CHARACTER CHANGE
Posted by Admin on 9 April 2008, 12:00 am
What folly is this in our High Street,
that once was so sober and staid?
Now tarted-up ancient and modern –
a spinster turned randy old maid.
Though strait lies its way between pavements
as narrow as bigotry’s views,
its shop-fronts have been renovated,
and tricked out in eye-catching hues.
Who searches for signs of the Old Ship,
or looks for the Penny Arcade?
Who seeks Paddy Dean’s for his hardware,
or knows where the freaks were displayed?
What folly is this on our High Street,
with super-marts thriving today,
where vendors who sold ‘by appointment’
grew rich the Victorian way:
made money from yacht-owning gentry –
no ‘cut prices’ for cutwater bows –
when Osborne drew crowned heads aplenty,
to the Queen of the Solent – West Cowes.
T. C. Hudson
© T. C. Hudson.
Village
- - Apollo Theatre
- - Cowes Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society
- - Cowes Amateur Winemakers
- - Cowes Heritage
- - Cowes Radar Ex-Employees Association (CREEA)
- - Cowes-Deauville Twinning Association
- - Friends of Northwood Cemetery
- - Newport Rowing Club
- - Northwood Floral Art Group
- - Northwood Village Produce Association
- - Northwood W.I.
Parish Council