Fantasy world

Had to nip up to Leicester to collect my mother’s will.
Found myself heading out east on the A6 so took the long way home past vaguely remembered villages.
About 50 years ago I fell off my moped on this corner. I was on my way to see my gf. I was going too fast.
Being here again and recalling all those local place names conjured up in me a dreamlike feeling of being 16 again - the time when we take that instantaneous yet imperceptible leap into adulthood.
I was young and invincible! My moped gave me freedom and thrills - and the heady scent of 2-stroke exhaust! I had a pretty girlfriend with, ‘boobs n stuff!’, as a mate once said. And her parents ran a pub! I had 9 quid a week in my pocket! (after giving my mum 5 quid board).
Was that the fantasy world?
No.
We are now living in a fantasy world.

Rules everywhere. Fear-mongering, control and over-zealous risk aversion: Lazy uncritical thinking. Nut cases who think a trace gas can destroy the planet or a man can grow a womb.
Even the country lanes have snail-pace speed limit signs. I put my foot down just out of shear bloody defiance. Then I came across a sign saying road closed to Newton Harcourt. I drove past the cones… and… the road wasn’t closed. It might have been but I took the chance.
But it’s ok - I’m 65 and I’ve earned the right to question the bullshit.
Glad I was young then and not now.