The Monday poem.... God it's exciting typing that! The responsibility of perpetuating a list tradition, will I match the superior quality of my forerunners, will everyone think it's shite, will it float Trousers' melting submarine? Who knows? My pulse is racing. Anyway, the poem. The poet may seem very familiar to some of you, having been a regular guest on Mark Radcliffe's seminal 'graveyard shift' programme. Although punning and lighthearted on the surface, his tales of dogs and cafes are laced with bleak melancholy. The poet is of course the some-time bus conductor and full time Luton Town supporter, Mr John Hegley. No More Bus Company At the age of twenty three, my mother sat me on her knee and she said these words to me she said 'Johnny,' she said 'Johnny Boy.' Now it may not sound like much to you but it did the job I'm telling you and I was gone out of the door to get myself a job down at the depot, down in Bristol, City and Rovers town. There were two machines and two of us working the omnibus, me I was the one behind winding the handle up and bell ringing and on a good day singing as well: 'hello fellow travellers it's good to have you on you're all very beautiful and you can call me Johnny Boy, hold tight, all got tickets? Hold tight, will you move on down.' But I'll never get my job back now not now those Bristol buses have gone OPO That's One Person Operation, gives a good conducting boy no hope-oh. So who's going to help you get off and on? Who's going to hand out the conversation? Who's going to stand in the cubby hole, who is going to say 'hold tight, all got tickets? Hold tight, are you all right? Hold tight, can I help you with that pushchair? Hold tight, can I help you with that buggy eyed baby? Hold on very tightly.' I was going to treat you all to Ian Mcmillan's 'Ted Hughes is Elvis Presley!' instead but I couldn't be bothered to type it out; it's 4 pages odd. So you'll just have to imagine it what it sounds like, using the title as a starting point. I'm sure you can all do as well as Mr McMillan. But be sure to remember a few 'Ekkie Thump's to establish your regional credentials. And throw in some Ivor Cutler style weird northern surrealism for good measure. By way of apology, I'll leave you with another (very) short Hegley poem about public transport: The Network Southeast Beast Benevolent, not malevolent; after its feast of commuters they are released. Thanks for letting me butt in. Joss is next, aren't you? I look forward to something more highbrow than my offering. Which won't be particularly hard. :-) Belle and Sebastian session tonight.......yaay! bye seb +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+