Homes under the hammer

When I lived in a hovel I was unable to look in the home section of the Sunday papers (or read any home improvement and decor magazines or articles), it would just be tossed straight into the recycling bin. A scruffy terrace in Staffordshire never featured; people imagined it was similar to living in Coronation Street, more like a gritty kitchen sink drama where nothing much happens or a cheaply made 1970's Sci-Fi where the house makes the occupants (occupant) sick.

I just felt so ashamed to be stuck with such a lemon. I couldn't bear to look at how the other half (even the privileged half) lived; it made me feel such a failure. Now it's gone I can flick through with abandon, although not with great interest I'll admit.

I didn't get similar anxiety when flicking through the Motor section, despite driving a very average car or struggled with Travel 'cause I wasn't going on exotic trips. I think there was much more entwined in Home.

I can honestly say the best thing that has happened to me in recent years (apart from meeting & marrying EJT) is getting shot of Wadham (and they are both inexplicably linked obviously). Even after I’d moved out but retained ownership I could bear to go back to check it was secure or collect remnants of post, I’d be overtaken with anxiety and sadness. I’d find excuses not to pop back and would put it off for weeks at a time (sometimes even months), all my failures, failings, disappointments and regrets personified in a two up town down piece of crumbling brick & mortar.

I didn’t abandon everything, little bits of Wadham travelled with me, although admittedly not very much. A large table & six chairs with matching mirror, a single bed, a chest of draws, a small Ikea unit, a few kitchen items and boxes (and boxes) of records, books & cd’s. Everything else was given to charity shops or taken to the tip. One huge but very cathartic clear out. Looking at how much we have now it’s hard to believe that this all took place less than two years ago!

Parts of T*dd Terraces will always remain with me, the occasional memory and tales told, I will never shake it off completely. I drive past occasionally because of its close proximity to the hospital, just to see what they've done and to glimpse any changes, but there are none apart from a new front door. The difficulties to open & close the original were quite charming on reflection; the new owners (or tenants) will miss out on the delights of having to slam the door so hard that the whole house shuddered.

We are all interested to scrutinize the homes we have occupied over the years to see the changes and find memory prompts perhaps forgotten.

Lonsdale Road is no longer pink. Elizabeth Gardens probably remains unremarkable. Springdale had much of the character removed when they ripped out the bulk of the front garden to provide better parking. Nurses Home Two was demolished five years ago, unfit for human habitation. Was the drainage ever sorted at Parma, do they still get complaints from next door that there’s water running down their garden?!?

No we're very happy at HH and I can't see us leaving here in a hurry. I imagine we'll go from there to our retirement bungalow; or rather EJT will I fear I'll probably long gone by this point.