I have loved garages for longer than I can remember

There is something about them that makes me very happy

When I was much younger I was great friends

With the daughter of the local garage owner

It was a Regent Garage with an illuminated sign

When her father was out we used to mess about with this sign

Until we managed to fuse it into a deep mediocrity

He never knew of our idiocy and we swore each other to secrecy

Many years later I watched a French movie called

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

And I have to admit that the final scene at the Esso Garage made me cry

I was with a gaggle of girls and had to fake a Hay Fever attack (in November)

The DVD of the movie is a hidden pleasure and now I can weep quietly without guilt

When I was at university in a moment of brutal and extreme arrogance

I challenged the girl at the local garage to wear a revealing swimsuit

Under her overalls on a hot day which she did but was later sacked by the owner

She was studying at my college so I asked my wealthy father to sponsor her

My father being a kind man agreed and she became the sister that I never had

I am now married to a lovely girl and in my study I have a yellow Lego Garage

Which sits under a large print of Ed Ruscha’s Standard Station

My wife understands my love of garages as she is the sister of my garage sister

I am planning in future years to buy a garage in a remote spot

And just let time pass me by as it did in Edward Hopper’s Gas

We have print of this work in our first guest room above the bed