Friday, January 20th, 2017 - Teen Roots Revisited

My goal in London was to revisit the school I attended when I lived in here in the late 1960's - Parliament Hill Girls High School. (That's fifty years ago people! Can you believe it and I still feel so young!) So I chose an AirBNB in Hampstead Heath (not the most common tourist destination) and after stowing the bags put my walking legs on and set off on this brisk but surprisingly sunny day. Sure enough, the school was still there, right next to William Ellis Boys School just off Hampstead Heath.

The top of Parliament Hill was not far from where I am staying. In this photo you can see the city off in the distance. Clear blue skies was NOT on my list of expectations. My 'brolly' was still buried deep in my purse, as I still didn't trust that England could deliver such a wonderful day!

As I came down the hill toward where I thought the school should be, I had to stop and check with some park employees. They said yes, the school was still there and the white structure on the left was the back of the girls school. (It is so easy to travel where English is the common language.)

As I got closer, saw these boys in their blue uniforms out running - there was a teacher or coach nearby, so I figured they must be from William Ellis - the boys school that was right next to 'my' girls school. We used to share the same road into the school - boys would walk on one side - girls on the other, and the more racy of us would stand in the center of the road and visit!

Here is the road we used. The glass structure on the left was not there when I attended.

Here's a better picture of the girls school - but it was surrounded by a security fence, with a guard at the gate, so I had to poke my camera through the grating to get a picture! Wasn't like that in my day! I took only one class there - A-Level Biology. I was enrolled primarily to provide an opportunity to meet and socialize. The rest of the day I spent in the common room working independently on my classwork from the Australian correspondence school my parents had enrolled me in. They wanted to keep me 'on track' and not lose 6 months due to the different school years between northern and southern hemispheres. The strategy didn't succeed academically, as I ended up repeating 12th grade in Australia when we returned. It was the Math that did me in! I did however benefit from the friends I met here, although I have not maintained contact with any.

A clear memory of mine was playing basketball in the snow! Probably on this court, or one nearby. It seemed to my Australian self at age 15 that snow would be a good reason to call off a basketball game! But good old British fortitude prevailed and we played on. I don't remember who won, but I do remember that my fingers were frozen. It doesn't look as if the court gets used much any more.

At this point, you had the choice of a picture of the pork pie I had at the Sutherland Arms for lunch, or this picture of the telephone box! I'm sure there will be more chances for you to see food, so the telephone box won out! Don't you love it! I didn't check to see if the phone was still there, but one doesn't see these around too much any more!

Then it was off to find the old home at 248 Finchley Road - a couple of miles away. It amazes me that I don't remember how I used to get to school, as I did it for two years. I probably used buses, but sometimes I think I walked. I really enjoyed this type of lane that winds among the housing.

And there it still was - the brick wall was only being built as we left, as they were widening the road to four lanes. It was getting noisy with all the construction. It's actually for sale at this point in time.

We used the bottom two floors of the building. My room was the one on the ground floor with the white curtains. We walked up Finchley Road from Swiss Cottage Tube Station, which was my gateway to London. It felt very safe in the day - I would often be getting home late at night after concerts. I would take the train on my own from the city and walk up the road to home. Of course one was vigilant, but not surrounded in fear. The worst hazard was the catcalling from the Irish road workers during the day. 

There is no significance to this photo, except that those of you who are new to my pictures will discover that I like doors and gates. So here's the first one for this trip. I liked the way the curved part of the gate matched the curvature of the door at the top of the staircase!

And a final treat, as I wandered back to my abode, was Keats house, where the poet lived - one of the many famous persons to have lived around the Heath. I decided not to pay the 5 pounds and 50 pence to go inside. On the lower photo, notice the lovely reflections of the  trees in the glass.

A very pleasing first day.