[Mark McDonnell]

Hi David,

I'm suitably swept up in the gently wry nostalgia of this and have no complaints. I can feel the sea and the rocking ferry and the innocent joy of the protagonist in the details. I quite like Carl's idea about "storied".

I do wonder about the end and whether it hammers the point home a bit too hard with an overload of cultural references in rapid succession: Sinatra, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Merseybeat slang. I wonder if you might trim and combine those last two stanzas somehow. Maybe like

Then it was luggage, the thrill of the gangplank.
It was like arriving in the world.
The Beatles were on Tango cans
and our Great Auntie Cilla knew George’s mum.
It was 1965. And we felt fine.

But better. Or alternatively something to extend those last four lines beyond their telliness. I can see the appeal of the ending's simplicity but for me it felt a bit easy after the lovely, resonant details of the other stanzas.