Storytelling Starters ~ From the street
‘Why don’t you go round making a tape-recording of the stories of the street?’ That was the question of the tall young man at the party we went to on Thursday night. ‘Then you could offer it to the Lambeth Sound Archive,’ he said.
The party had come about in an unusual way. About a fortnight ago, two lovely young women had turned up at our door with a bunch of invitations. Although the street is, in my view, a very friendly and neighbourly street, I had never consciously seen either of these two before. Now here they were inviting us to a Winter Warmer.
And what an excellent occasion it turned out to be! The talk and the stories flowed. A particular part of the fun for those of us who’ve lived in the street for a while – and some of us have lived here an extremely long time – was when we got on to telling some of the stories of the street.
For instance, there’s the scaffolding story. This one started when, years ago, our then next-door neighbour put it up round his house. He was a Jamaican builder and he said he was planning to do up the house and then to sell it: it would be his nest-egg for going back to Jamaica. Well, that scaffolding stayed up for a full 16 years during which time, it became a lounge-about home for neighbourhood cats and a regular perching place for squirrels and birds. For us next door, the rusting poles and the rotting boards became part of our view of the gardens. We were almost sorry when our neighbour finally got round to doing the work on the house – he’d never really lived there – and afterwards sold it. I don’t think he ever actually went back to Jamaica; London had become too much of a home. But we missed him being around and, in an odd kind of way, we really missed the scaffolding.
So, talking of scaffolding, and since one story generally leads on to another, the next was about the scaffolding on a Council-owned property over the road from us. That, too, had stayed up for ages for the Council had proved very slow with the refurbishing work and even slower about getting the scaffolding taken down at the end. Then finally, one Saturday morning, as she reported at the party on Thursday, our across-the-road neighbour who lives in the upstairs flat saw that, outside her window, were some men unscrewing the poles. She smiled at them, they smiled back at her and she made the gesture which says, ‘Do you want a cup of tea?’ One of the men obviously knew what she meant for he looked down at his watch and tapped it as if to say, ‘No thanks, we haven’t got time.’
So there it was: the scaffolding was gone and for an hour or two that felt very good to our across-the-road neighbour until there came a ring on the doorbell. It was the police. The men, it turned out, had been scaffolding-thieves. The scaffolding had been stolen.
Well, I thought, it’s a good idea – the stories of a Brixton street. Of course, it’s probably been done many times elsewhere. But why not here? Then I had another think. Maybe the stories are at their best when they are being retold amid the fun and pleasure of a party where people are really enjoying getting to know each other.
One thing we were all certain about on Thursday. There has to be another party. Summer or Winter, we’re going to have another. And there will be more stories, some old, some new. It occurs to me now that such storytelling acts like social cement. But it’s not heavy. It’s invigorating.
P.S. The two photos this week are a kind of Street Art – pictures created on the street by nature.
Tags: neighbours, scaffolding, the street
December 13th, 2014 at 11:07 am
Dear Mary
Love these ‘Stories of the Street’
and the street art ! by that greatest of artists Nature – of course
Snowed in again today – just had to unfreeze the back door to get out!
Keep warm Jean xx
December 13th, 2014 at 12:08 pm
Brr! Cold in London too – but not that cold! Glad you liked ‘Stories of the Street’. Unfreezing the back door is not something likely to happen to us. Just goes to show how different stories of the street could be depending where you are. All the best, Mary
December 14th, 2014 at 12:41 am
Hi Mary,
Hot and humid here in my street! Waiting for a big blow which is due to hit us within the next couple of hours, then I will have to shut the doors and north facing windows. A family of California Quails are passing by along the rocky outcrop that is my garden – mum, aunties, dad and 9 cute little bundles of fluff. Cicadas are buzzing, tuis gurgling, butterflies fluttering. Very peaceful here in this street!
Have a wonderful winter Christmas, dear friend.
Much love Felice xxxx
December 17th, 2014 at 11:07 am
Love the thought of the cicadas buzzing, tuis gurgling and butterflies fluttering. Here we are honking with the horrible cough that is going around. Wonderful Christmas wishes to you too, dear friend. Mary xxx