‘So?’
‘He looks more or less the same as he did in 1985.’
I had made my way to the front of the crowd to get a closer
look at Johnny Marr. I had hoped that he would look ravaged and old – as
ravaged and old as I look. I thought I might even get close enough to see his
roots.
‘Did you have a boogie Daddy?’
My daughters were dancing about in their little festival
hats.
‘No I didn’t have a ‘boogie’ darling. Most of the songs are
Smiths songs – they weren’t written for to ‘boogie’ to.’
I looked around. Many of the mummies at the ‘family-friendly’ festival had indeed succumbed to the urge to ‘boogie’ – or just jiggle a bit
if they were carrying infants. Most of the men were singing along with far away
looks in their eyes. A few of them swayed dreamily until children tugged on their cargo shorts. A couple of them got really carried away in
their reverie, waved their hands about and tossed quiffs that they no longer possessed.
Maude was sat on Lenny’s handcart. Ever the prudent Scot,
Lenny had brought his own hand-powered transport and only attracted a few dozen
perplexed glances from the hordes of families who had shelled out at ‘Mr
Trolley’ for a natty pull-along cart. The carts came in handy to transport
camping gear and/or well-dressed children with names like Oscar and Martha. The
carts even came with a canvas roof which gave them the look of miniature
pioneer wagons.
Many parents had been to the festival hat shop and had found
it hard to resist the owner’s patter:
‘Come inside and get yourself some ‘Hattitude’!’
Brisk business was done in cowboy hats that would soon adorn
wardrobe tops all over North London - once the dust had settled in the wake of
a middle-aged stampede to see if Johnny’s roots were showing.
‘So, why did you come all that way back to us? I thought you
were enjoying being at the front.’
‘The walkie-talkie started flashing and I couldn’t hear what
you were saying. Thought it might be urgent.....’
‘I was just asking if you were having a good time, silly!
Anyway, now you’re back could you go and get some more doughnuts and don’t let Casta carry the chocolate dip this time.’
Anyway, now you’re back could you go and get some more doughnuts and don’t let Casta carry the chocolate dip this time.’