Thursday, 12 May 2016

A long time ago

                               
                              The house as it is now but it wasn't painted in my day

 Such a long time ago I was born at home in a small house at the end of a rough road halfway between two towns in southern England. It was five o’clock in the morning and I cried as most babies do when greeting the world.

The address was No 1 Bentley Cottage, Reeds Estate, Heath End, Farnham, Surrey, then (but isn't anymore) and it was the best place to grow up with a field at the bottom of the garden and a stream running though the copse a bit further off.

Us kids ran free then even though it was wartime with army bases close by and planes flying overhead but we knew no other life. We climbed trees waded streams and caught tadpoles in ponds and played in the haystacks and pretended we were soldiers with sticks for guns just like our dads and uncles.

I went back there a few years ago but of course it is changed with a school in one field and dozens of houses in the others with everything looking so neat and tidy and I wondered where the kids were and what they do now for fun and so I sadly shook my head.

 Image found at www.zoopla.co.uk

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11 comments:

  1. messymimi12 May 2016 at 03:59

    How i wish every community would leave one field and a stand of trees near a creek for the children to play in.

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  2. Anonymous12 May 2016 at 04:55

    How poignant to come back to your childhood home and see the big changes. I'm sure the memories were filling you with emotion.

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  3. UP12 May 2016 at 07:34

    I miss my address in my small town...

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  4. Kristi12 May 2016 at 08:31

    The innocence of childhood shines through, even in the midst of war. What wonderful memories!

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  5. Unknown12 May 2016 at 16:08

    I miss my childhood home too. Nice job.

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  6. Anonymous12 May 2016 at 18:20

    always such a .... potentially potent moment, the return to a childhood home/neighborhood. to experience that moment of clash of memory-reality and current reality.
    very cool
    nice description of the address

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  7. Anonymous13 May 2016 at 06:55

    Perfectly sweet (and sad) nostalgia here. I find it sad that neighborhoods change so much toward isolation and away from community.

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  8. rallentanda13 May 2016 at 08:34

    Your childhood sounds idyllic.

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  9. The Plagued Parent13 May 2016 at 12:49

    I am sure the kids that live there now won't have the luxury of memories such as yours.

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  10. Unknown13 May 2016 at 15:20

    And nero reed was born!!!

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  11. Sherry Blue Sky14 May 2016 at 11:22

    I love this piece, Robin. Is it just us, or was childhood more fun in our day, without all the electronics?

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