Showing posts with label viewpoints. Show all posts
Showing posts with label viewpoints. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

The Ballad of Clover Point

At Clover Point the trees of Fairfield stand behind us; in front, it's all ocean and mountains. Generations of Victorians have parked cars at the point to contemplate these. The circle-road was designed for just that purpose. You drive around, park, gaze, then leave the space for the next person. Then, Victoria's Municipal Council decided to take this amenity away. Beautifully unbroken, it had of course to be ideologically fixed.

The City News? Here's the scoop:
It's incorrect to drive the loop,
watching storms from the point of Clover,
pounding waves and gulls that hover,
we must stop doing that from cars,
not in sun nor under stars

Circle it only by foot or bike,
jog with a stroller, hang from a kite,
but bring no roadster or coupe,
don't convert your cares away
in open sports car, by tradition,
Council will see you in perdition

You can't sit here, out of the rain
This circle's circling down the drain

It doesn't matter if you've come from afar,
from Gordon Head or Esquimalt by car,
it doesn't matter if you're ninety-eight,
or by yourself or with a mate,
or looking for privacy on a date,
or using a wheelchair -- you're too late
for a parking space above the shore;
Council likes bollards and fences more

Never driving, and ideo-driven,
they like the town by Car-Wars riven

SBJ


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