1995 England. I was, at the time, driving a
Citröen Visa GTi, a very unassuming 4-door little car that didn’t appear to be what
it was : a small sports car which, in terms of accelerations could keep up with
BMWs and the like : a young wolf in sheep’s clothing.
I lived in Southend-on-Sea, but worked in
Sherfield English, near Southampton : too far to commute every day. So, I made
my way to Sherfield every Monday morning, at some ungodly hour, and came back
to Southend Friday nights.
5 o’clock on the M25. That’s (I think) when the
BBC World Service turned into Radio4. As it did so, they broadcast a medley of
musical nuggets, starting with Ronald Binge’s wonderful Sailing. I can’t remember all the tunes, but I’m sure they included
Danny boy and Rule Britannia.
Every Monday morning, this medley became a moment of
peace and reassurance. I looked forward to it. It may have been my imagination,
but I felt that it also conveyed a message. To me, it said : “The nightmare of
England in the Seventies is well and truly over. Cars no longer rust almost
overnight. Allegros no longer lose their wheels in roundabouts (oops !).
Heathrow no longer looks like a giant wastepaper bin. Arthur Scargill and Red
Robo no longer run the country.” A new pride, a new confidence, a new sense of
beauty even, had taken over.
The human mind needs litanies. Every form of
spirituality uses them in order to tell us that all is well. Radio4 litanies ?
The shipping forecast. Strange names (for those of us who don’t go sailing),
but suffused with undeniable mysticism.
- Viking
- North Utsire
- South Utsire
- Forties
- Cromarty
- Forth
- Tyne
- Dogger
- Fisher
- German Bight
- Humber
- Thames
- Dover
- Wight
- Portland
- Plymouth
- Biscay
- Trafalgar
- FitzRoy
- Sole
- Lundy
- Fastnet
- Irish Sea
- Shannon
- Rockall
- Malin
- Hebrides
- Bailey
- Fair Isle
- Faeroes
- Southeast Iceland
The list of names becomes a genuine poem.
It made us imagine gales, cold waves, rain and
the harsh reality of life at sea, while driving at dawn in a warm, comfortable
car on the M25. Yes : it was good to be alive !
