Take Me Home Country Roads

Visited my childhood last week.  Back to the country roads of Cheshire (nr Manchester, England).  So good to be back home (I keep expressing joy with song titles or lyrics!)

I'd started blogging/writing about my childhood in 2002, so it was good to revisit the writing in reality, 9 years later.  How was it?  Did reality warp or destroy the memories or writing?  I'd been warned that going back to London and Manchester, from Australia, things would appear much smaller than in my mind's eye.

In fact, on the whole things were the same or larger, such as the road in our street where we played football as kids.  What most struck me in going back to Handforth and into the The Valley behind our house where I played out my childhood, is the march of nature.  Nature is relentless, people aging, buildings and structures under threat from 50 years of nature knocking.

It's amazing how the acres of my green grass childhood are now overgrown with new and thick vegetation.  Rivers have changed courses over those 50 years.  And other parts have remained unaltered. Even the 1960s graffiti has survived. 

I can feel a novel inside me, set in the 60s with my childhood memories as the background rather than the theme of the novel.  But I don't yet know what I'd like to write about as the main them of a novel, with this childhood 60s stuff in the background.  A Kestype novel perhaps, Kestrel for a Knave?

I can't explain, just how green and beautiful Cheshire looks on a visit, after 9 years of living in Australia.  I'm happy to be living in Melbourne, a city near the sea (ok, Bay), but Cheshire sure looks lush and green.

Comments

[jordan 11]

The mighty desert is burning for the love of a bladeof grass who shakes her head and laughs and flies away.Do you like it?

[oil mill]

The wise man is secured, always happy. Not because he loved all have, but have everything he loves.
Life has a few absolutely cannot lose things: abstain power, your cool, hope and confidence

[auf-nach-mallorca.info]

I spent much time away from home in my university gap year (well it was more like 15 years in the end lol), but on returning years later to Sheffield, I felt the same as yourself, things size wise were relatively the same, however road layouts had changed and things seemed much busier.

[Denmark is Great]

Cheshire, now I have been there I few times, my gran lives there and during the long summer break we used to spend weekends with gran, and go into Manchester shopping. I haven't however been there for a good 15 years now, but did take a trip into Manchester the other week only to find that it has changed beyond recognition with its new tram system near to the train station and shopping is fantastic.

[Joanne]

I have to say that Manchester is a fantastic destination to shop. I am from Sheffield and have recently visited Manchester for shopping purposes. The shops are far better than the ones we have in Sheffield. I am not sure if it is because the shops are laid out better or just because they have better stock. Fantastic place!

[Berlin Shopping]

Having recently been over to Manchester England to see take that in concert, I have the pleasure of saying that everything about Manchester is fantastic, in particular the shopping, but Manchester City Football Ground is absolutely impressive, and people of Manchester should be proud.

[ella]

I would love to live somewhere where my kids can live and breath the country air, but in reality I live and breath the city of Manchester and I love it!