The Wednesday Poem - The Day I saw in Alien on the road from Burnt Oak

Edgware General Hospital Social Club - Thanks to Pete on Flickr

Todays poem is a poem I wrote following a very strange experience walking back from the Edgware General Hospital social club, in around 1985. A friend of mine, Chris used to be the manager and we'd often visit on a Saturday night to chat to the nurses, play table tennis and have some afters. There is a lovely collection of pictures of the Hospital, put together by Pete on Flickr - Check these out https://www.flickr.com/photos/8866197@N07/sets/72157646647741005/

I make no claims about my sobriety on the night in question, but as I was with two friends, it has always been a bit of a mystery. Why anyone would have travelled half way across the universe to visit Burnt Oak has always puzzled me. The exact spot was on the A5109 where the road crosses the Northern Line, just before Pavillion Way. It was around 2am.

The Day I saw in Alien on the road from Burnt Oak. 

I've lived a long and fruitful life, 

amazing kids and gorgeous wife,

I've travelled the world and the seven seas,

It takes a lot to baffle me.

It may come as surprise,

The strangest thing to behold my eyes,

Was not due to narcotic smoke, 

But happened on the road home from Burnt Oak.

It was 3am after a fun filled night,

With Steve and Paul I saw a sight,

like nothing seen before or since

What it was I'm not convinced.

Heading down past Pavillion way,

The oddest vehicle came our way,

The strangest thing was not a peep,

No engine noise, no not a sqeak.

I turned to Paul and I turned to Steve,

What we'd seen we couldn't believe,

Paul said "Rog was that for real?

an alien behind the wheel?"

I turned to Steve who said "that's weird

Perhaps it's the invasion we feared"

It disappeared right off the road

What it was I'll never know.

To this day we cannot see,

the reason for the mystery,

An alien came from the stars,

To check out all those Burnt Oak Bars?

Maybe he looked at the Stag,

And thought "no chance, I'm heading back",

To think we might now all be slaves, 

Till the Burnt Oak boys saved the day!

Copyright 2019 Roger Tichborne

We occasionally still discuss it. A real mystery. My friend Paul is a believer in UFO's etc. Steve is the opposite. The biggest mystery was the way the thing disappeared before our eyes. I daresay that some of you will be cynical. I don't blame you, I would be, but it certainly was a talking point for a few weeks. I don't think that the concept of three people imagining exactly the same thing is a viable theory. Like all of the best mysteries, ghost buses, apparitions, alien abductions, it will probably remain a mystery. For the record, Paul thought it was a UFO in disguise, believing that they have 'cloaking powers', Steve thought it was a ghostly apparition, possibly of someone who'd crashed and died at that point. As for me, I can't really decide between the two theories. At the time, I think I preferred Paul's but logically Steve's seems more likely, in as much as any such theory can be likely.