to the plans to acquire his own modest mansion


Summer Saturday dust settles on vacated moquette

As the engine ticks and cigarette smoke hangs in the yellowed roof

The driver turns to the columns of properties to buy, rent or stay

Mentally adding and subtracting his savings docket


Tarmac tired eyes scan and land on the names of towns on the Eastern level

He wants a promenade shelter in place of a bus stop

Where he can belch the bit of light ale with a dinnertime sandwich 

The rumble of the road replaced by the movement of water on pebble






What is Midcenturyology? It's the mid 20th century way of looking at geography, archaeology and local history. It's AA touring books, Red Guides or Shell archaeology gazetteers. It's Dalesman magazines or exhibitions at the Festival of Britain. You might glance it on an old railway poster or on a postcard. It is art and poetry that celebrates places and the people that made them in the pre computer age that I come from. 

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