The Front Doorstep

There are garden chairs, picnic tables, sun loungers amongst many other places to be seated on a lovely evening like this but I do like to sit on the front doorstep for a while most evenings.
As kids we lived in a rented terraced house in the centre of Sheffield, near Bramall Lane FC. When the weather was fine Mum and Dad used to sit side by side on top of the three steps up to the house. This always seemed to me to be a private moment. Sometimes they would share a glass of cider. This was the only time I perceived them as being a couple. Other times they were just Mum and Dad. The view was of more terraces both top and bottom of our road and across it. There were corner shops on most corners in those days, sweet shops (I knew where they all were),chemists, off licenses and general grocers. To the bottom of our road was the main tramlines into city centre - not the new ones but the original ones. When they closed these lines down and got rid of the trams we stood amongst a crowd by the lines and when the last tram came threw an old penny onto the line - not in order to try to derail it you see but so we would have a souvenir. Although the amount of cash thrown on the line that afternoon should have derailed it.

We are generally such a lot wealthier nowadays in all respects. The views from this front doorstep are far different to that of rows of severe terraces but my childhood memories of that front doorstep were very happy.

I hope you all have some sort of happy front doorstep memory. From someone who has just shown their age.

Sent from my iPad


Sent from my iPad