1960-61 Close Season
It was all so just so Just William perfect:
Egg sandwiches, crisps and lemonade
Tucked into your duffel bag,
Together with autograph book, green, red and black biros,
And Ian Allan trainspotter books
(Western Region and Locoshed),
And off I went in the early morning,
Walking to the ‘Iron Bridge’
To collect train numbers from the old pillbox
Between main line and the Highworth branch line,
Or to gaze down into the smoke of a King or Castle class,
As you crossed the bridge to the Swindon Town
Shrivenham Road training ground,
Where you would walk amongst the players,
Gathering autographs and occasionally kicking the ball,
Until a shout told you that the semaphore signal was down
In the squinting distance at Greenbridge,
And off you would run to watch the Cheltenham Flyer,
Or some trundling, rattling goods train,
Or even a new diesel or gas turbine loco.
And so, the summer holidays progressed:
Each day the same as the one before,
And therein lay the perfection:
A precociously Zen state of tranquillity:
Football and train-spotting conjoined:
A child at one with it all -
Feeling, that these perfect days would go on forever,
‘Until they think warm days will never cease.’
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