ThingsYouNeverExpectToFind
ThatWereRightThereAllTheTimeVille
I'm reading Bill Bryson's memories of his life as a kid.
Bryson grew up in Des Moines, Iowa in the 50's and he describes it as Kidville.
Literally, wherein kids were everywhere, at all times, doing everything imaginable.
Now.
Of course, there are no Kidville's these days, right?
Wrong.
Because of some weird construction around another of those massive condo towers being built on campus I got turned around and had to ride my bike through family housing last weekend.
And when I got there there were kids everywhere.
Romping and rough-housing and rollicking and just flat out playing.
Oustside.
Without screens.
Amazing.
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When we first came back to Vancouver we lived on the edge of, but not quite in, family housing just off-campus. One of the things the two E's liked doing back then was hitting 'five parks in five minutes' which were all within a quarter of a mile of our (row)house....They talk non-stop about how much they loved they living there...Kidville as modern day utopia (with a leaky roof - it was a crummy rowhouse, mostly because the landlord didn't give a crap)....Who knew?
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Monday, May 14, 2012
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6 comments:
There used to be a kidville of sorts at the Little Mountain public housing project. Now there are fences, big holes in the ground and a few sickly trees.
HA! The Projects ... That's where i spent the first five years of my life ... my 'five haunts in five minutes' were Capilano Stadium, Percy Norman Pool, the rock quarry at Queen E, the cemetary and Archibald's corner store ... all of them excellent playgrounds full of adventure -- well, except for the corner store where Archibald's comments were along the lines of "Quit handling the candy" and "put those comics down, this ain't the library" ...
Eleanor G and Rusty M on the same comment thread?
My job here is done.
(and, if I remember correctly, advocating to save the Little Mountain Public Housing as long as possible was something useful that James (not Jim) was involved with post Big Green Bus debacle)
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you mean you've been reading this? A fine read, indeed.
and if you are up and around, give Dave a call on my behalf would you?
Yes, and done Rev.
Thanks.
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