East Street Market and Beyond

 

 

 

Looking back on my childhood I am forced to make comparisons between that and the childhood I hope I am providing for my children.

London today is very different to the London I knew as a child, while there was always the element of criminality around (and no i dont mean the romanticised versions of gangsters and organised crime, I mean as it actually was. Guy Ritchie has alot to answer for in the romanticism of gang life) we always felt safe enough playing in the street and in many cases going to the local shops for our parents on errands. I think about the area now and I would rather gouge my own eyes out with a rusty spoon than allow my 9 year old to walk the distance to the shops that I thought nothing of at his age.

 

Dont read me wrong, we couldnt leave our doors open (someone would have run off with the telly) or leave the car unlocked. It wasnt a rare occurrance for 'Joe Bloggs' to arrive at his car in the morning with the intention of going to work only to find his wheels missing and his car propped up on bricks. Burglarys were common place and no one ever bought anything expensive just in case some bugger broke in and nicked it. Arson was a favourite among local teens especially the cavernous communal bin sheds at the ends of the blocks which were pretty good if you fancied a good blaze. If you saw someone running it was rarely to catch a bus and usually was closely followed by someone shouting 'Stop! Police!' but to us it was just another day on the estate. Despite all that we looked after our own, children were watched by entire communities of parents not just the ones they belonged to and most adults locally were known as Auntie or Uncle, a sign of respect from the children.

We didnt run barefoot in the streets as depicted by so many authors when writing about children in London because by the 80's Fila and LA Gear were all the rage, not to mention bat wing dresses, ra ra skirts and sheep skin coats (cringe, thanks mum love you!) Remember the fashion for M.C. Hammer style 'Genie' trousers? Backside hanging around the knees? Oh my oh my....

Anyway I digress, yes growing up in London was rough but it was also fun, where else can you hitch a ride for part of your journey to school on the back of a market barrow? Where else can you earn pocket money helping out on the stalls? At the age of 12 I was earning £20 a weekend helping out on various stalls shouting 'Paaahhhnd a bunch any bunch!' and 'Strawbreeeee's luvverly stawbreeeee's!!! Come on darlin only a pahhnd a punnit' (I type phonetically for effect here).

I ask you dear reader, where else can you take three steps and at the first step be listening to the dulcet tones of Gregory Issaccs and be surrounded by the smells of Jerk chicken and by the third have your senses assaulted by the range of coloured lace and ribbons and literally thousands of buttons in tubes racked up like bottles of vintage wine on the haberdashery stall?

Please note this picture above is now my personal idea of heaven!

I didnt know it at the time but looking back i cant help but feel nostalgic for the place I once called home, I will never live there again but I visit often and when I do its like a home coming every time.

I often wonder if the diversity I was exposed to in my childhood is the reason I am so accepting of differences in people now, it worries me that I am depriving my children of that same open minded outlook on life, then I get a grip and remember how stubborn I am and that it is up to me to provide that education in diversity for my children. I now live in a fairly rural part of North Wales and I can let my children do all the things i did as a child like play in the street (although i have to admit to not allowing them past the garden gate without an adult in tow) and having a real childhood swinging off of climbing frames (yes i foresee many broken bones) but that is what being a child is about. Children adapt to the circumstances they are given to deal with and my childhood differs so much from that of my children that it is easy to make negative comparisons but the fact remains...

 

I didnt turn out so bad!