A plush Hotel in Durham

A plush Hotel in Durham

And I consider it

The discovery of an effect

The appetite for change

The taste of fresh prawns

As an appetiser

In the comfortable hotel

With the stylish nod to the history

Of the building

Oh how they run

After the banner

The salt of the earth

The drinkers and wife beaters

The coal diggers

Blowing their own horn

As nobody else would

Waves of people

Brass bands one after the other.

Political animals

Were watered and fed

Not ten feet from here

As I drink an aperitif

The restaurant full of toss-pots

Who still want more.

Men with pinstripe smiles

Waiters with attitude

Women with their finger on the pulse

Of a start-up

Doing it for themselves

Fed up with waiting for a leg-up

When the old man dies.

A couple in the corner

Whisper pretty white lies

Over coffee

They will go their separate ways

Until the next time.

Secrets have a way of coming back

To haunt the ill at ease

A bit like the spring onions

In the green salad.

Where once there was a river

There is now an opportunity

For water sports.

A rowing eight

Is cheered under the bridge

Barely used for crossing

The tables of coffee houses

Cover the span.

Ragweek students

Dressed as doctors and nurses

From a juvenile fantasy

A carry-on film

From the sixties

Full of innuendo and a soft centre

Suitable for family viewing

If you ignore the rampant

Sexism and misogyny.

Why do students scream

When they run.

Extras in a horror movie.

There always seems to be a script

Waiting to be shredded.

Nothing has changed

As the pinstripe with the overbite

And spare tyre

Walks out with a woman

Half his age.

Tipping a wink to the waiter

Collecting the key to a suite

Overlooking the cathedral

As grand a view as any

For the privileged few

Who can afford it.

As the river flows

In exultation

With total disregard

For the tenor of its surroundings