NO BALL GAMES

when i was about twelve
a sign went up on the green over the road
which spelled out in block capitals
'NO BALL GAMES'
around the same time
a load of other identical signs sprung up mysteriously
on areas of open grass all over the estate
up until that time
there had been a bit of a running battle
between the local kids in our street
and a bunch of elderly spinsters
we wanted to play there
and they wanted their peace and quiet
granted
we must've been a minor nuisance
like when our ball occasionally rolled into their garden
and one of the gang had to dart in to retreive it
but we were hardly yobbos
good boys from respectable families, we woz
anyway the day the sign went up
it gave our equivocal parents every justification
for scuppering our childhood fun
our long summer evenings were curtailed
we were sent much further afield to play
to the local parks
where the real yobbos lurked
i can remember hatching plans
to get hold of an axe
and steal out
in the middle of a moonless night
to chop down the offending sign
but i never did locate the right implement in my dad's shed
i assumed at the time that the spinster brigade
had lobbied the bournville village trust
and won
though i didn't have any evidence to point to
one thing i vowed was
never to turn into a kill-joy when i grew up
and when i see those signs these days
i still find them just as jarring and offensive
as i did way back when
of course it's different now
you don't really see kids playing outside much
certainly not out of their parents' sight
but it's the principle that's at stake
that residential areas should be designed
with communal space in mind
space for children to play
places for neighbours to meet, stop and chat
because otherwise
what you get is what we've got here now
a total lack of community
where the only time you're likely to see
one of your neighbours up close n personal
is when you pass each other in the car