Sandgrown’uns by the Sea
A wry portrait of Blackpool, its summer crowds and illuminations, seen through the eyes of locals who know the town beyond its tourist lights.
Sandgrown’uns
don’t make the arduous trek to Blackpool
between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries
sea-bathing to cure afeared ills.
From all over they come.
The sudden influx of visitors
on scorching summer days and
Illuminations time.
This is understandable,
for this town became the first municipality
in the WORLD (yes the first!) to turn
street lights on + a brand new promenade.
The ‘working class’ people flocked
and marveled at this wonder.
But these pretty lights
would ultimately become flickers
in the darkness for Las Vegas
this is not!
& when the revelers depart,
leaving their black pool of chaos behind &
the hotels empty: Blackpudlian dwellers,
my girlfriend and I,
curse the blessing as we natter
away in the George Hotel on Central Dive,
sorry – Central Drive.
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