"Way Past Time"

Such a landmark
The Grove Tavern
Boarded up now
Steel shutters
Cover in out of date
Assorted gig posters
Garden overgrown.
Whatever happened to the sheep
That grazed in the garden?
We sat there with
Our glass of lemonade
And packet of salt & vinegar
Every summer as kids
A rare family outing up Coxes Walk
As we went blackberry picking
So mum could convert
Empty Bejam ice cream tubs
Into gallons of fruity jam
Which would nowadays
Be put in tiny little jars
Called organic & locally produced
To be sold to the North Cross Road
Poncy posh brigade.
Instead of her giving it away
Door to door
Landing by landing
On our council block of flats
As we were sick of the stuff long before
Our six weeks were up before school.
So we're talking a long time ago.
Talking of the Grove
We used to take our Mutti back there
When we had grown up
And it had turned into a Harvester
The height of sophistication
It even had a salad bar!
And the perfect place to
Show how you love
Your dear old mum
Once a year on Mothers Day.
This is how the masses
Did 'posh nosh'!
It was about then
That I probably realised
Where that four legged menagerie
Had got to!

Dulwich Poet 25th July 2013

(I jotted this down on the 176 bus home, I got the thought as we sat at the traffic lights at the junction of Lordship Lane & Dulwich Common, by the long boarded up Grove Tavern pub.)