Eileen fumbled to find the twist of blue paper
in the bag of Smith's Crisps as Derek turned right onto the North
Circular by the Staples mattress factory at Staples Corner.
'You can never find the salt in these soddin` things, I don't
know why they don't come ready salted.'
'I don't know why they don't improve this damned road.' Derek
moaned as he edged the black Vauxhall Wyvern into the stream of
traffic.
'All these bloody lights and in between it's like a damned race
track.'
Many sets of traffic lights later, all of them red, they pass
under the railway arches at Stonebridge Park. To the right a
whole gang of bikers were revving their engines outside the Ace
Cafe. The small podgy child on the back seat put one of his small
podgy fingers in the indentation in the top of the window and
pulled it down just enough to be able to shout 'Swinging' and
make the thumbs up gesture.
'Sit down or I'll biff you, you little sod.' His mother shouted
above the roar of the Triumphs, BSA's and Nortons. 'They really
ought to do something about these soddin` ton up boys.'
'Dodgy!' Shouted the podgy kid as he changed his gesture to the
one with the thumb pointing down.
'Take these and keep quiet.' His mother gave him a packet of
Spangles, offered the saltless crisps to her husband and lit a
Player's Weight.