Life #5: Social Europa
London, the UK, Europe, and the Middle East in the early-1980s.
Dedicated to great companions on that eye-opening journey.
Absolutely last travellers’ cheques, cashed in for a flat
On a tiny attic floor, could not swing a cat
Soon London became us
With the 88 bus
Local pubs and a Tube station; how good was all that?
Overjoyed to be employed, at British Gas Corporation
The government-owned, natural gas conglomeration
But bureaucratic and stale
We prepared it for sale
In that Thatcherite era of privatisation
My first foray in North Sea’s energy sector
Before climate incited, the fossil fuel objector
Before the stark warning
Of greenhouse gas warming
When gasoline was guzzled, like Fosters amber nectar
It was back when a warm pint, cost only one pound
When coal miners’ strikes, dragged Great Britain to the ground
With Prince Charles and Lady Di
In the paparazzi’s eye
And the IRA terrorising, all London Town
Saved some sterling and did all that London affords
From shopping at Selfridges, Test cricket at Lords
Picnics in the park
London lights after dark
Or Madam Tussauds, even queuing with the hordes
Top hats at Royal Ascot’s, horse racing derby
Guests of Buckingham Palace, Royal Garden Party
Strawberries and tennis at Wimbledon
The roar of rugby at Twickenham
With long London winters, for the strong and hardy
Friends from the colonies, were soon UK bound
We’d fetch them at Heathrow, on the Underground
They’d sleep on the floor
From wall to the door
And through streets of London, we’d show them around
In July eighty-four, road trip Europa began
We had loaded up our Volkswagen camper van
With a bed, tent and table
Called Fred, Brent and Mabel
In this red and white chariot, we proudly named Stan
First to the Scottish Highlands, and the Firth of Forth
With Val and Les our companions, we pointed Stan north
The Isle of Skye to Glencoe
British Open the crescendo
That Ballesteros won, on the Royal and Ancient course
Across the channel to France, we took the car ferry over
Looking fondly back at England’s White Cliffs of Dover
Yonder Amsterdam and Rome
Past the Mosel, Rhine and Rhone
We hit the wide-open road, in our European rover
Transiting East Germany, we carefully drove
Behind the Iron Curtain, cooking chicken on the stove
Over the Berlin Wall
Five years before its fall
To East Berlin, trapped in a time-warped communist cove
Infatuated with history, going back centuries
Europe shaped by victories, treaties and treacheries
Spanish churches, French alleys
Austrian mountains, Swiss valleys
Beauty superior, to any travel documentaries
Snow down to the Swiss foothills, the weather had turned cold
Yet we had to keep travelling, could not break the mould
But by now Stan was ill
Struggling on the steep hills
So parked him for winter, to rest his injured manifold
Took the Magic Bus to Greece, our next embarkation
Through Yugoslavia, then a mixed ethnic nation
It was a decade before
The Balkans war tore
That fragile federation, into disintegration
A forty-hour marathon, arrived in Athens totally spent
Camped on Crete where a creature, chewed a hole through my tent
By New Year in Egypt
Now completely gripped
Living history and cultures, that we’d never have dreamt
Contrasts of modernity, pharaohs, and religious tales
Down tombs and riding camels, to the holiest of grails
On Mount Sinai we pitched tent
Where Commandments were once sent
Parting the Red Sea to promised lands, that flash point of Israel
Captivated in religious, spiritual adventure
Tempered by present-day, Palestinian indenture
From Jerusalem to Galilee
Gaza and West Bank refugees
This ancient biblical land, of division and censure
Over the Mediterranean, to Turkey by ship
From Cappadocia to Gallipoli’s beach landing strip
We cried by each war grave
Sons died, just by being brave
The most moving experience, of our omnibus trip
Hitchhiked back to Switzerland, in huge cross-national lorries
In the cabs double-bunking, dubious dormitories
Up through Bulgaria
Still Cold War hysteria
Taking risks we wouldn’t today, so thankful to tell these stories
Could only partly repair Stan, at Swiss mechanical shops
We were nursing him home gently, when pulled over by French cops
Their demands were corrupt
Pay a bribe or lock me up
So I nervously wrote a cheque, but in England had it stopped
Quite a culture shock, arriving back in the UK
We’d made the concert for Live Aid, so massive in its day
But as rock bands performed
Rich memories re-formed
Lost in European nostalgia, we’d been so long away
We’d been intrepid and encountered many a close call
Exhilaration to frustration, luck would rise and fall
It shaped the world I know
But nearly forty years ago
I sometimes wonder if our Europa … even happened at all
Kevin Holmes • 5th December 2022
