Life is on offer

Adjoining to our house there was a space
It was about 10 feet wide
The builders of the the terrace of 10 small houses
Must have  miscalculated
Each house could have been one foot wider
We called it The Concrete
That was where I learned to ride a bike
My brother taught me to bowl overarm
I played twosie ball on the wall
A big girl taught me.
In the back street women had washing lines
When the bin men came  they had to bring it in
Mum washed the binmen’s mugs
Coated with thick ash and dirt
She thought it was the only time anyone washed them
She gave them boiling water too, to make tea in a tin can.
On Guy Fawkes day we had a bonfire.
Boys prowled throwing bangers across the road
Nobody called them louts, it was normal [for boys]
Boys were strong and brave
Girls could make cake and scream when they saw spiders
It was sex role division
Tough for nervous boys who didn’t want to kill spiders.
10 feet wide, a house long, The Concrete was our  little world.
Mum said, where’s your brother?
I said, he’s on The Concrete.
So she screeched his name from the doorstep.
Here,get me 8lb sugar on the road.
It’s on offer.
Life is  on offer but do we notice?