When you were a kid did you know the names of the streets in your town? I say "town" because I'm sure it's different for city slickers. Never having been one I'm assuming they were a bit more savvy than us small town kids.
I knew the name of the street I lived on but that was pretty much it.
There was the street my dad's office was on but that's how I referred to it, not Trowbridge Street.
I still call Western Avenue "water tower hill."
Giving directions to a local was always easy: go down the block toward the fire station and turn right at Peg Allen's house. Now, Peg, has been dead for a number of years but none of us know name of the people that live there now. You can always tell how long someone has lived here by the look on their face when you give them the landmark. If it's blank, you might have to back up a few decades or move forward five or six years.
Earlier today I was telling someone that the person they were talking about lives in Cinderella Lawson's house. Yes, that was her name - Cinderella. She died many, many years ago but who's going to forget that name, eh?
My sister, Lisa, lives in the old Mae Tripp house or the Melissa Warner house if you're new to town - although she hasn't lived in it for 20 years or so.
I don't feel sorry for the people new to town - I feel sorry for myself having to give them all those specific details with approximate distances and names, names, names.
I need to go do some couch time, I'm exhausted.
My husband, a 12 year transplant, is better at street names than I am. I still tell people to turn at the mobile station, call Rite Aid Pipette, and give downtown street names like "Congregational Church street" or the Baptist church corner.
ReplyDeleteI can't stand not knowing street names. I know where 116th Avenue is and 28th Street and both ends of 34th Street; Riverside Drive, River Ridge, River View, and River Street. If I hear a street I don't know, I'll haul out a map and figure it out. The "house" designations are another matter, although I've picked up quite a few since I came back to Allegan. I also remember the pickle factory was a great landmark from my childhood, and Huffs and the Newstand are still in my vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteI used to be A LOT better at remembering streets than I am now. I have had a hard time remembering them around here for some reason.
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