B has given her blessing for me to take over for a bit so we’ll be spending some time comparing Newcastle to Michigan where I live now. B will be back to regular posting on Monday 9 August!
This was my backyard in Newcastle, no grass in sight. (But we didn’t have to mow either)
This is my backyard in Michigan, 5 acres of grass and garden:
visits
since April 2006.
Now that is a contrast!
One North-Americanism that I can never adapt to is “backyard” for “backgarden”. These pictures show why. That first picture screams yard so much that I could never use the word to describe anything as colourful as the second picture.
As a kid we played football in the back-lane a lot, and I spent a good part of my childhood climbing over walls into people’s backyards to get the ball back. I wonder if anyone does that any more.
My dog would love a backyard like that, no problems with walkies MikeM
In my day the backyard was largely taken up with a coalhouse, a netty (Mrs. K. will know what I mean) and a bit of space for a washing line although many people had clothes line strung across the back lane itself which caused mayhem when the coal wagons came round to deliver. PJF, the kids still clamber over backyard walls but I’m not sure their motives are as innocent as ours were. Perhaps I am just getting cynical in my old age.
Yes Alf Mrs K does know what you mean. But we were lucky in our street, we had outside lavvy’s that flushed.
At my many Aunt’s place, some where across the back lane, some had two holes (side by side) and they all had shovels with pails of ashes. Newspaper, I usually got the job of cutting it into squares and tying string through it to hang on a mail. I also was told when I complained - That in days of old, when Knights were bold and paper wasn’t invented. You scraped your bum along the road and walked of quite contented.
I did have a backyard like in Cassandra’s first photo, but we painted the walls, two thirds white and one third blue, and hung up baskets, tubs grew potatoes, tomatoes etc. I wish we had been clever enough to do a ‘muriel’ like Ada’s.
hose pink flowers are there again - I am curious. Just fancy waking up to that view.