Revisit your roots?

Might be a dumb post. I'll start.

In my lack of free time, as I work afternoons. Hunny-do's. My free time is mostly non-existance. Went riding on my motorcycle around midnight. Older Fatboy. Where to go?

Most ppl live somewhat close to where they grew up. I live 10 miles from where I grew up. Both parents have passed. Bro & sisters have moved on. Grew up in a poor neighbor-hood. Haven't been there in around 5-10 years.

Decided to take a ride. See what the years have changed. Visited the old home I grew up in. Some things changed and others didn't.

Anyone ever do this for giggles? Somethings made me sad and others made me see nothing has been changed. I'm 57 years old and to see something still there amazed me that I knew from my youth.

 

I'm only 31 and even for me its quite the opposite,it seems everything from my youth has disappeared.Its easy for me to keep an eye on the way things have changed because I still live in the same village in the England I was brought up in.

The primary school I went to that had stood for 100 years has been levelled and new building erected that looks like a maximum security prison,the school fields have been sold off to land developers to pay for it and huge tree's we used to climb cut down.The highschool I went to looks like a small industrial plant its now huge!And also has a 10 foot spiked steel fence surrounding it.

Every bit of scrap land where we used to build fort's or Den's as we used to call them has houses built on it.There's only 2 parks left it village,even small patches of grass where we used to have a kick around have had gardens planted on them to stop kids playing football.I feel like my father,everywhere I look I say "Where those houses are used to be farmers fields."

I still see a lot of the shop owners which is always cool,they fill me in with the village gossip:-D We used to have a lot of churches,one on every corner,huge Gothic Victorian architecture just levelled and houses built on which is always great to see.rolleyes

I see lots of my old friends due to them living with their parents still,one story is quite common;They bought a house got a mortgage and then sold the house during the housing boom to pay off debts,went backpacking or something and when they got back realised even with a large down payment the banks would no longer give them a mortgage.

I guess it's less surprising to me as I've seen the village dynamically changing over the years but as you say some things are still there and you think "Haha that tree we used to build swings on is still there!"

 

The last time I visited my so-called 'roots', just about everything was different to the '60's and early 70's in Southall, Middlesex.
Nobody left in the street I used to live in, anyone there are migrants, usually working in the local industries. I thought I might go to my local cinema, just for nostalgia. No-go, it has been turned into a Mosque.rolleyes Such is progress, I guess.

 

I moved from the east to the west coast of Australia in 1990, and I've been through the old neighbourhoods (there were a few) when I've gone back to Melbourne. A couple of places have been demolished. The house where I lived from 1964-78 is still standing; it was the edge of suburbia fifty years ago, but there's not much there now that looks like country.
I lived above a sports shop for a couple of years in one of the older suburbs. Went by when I was back there in January; the shop is still there downstairs, but from the street it looked as if my old loungeroom was full of bicycles.

 

To add. I went past the tavern my dad vistited. Wanted to stop in, but thought. One would lead to a few and I didn't want to take a cab ride home.

Saw a tree I pounded nails into a 2X4 to make a ladder to climb up. Boards were gone, but some nails were still there.

Walgreens, they had a full service resturant back then. Now a Dollar Store. Woolworth 5 & dime. A dinner inside I used to order food so I could talk to the waitress. Ask her out and stayed with her 2 years. Vacant now. I hope she's has a great life. 17 @ the time.

Old wooden car bridge over the canal was gone, along with the penny you paid to walk across the canal bridge.

Old vacant houses that had old cars in the garage. Think made in the 40's. All gone with new houses taking their place.

Rambling, I know. How you grew up in life, makes you who you are today.

 

Checked out where I grew up in England courtesy of Google Maps. Here's my childhood house. Almost 40years since I've been there.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ie...=1TPXmwVFf_sIedOACXGxcw&cbp=12,237.15,,0,1.06