Transporter Bridge

Funny, isn't it? Your home town, I mean. Not for people who've always lived in the same place, of course. But what if you haven't? I moved away in 1970 and apart from two years in the mid-1970's, I've always lived somewhere else. And yet I still think of the town where I was born and brought up for 17 years as my 'home town'. It's where I went to school, where I went round with my mates, where I got interested (very interested) in girls, and where I had my only brush with the Police (an official warning for drinking under age, if you must know. I've still got the letter; I think my Dad knew the Station Sergeant and had a quiet word). I may not have been an academic youth, but I learned a lot about life, and when you move away and start working and eventually get married, everything becomes just a little bit more serious somehow, and all that exuberant fun of youth becomes a memory.

I visited there today for the first time in about 20 years; a long day, as it's a round trip of 430 miles. Not for the best of reasons; the funeral of the 22 year old daughter of an old school friend. I had time for a bit of a look round first and was pleasantly surprised at some parts, in particular the Transporter Bridge that I've Blipped (with a couple of extras too, from different angles), which looks much better now than it did when I was a kid. Other parts weren't so good though, and it almost felt like being in an episode of 'Back to the Future'; everything was the same, but it was all different.

A sad day, but one where a talented young life was celebrated by a large number of people. And one where I met up with some of those old friends from when I lived there and just for a while, we relived that exuberant fun and it was home again.