Seaside Demise
(Under The Greyest of Skies)
No one's off to Great Yarmouth
For seaside fish n chips,
Or stopping over in Rhyll,
Where the brine mixes with spliffs.
As a pensive Blackpool Tower rusts
Beside the fleeting Irish Sea's setting sun.
Waiting for tomorrow's summer rains,
As arcades idle and nothing is lost or won.
Weston super Mare dulls,
With cloud reflecting muddy sands.
And Cleethorpes is brushed aside
By vacation-history's fickle hands.
All the shops are closing,
In Aberystwyth, Bognor and Skegness.
There's only a few pebbles left
In Llandudno, Southport and Clacton-on-Mess.
Eastbourne mourns the tourist demise,
As Bournemouth hopes the holidaymakers return.
Margate's are open, but no one's here,
There's no cash left to burn.
Cromer is caught in a trap.
Hunstanton is all awash.
Southsea's tide has ebbed.
Colwyn Bay no longer makes a splash.
Worthing isn't worth it.
Hastings beat a hasty retreat.
Bridlington is brim full of nothing.
Fleetwood is drift wood, untidy, un-neat.
Pwllheli's run out of puff.
Ayr hangs tired and forlorn.
Burnham-on-Sea's burnt itself out,
While Ilfracombe is ill, sick and worn.
Dungeness locked in the dungeons.
Empty pockets - no Deal for Rye.
Torquay no longer talk of the town.
Weymouth left wondering why
There's no more tourists.
There's no more fun.
Because the tourists have all jetted off
To Benidorm Magaluf Ibiza Aya Napa Faliraki,
Now that Covid has gone*
*But hang on it hasn't.
Covid is well and truly still around.
It's just that our seaside resorts
Are all a bit glum, grey and run down.
And us Brits want to eat our fish n chips
In blistering 30C heat,
Beside the blue sparkling Mediterranean,
By a Costa Brava / Aegean island beach.
Watching the Premier League and Corrie.
Drinking chilled San Miguel.
Reading the Daily Fail-by-the-Sea.
Escaping Little Britain's hell.
A seaside demise under the greyest of skies.
A mass br-exit for Spanish and Greek fun.
Europe's fabled Sunlit Uplands await
Under an ever present sun.
--
British seaside towns are a curiosity.
Some sparkle & effervesce, others dull, all gloss long gone.
Despite an upturn due to tourists 'staycationing' in the UK due to #covid the decline seems terminal.
