Sat here in my childhood bedroom.
It has been maybe twenty years since I have spent the night in this room, but there is a distinct air of childhood memories in the air. The dinner is done, the whiskey is being poured and here I am writing a blog. This bedroom was the room that I slept in between the ages of 5 and 16. Many secrets and memories are stored in this room. Hidden memories of pain celebrated joys of happiness, yet as I sit here there is one thing that is still the same, there is no place quite like home.
Since the days that I left this room so much has changed. I have traveled the world, moved to another country to start a new life. There are some times where you need to come back to where everything feels familiar, to where the world seems as small as these four walls. Regardless of success, no matter how real life is there are times when you are still that little child that is afraid to make a failure of something. You have the option and choice to go to a place where everything seems so safe.
Yesterday I took a walk to the local shops to get some last minute presents. Walking past the school that replaced the one that I was educated in I walked past the junior (ages 8-12) and infants (ages 5-8) and took a look. Whilst the senior school has been demolished the other schools look the same. There were stars painted on the windows of the infant school, the juniors had a tree in the window. Suddenly the memories of childhood come flooding back. School Plays conducted by Mr Gage and Christmas carols are being sung in the school hall.
Many people have come and gone in life yet so many things remain constant. I recall walking down this very lane as a child walking to school. Had my first date and walked hand in hand down this lane also, I also ran down it many times scared in life.
The lane now has an unfamiliar look, but the footsteps still sound the same.
People age, we get more wrinkles each year. The parties have become less, the sounds of celebration replaced with a chilled silence. The technology evolves from a ZX Spectrum to a MacBok Pro, yet one thing in life remains constant.
No matter where we are, no matter what we become in life. There is no place like home.
