Warwick Road - Where are we now?

Warwick Road, Kenilworth

This year has seen nothing but cuts, losses and disappointments. The Youth Service Consultation is over, the Library Service has three weeks to run and the Police Force have introduced a new model. 

For a philosophical moment, I'm going to leave you with a story that many of you will recognise. It could easily have be written Warwick Road or any other place in Warwickshire or the UK. Have a read, have a listen and decide for yourself - where are we now...

A long time ago, came a man on a track

Walking thirty miles with a sack on his back

And he put down his load, where he thought it was the best

Made a home in the wilderness

Built a cabin and a winter store

And he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore

The other travellers came walking down the track

And they never went further, no, they never went back

Then came the churches then came the schools

Then came the lawyers then came the rules

Then came the trains and the trucks with their load

And the dirty old track was the telegraph road

Then came the mines and then came the ore

Then there was the hard times then there was a war

Telegraph sang a song about the world outside

Telegraph road got so deep and so wide

Like a rolling river ...

And my radio says tonight it's gonna freeze

People driving home from the factories

Six lanes of traffic

Three lanes moving slow ...

I used to like to go to work but they shut it down

I got a right to go to work but there's no work here to be found

Yes and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed

We're gonna have to reap from some seed that's been sowed

And the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles

They can always fly away from this rain and this cold

You can hear them singing out their telegraph code

All the way down the telegraph road

I'd sooner forget but I remember those nights

Yeah, life was just a bet on a race between the lights

You had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair

Now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care ...

Well just believe in me baby and I'll take you away

From out of this darkness and into the day

From these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain

From the anger that lives on the streets with these names

'cos I've run every red light on memory lane

I've seen desperation explode into flames

And I don't want to see it again ...

From all of these signs saying 'sorry but we're closed'

All the way down the telegraph road   (listen here)