I always think houses have good times and bad times in their history. When I am walking the dogs, the same roads for years and years, I can see a pretty little house I really admire, then sometimes sadly it will start to look a bit neglected and then more and more so. Often it is when an old person becomes too old to tend it. It is ever so sad to see the once loved garden getting overgrown. Sometimes a really lovely house never seems to get back that loved look and I always think maybe one day it will in the future. There is a house in our road that has been empty since we moved in 17 years ago. Neighbours have told us that it has been empty for 20 years before this. Nearly 40 years of neglect and lack of love, it is a sorry sight. Years ago occasionally we would see an old man going in at night. With a bare bulb lighting up the room we could see him through the filthy net curtains sitting looking through the piles of boxes and newspapers that reached up to the ceiling. We all have a very vivid imagination in our family and we would ponder on what the story of the house and the old man was. Then for many years no one ever entered. Behind the damaged gates at the side of the house is an old Morris Minor car, rusty and covered in dents. It added to the sadness I felt every time I walked by.
Then one day last year, people started going in clearing out the house and we were told the old man had died. Skips and skips of rubbish and old 1960s furniture were taken away. We were all ever so pleased to see the house coming to life, it is a lovely thought that after all this time a family may be living there again. A house deserves so much more than all that neglect especially when there are so many people who would love it. Yesterday I looked at the estate agents details online and there was something about the photos that made feel even more sad. It has obviously once been so loved. A beautiful fireplace, wallpapered rooms but it was the children's bedroom that really caught my eye. Torn and hanging off the walls was wallpaper of little puppies. Someone had gone to so much trouble for a loved child, they must have been so happy in that pretty room looking out over the back garden. I really wonder what the story of it all is and doubt I will ever know but I hope the house becomes loved again as I think it definitely deserves some good fortune in it's history.
