Stories of the Street - Fifteen A & B

--- A --

They meet at the bus stop with no intention of going to school today. One of them has a bottle of cheap vodka and a bottle of even cheaper cola. Another has cider and cigarettes. The other has as many bottles of lager as he could stuff in his bag plus a small bag of real, and he means real, weed.

He is the oldest, his name is Dan and he is 14 yrs and 2 months. The vodka girl is next oldest at 14 yrs and a few days. Cider girl is 13 yrs and almost 11 months. Her mother is on a double shift today and as they stand at the bus stop they watch her mother drive by to the hospital.

They wait at the bus stop and watch the car go down the road and turn the corner then they keep on waiting. They let the next bus go and watch people getting on and getting off it. Then the cider girl brings up her mother’s number on her mobile and presses ‘call’. The phone rings three times then her mother answers. She is just turning into the hospital car park. The girl says she is waiting for the bus because it is running late and her mother wishes her a good day.

“Good bye.” Says the girl to her mum and then the three leave the bus stop and walk down to the flat above the video rental store.

Giggling they open the door and stroll into the scruffy flat. Her mother is working all hours to pay for things, her brother is away for the week and her father is probably on another planet by now – they have not seen him for years. No one will be home for many hours to come, so they are free. With great ceremony, they take the glasses and crisps from the kitchen and line them up on the small table before switching on the video channel and emptying their goodies on to the floor.

Today we say fuck school, fuck other people, fuck the world. We are going to be out of it as of now!

--- B ---

At the very end of the street there is a very fine example of a Victorian gothic revival detached house in red brick. Its quality and appeal are sadly debased by the collection of cars sprawling along both sides of the drive and onto the remains of the lawn in front of it. This year the cars are the same type - old, middle of the range Volvo saloon cars and almost all are of the same pale metallic blue or grey finish although there is a pale green one and even a vaguely brown one.

The house’s history is directly linked with the origin’s of the street.

Although part of the street is an ancient highway, the land from two farms were subdivided into plots to produce the street that now exists along with the maze of streets behind it on either side. One of the farms simply disappeared and the only clue to its existence (outside old maps) lies in some of the street names. Four of the streets were named after the ex-farmer’s daughters (Mary, Martha, Anne and Margaret). The main road behind the street was named after the farmer’s wife, Abigail (Avenue) and three of the roads leading down from it to the canal were named after his sons, David, Paul and Simon.

The farm linked to the gothic style house provided names of streets based on obscure places in the British Empire and left a legacy in buildings, too.

Dotted behind the street are a few remnants of farm buildings and tenant’s cottages. These buildings were incorporated into the development of the area rather than cleared. The farmer retained a decent sized plot at the end of the street where he built a new house for himself and his family. The resultant red bricked building was admired by all who came to live and work in the area and now, almost 150 years later the remaining two direct descendants of this farmer live together in that house.
One of them collects useless cars and stores them on the land until his brother has them removed. The cycle from first car to the brother removing the scrap is between 18 months and 2 yrs. It is nearly time - soon the cars will be towed away.