Today on Sunday Stills the topic is ‘Home’.

I’ve lived in 9 homes altogether, and I haven’t got any photos at all of 5 of them, but here’s a link to the first one I remember.  I’ve had to leave a link, as it’s not my photo.  I lived in the top flat at 819 Commercial Road, Poplar from in the early 1960s with my parents.  It was haunted (I often saw ghosts), and the ground floor was then a branch of Barclays Bank (the first floor were offices).  Where the window is slightly open, that was the passageway, and the window next to it and the two around the corner are part of the front room. The other two were my parents’ bedroom.  I can see that there is still a betting shop next door, as there was in my time.  My parents moved as they hated the noise of traffic on the Commercial Road, and there was nowhere for me to play.  However, I remember standing down in the street prior to Bonfire Night with a home-made guy and receiving bags of money!

I’ve found another link – this time to a flat I lived in with my parents from 1971 -79.  The Ferrier Estate (it was demolished during 2009-2012) was a brand new estate just built when we moved in to Goldmark House, the first tall building you can see in the photo (our kitchen window was the fourth one down).  Over the next 30 years it became a sink estate, but thankfully I had long gone by then.

The other two that I do have photos of are the house we’ve lived in since 1991 in Suffolk and our caravan/holiday home on the Isle of Wight, which I have added below.  I sometimes pass by the flat in Commercial Road, and remember skating down the long passageway, the tramps often found sleeping on the front doorstep, and sitting in the bank below with a piece of paper and crayons as my mother cleaned the offices.

DSC00765New Van

Strange, but out of all of them I always yearn to go to the caravan!  This year we’re going to extend the decking up the side to the main door.  Can’t wait to go on July 10th!