This is my entry for Sue Vincent of Daily Echo #writephoto.
This photo brings it all back to me now. As a child I lived on a council estate. The houses were all set out in crescents,each crescent had a green in its centre. The crescents were separated by a line of four houses then a cul du sac of houses, and alleyways to back of our crescent’s houses and oposite the next crescents houses, then another four houses then the next crescent repeated four times.
The houses on the other side of the road were private and backed on to a park. Why am I telling you this.
Well many an evening I would stand in our small back garden and the photo is the view I had. The roof tops, the chimneys with the ariels attached, the sunset/sunrise and the pigeons, especially the pigeons.
The man who lived next door kept racing pigeons, to me as a child hundreds of them. I doubt there were hundreds he had two “pigeon lofts” one the length of his back garden and one the width.
The earliest memories I have are of lying in my pram listening to the cooing of the pigeons. Glimpsing the sky through the sun canopy of my pram.
One of my lasting memories is standing in the backgarden watching the sun setting, hearing the man nextdoor calling in his birds after a race, hearing the joy in his voice as the first of his birds returned, I could feel the excitement as their shilouettes appeared over the roofs.
I have so many memories of the house I grew up in, got married from, took my children back to, to see their grandparents. The man next door his wife and her deaf sister were a large part of my life then.
We were a big family and our Mum and Dad never turned anyone away. There were always people staying over, waifs, strays, distant family, friends and almost strangers. That house with that view was in our lives for sixty years. Even after our parents died my eldest brother bought it and lived there for many years with his family. He sold it on about six years ago and a whole chapter of family life came to an end.
So today’s prompt was very special to me. So thank you Sue for the prompt. I hope that I have not bored anyone to sleep.
Jun 29, 2017 @ 20:35:57
What a lovely reminisce sis!!!
Jun 29, 2017 @ 20:53:06
It was a lovely home,I have written about it before. I really miss it Sis πππ
Jun 29, 2017 @ 20:59:22
β€πππ
Jun 29, 2017 @ 20:49:09
Thank you for sharing your story, Willow. Your parents must have been full of love for you and people in general. Lovely to hear.
Jun 29, 2017 @ 20:51:36
It was a lovely home, I have written about it before. I really miss those innocent times. πππ
Jun 29, 2017 @ 21:05:38
Enjoyed this, Willow. What lovely childhood memories you have! You brought your past back to life.
Jun 29, 2017 @ 21:07:31
I enjoyed writing about it, and it all stems from Sue’s prompt ππ
Jun 29, 2017 @ 21:10:09
Maybe you should write more on the subject – your memoirs ! ππ€
Jun 29, 2017 @ 21:12:03
Have written about the house, my dad and his union work, my brothers and sisters. No one would read my memoirs!! π€£πππ€£π€£π
Jun 29, 2017 @ 21:17:14
You never know. ππ I’m glad though that you have such pleasant memories.
Jun 29, 2017 @ 21:19:47
Yes I am very lucky π€£ππ
Jun 29, 2017 @ 21:44:09
What lovely memories, Willow. I am so glad the picture called them up for you π
Jun 29, 2017 @ 21:48:05
I just couldn’t believe the photo it’s just like the view from 320’s garden. πβ£οΈππ
Jun 29, 2017 @ 21:49:03
It is actually the view from my son’s garden π β€
Jun 29, 2017 @ 21:50:25
Really not in Brentford Middlesex then! Strange how views trigger memories isn’t it.
Jun 30, 2017 @ 00:00:38
It doesnβt take much sometimes π β€
Jun 30, 2017 @ 05:06:51
No just a little trigger.π
Jun 30, 2017 @ 05:14:15
π
Jun 29, 2017 @ 23:51:56
Nice remembrance of your childhood.
Jun 30, 2017 @ 05:05:11
Thank you the photo was a gift! π
Jun 30, 2017 @ 00:08:55
Very nice post β memories as opposed to fiction.
Jun 30, 2017 @ 05:06:02
Thank you the photo just triggered the memories π
Jun 30, 2017 @ 07:27:22
Ah, this is so lovely. It’s sad that that sense of community doesn’t seem to exist any more. At least it doesn’t where I’m living, hardly see my neighbours.
Jun 30, 2017 @ 07:58:16
Me either, I see the neighbours and apart from the immediate ones that’s it I see them! I am lucky though the ones I do know are very nice. Then I wonder how much there is a cherry glow on what we remember…. πππ
Jun 30, 2017 @ 07:37:15
Memories have a way to come up π Beautiful take on the prompt!
Jun 30, 2017 @ 07:55:38
Thank you so much π
Jul 01, 2017 @ 16:11:26
Lovely memories Willow and happy times.
Thanks for sharing them with us xxx
Jul 01, 2017 @ 16:15:14
Life was so much simpler then ππ
Jul 01, 2017 @ 17:09:59
I know what you mean!
Jul 01, 2017 @ 17:10:43
ππππ
Jul 02, 2017 @ 09:10:31
Thank you Sis ππ
Jul 02, 2017 @ 10:09:01
Not at all, Willow. I really enjoyed reading your memories. They even rekindled memories of my childhood and where we lived. My Father still lives in the same house I grew up in. When I go and visit him, the house seems so small compared to when I was a child. However, it still contains some wonderful memories.
Jul 02, 2017 @ 11:01:54
So glad you enjoyed it Hugh and even better it brought back memories for you. It is a strange thing but our childhood home so often feels small when we revisit it. Be well and happy π
Jul 04, 2017 @ 08:53:58
Attachment to the house in which one has grown up with fond memories is natural. It is sad that the house had to be sold out. but then all goods things in life have to come to an end. your memories were very interesting.
http://ideasolsi65.blogspot.in/2017/07/flight-of-questions.html
Jul 04, 2017 @ 10:13:24
Thank you I am glad you enjoyed my ramblings. It is sad when part of your life comes to an end but there is always another chapter that will open. ππ