Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» Isn't where you were BORN always going to be your home town no matter how young you were when your parents moved you to elsewhere??
It depends really on your own experiences and preferences.
I am from a small town, really a large village at the time, called Emsworth, not far from the large town and Naval Base of Portsmouth on England's South coast. I was only seven though when Dad's work establishment was uprooted and moved some 80 miles to where I still live now, 61 years later.
So I don't really have ever so much connection to Emsworth, although I remember parts of it and life there fairly well. I have been back only twice.
The first time was when I was perhaps 12, and our family swapped homes for a holiday week with friends back there. The second time was probably in the 1990s. I had to meet friends in SE England, with whom I was travelling to France for a holiday, but not until the evening so gave myself a full day for the trip to their home so I could have a lunch stop in Emsworth.
My first home was opposite a pub - a mysterious place to me then. I was in luck. It was still there, open and so I had a drink; my first ever time inside it. Then I went for walk around an artificial lake called The Mill Pond - still there but the tidal mill itself had become a yacht-club premises. This is a popular spot for locals, but I was surprised when I overheard a woman say to her companion, "When this was a fishing village it was so rough round the harbour the Police used to patrol in pairs".
So yes, Emsworth is my home town, I remember it quite well and one of the best teachers I had in all my school years was mine in the Infants' School there; but otherwise it does not exert a very strong hold on me. Sometimes I think about going back to see what it's like now, but that might be a mistake! It's a lengthy and not very attractive journey by road, too; though accessible by train fairly easily - appropriate as when we lived there we used the local trains a lot.
What a lovely reply Durdle! Thank you for sharing your remembrances as thoroughly as you have. I do agree that perhaps it's best to not to go back again. What it might have become may not wear well. I remember very vividly wearing snowsuits and playing in the snow. I remember my Grandfather's woodworking shop on Woodward Avenue. He named it PARIS WOODWORKS because he, my grandmother and mom fled to Paris during the Armenian Holocaust at the hands of Turks. I remember (at least I THINK I remember) making snow angels with someone in the front yard during winter. I remember riding in a boat to some Island with others. Bablo Island? Something like that. Vague faint but there. It's funny what you remember isn't it? So Highland Park, Michigan will always be my hometown. When Michigan is in the news I pay attention. I've been back twice. Once when I was 10 with my mom and sis to visit my grandparents. Then ten years later when I was married on a road trip to my husband's home state of Pennsylvania we visited an aunt and uncle who lived in a town called Huntington Woods. Long time ago. I like the sound of your hometown Durdle. EMSWORTH. So you've always lived by the sea then? Lucky thee. How are things around you now vis a vis COVID? I read that the U.K. France and Germany locked down. Sigh. Again and again and again. It seems we are on a merry-go-round that never stops..it only slows down a bit and then revs up again. :)
Huh. I'd typed a reply here then accidentally deleted it just as I was about to post it!
Oh well... Start again...
I looked up Highland Park in my atlas, and found it, on the Lake Michigan shore between Chicago and Milwaukee. It does not show any islands in the Southern part of the lake, but the map scale is probably too small and that part of the map is very crowded.
I did not realise that in continental size terms you are not all that far from the Mississipi there, maybe 150 miles; and that it and its Missouri sister come from so far North, with the Missouri's head being streams from Canada as well as the NW USA states.
Snow is not very common in Southern England, and the Winters have been relatively mild for some years now (though there is a thought that we may be in for a cold one this time). I remember the worst I saw was in January 1963, with a severe blizzard across Southern England causing serious disruption and taking some weeks to thaw completely. There have been one or two more since, but not quite as bad.
Yes - I've always lived by the sea, if not always in sight of it from home at least not far away. It's about a 10-15 minute walk away for me now. I can see a little bit of it from my upstairs window, beyond a gap between nearby houses.
I also looked for Huntington Woods in my atlas but it's not listed. It does list some Huntingtons in America, but not in Pennsylvania. However, we have a local link. My upstairs windows give me a view of the upper levels of the original Portland. The US one is in Oregon, but the first Governor and name-giver of the State of Pennsylvania was William Penn. His family home is on Portland, called Pennsylvania Castle - I don't which had that full name first, the State or the house. It changed hands since, was even a hotel for a time (one of my sisters held her wedding reception there) but has now reverted to a private home - but is still called Pennsylvania Castle.
That Portland is the source of the famous Portland Stone for masonry, and is said to be the source of the material for the Mason-Dixon Line markers, I suppose thanks to the Penn connection. Good for our exports, but I am surprised the boundary surveyors had not found suitable masonry stone in America. Or perhaps they had, but found it easier and cheaper to import stone from across the Atlantic!
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Yes, the pandemic grinds remorselessly on. This is England's second lock-down after a few months of relatively freer times. It is scheduled to end in early December with the hope of a vaguely-normal Christmas, but we can't guarantee anything and some of the closures don't actually make very much sense. It's having some unexpected as well as very bad effects on the economy as well as on everyone's home and social lives.
Not helped too by the provincial governments of Wales and Scotland determinedly applying their own rules to be different in fairly small but distinct ways from England. This political pettiness merely adds to the confusion and makes life even more difficult for those living one side of the border but working, going to school or looking after relatives on the other; perhaps barely a mile away.
And to be honest, it is all with no clear end in sight for anyone, anywhere. X
This post was edited by Durdle at November 5, 2020 3:16 PM MST
Huntington Woods is in Michigan not Pennsylvania. I sure wasn't clear about that. And it is BOBLO Island...in the Detroit River on the Canadian side of the border. There was a boat that took us there. I was 3 so my memories are fuzzy. It's so kind of you to have looked all that up. I appreciate it and so thank you extra.
I think living so close to where you were born gives more depth to your memories. We moved to California because my dad had a cousin who was quite wealthy and was going to fix him up with a job. It was quite an adventure traveling by car from Highland Park Michigan to Los Angeles, California. I wonder if my parents had stayed there if I'd still be there? I'm not all that adventurous. I had an uncle who was a cop in Detroit way back then. My grandparents and my two uncles (Mom's brothers) all eventually moved to California too. I love being a Californian but I'm pretty sure I'd love being anywhere. I lived for five years in East Acton, Massachusetts and my son was born there. Massachusetts is filled with historical places. We lived very close to Walden Pond and when my son was little we'd go there, put a blanket on the sand and sit and just look out at the pond. It was surrounded by trees whose reflections you could clearly see in the water. It was breathtaking. I think at that time no one was allowed to go into the water. But it was such a peaceful place. My ex-husband's mom's surname was Emerson. A descendant of Ralph Waldo. She was also a member of the DAR...Daughters of the American Revolution. Me? I am a "nobody" historically as far as I know but my son has the blood of Ralph Waldo.
On a different tangent I am fascinated by a show that traces the history of people. Some tracing goes all the way back hundreds and hundreds of years. The folks whose families are being researched find out the most amazing things. It's awesome how that kind of tracking is possible. Do you know how far back your family goes? I have no idea about mine since my parents were both born in the "old country". My dad was born in what was then called IZMIR, Turkey and my mom in Amasya, Armenia. I am first generation American. Whom would I be if I were born and living in "the old country"? I wonder. I shall ask. My Jim has a friend who traced Jim's ancestors all the way back to the 17th century! Can you imagine that?
Who is your oldest friend? A childhood pal whom you met decades ago with whom you keep in touch? Is there anyone like that? My sister has such friends. She was born in California and she is quite gregarious and had lots of friends. Me? Introvert. Shy. I had one friend through high school until 10th grade when she dropped me and "took up" with a fast crowd. They smoked! I don't know what "the fast crowd" does these days but I suspect it's much more "lively" than just smoking.
On TV right now is the agonizing wait to see who will be the president. Legally. The duck shouts fraud and has lawsuits already being rejected. He is the most weird person. In some states he wants counting to continue...where he is winning. In some states he wants counting stopped. Where he is losing. In fact about 300 of his quack adoring worshippers were shouting STOP THE COUNT outside a polling location where votes were being counted. Some carried weapons. I don't know if that is being replicated in dozens of places but once Biden is confirmed as president I think it is going to be some very dark times for us. Very dangerous. Worst case I see them drunk as skunks roaming the streets with loaded weapons angry and out of control. I hope my imagining is way off base. Well I hope you don't have eyestrain. Thanks for hanging in! :)
Take care and STAY SAFE Durdle! :)
This post was edited by RosieG at November 5, 2020 8:30 PM MST
It doesn't? Are you SURE? Are you CERTAIN? NO DOUBTS? NO wiggle room? For everyone? Everywhere? All the time? Dagnabbit. Darn. Heck. Thank you for your reply and Happy Thursday to thee ad thine. Oh didja read the reply I received from Durdle perchance? Different strokes.
This post was edited by RosieG at November 6, 2020 7:30 AM MST
Nope. I was born in a hospital nearly twenty miles from where my parents home actually was (no maternity hospitals closer than that). That town has never been "home". Moved when I was a year old - no memories. Moved BACK when I was eight, did most of my growing up there and a part of me will always call that "home". I chose Adelaide. I could have stayed in Sydney's outer west, but the trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat. The pace of life here is easier.
I can so relate to that R. I'm not built for a "fast" life. Or crowds. I can't breathe. I am claustrophobic so I need space and air to breathe and views to see that are not all crapped up by mobs and throngs and busy busy busy hurry hurry hurry. Not my cuppa tea. Visiting New York City would be fine if I were shown the sights by a native New Yorker. For a small while. I could not survive there. I like to ponder and mosey and meander and I'm sure I"d be run over by foot traffic or elbowed out of the way till I was black and blue. Some are born in small towns and lust after going to "the big city". Not me. I was born in a small town and have always chosen to live on the outskirts. Different strokes right? Thank you for your reply and Happy Friday to thee and thine! :)
Durdle 