New Victorians

Back then, we lived as New Victorians.

We knew what dado rails were, and cherished

cornices. We stripped the floors back to the

lovely wood and, laughing scornfully, ripped out

the 60s hearth to make room for a vast

cast iron one.

 

And when we’d bathed the children, in our

roll-top tub, and put them in their wooden beds

(to dream, we hoped, of hoops and spinning-tops),

we’d flick the screw-top on an Aussie red,

and turn the heating up a notch, then settle down

to watch TV.