Back In The Village Before It Progressed

Back In The Village Before It Progressed  

By Paul McCann  

There once was a time and a place in our town   

long before progress had come along ,

when a lot of things that we have today

are like forgotten words of an old song .

I remember once there was a soup stone

For those who couldn’t  afford any meat

and black ribbons hung outside some doors

as the lay out lady was seen on the street .

Once there were remedies that used to work

and the doctor was never asked to call .

 In a time when some of the people

would hang their steel tubs on a nail in the wall .

     Back when there were lots of pigeon lofts on back yard walls

and some men kept wild ferrets

if you had some rabbits or a horse to feed

Mulholland’s would give. you free carrots.

There was a shop outside my primary school

That sold 5 crab apples for a penny

and other shops selling lucky dip bags

but some of the bags didn’t have any .

There was a shop at the top of a lonely street  

with a pinball machine in there,

 and if you could tilt it you’d get bonus game

for players with a bit of flair.

There was a laundromat where the spin dryers

never stopped  next to a taxi rank .

There was only one car and it couldn’t go too far ,

and it  was built like a tank   .

There where not many street lights and at night

it was so dark , thank God for the moonlight .

 ,Progress came and we thought  

Its funny how we used to  do things

but in the end it worked out all right .,

.