h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The house I lived in for the first three years was made of red brick.
I don't actually recall much of it, but one day, my (older) sister and a friend locked me out (we we had been playing on the street). I was too small to reach the door knob or the bell. My mum had visitors, and anyway, we lived on the first floor, so she didn't hear me. I then went through half the town to my grandparents. That was before anybody had a telephone, mind. My grandma wasn't at home, and my grandpa couldn't walk, so there was no way to let my mother know I was safe. I remember that I hid under the table when, in the evening, my dad came to search for me.

The house we moved to later is where my parents still live. The road and neighbourhood look unchanged, but are 'dead' - there were lots and lots of children when I grew up, and now it's just my parents' generation left living there.

>>> The road and neighbourhood look unchanged, but are 'dead' - there were lots and lots of children when I grew up, and now it's just my parents' generation left living there.

That's quite a powerful image, B'El. Very sad but I expect true in the case of many places, as populations shift and move about, and as generations change one from the other.

Well, somebody else will live there in about a decade to come, seeing as the poeple left are in their late 70s/early 80s now.

But when I went to visit when my children were small they had the whole playground to themselves. That was odd, and boring. When I was a child, the playground was buzzing with kids, we fought for the see-saws, the slide, and the swings. We played ball games and everything, the play ground was the meeting point for all children in the village. Nowadays, it is deserted. Maybe it will change again in the next generation.

Quite similar to my first house - it was on a new build estate, so everyone moved in at roughly the same time, and most were families with children.

We all played out together, and each other's parents would keep an eye on us (and sort us out if we fell over and hurt ourselves).

Over time, some children and their families moved out, and other people moved in (some with children, but mostly not), so it was never quite the same as in the beginning with the original group.

I occasionally pass the house (I don't live very far away from it these days) and it is a bit weird seeing it the same, but subtly different compared with when we lived there.