Keep on truckin’
ELEANOR MARGOLIS FANTASISES ABOUT LIFE ON THE OPEN ROAD
”I didn’t even know that women could do big butch jobs”
One of my earliest memories is of watching a slightly obscure cartoon called Pigeon Street. Made in the early 80s, it was a little bit before my time (I was made in the late 80s), but my older brother and sister had a VHS of it from when it first aired. And I’d watch it on repeat. Mostly because of a character called Long Distance Clara.
Clara drove a juggernaut. She wore an extremely unflattering jumper and a trucker hat. As a tomboy, I wanted to be her. As a lesbian (something I was aware of from the age of about three), I was in love with her. Clara was just very, very cool. At the time, I didn’t even know that women could do big butch jobs like that, and there she was; not only doing her thing, but doing it well. “She’s always on time, she’s never late”, went a song about her.