Roaming Brit
  • Blog
  • The Story Of Us
  • Other Blogs
    • Forever Enduring Cycles Blog 2015 >
      • Forever Enduring Cycles
      • Bipolarcoaster
      • Books For Sale
  • Gallery
  • Spain
    • First Month
    • Three Months
    • Six Months
    • One Year
    • 2 Year Anniversary
    • Spanish Views
    • Gran Alacant >
      • GA Advertiser
      • Gran Alacant News
      • LoungeD
      • No Wives Club
  • About
    • New Life
    • Wedding
    • 21 Years
    • Timeline
    • My Story
    • Australia 2016/17
  • Guest Bloggers
    • Penelope Wren
    • Debra Rufini
    • Claire Coe
    • Richard Guy
    • Optimistic Mummy
    • Julie Rawlinson
    • Letters Of Hope
  • Links
  • Contact
  • My Writing
    • Short Stories From My Youth
    • Verruca Almond
    • The Streets

From a new life in spain, to an old life in britain, 'roaming brit' documents uncertain times!

Picture

On 31st January 2016, my partner and I left Southampton to start a new life as Expats in Gran Alacant, on the Costa Blanca. This blog will document our journey, as we navigate the Spanish system, travelling a path untried and untested. With Brexit looming, political turmoil in Europe and an unpredictable future, harsh decisions have to be made. Illness, family bonds and a Change of heart all make for challenging times in a life of a 'Roaming Brit!'

Picture

Trip Down Memory Lane!

26/2/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Yesterday I had a trip down memory lane; I went to visit my parents at their home in Catisfield. It's been two weeks since I last saw them making it the ideal time for a catch up. Dad picked me up from Fareham railway station and we decided to take a detour on the way to see Mum, driving to my old childhood home, where I grew up forty seven years ago. I have been back since I left there in 1981, but only briefly, in passing. Yesterday we parked the car and had a walk around the area I once called home! Like so many times before, my past has become a great source of comfort during a particularly challenging time in my life.

I have spoken about my childhood home before and written about my experiences in a number of short stories, but today I want to go into a little bit more detail, about a place that holds some very special memories for me. It is important that I spend my time in the UK as positively as possible, after all I have no idea how long I will be living here. Revisiting my youth, is all part of a process, rekindling bonds with family and places that I have ignored for far too long. Seeing the maisonette I grew up in, was just the tonic I needed to carry on pushing forwards while I am here.

My parents moved into Nashe House in 1971, the year I was born. They were the first occupants of a newly built social housing estate on the outskirts of Fareham. The flat was modern, spacious and even had a garden for me to play in, it was the perfect home, after the birth of their first child.

I remember this place with fondness. It was a five minute walk from my school in Tewkesbury Avenue and looked out over a huge, endless expanse of playing fields opposite. Going back yesterday, that particular view has been obscured, fenced off and surrounded by shrubs and bushes. The green gardens that used to be on our doorstep felt smaller than I remember and run down compared to the 1970s. I recognised my old home of course, but it didn't feel the same, it had turned into something different, something alien and a little bit tired.

These maisonettes used to be council owned and were well kept and neatly looked after, painted in the same basic colours, sporting the same metal fencing outside and a shed for every apartment, just beyond the communal washing area, where we used to play as children. Today most of them have been bought by owner occupiers, their individuality visible as Father and I walked around the estate. Paneled fences, austere walls, trellis and a variety of contrasting windows and doors were proudly on display, showing the personality of those who lived inside. The uniformity of the local authority estate had been lost during the intervening years; Nashe house looked jumbled, confused and uncared for, despite now being privately owned.

Nashe House and Hillson House opposite were a revolution in social housing during the early 1970s. Unlike other tower blocks of the era, these four story developments were built of brick, not concrete and were designed to sit sympathetically into the semi rural location it occupied in the Highlands area of Fareham. The spacious homes were designed for small families in mind and are twice as large as similar dwellings today. These were times of innovation in house building, modernity dictated design and although these places lacked character they did offer functional living for the baby boomer generation, rebuilding after the Second World War.
Picture
The most enduring aspect of growing up in this area was the community in which we lived. The photograph on the right is a picture of my Fathers old childhood home in Nashe Way, just a few yards around the corner from our flat. This was a larger family home and was one of six original houses built long before Nashe House. My parents had lived in this location all their lives, never moving more than a mile away from this neighbourhood. Even yesterday when I went back, the environment was as quiet as it used to be, just a few more cars parked on the side of the road, but essentially the same kind of atmosphere. This is in stark contrast to the Council estates in larger urban areas!

Picture
Just to the left hand side of our old flat there stood a row of old peoples bungalows, all part of this diverse neighbourhood. This is a photograph of Mrs Rogers house, the dear old lady I wrote about in 'Short Stories From My Youth' in an article entitled 'The Fence.' Mrs Rogers was a part of this local community that lived and worked together, looking out for one another; all of us getting on well. This model for modern living was the beginning of a change in attitudes towards different generations; divergent groups of people coexisting as one. There was no violence, crime or anti-social behaviour, just a friendly, welcoming climate of trust and reliance; neighbours leaving their doors open, kids playing outside and a future that looked rosy, compared to the problems of the past!

Picture
As a child growing up in the 1970s, I was always outside playing. In front of Mrs Rogers house was a small tree, probably just planted, today standing tall. This was the tree I buried 'my treasure' under to keep it safe. I would put my most prized possessions into Mothers tupperware boxes, dig a hole under this local landmark and hide them, covering them with dirt. Even today I squirrel items away, so I guess this was all part of my psyche, who I am and who I was destined to be.

When I saw this  patch of green, I immediately recognised it and actually felt a little emotional. This area was a big part of my childhood and it wouldn't surprise me, if there is still a tiny plastic box buried just below this tree. It's memories like this that make me feel glad to be home, especially in my old stomping ground. There was something comforting about walking around the roads surrounding our old flat, something a tad nostalgic, triggering long forgotten feelings and memories of growing up around the family and friends I once held dear. Each of them were there with me on Tuesday, playing, laughing, fighting and running around, just as they did forty five years ago; my innocence returned as I made my pilgrimage home.
A short one minute walk away, was the school I attended as a child. This complex has remained largely unchanged. The same buildings are in situ, the layout, as I remember, a monument to sixties architecture echoing the voices of children who walked through the school gates, during those first important years of education.

I was philosophical, deep in thought, briefly looking around the old school buildings, remembering school assemblies, my old teacher Mrs Brooks, singing hymns in the hall, the playground beyond and school dinners, that I still enjoy making today. These were difficult years, but ones I still recall with happiness as I made my first tentative steps in the World. A place of learning has many stories to tell and this is where my narrative began. The name may well be different, but the substance is still the same, an institution that gently, calmly, encouraged me to play!
This rather ordinary block of flats stands largely unchanged since the early 1970s. The Great Storm of 1987 ripped off the flat roofs, now replaced by a more traditional pitched affair. The decorative open walls separating each garden have gone replaced by stark brick barriers, dividing neighbours, who no longer speak, a sign of the end of community perhaps and the beginning of self identity, a progressive act deeply regressive in nature.  The neglected out buildings, car parking areas and communal grounds, nestle awkwardly between the buildings, paint peeling, wood rotting, a shadow of their former self!

My early childhood memories living in Nashe House were positive, full of adventure, surrounded by children my own age. The experiences I had are often the catalyst for my writing; returning home to the place of my birth, gave me further food for thought. Revisiting the past is a calling I have to undertake, so much has happened in between and today I am looking for answers. Why did my life turn out the way it did? What could I have done to change my situation today? and what role, if any, did my childhood growing up in Fareham, have on my future direction? So much has happened  since I lived in this space, the blemishes of time clearly etched on its face, marks of a life all of us have led  navigating the streets we continue to tread!
Picture
Picture
Picture


0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    51-year-old Author and professional blogger. Expat formerly living in Gran Alacant on the Costa Blanca! Currently, residing in my adopted home of Perth, Western Australia.

    Picture

      Contact Luke.

    Submit
    Picture
    Click me & email for more information!
    Picture
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Asia-2019
    Australia
    Australia-202223
    Bangkok & Chiang Mai 2023
    Bettys-revenge
    Bipolar
    Bipolarcoaster
    Britain
    Bullying
    Business
    Cancer-research
    Cats
    Characters-i-have-known
    Charity
    Charlatan-or-confidant
    Christmas-thoughts
    Claybornes World
    Coming-out-stories
    Cooking
    Coronavirus
    Croatia 2022
    Current Affairs Politics
    Darrell In The Uk
    Death Of Queen Elizabeth
    Dunbars
    Easy Horse Care
    Events
    Events That Shaped My World
    Family
    Fascinating Facts
    Friends & Colleagues
    Gran Alacant
    Guest Bloggers
    Ibs
    Immigration
    Information
    Inspirational People
    Interviews
    Japan And Thailand 2020
    Jersey-2019
    King Charles III
    Lifestyle Break
    Lockdown-life-in-photos
    London 2022
    Lounge-d
    Luke-martin-jones-awards
    Marmite Watch
    Memories Of Fareham
    Memories-of-home
    Memories Of Portsmouth
    Memories Of Southampton
    Memories Of Spain
    Me-too-oxfam
    Milestones
    Moving
    My Life
    My Writing
    Non Touch Toast
    Oxfam Sociopathy
    Penelope Wren
    Photographs-of-hope
    Picante And Marigold
    Pippa
    Platinum Jubilee
    Postcards From Home
    Quotes
    Rabs-world
    Remembering Gran Alacant
    Reviewing Gran Alacant
    Santa-pola
    Self-isolation
    Shopping
    Short Stories From My Youth
    Southampton
    Spiritual
    Teaching Jamie
    Thailand 2022
    The-darkness
    The-streets
    The Two Of Us
    Travel
    Verruca-almond
    Villa In The Sun
    Visits From Friends
    War In Europe
    Weight Loss & Health
    Year In Review 2015
    Year In Review 2016
    Year In Review 2017
    Year In Review 2018
    Year In Review 2019
    Year In Review 2020
    Year In Review 2021
    Year In Review 2022
    Zest

    Archives

    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Tweets by realtruthblog
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture


    Instagram
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    A place to call home
    Finally, a place we can call home.  A community of like minded individuals, who used to call Britain home.  Now Spain is our choice, an altogether gentler, happier, sunnier and safer experience!
            Luke Feb 16
    Picture
Picture
Picture

Telephone

+447999663360

Email

lukemartin.jones@gmail.com
  • Blog
  • The Story Of Us
  • Other Blogs
    • Forever Enduring Cycles Blog 2015 >
      • Forever Enduring Cycles
      • Bipolarcoaster
      • Books For Sale
  • Gallery
  • Spain
    • First Month
    • Three Months
    • Six Months
    • One Year
    • 2 Year Anniversary
    • Spanish Views
    • Gran Alacant >
      • GA Advertiser
      • Gran Alacant News
      • LoungeD
      • No Wives Club
  • About
    • New Life
    • Wedding
    • 21 Years
    • Timeline
    • My Story
    • Australia 2016/17
  • Guest Bloggers
    • Penelope Wren
    • Debra Rufini
    • Claire Coe
    • Richard Guy
    • Optimistic Mummy
    • Julie Rawlinson
    • Letters Of Hope
  • Links
  • Contact
  • My Writing
    • Short Stories From My Youth
    • Verruca Almond
    • The Streets