My transistor would crackle and hiss,
Playing Pick of the Pops, Alan Freeman, ‘Not ‘arf!’
Just one hour of musical bliss.
We’d hang round the boating lake hoping to walk
Past the big, handsome boat-keeper lad.
Then we’d stand on the solid stone bridge and we’d talk
Of a time we’d no longer be sad.
We knew we both wanted to meet Mr Right,
Get engaged, buy a house of our own
Have a couple of kids, leave our childhood behind,
Have a better life once we were grown.
We both worked so hard with our homework and worse,
Like the weekly clean-up of our room!
We wanted to leave all that hard work behind
And be rid of our teenager gloom.
Now, I know that I’m not the first person to want
To turn time back so my friend and me
Could still listen to music and dream all our dreams
Of how great being grown-up would be.
[The park was Abbey Park in Leicester. The boating lake and big stone bridge are still there but these days the lads in charge of the boating lake look so young! As for my friends, sometimes I walked round with Linda and sometimes Sylvia. I’ve not been in touch with either for decades. Wonder if they remember our Sunday walks round Abbey Park.]
