Voices

At 6am I am wide awake.
I take my girl on a road trip
in a big rented van.
She is 11 years old.

We sit up high and flick
all the new switches.
We are narked that
the radio doesn't work
and surprised that a new van
has a cassette player.
We are disappointed that
we didn't think to bring cassettes.
We wind the windows up and down
and flap about with the sun shades.
There are no mirrors on the back.

I turn on the engine and play with revs.
The van drinks vegetable oil.
We head off through town
and my girl detects the tremors
in my left knee.
She encourages me
And the shakes stop.

Driving a big van with this child
feels like an adventure.
It feels like mens work.
With knobs on.
We are kings of the road
masters of all we survey.
We are patronisingly appreciative
when car drivers give way to us.

We travel across the south east
talking with northern accents.
We are from Lancashire.
From Nelson.
We keep this up for the whole journey.