What a lovely day I had yesterday.
The forecast was fab – and the day didn’t disappoint. Sunny and dry, just what the soul needed.
I’ve decided, seeing as my attempts at a holiday this year have come to nought, that I’m just going to go away for odd days. And not just that – I’m going to have a plan. The plan is to visit every house that I’ve ever lived in, in the order in which I lived there.
So – today I started in Hull. In fact, I went one better, and started in Beverley, which is where I was born.
Beverley, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, is a lovely town, like a miniature version of York. It has a Minster, it has Beverley Bar, it has a racecourse. It also has a market cross and Burgess ice cream. What’s not to love?
So many memories. When we lived in Hull, Beverley was one of our ‘day out’ places.
I’d sort of planned to spend a couple of hours in Beverley and then head down to Hull and visit the City Centre. In the end, I was having such a pleasant time that I decided to stay for lunch. The place I’d really wanted to visit in Hull – Wilberforce House – is closed due to Covid, so it made sense.
After lunch I drove down to the part of Hull where I used to live – Anlaby Common. I lived there from my birth in 1960 until we left in 1971. I parked outside my old house (took a cheeky photo) and had a bit of a walk around. All the houses have double glazing now, of course, which makes them look a little different. There were two trees in our garden – an apple tree and a pear tree – they’ve gone. And the front garden is now all paved over to provide off-street parking.
I walked the half mile or so to my old school. Can’t believe I did that four times a day (I went home for lunch). The school itself has been demolished and a new one built in its place.
The bus garage is also gone – it’s retirement apartments now. The old shops – Olivers the butchers, Bennets the fish shop, Voases the sweet shop, the Co-op – have all gone. But there are cafes, beauty salons, estate agents. There’s even a bit of a hipster vibe going on.
And the weather was just glorious – my car reckoned it was 27 degrees. After my walk to the school and back I went to a café and sat outside with a cold drink. Ee, it weren’t like that in my day.
They always say you should never go back – I’m not sure I agree. You can go back – but you can’t expect it to still be the same.
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