toll booth

there is a small stone bridge between two towns that has a two man toll booth

5p to pass

two old  guys sit side by side - one with a liverpool fc cap, love on the knuckles and status quo in the soul - his colleague is made of gravel and fingers fixed in a heavy crane claw


we wonder how much they make - fists of 5 pence pieces - £100 a day? £500 a week?


we joke that they blow the £500 each weekend on booze, drugs and women


and then monday morning arrives

they meet at the toll box

each at their own door

the river black with a milky mist head


and it starts again with a single 5 pence piece dropped in to a strip club paper cup







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