As this is a diary and a record of our journey to the Exhibition, I am noting her funeral today because it is a national event and not because I feel anything, other than relief that she is gone. My father's family came from Durham mining stock and the Middleton's from Sheffield and Rotherham: they aren't crying either.
Sheffield 1953
I was pedalling down Rawmarsh High Street on my tricycle.
My eyes are streaming with water. Why?
Because on Monday night they've been smelting iron ore
And the red dust was getting into my eyes,
Blown up from the corners of the street.
I was sat at the bus stop, looking up at the double decker buses.
And on the top deck are men in flat caps -
And I know they're wearing clogs.
And they're smoking Woodbines and Park Drives
And they're coughing a lot.
And they're on their way to the smelting works in Park Gate,
Or, they're on their way home from the smelting works in Park Gate.
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| And then along came Margaret Thatcher |
Or, they're on their way to the steel works in Sheffield,
Or, they're on their way home from the steel works in Sheffield.
Or, they're on their way to the pits in Barnsley,
Or, they're on their way home from the pits in Barnsley:
And they're coughing a lot.
And they're happy, because they know that at home,
Wifey is pumicing the front doorstep.
Wifeys were proud of their front door steps.
Also, their doors were always open,
So no matter how much shit I got in my eyes,
A wifey will come out and say,
'Are you alright love?
Here, come in.
Does your Mum know where you are?
Do you want a jam sandwich?'
'Thank you missus.'
Life was good!
And then along came Margaret Thatcher!
And now, where once there were pits
And where there were steel works and smelting works,
There's leisure centres and fucking Tescos as big as Doncaster!
And there's one coming to a town near you!
Paul Middleton
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