The Spog Blog

(after E J Thribb)

So, farewell then Woolworths,
Duck-egg blue and pillar-box red livery,
1950s chrome and glass frontages.
Broken biscuits by the pound, dried-up garden plants,
Dylon dyes and Ladybird children's clothes.
Buckets and spades in seaside resorts,
LPs and singles in city and town.
An Aladdin's cave of plastic wonders
seen from a child's eye height,
Prosaic curtain poles and paint for the grown-ups.
The place to go when you can't think
of where else would sell it.

So many memories over my lifetime.
All going or gone - how sad.

From our Washington correspondent:

Little-known political speech writer Bob "The" Builder was recruited by Senator Barack Obama to craft his eloquent speech, following Obama's victory in the US Presidential Elections last night.

This fact only emerged when it was realised that Bob's catchphrase '[Can we fix it] - yes we CAN!' had inadvertently been left in the final draft of the speech - not just once, but several times, in what may prove to be an embarrassing mistake that may come to haunt Mr Obama in the future.

- now compare and contrast:

Bob was later tracked down by our London correspondent in a pub in Chiswick, drowning his sorrows in Fuller's Best. He was reluctant to be interviewed about the gaffe, but did observe, in a somewhat incoherent way, that he hoped American elation wouldn't turn to ashes the way it has for the UK, many years on from Tony's triumphant election speech.