I have been away from FF for too long. I haven’t changed allegiance, or gone off the rails, I’ve just been hibernating, recharging my batteries, call it what you will. Thanks as always to the indomitable Rochelle, who never fails to put out a prompt each week to tease our creativity, memory, humour. Write 100 words, that’s all you need to do to join this very supportive band of writers.
The prompt this week spoke to me of my childhood and memories of actually getting a garage of our own, something only people with cars had, and when I was a child, they were very few and far between.
Copyright Claire Fuller
Word count: 100
Genre: Memoir
We Get a Garage
At the end of our street was a piece of waste ground. We made our dens there and played during school holidays; summers were long and warm in my memories of childhood
‘I’ve managed to buy the land, Vern,’ said our next door neighbour, unfolding plans on our kitchen table.
‘Will you help me build the garages… you can have one rent free?’
My father frowned, thinking.
‘Ken, you have a deal’, he said and they shook hands, smiling.
Years ago the planners bulldozed the garages, replacing them with little town boxes.
My old street is still there though, this is what it looks like today – lots of cars and not a garage in sight…
Read more stories…
40again's Blog 
Ahh, a lovely memory.
Claire
LikeLike
Thank you Claire and for the photo that took me back to childhood.
LikeLike
Welcome back, Dee. I hope your break was restful. We didn’t have a garage in one of our first houses, but eventually my parents had one built. In my case, our older daughter and I drove by the house recently and the garage is still there. 🙂
Putting on my grammar hat for a moment, you need a comma here, “buy the land Vern”, between land and Vern. Since you had it right later, I imagine it’s a typo.
Cheers!
janet
LikeLike
Hi Janet
Typo corrected, thank your for pointing it out. I was so busy shuffling words around that I missed it. Thanks too for your kind words, I have missed FF but life has been quite stressful and busy recently, I just gave my brain a rest!
Good to hear from you, as always.
Take care
Dee
LikeLike
Dear Dee,
The things that are lost over time are significant. You piece captures the pure memories of childhood and the patient passage of time. Well done.
Aloha,
Doug
LikeLike
Thank you Doug. The photo took me straight back to the kitchen of the house I lived in from age 6 to age 12 and the conversation between my father and Ken Haworth who lived next door.
Ten garages were built and ours was number 5. We children were sad to have lost our playground, but soon got over it,as children do.
Take care
Dee
LikeLike
Good to see you back Dee. A nice memoir there, I too remember the thrill of our family getting their first garage, and it was a good ten minutes walk from the house. (On our street now every house has a garage, and in many cases a double one. Nobody puts their car in the garage, the double garagers leave them on the hard-standing outside, the single garagers leave them on the roadt.) 😦
LikeLike
Thanks Sandra, it’s nice to back among old friends.
The older houses, that were built without garages, usually have larger rooms than the new boxes being built today and so attract families, with at least two cars. The cars have to park in the street…
Great to hear from you
Dee
LikeLike
Dear Dee,
I feel like I just spent a summer long ago with you. A sweet memoir. I really enjoyed this.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Dear Rochelle
Thank you, I’m pleased you liked my memoir. Claire’s photo took me straight back to an event I hadn’t thought of in years.
Take care
Dee
LikeLike
Great piece of memory. I bet it’s a bunfight to get parking sometimes!
LikeLike
Hi Patrick – glad you liked my memoir. Yes, parking can be quite a nightmare in our smaller streets and there’s nothing anyone can do except park two wheels on the curb & hope no-one knocks the mirrors off!
LikeLike
A great snapshot into a childhood.
LikeLike
Thank you
Dee
LikeLiked by 1 person
What an interesting story of a way of life unfamiliar to me. Welcome back.
LikeLike
Hi Dawn
Glad you liked it, British small town life hasn’t changed all that much, while cities are more or less the same the world over.
Dee
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lovely memoir, the garage is history and the memory lives on. Nicely done.
LikeLike
Thank you, pleased that you liked this little memoir.
Dee
LikeLike
I can clearly understand the changes.. a garage to park your car seems so strange now.. (our house has one, but I have never used it for a car…
LikeLike
Hi Bjorn
We didn’t have a car for many years after the garages were built. So ours was used to store bikes, scooters, all the stuff that cluttered up the house.
Like you, our present house has a garage, but the driveway up to it is too narrow to allow a modern car to get through, so we store bikes, boxes…
Dee
LikeLike
Where I grew up, garages were common–everyone had at least one. As an adult, I have yet to live in a home with a garage or even a carport. Isn’t it interesting how different norms come with different localities? Thanks for sharing your memories.
All my best,
Marie Gail
LikeLike
Thank you for reading and sharing your memories too.
LikeLike
I’ve missed you Dee; so, welcome back! This story really felt authentic and bitter sweet. They say you can’t go back, and most often… you can’t. But, we can welcome you back! 😀
LikeLike
Thank you Dawn, it’s so good to hear from friends like you and others on FF.
You can’t go back it’s true, but it’s nice to be able to relive the good times in memoir occasionally
Dee
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi, Dee! Good to to see you again and fully re-charged. Looks like it did you some good, too. “Town boxes.” Very interesting term. All I can think of, though, is the scraping in winter time. OUCH!
Have great day!
LikeLike
Thank you Kent, glad you liked this little memoir. Hope things are good with you.
Dee
LikeLike
Dee, Welcome back! It seems like from my childhood until now they’ve done away with big front porches, basements, and a lot of the garages. They’ll probably bring back some of them and call them “retro.” Good and well-written story. I love memoirs. 🙂 — Susan
LikeLike
Hi Susan, thank you for your kind comments, seems to me lots of things we remember from our childhood disappeared and, as you say have been ‘reinvented’ and called something else!
LikeLike