Rowan and Reminiscing

Following on from my Brighton "meet" last Thursday, today found us returning to the home of my birth, the brewing base that is Burton-on Trent. Although I am a regular visitor to my parent's village, merely a couple of miles away, it has been many years since I've wandered the streets of my old town.

It's fascinating, if not a little frightening, how quickly places change; the location of streets which used to be part of the internal road map are now strangely hazy and landmarks have moved or disappeared. Take the statue of the Cooper - this meeting point (which used to be found open to the elements outside Littlewoods) is now located under cover in a shopping area which seems almost alien. Norman's the music shop - gone. The Dog Pub (now there's more than a pintful of memories - Joy Division on the jukebox!) -closed. But then I guess I'm changed too, people and places move on.

However, today was about the past meeting the present. Meet Rowan. The most delightful little girl you could hope to find - a barefoot beauty. She's the daughter of a friend from school, a friend who, like Chris last week, I hadn't seen in over 20 years. Over cheese on toast, Chris and I reminisced with Jo and caught up on the missing time, from school, through Telescopes, to Ireland. Some journey! It seems she is another happy traveller, who has found herself in life's perfect place. With Elvis her soul mate, a magical home in Mayo and her beautiful daughter - who can blame her for feeling that she has everything she could possibly want? Jo Doran clearly has!

So as Graham and I headed back up the A38, Chris and Mark back to Brighton and Jo and Rowan back to "daddy" in Mayo I felt glad we had had this time back in Burton. I wouldn't like to return permanatly, but it was good to revisit the place where I spent my formative years.