It's a salutary thought when you realize you know more people who are dead than those living and breathing. (Though FB friends may skew the figures
a little). But what also marks the passage of time are familiar buildings
demolished almost as quick as you pass them. Time is totalitarian, erasing history in dust.
Below is Father Hill Junior boys. (I'm the extra from Woodstock) I was there a year, and then Pow, it was gone!
An earlier blog post marked the demolition
of my next school, St. Josephs. No sooner had I left it, then
pow it was gone. I like to think it was some superhuman quality on my part, but I fear not.
Now another landmark has gone. St.Bonaventure's Secondary Modern School. Fair enough, it had undergone a name
change some years after I'd gone, but knocking it down…I'm sorry, but that was a
step too far. The pictures below show some of my old school friends when I was
there.
They are holding my project on Greece and Rome. My first book, you might say. I enjoyed drawing the bronzed and heroic figures - everything I wasn't.
Above is the school uniform. Below is the reality
Everything else, in melancholy colour, gives a blow by blow account of its
demise. I shall raise a glass to St. Bonnies, tonight: the school that made
me the man I am today….hmm, maybe first I'll assess the man I am today...and toast that too :)
Nothing if not thorough - the Demolition Plan.
The school awaiting its fate.
Munching away
Corridors we once ran along when teachers weren't watching.
If you look carefully below you can just see the remaining flight of stairs. A snack for the 'Muncher'
Almost Gone
Gone!
Just goes to show, you should never take things too seriously
2 comments:
I don't know what the general philosophy is now, but shortly after we left Chicago, we started seeing many of our favorite haunts and landmarks demolished. Strangely though, both of Greg's grammar schools became expensive condominiums.
It became very posh to live in that part of the city and these old schools gave it a unique twist. However they justified it, at least the schools weren't destroyed, just cosmetically updated.
Builders rarely see beyond the immediate monetary return. How much more would real estate mean to future generations if we kept some reminders of what once stood there?
In fairness, Maria, two of the schools knocked down were glass and concrete things - not exactly condo material. Still, they held memories. When all's said and done, we're talking about shells that hold memories. The shells in themselves are less important than the people and memories they held. At the same time it's sad to see a landmark demolished.
Post a Comment