Well, the Great Retirement Photo Reorganise hasn't happened yet and I'm not feeling strong enough to do a major search for photos, but I had a very quick look in a drawer and came across this slide, which Mr Life has scanned in for me. It's a fairly rubbish picture, but it shows Mayfield, the house where he lived from early teens till we married when he was 25. There are his mum and his great-aunt Chris in the garden. Look at the lovingly-tended lawns and flower beds. Inside the house, there are high ceilings, cornices, beautiful fireplaces, polished surfaces, the smell of wonderful cooking (my mother-in-law was a domestic goddess).
And this is it on Saturday, taken a bit to the left of the other photo, from the bottom of the drive.
Mr Life's parents moved out in the mid-70s after his father retired. The house went with his father's job and the Coal Board sold it after a while. It was then made into a pub/restaurant, rather to our shock, and for the past - ooh - thirty years we've wondered about going there for a meal. We were a bit wary because we didn't want to see it messed up. Last June (we don't make rash decisions) we decided to go for lunch but found it closed and obviously empty.
But it never occurred to us that it would be demolished.
Well, nothing lasts for ever. But if you'd told me, when Mr Life and I were gazing into each other's eyes in that sitting room whose windows you can see at the front and side of the house, that we would outlive the house, we'd have been most surprised. Most surprised indeed.
This is how it happened:
http://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/musselburgh/articles/2009/06/04/388157-pub-to-be-demolished-to-make-way-for-new-flats
It is happening all over the world. Beautiful old buildings that were built to last a lot longer - are being pulled down to make way for flats. There are more and more people, and they have to live somewhere, so governments and councils demolish nice looking buildings and replace them with concrete and glass.
ReplyDeleteProgress isn't always good. I love the look of those late Victorian/Edwardian buildings - they look so solid, but unfortunately they prove not to be when the developers have greedy eyes on them!
ReplyDeleteI hate seeing great old buildings being knocked down by developers. Happens everywhere in Melbourne. The upside is now there are too many apartments being built which has stopped the rental market becoming crazily overpriced.
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