You'll come back and you'll look around you

When I was 12 / 13 I used to get the train over to Irvine to go skating, Wednesday, Friday Saturday and Sunday.  

Irvine is only 7 miles up the road by road, about 4 miles on the train line. 

When we got off the train - we had to walk under the railway line and along a street,  the first section of which was a block of derelict tenements. There were occasional industrial block - all of which were boarded up for the evening. 

I remember when the Queen Came to visit the town and it's regeneration the local development corp boarded the windows and painted "alive" windows in all the gaps.   They probably painted grass too. 

Nowadays, it's a different world. 

All the old tenements have been refurbished, and in some cases rebuilt.  There are cafes, bars, hotels.  A sports centre, a museum, and this very pretty harbour. 

There have been so many houses built in the area, it's hard to remember the derelict space it was in its time.  The ice rink i visited has long since gone, and even now the grass has started to grow over the top of rubble which lay there.