Little Boxes on the hillside

(Song by Malvina Reynolds,1962)

Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes all the same

There's a pink one and a green one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same

And the people in the houses
All went to the university
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same

And there's doctors and lawyers
And business executives
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same

And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school

And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university...


Someone's building 12 new houses on a hillside in the middle of Stroud. The timber roof frames are visible on the right of my shot. The car park you see in the top pic used to be part of the graveyard. We drive over bones every day, I dare say. The old almshouses that used to fringe the graveyard/carpark were destroyed to make way for a ludicrous flyover scheme that never happened. Just as well, as it would have sliced through the Shambles marketplace and the Old Town Hall. As a result of these planning shenanigans, dating back to 1960s and 70s, there are derelict areas of Stroud that are gradually being seized on by developers.

These split-level coloured boxes would undoubtedly be very close to town, but I don't think there'd be room to swing a cat in them.