Our house,in the middle of our street in Soller youtu.be/o9OPFvhFq0c The lyrics of this song seem to have been around for ever and are especially poignant for those of us who were there in North London at the time. My bit of that place centred around Parliament Hill Fields where Kentish Town meets Hampstead. It was in that location that the centre of life for us kids was the youth club at the local Baptist Church facing on to Highgate road. It was there we played table tennis and an upstairs hall was used for football. We knitted squares for Africa and went carol singing to collect money for charity accompanied by the church organist playing a squeeze box. We went on Sunday School outings to Walton on the Naze and Church holidays to Cornwall and the long suffering leaders eventually had a queue of grateful youngsters who said thank you for their efforts. This group of people were ahead of their time in giving the children of that area experiences that their parents could never have afforded. It was into this world that a 5 year old boy turned up after Christmas wearing the cowboy suit that Santa had brought for him. Thumbs in his trousers and a silver gun in the holster he stood at the door of the church not sure whether to come in or not. He was welcomed and asked his name and he replied Im Lee, Lee Jay Thompson. It was a funny moment and we laughed at this cowboy with attitude and three names he wanted to be known by. He became one of the many local kids that used this place and the rest of his life went on round the corner in the block of flats that housed so many of his companions at the church. In time, somewhere along the line he learnt to play the saxophone and also how to evade the police. Except that sometimes he didnt and that meant a spell in borstal and a developed understanding of how the other half live. The story of the evolution of Madness is told in many other places but suffice it to say that from their beginnings in down-town North London a band was born that have sung Our House from the top of Buckingham Palace amongst many many other places. Lee Jay Thompson wrote the song and became one of iconic faces of Madness. The songs description of a loud family house in a working class neighborhood can be identified with by many. The North London I grew up in was the same and the most important attribute of a woman was that she was house-proud as the song says. This understanding of the value of keeping a clean house was the beginning of the future for women who wanted to be in control. The cleanliness and doing out the corners with a toothbrush was this generation of womens voice – one of the few areas that many of them felt in control. Life has moved on a mile for many but here in Soller I am really not so sure. Life has changed and housework has been relegated to have to do rather than I am defined by the housework I do and my attitudes changed with it until I moved to Majorca. Now I live I a street that still values she do keep a nice house in exactly the same way as North London 50 years ago. In conversation with my neighbour this week I saw a toothbrush in her wrap around apron pocket. I asked what she was going to do with it and she showed me the corners of the Entrada and the plug hole in her bathroom. Heaven preserve us,I thought the whole world had moved on, but no, she was beaming as she told me of her daily efforts. The women of Soller who have been educated and gone away to university on the mainland and in the other countries return with all their learning intact but they are still met with the usual questions. Marriage, maternity and motherhood – preferably to a local who you went to infant school with and whose parents are known and liked by yours is the holy grail. This is my observation of Soller life and it is not a criticism – it is just the way life is. Housework, babies, family life are what makes the wheels go round in our small community. The high flyers, of which there are many, go off and make their money and their contribution elsewhere but are frequently to be found back here at home in Soller. Retirement here is a given and no matter where in the world their families are raised their children make the trek every year for the long school holidays to learn the language and not forget their Solleric roots. It is a fantastic study in the pull of the Island and small communities that make up Majorcan life. For those of us who moved here with growing families this transition is a very interesting one to watch -weve brought them from London – the centre of most opportunities and introduced them to an outdoor, wonderful life with very structured roots. Traditional values and family life is appreciated by so many of the English speaking Sollerics who have chosen to live here. As the new comers of 2014 are ready to order the removal trucks and arrive here they are asking the same questions that are contained in this article. Are we going back in time and if so is it to a good place. The resounding answer from most of us is yes this is a good place to have our house in the middle of our street in Soller
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 11:54:49 +0000
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