This road here (Kitchener Crescent) once upon a time in this very spot in the late 80,s, i rode down this hill, decided to dismount from my sitting position on the bike whilst still riding, so i was standing fully on 1 peddle, and i thought i would try something clever. I tried to then (whilst the bike was still moving) jump off and run next to my bike whilst it was still moving down the hill..........errmmm no.......gravity unfortunately wanted to move me quicker than what my legs could manage. I fell over on the road hard (this incident wasent as bad as the Gough Crescent one tho), and my bike carried on ghostying without me on it lol. I think i got cuts from the head from this one, but i wasent as hurt as the Gough Crescent incident.
When i started secondary school in 1988, this is the bus stop most of us had to wait at. The 131 that went from Corfe Mullen to Poole town centre (to go to Poole Technical High School). I use to often sit on the wall there where the arrow is pointing too. But this one kid called Daniel, use to keep being an asshole and kept thinking it was funny to push me off it, so i would land in the garden
In this pic here, where you can see the yellow van is where i got in a fight with another kid. This happened in 1990. Me and him arranged to have a fight at a playing field in Broadstone. I didnt turn up cause i genuinely couldent make it. So one night when he saw me doing a paper round, he approached me, asked me why i didnt turn up, but he didnt like my answer. He decided to then start it there, he went up to me, pushed me, and in quick instinct, without even thinking about it, i round house kicked him in the head (as i was learning karate at the time). After the kick, he stopped fighting, and cried out to me "right, your f*cking dead", then he just went away. He never laid another hand on me though after that, so it was an empty threat. But i felt so euphoric afterwards tho. I dont like violence and never will do, but defeating a thuggy chav at his own game just felt so good.
The arrow pointing in the background points to a house that hosted alot of foster kids during that time. One of the foster kids was in actual fact the same kid i fought with mentioned above. One of the other fosters boys was Tony, the one who use to think it was funny to ring on the Greengrocers door, then ride away (that will be explained a bit later on).
Right here is the back on the shop parade in Waterloo Estate. It looks like nothing has changed about it at all. Looks like no repairs or improvements have been done in about 20 years or more. Look how skanky and battered the place looks. It looks worse now than it did then, simply because it has been left entirely at the mercy of Father Time.
Right here is just before the ramp-way that leads down to the shop parade. The arrow in the foreground points to a wall where my then friend Nathan found a dead rat in them bushes and he started holding it by the tail. He started teasing me with it pretending it was a flesh eating zombie rat. Dragging it across that very wall singing "i,m gonna get you i,m gonna eat your feet". I just sat there p*ssing myself laughing, but how foul though, handling a dead rat in such a juvenile manor. All that happened in 1986 i think. The wall back then had sill slabs on top of it. As you can see in the photo now, theres none there at all, just the vertical base of the wall and thats it. Guess the council just wernt interested in replacing them as they broke off. The arrow in the background points to the wall at the bottom of the ramp-way i rode into in 1981
As i just made reference to riding into a brick wall in the previous photo, in this one i will explain that more in detail. In 1981 when i was 5, i rode my bike with stabilisers right into that brick wall at the bottom. I didnt have the intelligence then to break so i would slow down, then when at the bottom doing minimal speed, i would then perform that right angle turn to the left. Instead i just went down there all the way gradually increasing speed till i smashed right into that wall. I got a feeling though that reconstruction has happened on that wall and stairway since that incident. It looks as if the stairway has been modified so that it is narrower. I remember that wall being more nearer, so that the gap between the wall and the corner was lesser. The stairway use to have small railings on the side as well.
In this photo is the shop parade taken from Milne Road. If you look on the map, i have drawn in 3 squares. The green square represents where the grass is (which you can see). The blue shape represents where the actual shops themselves are, and the pink square represents where the back of the shops are (which you have previously seen). The arrows point to a footpath going through the centre of the field and of monuments and benches. The footpath nor the benches nor the monuments use to exist, and i dont know when they were built either. I guess the council in the end got fed up with people walking down the field where the footpath is now as a shortcut to the shops. Cause i remember in the end a big long muddy footpath ended up getting formed from all that laziness lol. The original concrete turf has changed, it use to be rectangular slabs, the iron fence never use to exist, all the shops themselves are totally different. And of course the narrowing of the Milne Road itself which you can see in the left of the photo never use to exist (less cars on the road in the 80s).
In this photo here is a picture of the very house i lived in from the ages of 5-15. This is of course in Allenby Close. I lived in the one on the right of the semi detatched. In the section "then and now" you will see a photo of this very same house back in 1982. Unfortunately tho i could not take the "now" photo from the exact same angle as the "then" version. Because as you can see, there is now a massive bush blocking the shot. Even the wall under the bush you can tell has replaced the former wall. Just look at that wall and the wall that adjoins to next door neighbours wall?, the texture of the bricks is different. Originally there was no drive way, just another short wall, all there was was a small gate for a footpath. 2 years tho before we moved we did knock the wall down so a drive way could be created, but the turf of the drive way has been replaced. The arrow on the left points to where a lampost use to exist. If you look at the ground, you can see a square of black tarmac replacing the hole the lampost you to sit in.
The last photo in this boring biography lol. I cannot remember if all them pillers in the foreground are the original pillers or not. The turf is different tho. The photo looks a little strange because i have actually joined 2 photo,s together in this pic. My camera wasent able to take a picture of the entire area in just one pic, so i had to take 2, then join them together.
All the actual shops are different though. The one where the arrow at the far end is pointing too use to be an off-licence for years. The other two units were part of the same business. They use to be whats called a mini mart store (VG was the name of the business in them days). The arrow pointing in the foreground points to a door where the then greengrocers use to get their store goods delivered to. Me and a kid called Tony, use to think it was funny to ring the doorbell there, then ride off. Looks as if the brickwork of the goods receiving area though is exactly the same, it looks rather outdated dosent it?.
"Then and Now"
Then
This is just a photo that was taken of the rec in either the mid or late 80,s (cant remember who took it, but it was probably me). Your notice that the "Tree of Woe" has not developed as much as it has now, your notice the trunk base is alot more exposed here than it is now. Also in this pic, you can see the other tree standing which i documented earlier as now no longer existing.
Now
Not much difference here really. The Tree of woe is more shrubby now, and the other tree is gone.
These 2 pics here are of me and my sister on our bikes in Allenby Close back in the year 1984 or 1985.
Now
This picture here was supposed to be from the same angle that the very last photo in the "then" section was of (the one of me on my bike). As you can see the roads turf has been modified, and so have the kerbs and pavements.
This was taken in either 1981 or 1982. Sitting on that front door step is me at 5 or 6, the other child is my sister, and the adult is my Grandmother (my mothers mother). Unfortunently she passed away in either 1989 or 1990 :-(.
Now
This was taken in 1987. I,ve blanked everyone elses eyes out apart from my own. This was taken in Allenby Close again.
Now
I,ve tried to get exactly the same angle as what the previous photo was. Only trouble with this one was, i couldent stand back further away as much, or i would of been right infront of the very drive way of that house. Only now i dont live there anymore, so i couldent really impose on them like that.
Then
Then
This is the very same house, the semi detatched on the right. I would of liked to of done the same camera angle, but unfotunently thats not practicle now simply because of the bush.
Then
