Well It's Home Isn't It?

[gumbud]

We have a program over in oz called 'the back roads' were a journalist or two travel around oz stopping at small sleepy hollows and doing a show about the town and it's survival which in some cases had to be fought hard for.

One young couple had left this small town of theirs and gone off to the big city to advance their knowledge and get some qualifications - but obviously met up again - got married and came back to sleepy hollow to raise a family and start a business!

the thing that struck me was the interviewer asked them "why on earth did you both come back" and the lady answered for them both! " well after all it is home"

that struck a cord with me having moved all over UK ;lived in HK moved to OZ and moved around there and now not sure where my home really is apart from the 'bricks and mortar' I'm living in! My original home town is Liverpool in UK but there is no family left there anymore - they all left and never came back.

So if someone were to ask YOU " why are you living here right now" would you be able to answer " well after all it is home"

made me feel like I'd lost something along the way. I think I know what Gary O would say!!

 

[Gary O']

Roots have a staying factor, that’s for sure

You and I, Gummie, have traveled some
We’ve made our places

Our choice whether or not to let new roots take hold
Ones our offspring will be drawn to

I won’t be leavin’ my place while breathin’

 

[IKE]

I lived and worked overseas right at ten years before mama said, "burn the passports and put the Samsonite's and American Tourister's in the attic I'm done" .....did a year in Panama, five years and nine months in Vietnam, two years in Libya and two more on a little bug dot size island in Indonesia.

Not sure now why we decided to settle here in 81', neither one of us has any kin here but I can't see us ever leaving now at this stage of life......."well after all it is home".

 

[gumbud]

I lived and worked overseas right at ten years before mama said, "burn the passports and put the Samsonite's and American Tourister's in the attic I'm done" .....did a year in Panama, five years and nine months in Vietnam, two years in Libya and two more on a little bug dot size island in Indonesia.

Not sure now why we decided to settle here in 81', neither one of us has any kin here but I can't see us ever leaving now at this stage of life......."well after all it is home".

sure sounds like it to me too Ike enjoy the grass in the fields!!

 

[gumbud]

I was drivin the step granddaughter the other day to an appointment that took us 60 mins. she is at the moment into a love dice that can run hot and cold - we chatted all they way and she kept asking more questions which is always a good sign. About life in general and love in specific as she is struggling with a difficult boyfriend - you don't want to alienate them though do you?

she talked about going back to uni in the big city and that there she felt free and didn't wanna come back to these little smokie hollows!

Well I told her a tale of how I left home at 18 and headed for the big London 'smoke' and never looked back - and I have been traveling ever since - up hill and down dale - cross country to country and finally in the back woods of OZ somewhere. she asked me if I regretted leaving home - OMG wot a yorker of a ball was that one she tossed. Hmm I thought how to explain that one? well I said what I have come to realize is that the home I remember at 18 just before I left IS still there BUT at the same time isn't still there! she listened curiously as I continued " it is still there in my mind and some of the same buildings [usually pubs and churches] are still there - the streets and roads haven't moved much, so I could still find my way around. My mates ???? - many would have gone ; I know some have died and if I found one or two I probably wouldn't recognize them!!

I went back in 2000 and after 20 years it still looked exactly the same - OMG - it felt it was in a time bubble and nothing could change or escape? so what would be the point of going back to slowly but inevitable start getting depressed because only the buildings were there and not any people? so my beautiful teenage years were nurtured and developed there - but cannot be recaptured - bring out the old photos that's all.

so it's not still there - only a few sites and memories - and the memories are still crystal clear. well I know Gary has definitely [for the moment only] settled down and made his roots so when asked a few years down the track " why did you come back here?" will answer - "well it's home isn't it" - but ya know not wanting to dampen your adour but I have seen many homes in the bush out here that have just been emptied by death and time and left empty. It's the city homes that people wanna use and sell!

So I guess and it's only a guess that 'home' means different strokes for different folks. for some it's the town they're never left or left briefly and returned to. or it's that first home in that town and then that second home in that town etc etc - and then there are those who carry their homes like a snail on their backs and all over the world.

when i first left home I carried a single shell as part of the old home and used to feed and forage with other shells from all over the world - for a while we lived in a shell of a place! then I met another shell and we got married and that became a shell home and my old home started to become a distant memory. and then the shell got rather heavy as the little shells came along and we then started moving four shells in unison around the world - good job shells can float. and then we decided why not go and see our cousin shells in OZ - the white ones that is - we didn't know a thing about our black shell cousins who lived there too. So my daughter now lives in the big smoke - loves cities hates the bush; my son and his family 2 hrs drive away so it's easy to get there but good to get away back! we've all been here nearly 40 yrs now so in the words of that wordsmith Peter Allen:

Lyrics
I been to cities that never close down
From New York to Rio and Old London Town
But no matter how far or how wide I roam
I still call Australia home


there phew carthatisysm on the rise - phew - finally got it out - so it's not a house; not a village ; not even a city - it's a bloody big country that I call home! thank you all for listening - I couldn't have got it out without ya and please do ya own cathartisysm too if ya keen to!!:thankyou1:

 

[gumbud]

but heh just had a thought - I still have a british passport - so dual citizen but cannot become a politician over here - so I am legally british and oz - so were is my home?? Oh I'll just shurrup and go away now!!

 

[DaveA]

gumbud - -to answer your question, I still live in the home where I was born. It was built in 1921 by my grandfather who lived here 'til he died in 1959 (his wife had pre-deceased him) and my folks had always shared the home with them. I was born here and the house was eventually left to me when my folks passed. We now live here with one of our daughters, SIL an two high school/college age grandkids. We have already passed the home to them (back in the late 90's) so they are the 4th generation to own the property. The rest of our off-spring, grandkids, and great grands all live nearby so the thought of any other place being "home' is beyond me. In our mid 80's now, I'm quite sure that our days will end here, surrounded by our young folks and for that I am eternally grateful.

 

[DaveA]

Sorry, double posted.

 

[gumbud]

good on ya DaveA - I think it's all a matter of 'life choices' and your choices are as significant as mine - you get all the benefits you've just described and I get something different. I finally got in touch with an old friend from my original teenage village in UK - and his comment was - "you don't know how lucky you were - leaving like that and seeing the world and I just stayed and hung around here"!

well what could I say " well that might be so but 1. I spent a lot of money doing that 2. lost touch with a lot of friends and rellies along the way!

something about the swings and roundabouts??

 

[john19485]

in my case I can never go back home, mom & dad are gone , my grandmother, and grandfather are gone, we sold the old home place a couple years ago, my first wife and I were going to stay in Vietnam, when I was wounded and she was killed, that changed things, my second wife , I don't know what happen there, she left , my third wife , we have been married 49 years now, she was born here, I was tdy a lot on my job , so when I retired in 1981, she said she was ready to go home, she's happy here, the kids are close by, but its not a right fit for me, I think I will die in this place, My close friends all died in Vietnam, I have people stop by the house all the time, I have coffe shop friend, and fair weather friends, but not thsame as my friends in Vietnam, who had my back for me.

 

[gumbud]

in my case I can never go back home, mom & dad are gone , my grandmother, and grandfather are gone, we sold the old home place a couple years ago, my first wife and I were going to stay in Vietnam, when I was wounded and she was killed, that changed things, my second wife , I don't know what happen there, she left , my third wife , we have been married 49 years now, she was born here, I was tdy a lot on my job , so when I retired in 1981, she said she was ready to go home, she's happy here, the kids are close by, but its not a right fit for me, I think I will die in this place, My close friends all died in Vietnam, I have people stop by the house all the time, I have coffe shop friend, and fair weather friends, but not thsame as my friends in Vietnam, who had my back for me.

i'm definitely with ya on this one - just recently started missing mom and dad significantly - like heart wrenching - I know it's silly but heh it's a silly world. I forgot to mention the friend I spoke about in the village I once resided he also said " I'm the last of the gang mate - they've all gone. So is it easier to stay and see them all drop of the perch or just head out west and maybe hear about it someday?

god when you wrote 'we sold the old home place a couple of years ago' that stuck in my throat - couldn't get pasted that for a minute. whats tyd John? well they do say that home can be where ya family are so you are there - I understand your comments about Nam and friends - they're like ya mom and dad - they're gone and we wished they were back BUT unfortunately we've just got to 'carry the load' Yep there are always special people and sometimes we lose them along the way :sorry:

 

[john19485]

I meant TDY, I worked for the DEPT Of The Treasury, My dad had my back when I was sent home out of the Military hospital, I was looking to us getting to know one another, then he died a year after I was home, he made all the landing during WW 11, he understood , what it was like being in a war

i'm definitely with ya on this one - just recently started missing mom and dad significantly - like heart wrenching - I know it's silly but heh it's a silly world. I forgot to mention the friend I spoke about in the village I once resided he also said " I'm the last of the gang mate - they've all gone. So is it easier to stay and see them all drop of the perch or just head out west and maybe hear about it someday?

god when you wrote 'we sold the old home place a couple of years ago' that stuck in my throat - couldn't get pasted that for a minute. whats tyd John? well they do say that home can be where ya family are so you are there - I understand your comments about Nam and friends - they're like ya mom and dad - they're gone and we wished they were back BUT unfortunately we've just got to 'carry the load' Yep there are always special people and sometimes we lose them along the way :sorry:

 

[Kadee]

I know what you are talking about Gumbud ,I was born in a very dry isolated city in NSW ( Broken Hill ) Im sure you’d know the city / town.
I’m not sure if a town of 19.000 would still be classed as a city ?

I left there in the early 1970’s and traveled to a country town in South Australia ,

I was 25 when I left the town where I was born/ raised which I had never traveled any further than 45 km from , in my 25 years living there .
BH is very isolated ,it’s about 500 km from the nearest city

Would I go “home” which only has about half the population that it had when I was young?
No way ......I have no desire to live there again ...I still live not far from the area I moved to in the 70’s

 

[gumbud]

I know what you are talking about Gumbud ,I was born in a very dry isolated city in NSW ( Broken Hill ) Im sure you’d know the city / town.
I’m not sure if a town of 19.000 would still be classed as a city ?

I left there in the early 1970’s and traveled to a country town in South Australia ,

I was 25 when I left the town where I was born/ raised which I had never traveled any further than 45 km from , in my 25 years living there .
BH is very isolated ,it’s about 500 km from the nearest city

Would I go “home” which only has about half the population that it had when I was young?
No way ......I have no desire to live there again ...I still live not far from the area I moved to in the 70’s

Hi Kadee - do you watch the show Back Roads??

 

[gumbud]

I meant TDY, I worked for the DEPT Of The Treasury, My dad had my back when I was sent home out of the Military hospital, I was looking to us getting to know one another, then he died a year after I was home, he made all the landing during WW 11, he understood , what it was like being in a war View attachment 53798

nice pick John - what year would that be - my sister lives in Vancouver; brother died 4 yrs ago and I don't know where all the old photos went! but got them in my head for sure!

 

[john19485]

This was 1966, out of boot camp after ITR training , went to Vietnam 1967 , woke up in the hospital in 1970, I was in Calf. my cousin at the time was in Nixon's Cabinet , he got me sent to Calif., I was sent home in 1971, dad died in 1973.

nice pick John - what year would that be - my sister lives in Vancouver; brother died 4 yrs ago and I don't know where all the old photos went! but got them in my head for sure!