Nothing screams summer like wound down windows in the car,
And the best tunes filling the air is on a par
With lazing in a hammock, strung in the trees,
Drifting away in sun-dappled mid-June breeze.
Back from the school run in the car all alone,
Volume’s up: Spotify playlist on the phone
Has infinite options for the fifteen minute ride-
No-one switching to Capital FM from the passenger side.
And after ten years of nursery rhymes or new and trendy fare,
We’re going back to ’88 – baggy jumpers, curly hair.
At the traffic lights it’s stalemate with teenage label guy-
A three minute battle of the playlist as notes clash in the sky-
His new fangled boom box may be state of the art
But I take your lyricless pulsing and raise you, “Total Eclipse of the Heart”.
When your car cost £150 you need the volume up high
To cover up the engine noise and I’m not gonna lie-
16 years a mother so my ears are pretty tough,
In this battle of the traffic lights thrashing, booming ain’t enough!
The traffic’s unrelenting so another track up next
You roll your eyes in mock dispair, you look almost hexed-
You’re doomed my opponent – this battle’s almost done,
And with the opening notes you shake your head, defeated: the saxo won.
You can’t out-summer Boy George with his colourful sunny track,
It’s just no match for your thudding heavy bass attack.
He concedes, fine… you are the battle Queen,
We both drive off with a smile when the traffic light goes green…
Red, gold then green…
…red, gold and gre-e-e-e-n.