Sunday, June 21, 2009

As I promised I took some pictures of how it looks where I grew up. Much are the same but much has changed. It´s more friendly for children nowdays though. Speedbumps all over the place. But first some pictures of how it looked here this morning.









We met a very wet Teodor on our walk home. I think it was him and my neighbours cat I heard figting last night.

The snails loves this foggy weather.







These houses are very special to Gothenburg and a city called Alingsås. The law didn´t allow houses built in tree to be higher than two floors (because of the fire danger) so a smart man figured out that if the bottom floor were made out of stone, they could build two floors on top of that :-) This house was built by Scottish immigrants (very rich people) for poor people. They thought the livingstandard were too bad in the houses that existed. Most of the appartements were two rooms, kitchen and a water closet. But in the eldest part they only had one room but a hughe kitchen instead. Every floor shared a water closet. Most of the houses around didn´t have water or toilett indoors at all. Before they were allowed to move in to the appartement they had to be deloused.






Before there were only sand here, nowdays they have a lawn and benches and everything.


I grew up in the appartement on the bottom floor right ahead. That was a two room appartement. Most people living here at that time were either poor or drunks or both :-) But I always felt totally safe. Even the worst alcoholics kept an eye on us :-)



Here there were a vegetable shop. Only vegetables plus milk and eggs. This was an area where we had gas stoves and to use the gas we had to buy plastic coins (I know there´s a word for it but can´t find it). Most peole didn´t have those in the end of the month or money to buy any, so there were a lot of running to neighbours that might have some to spare. It was the same thing with food sometimes :-)


The place every child longed to go! The candy store is no more but all of us that grew up here has a special place for it and the owner in our hearts :-)


On both sides of the hoses there were roads going down the hill. It felt like we could fly when going down with our bikes. This side were a bit more dangerous though because of all cars driving there. More than one kid got hit by a car there. On the corner of the hose to the right were one of all grocery stores there were in the neighbourhood.

On my side there were fewer cars and less danger, so of course we never went down that road
:-)


There were a pet shop on the corner of this house. It was just beside my school and I went there almost every day :-) Strange that they never got tired of all us kids going in there but seldom did buy anything.


My shool. The oldest parts is now almost 170 years old. From grade one to three my classroom were at the top. I sat by the most left window. From grade four to six my classroom were on the second floor to the left.

It was impossible to get a picture of the school I wet on from grade seven to nine. All trees hid it :-) This was the first time I realised that some people had more money than others. Some of the classes came from one of the riches areas in Gothenburg. We always thought these kids were a bit strange :-)

My Highschool wasn´t so much easier to take a picture on. It was just on the other side from the street of my old school. I´m standing just a couple of meters from the building I grew up in.




A lot of my free time were spent down at the harbour. Nowdays it look so nice with new boats and everything. The bridge in behind is Älvsborgsbron.


The luxury appartements on the other side didn´t exist then and there were a lot of big ships comming and going all the time.


The only ships one can find in the harbour nowdays is the ferries to Germany and denmark.


Down here me and my friends used to fish. If lucky we got cods or if even more lucky a mackerel or flatfish. If unlucky some fish that lived in freshwater and them we could get in any lake nearby. But I loved every minute of it!

18 comments:

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer....i really loved going to gottenburg with you. what a lovely place to grow up! i am sure if i grew up there i would have been down at the harbor every single day! teodor looks like he had a rough night and is on his way home to sleep it off!!!! joyce

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi joyce!
That part of the town has always looked beautiful, but it was called the slum of Gothenburg when I grew up :-) :-)

The harbour and the ocean has always fascinated me, so when I wasn´t at the harbour I went to the ocean.


Teodor was really in a bad mood when we met him. I think he didn´t dare go home because of the other cat. He fell asleep as soon he came in the poor thing :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Kat said...

Christer,
That was such an amazing trip with you back in time as you remembered all the stuff which has gone but remains so much a part of your life.

It may be safer and greener, but the kids there now won't have the memories you do of the familiar stores and people.

Much is the same but it is still so different.

NinaH said...

Great story ´bout your childhood!! Very interresting reading! To bad those lively areas in the center of the cities are "dead stone desert" now adays. I have the same experience ´bout my childhood areas.
Great you - and yopur pets!;-)....- got good living areas now again!;-)

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Kat!
If I close my eyes I can still se every one that lived there and still hear their wices :-)

It´s a shame though that there are no pictures of how it looked back then. When the last one with memories of that place dies, no one will knw how it was.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Nina!
I wish that someone had taken pictures of the place back then. So they could show them atvlibraries and culture houses. Soon no one remembers all this.

Yes, I and my pest sure have great living areas!
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Anonymous said...

Hi Christer, GREAT post, lovely pictures and what a wonderful treat for you to step back in time. How much do those luxury condos go for facing the Harbor? I want to buy one. It looks like a fairy tale land there. Thanks so much for sharing. This is your best post yet.

Anonymous said...

Christer - Thanks for the tour. I too love the look of the harbor. What wonderful photos and descriptions. And poor little Teodor - he deserves a special treat.

Thanks for this wonderful post.

Linda in Chapel Hill

splendid said...

dear christer
thank you so much for sharing your memories. i enjoyed seeing the photos as well. i really like the snail pictures.
:)

Anonymous said...

Loved your childhood memories and the city views. Our worlds and friends do change over the years and it is always good to cherish thes memories. Thanks so much for sharing it gives us a pleasant taste of Sweden.

Vittran said...

Växte du upp nära Majorna? Det känns som om jag har sett en del av de hus du visar.
Jag önskar också att det fanns fler bilder från den trakt där jag växte upp för idag är alla åkrar och ängar bebyggda.
Började att fundera på var du bor när vi var på Grevagården i Skövde och hämtade hem vår nya häst. Är det i närheten av Skövde?
Ha en bra dag!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Z&M!
I only wish I would have had much more time there. I got early to Gotheburg and had only half an hour to get some pictures. Perhaps I´ll get back there and take some more pictures during my vacation.

I don´t know how much they cost nowdays. If I would guess it would cost some where around one to two milion dollars and You´ll get a place for Your boat too then. But one still has to pay rent and that was rather much already from the beginning. We don´t have that kind of appartements in Sweden where You buy the appartement and thats it, one always has to pay rent anyway.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Linda!
Nowdays the harbour is so great! When I was Young it was a bit rougher :-) But I loved to go down there and just to look at the ships, fishing or just sit there.

I did feel a bit sorry for Teodor :-)He was anything but happy when we met him :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Splendid!
I enjoyed to go around in my old neighbourhood :-) The stories I could tell :-)

These kind of snails are welcome at my garden and I think they look wonderful. But nowdays we have got a snail from spain, a snail that is harmless over there but a terror over here. They are so slimy that the wild animals wount eat them. So they come in thousands. I know people that kills ovet a thousand every night in their garden. Until now we haven´t had them here, but my poor neighbour found one in her greenhouse yesterday. It came with a tomatoe plant and she doesn´t know if it´s the only one. I really hope that she can catch any others of them if she got more than one.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Woody!
As I remember these were safe neighbiourhoods even if it was poor and a lot of alcoholics back then. Well we had a corps that the murderer spread in different waist bins around the blocks, but appart from that it was safe :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hej Vittran!
Jag växte upp mitt i Majorna :-) Så har du varit där känner du säkert igen huset. Det är det största i hela området.

Grevagården vet jag var den ligger, jobbade i Skövde under åtta år :-) Jag bor mitt mellan Skara och Falköping, så det ligger några mil söder om Skövde.
Ha det gott nu!
Christer.

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

This...was a most wonderful post...from wet Teodor to those beautiful snails that I have never ever seen before...to where you grew up! I have only been able to go back to the place of my childhood once. It was sad.
Yes..it is a sort of awakening when you become aware of the haves and have nots ..as they say.

Were you trying to think of the work "token" for the coins you used?
I love to fish to this very day!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Mona!
Yes poor Teodor :-)
Those snails (or shells as we actully calls them over here) are really beautiful. Makes little or no harm to plants as long there are some dead leafs on the ground.

It was so fun to go back to my childhood neighbourhood :-) Next time I´ll stay longer and take even more pictures to show here.

I was thinking of token, wasn´t sure if that was right though. Translated to swedish that means a lot of different things. But yes, we used tokens to get the gas to the stoves. Thanks for the word!
Have a great day now!
Christer.