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thedivinegoat_archiveWe popped into Mum & Dad's today. Mum was over at my Aunts, but Dad was in and had visitors - our old neighbours from eight years ago in Bristol. It was quite nice catching up with them - hearing all the gossip about the people in our old street.
It got me thinking though - when I tell anyone I grew up in Fishponds their first comment is generally "Ooh, it's really rough there isn't it?" and I would generally respond that I hadn't noticed how bad it was until I moved out. Indeed the first time I returned having left five years previously I was shocked just how rough it did look.
However the last couple of years has seen a lot of developers buying up properties and doing them up for resale, and as a consequence there have been a lot of people moving in from the new estates or further afield. So Fishponds is improving, yes?
No. Well at least I don't think so. Because whats happening to Fishponds now is the sense of community is being killed.
When I lived on R______ Road, us kids probably ran wild. I can remember the driving schools all brought their learner drivers down our road to practice their 3-point turns and parallel parking, and we took offense this - it was our road dammit! So whenever we saw a learner driver we'd get out our bikes and just cycle up and down the street in front of the learners - probably scaring the shit out of them! It was our form of protest. I can remember us running around the playing field accosting strangers, asking them if they knew where we could buy "impossible" items like invisible ink or a pint of bread. (pretty harmless by todays standards!) I can remeber the fueds between families at different ends of the road, and screaming arguments. But everyone knew each other, and was there for each other. People knew me, knew my dad and some could remember my grandfather.
But with the "prettification" of the area that's changing. Our old neighbours, R&J told me today that the people who bought the house on the other side of R&J's house, haven't spoken a word to them since they moved in - two years ago! If R&J are coming out of their house at the same time as the new neighbours, the new neighbours will deliberatly look away to avoid meeting R&J's eyes. And unfortunately they're not alone in their behaviour. They've moved in from Emersons Green, one of the 'nice' new estates.
It makes me sad to think how Fishponds is changing - but hopefully there are still enough of the old guard to stave off the eniviatable for awhile.
It got me thinking though - when I tell anyone I grew up in Fishponds their first comment is generally "Ooh, it's really rough there isn't it?" and I would generally respond that I hadn't noticed how bad it was until I moved out. Indeed the first time I returned having left five years previously I was shocked just how rough it did look.
However the last couple of years has seen a lot of developers buying up properties and doing them up for resale, and as a consequence there have been a lot of people moving in from the new estates or further afield. So Fishponds is improving, yes?
No. Well at least I don't think so. Because whats happening to Fishponds now is the sense of community is being killed.
When I lived on R______ Road, us kids probably ran wild. I can remember the driving schools all brought their learner drivers down our road to practice their 3-point turns and parallel parking, and we took offense this - it was our road dammit! So whenever we saw a learner driver we'd get out our bikes and just cycle up and down the street in front of the learners - probably scaring the shit out of them! It was our form of protest. I can remember us running around the playing field accosting strangers, asking them if they knew where we could buy "impossible" items like invisible ink or a pint of bread. (pretty harmless by todays standards!) I can remeber the fueds between families at different ends of the road, and screaming arguments. But everyone knew each other, and was there for each other. People knew me, knew my dad and some could remember my grandfather.
But with the "prettification" of the area that's changing. Our old neighbours, R&J told me today that the people who bought the house on the other side of R&J's house, haven't spoken a word to them since they moved in - two years ago! If R&J are coming out of their house at the same time as the new neighbours, the new neighbours will deliberatly look away to avoid meeting R&J's eyes. And unfortunately they're not alone in their behaviour. They've moved in from Emersons Green, one of the 'nice' new estates.
It makes me sad to think how Fishponds is changing - but hopefully there are still enough of the old guard to stave off the eniviatable for awhile.
