A VISIT BACK TO MEMORY LANE

The Street, which only partly continues to live upto the second part of its name of being 'Garden.'

Many people do not like to look back into their or anybody's past; probably not surprisingly, as doing so can lead to us having to relive moments, events and experiences which we would prefer not to be confronted with again. Of course there are times when delving into our past can be a way of finding the strength and fortitude to help us to meet present day challenges, but, on the whole, why would anybody want to regularly delve into their past lives, which has already been lived and experienced, and at the probably cost of not living the present as fully as we might have been able to do? Unless, possibly, we are going back there in our attempt to find some relief or escape from a present day or anticipated future problems.

Or we simply cannot, for some reason, avoid doing so, and have to rely on recalling what we have done and experienced in the past to facilitate our social interaction and intercourse.

Some of the houses on the Street.

That being as it may, there are times when we do go back in time, not as a deliberate sojourn, but, probably because of something, an event, a smell, a scenery, reminding us of days gone by, and opportunistically taking us there.

And so it was this Sunday, that I had the occasion to make an early morning visit to Britain's second biggest city, Birmingham, and found myself passing an area where I had lived some decades ago, and was minded to take a closer look. I found the still tree-lined street where our family had lived in the 1970s, which still looks remarkably different from all the surrounding streets, with its now overgrown trees forming an effective barrier to ensuring that the relentless lines of cars do not encroach upon its pavements and make them hazardous for pedestrians.  These tall trees seem to form a verdant canopy along the street, almost giving it a tropical persona. 

The School

I was tempted to a look over the enclosed front of the houses, to see whether their occupants were nature friendly, and had  lovely gardens beckoning onto the passersby to have a closer look. I was dismayed to find that most of these houses had their 'front gardens' paved over, with some having the occasional tree, but with most being bereft of the joys of a floral Summer. 

The appearance of everywhere being paved, did cause me to wonder whether this might not be something which increases the risk of flooding when it rains heavily and persistently.

I was, however, most pleased to noticed that the house in which our family had lived for several years, so long ago, had some colourful flowers in its front garden.

The former cinema.

Having had a look at the street and the house in which we spent many happy years of our lives, I decided to have a look at the local school which some of my younger relatives attended. I was surprised to notice that it looks as, if not more impressive than it looked when we were living in the locality. In fact, it looked much bigger than I recalled it being.

Been there and done it I decided to have a look at the local cinema which we used to attend. Like the house in which we used to live, this cinema also speaks of happy times spent watching and repeatedly watching many movies. It is the picture house where we watched The Beatles, Charlie Chaplin comedies, the Three Stooges,  westerns, war pictures and horror films starring Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and others. 

Of course, this was all pre-VCR and home cinema days, which is probably why this cinema has long since had a number of other lives, including converted into in a bingo hall, before taking on its present function. 


And having made my brief sojourn into the past, I just as quickly escaped back into the present, as a contemplated who are the current inhabitants of this still peaceful, clean and apparently desirable street and area of Birmingham.

The local School