Slum clearance!

Watching more television than usual I have been drawn to some of the soap operas in the evening. One in particular is familiar territory. Coranation Street is a show I have watched on and off for many years. In the north of England where I grew up there really were streets with very odd names! I had the joy of living in Sir Robert Peel Street. This was joined to Peel Street and then Emma Street which was where Cyril Smith lived. My street had far more letters than the others which was very annoying in infant school because I had alot more writing than everyone else. None of these streets exist any more...they were all bull dozed and are now the site of some neat gardens so Sir Robert Peel St is only remembered by one or two of us ancient ones. These streets, hastily thrown up during various hard times really were slums with no toilets inside. Five homes shared an outside loo up a dark alley which was hated by all of us. Looking back now it is amazing how we lived until we got our new house in the new out of town housing estate. Its looking back to a time now thankfully past so only old people like me remember them with no warm feelings. Getting a new house on a housing estate miles away was a cause for rejoicing. And we did!