Ode To The M25 Poem by Les Derbyshire

(For anyone from outside the UK who has the misfortune not to know the M25, it's the circular freeway/autoroute/autostrada/autobahn around London!)

In the heat of the day or the dead of the night
Here's a thing that is certain to bring you delight.
If you're driving to Oxford, to Richmond or Staines
Or heading for Gatwick to look at the planes,
If your journey's for pleasure or you're off to work,
Whether driving a Ford or a Nissan or Merc'
Alone or with auntie asleep in the back,
Wearing your best suit or scruffy old mac,
The way you must travel - you've really no choice -
(Even first class in your Jag or Rolls Royce!)
Is to follow that superbly circular highway
And not be diverted on some minor byway.
You’ll tangle with juggernauts ‘til you’re insane
And play with boy racers in the fast lane,
Maybe toil behind caravans bound for the coast,
Be boxed in by truckers all making the most
Of their sixteen-speed gearbox and twelve litre mill,
A Ferrari goes past you like you’re standing still.
Then just as you think you’re done with it all
The whole lot slows down to a terrible crawl!
They’ve now closed your exit and coned off your lane
So you drive to the next one and then back again.
It only adds twenty more miles to your trip;
By the time you get back there you’re ready to flip!
“Better to travel in hope than arrive”?
I think that’s the motto of the M25!