Yes I know this is an odd title, probably not good grammar, but that never was a strong suit. All I am trying to do in this series of blog posts is to talk about places where I just feel at home, totally relaxed, like I was meant to be there. The reasons for those feelings will vary wildly depending on when I was there, what else was going on in my life at the time etc. But these places all have that one thing in common - it feels 'right' to be there. They give me a great big hug. I hope you find places like these for yourself.
#3 - Middlesex
Yes of course I feel at home in Middlesex as that is where I was born and lived until I was eighteen years old. It's where I went to school, played football and cricket in the street, learned to ride a bike, learned to swim, drank beer for the first time, tried curry, and went to school, and had my first jobs. Southall was the first place I called home.
The chances are that you have never heard of Middlesex, but despite many attempts to eradicate it the county lives on in the hearts of those born there as well as great institutions such as Middlesex County Cricket Club who have their headquarters at Lords, the famous test match ground. There's also the home of English rugby at Twickenham, Middlesex, the world famous Middlesex Sevens, and there's still a Middlesex team that plays in the rugby county championship.
Middlesex is an ancient county with the name derived from the Middle Saxons. It stretched from Staines in the south west across to Limehouse and the Isles of Dogs in the east with the river Thames as its southern boundary. The northern boundary went from Harefield in the west to Enfield in the east. It included all of modern day London north of the Thames, including the city of Westminster. For any football fans that area includes Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal, QPR, West Ham, Charlton, Millwall, and the great Brentford.
In 1965 most of the county was divided to form the new London Boroughs, while other areas were 'given' to neighbouring counties. If you were to go there today you'd still find roadsigns with Middlesex on them as well as people who still add it to their address. We have relatives in Laleham which is technically now part of Surrey (OMG) who still give their address as Middlesex. There's also a road sign in Uxbridge that marks the boundary between Middlesex and Buckinghamshire. It's quite often stolen by souvenir hunters but the council still replace it.
We lived in Southall because my grandfather, your great great grandfather, worked for the railways, the Great Western Railway to be precise. The station was on the main line from London (Paddington) to the west of England. He had started working for GWR in Bristol, then Swindon (where your great grandfather was born) and onwards towards London but stopped short thankfully. I wouldn't want to be confused with people who come from London would I?
When I was growing up Southall was one of the few places in England that had a lot of immigrants from the Commonwealth, particularly from the West Indies, India, and Pakistan. Some people saw these newcomers as a threat and there was some racism and trouble at first, but not at our school. By the time I left more than 50% of the school was made up of first or second generation immigrants and it worked very well. I never understood why some people disliked the newcomers, after all we are all immigrants really, either from other countries or other parts of the UK. My GGF moved from a village in Dorset to the city seeking new opportunities, and the Scott family came south from Scotland, they were no different at all to the people who moved from further afield.
Another reason for feeling at home in Middlesex is that my mother's family, the Scotts, were from there, mostly Brentford and Isleworth. I remember going to visit my great grandfather who lived opposite Brentford FC and being able to watch the games for free. My other GGF (Henry Nowell) ran a pub in Isleworth on the river Thames, so you see the love of pubs is in the blood, there's no escape! In fact the Nowell family ran some very well known pubs in the area, The London Apprentice and the Apple Tree among them.
Unfortunately although my Mum kept in close touch with her brother, they were twins, I know very little about my maternal grandmother who died when I was five, and my grandfather who was never spoken of by the family after he apparently left home and was never seen again. I have no idea why he left his family and I guess I never will, but I would love to understand why he did what he did and what he was like as a man. It would be easy to criticise him for what he did but I have no idea why he left, so I can't. All I know is that he was a good sportsman, a single sculler who won many cups, and that he worked for the Gaslight & Coke Company as a gas fitter. Company and rowing club records would have helped but they were all destroyed in the blitz during the battle of Britain in WW2. When I was at college I was in the rowing team so I have some of him in me.
As I was growing up I tried unsuccessfully to balance my interest in sport with my school work and ended up excelling at neither. I used to get in the first team for football and cricket at school but was never the best player, but that suited me, I got my buzz from being part of the team. My school results were pretty average, just good enough to keep my head above water followed by cramming just before an important exam. It worked OK.
I also had quite a few part time jobs while I was at school which interfered with both my sport and studies but were necessary as I needed money first buy a bike, then a scooter, then a car. My first job was helping the local milkman, I seemed to do most of the work and was paid a pittance, but it was fun going round in the electric milk float. At the time (age 10) I never understood why Ross spent so much time in the houses of the women who said they couldn't pay their bill that week - but now I do.
In secondary school my part time job was at Boots the Chemist on Southall High Street where I'd do a few hours after school looking after the stock room, the earnings from that helped me buy my first scooter, a Lambretta Li175. This was towards the end of the 'Mod' era but with my jet black well groomed hair, parka, multiple lights, fur on the backrest I was seriously cool. During the long summer holiday, once I was 16, I was a lifeguard at the local swimming pool. That was a great job, hard to get at the time but it helped that I used to swim there with Southall Swimming Club so got on well with a lot of the staff. A great life lesson that. I always try to get on with people, not because I want something from them. But often it turns out that being nice and not ignoring people, whatever their so called status, will result in them helping you somehow. Now I know that as Karma, but to me then it just being a good person.
Also in the evenings I worked at a local disco called the 'A Train' where I took the entrance money. It was a very popular place and had DJ's from Radio 1 the national pop radio station and usually totally full. So being on the door I was a very popular person as I could tell the bouncers whether or not to let certain people in. Other lesser people would have used that power to their advantage with the ladies too, but not me of course.
I've no idea who it was, but probably my Dad, but I was told early on in my growing up in Middlesex years that I needed to grow to love both pubs and beer. After all pubs were in the family. So I reluctantly took up the challenge and after a while realised that I loved both, in particular Fullers pubs and their extraordinary ESB beer. It's a proper 'real ale', no fizz, comes from a wooden cask, and is served just below room temperature. Try it and you'll never go back to ice cold fizzy beer that tastes of nothing.
Talking about music, I know we weren't but I'm going to anyway, it was during my last couple of years in Middlesex (A levels or year 12-13) that i first had the chance to go and experience some live music. I know these bands will be ancient history to you, and you may never have heard of them, but indulge me. Between 1968 and 1970 I went to live performances by The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Fairport Convention, The Strawbs (who included Rick Wakeman), Rod Stewart (who was in the Jeff Beck Group), Jimi Hendrix, and amazingly Led Zeppelin who played my local pub to try out the tracks on their first album. I was a very lucky young man and loved every minute of all the performances.
#3 - Middlesex
Yes of course I feel at home in Middlesex as that is where I was born and lived until I was eighteen years old. It's where I went to school, played football and cricket in the street, learned to ride a bike, learned to swim, drank beer for the first time, tried curry, and went to school, and had my first jobs. Southall was the first place I called home.
The chances are that you have never heard of Middlesex, but despite many attempts to eradicate it the county lives on in the hearts of those born there as well as great institutions such as Middlesex County Cricket Club who have their headquarters at Lords, the famous test match ground. There's also the home of English rugby at Twickenham, Middlesex, the world famous Middlesex Sevens, and there's still a Middlesex team that plays in the rugby county championship.
Middlesex is an ancient county with the name derived from the Middle Saxons. It stretched from Staines in the south west across to Limehouse and the Isles of Dogs in the east with the river Thames as its southern boundary. The northern boundary went from Harefield in the west to Enfield in the east. It included all of modern day London north of the Thames, including the city of Westminster. For any football fans that area includes Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal, QPR, West Ham, Charlton, Millwall, and the great Brentford.
In 1965 most of the county was divided to form the new London Boroughs, while other areas were 'given' to neighbouring counties. If you were to go there today you'd still find roadsigns with Middlesex on them as well as people who still add it to their address. We have relatives in Laleham which is technically now part of Surrey (OMG) who still give their address as Middlesex. There's also a road sign in Uxbridge that marks the boundary between Middlesex and Buckinghamshire. It's quite often stolen by souvenir hunters but the council still replace it.
We lived in Southall because my grandfather, your great great grandfather, worked for the railways, the Great Western Railway to be precise. The station was on the main line from London (Paddington) to the west of England. He had started working for GWR in Bristol, then Swindon (where your great grandfather was born) and onwards towards London but stopped short thankfully. I wouldn't want to be confused with people who come from London would I?
When I was growing up Southall was one of the few places in England that had a lot of immigrants from the Commonwealth, particularly from the West Indies, India, and Pakistan. Some people saw these newcomers as a threat and there was some racism and trouble at first, but not at our school. By the time I left more than 50% of the school was made up of first or second generation immigrants and it worked very well. I never understood why some people disliked the newcomers, after all we are all immigrants really, either from other countries or other parts of the UK. My GGF moved from a village in Dorset to the city seeking new opportunities, and the Scott family came south from Scotland, they were no different at all to the people who moved from further afield.
Another reason for feeling at home in Middlesex is that my mother's family, the Scotts, were from there, mostly Brentford and Isleworth. I remember going to visit my great grandfather who lived opposite Brentford FC and being able to watch the games for free. My other GGF (Henry Nowell) ran a pub in Isleworth on the river Thames, so you see the love of pubs is in the blood, there's no escape! In fact the Nowell family ran some very well known pubs in the area, The London Apprentice and the Apple Tree among them.
Unfortunately although my Mum kept in close touch with her brother, they were twins, I know very little about my maternal grandmother who died when I was five, and my grandfather who was never spoken of by the family after he apparently left home and was never seen again. I have no idea why he left his family and I guess I never will, but I would love to understand why he did what he did and what he was like as a man. It would be easy to criticise him for what he did but I have no idea why he left, so I can't. All I know is that he was a good sportsman, a single sculler who won many cups, and that he worked for the Gaslight & Coke Company as a gas fitter. Company and rowing club records would have helped but they were all destroyed in the blitz during the battle of Britain in WW2. When I was at college I was in the rowing team so I have some of him in me.
As I was growing up I tried unsuccessfully to balance my interest in sport with my school work and ended up excelling at neither. I used to get in the first team for football and cricket at school but was never the best player, but that suited me, I got my buzz from being part of the team. My school results were pretty average, just good enough to keep my head above water followed by cramming just before an important exam. It worked OK.
I also had quite a few part time jobs while I was at school which interfered with both my sport and studies but were necessary as I needed money first buy a bike, then a scooter, then a car. My first job was helping the local milkman, I seemed to do most of the work and was paid a pittance, but it was fun going round in the electric milk float. At the time (age 10) I never understood why Ross spent so much time in the houses of the women who said they couldn't pay their bill that week - but now I do.
In secondary school my part time job was at Boots the Chemist on Southall High Street where I'd do a few hours after school looking after the stock room, the earnings from that helped me buy my first scooter, a Lambretta Li175. This was towards the end of the 'Mod' era but with my jet black well groomed hair, parka, multiple lights, fur on the backrest I was seriously cool. During the long summer holiday, once I was 16, I was a lifeguard at the local swimming pool. That was a great job, hard to get at the time but it helped that I used to swim there with Southall Swimming Club so got on well with a lot of the staff. A great life lesson that. I always try to get on with people, not because I want something from them. But often it turns out that being nice and not ignoring people, whatever their so called status, will result in them helping you somehow. Now I know that as Karma, but to me then it just being a good person.
Also in the evenings I worked at a local disco called the 'A Train' where I took the entrance money. It was a very popular place and had DJ's from Radio 1 the national pop radio station and usually totally full. So being on the door I was a very popular person as I could tell the bouncers whether or not to let certain people in. Other lesser people would have used that power to their advantage with the ladies too, but not me of course.
I've no idea who it was, but probably my Dad, but I was told early on in my growing up in Middlesex years that I needed to grow to love both pubs and beer. After all pubs were in the family. So I reluctantly took up the challenge and after a while realised that I loved both, in particular Fullers pubs and their extraordinary ESB beer. It's a proper 'real ale', no fizz, comes from a wooden cask, and is served just below room temperature. Try it and you'll never go back to ice cold fizzy beer that tastes of nothing.
Talking about music, I know we weren't but I'm going to anyway, it was during my last couple of years in Middlesex (A levels or year 12-13) that i first had the chance to go and experience some live music. I know these bands will be ancient history to you, and you may never have heard of them, but indulge me. Between 1968 and 1970 I went to live performances by The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Fairport Convention, The Strawbs (who included Rick Wakeman), Rod Stewart (who was in the Jeff Beck Group), Jimi Hendrix, and amazingly Led Zeppelin who played my local pub to try out the tracks on their first album. I was a very lucky young man and loved every minute of all the performances.
RSS Feed