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wanted to make this post sort of as a memorial to an abandoned building that just got knocked down at the start of this week
just a few blocks from my house were these two houses, both with their own granny flats that must have existed in SuthoTM for the longest time. one was a P&O house and had those funny light switches positioned sideways so you knew it was old. they stood there silently for as long as i've been around at least and i'd always pass them by on my way to and from school, friends, the city, the airport, everywhere.
about two years ago they were gobbled up to become another set of flats. they barricaded the front lawns and called it a day pretty much. and as the days went by, they slowly became a bit more, well, abandoned looking. i had hardly noticed until i looked up and saw a few tagged and smashed windows. the next day i slipped my way into the backyard and it was pretty much frozen in time. the houses were of course smashed and destitute but overall held up most of what made them livable. the granny flats out the back were another story.
one was completely gutted. you could see where people had lit campfires in the carpet a few times. there was a fully intact etch-a-sketch amongst the pile of random detritus. i dont know how it got there. i never will.
the other one however, im still shocked at. the microwave worked. the lights worked. the fans spun. everything still functioned as it had been for decades. aside from some kicked in windows and doors and of course, the most overpowering smell i'd ever experienced, it was no worse than the granny flat in my own home! in fact it was honestly better, it had more rooms, it had a proper fan, y'know. i was mesmorised by it. i took my mates there after school to check it out together. my last ever visual arts project was just me sneaking around at night doing some wacky light show stuff with a half-broken torch. my mates loved it even.
me and my family were off on a holiday to europe by mid december last year, and i thought what better way to show my gratitude for this place than to leave my own mark on it. the bedroom down the end of the hallway, under the window to the backyard i got out my sharpies and drew a little mural. i was still a massive one-wheat-mark fan so of course i did a little piece of mike and will together. i thought it fit in with the whole vibe of the place to some degree, something with adventure and goofing around and abandoned houses etc. i left a little message to the right saying i'd be back if the house was still standing.
january comes around and it's still there. i was so glad in a way, but the whole place had been trashed further and further. i think it was around this time that one day after school when i waltzed on in to do a bit more work on the piece and all of a sudden theres 5 girls all around me freaking the fuck out that im there. they'd all have to be two or even three years younger than me, and i'm 16. they said they were just pranking me whilst i was scared out of my mind like the bitch boy i am lmao, invited me on inside and offered me a few cruisers, i declined. the kind girl that had let me in told me all about the place, it was their groups little den, their headquarters, their own little safe third place away from life's problems. the holes and shit in the wall, the artwork they'd left (one was a pretty sick drawing of the girl in question on the wall with a beer bottle lodged into the plaster beside it). they were all looking for new friends and i got her insta, then went home. the next day i rock up and they've got even more people, with this other guy whos about 6'5" tall and apparently responsible for all the holes in the wall. he seemed like a pretty alright dude.
the third day there was no one home. no one except an old guy, shirtless and stretching out on the verandah. i apologized and got the fuck out. it was of course, a squatter. the next week i tried to sneak back in at night and saw him rugged up on a mattress in the open garage before i stepped inside. the electrical box was still flickering, mind you.
weeks and weeks went by and i noticed on that girl's instagram that she had become homeless and was looking for somewhere to seek refuge.
this was the moment where it had all become clear to me just how privileged i am. sure i've got my problems, but i've got two loving parents, a house with a backyard and granny-flat out of the way from hustle and bustle, i've got a computer, a bedroom, a place to store all my old stuff, free food, free accommodation, clothes, lighting, bathrooms, friends, everything. i have it all, and yet three or four blocks away all these people were bargaining with each other over any roof over their head, over any safe place to stay and hang out, over any of the luxuries that i had taken for granted.
when talking to that girl over text later on i learned that she had used it to sleep the night quite a few times. occasionally she would be only left with the street. my heart bled hearing that.
i bargained with my parents to give her some space in my granny flat for a few weeks maybe, i felt so sorry for her after hearing her story, but they of course said no. she was funny, she was compassionate, she was pretty, not saying that i fancied her or anything (i literally had a boyfriend at the time lmao) but i would have reached out and became a good friend if she wanted. she wasn't from the same economic state as me but it didn't feel like that mattered nor even defined her at all. the last i heard was that she found a safe place out west to stay in, but that must have been seven or eight months ago now. i'd have no clue if shes still safe, if she's still got a roof over her head, if she's still even alive. i hope shes doing better for herself now. as for the others i saw there i wish the same.
i didnt go in for a very long time thanks to that squatter until they got serious with the fencing. luckily for me the local urbexers had of course wire-cut their way through, i crawled in and got one last photo of my artwork, now partially obscured by piles of plaster and probably a healthy dose of asbestos. next week, the diggers moved in, and it was all gone.
they're still digging the pit for the new apartments. it's amazing how quickly places with so many memories, good and bad, can just vanish in the blink of an eye. its amazing how it can bring all types of people together, and shine a light on their lives.
i've developed an ethos whereby i will always strive to bring some sort of equity to those around me. i dont crave power or wealth at all anymore, i just want to keep those around me safe and happy. i hope they're all safe out there.
ramble over
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lily ⭒˚.⋆
Did you ever go into that abandonded gas station in Sutho? I always wanted to but my mates were too pussy for it and there's no fun in me going alone. It might be a bit too late now though, I saw it getting demolished on the way to my exams. It's kind of weird realising how privelaged your are. Most of the friends I grew up around had politicians for parents, horses for pets, and would just casually drop $200 on mobile games; I'm pretty glad I left that bubble behind me. I keep getting Instagram reels of people destroying abandond buildings, it always pisses me off lol.
sadly no, i remember walking around the back though before they put the fence up. may or may not be getting 2 signs from there this afternoon so if you wanna help carry them home before the bbq you’re more than welcome :D
by jeeby grimpler; ; Report
I'm so down!!
by lily ⭒˚.⋆; ; Report
击̸ e.v 🎮🎸
uhmmmm uhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm helllo i am also from sydney also also :))))
omg haiii :OOO hihihihhjhi haii helloo hello :DDDDD hi :D
by jeeby grimpler; ; Report
also i’d recommend you the songs ‘edit your hometown’ and ‘st.paul missionary baptist church blues’ both by la dispute. i feel like they encapsulate this kind of feeling very well, from what i understand from your writing
by 击̸ e.v 🎮🎸; ; Report
击̸ e.v 🎮🎸
i really like this.
i feel the same way with my neighbourhood. i moved back in with my grandparents, back to the house i grew up in ‘til i started kindergarten, a year ago this september. at first, coming back felt like i’d returned to all my hazy early-developmental memories that’d been thrown into a corner in the back of my mind. but now every morning on my way to school or whenever i take my dogs for a walk around, there’s a new ‘sale’ sign in front of a red-bricked house or construction fences being installed. when i was four, i had a clear view out of my bedroom window that looked over the side-street. i moved back into my childhood bedroom. i don’t open my window anymore because it peers directly into a box-shaped town house. i used to see right over the one-story house that used to be there. now i can watch my millennial neighbours and probably hear their every conversation, if i wish.
i noticed around a month ago when i was walking my dogs that there’s an abandoned house on the corner of the cul-de-sac. it had black graffiti on the window panes and the mosaic front door was smashed in. i could see inside one of the windows that there was a couch with a picnic blanket draped over it and empty packets of chips on the floor in front of it. i wonder if there are people who hold that house somewhere in their heart or bring snacks to for a friend-group hang out.
i wonder if those people who left those packets of chips were disappointed the next week when they came back to not even see the house. it’d been demolished, clean off the concrete slab. and it was on a really awkward-sized piece of land, kind of triangular on the corner of the cul-de-sac. the backyard was really big, all dried-out grass on cheap clay. i would’ve killed to have a backyard like that, for my dogs to run around on. my backyard’s all concrete.
a ramble inspired by a ramble, if you will.
i like the way you write, internet stranger :)
i like the way you write too!!
its always sad in a way seeing little aspects of the environment you grow up and get accustomed to get plucked off like tics. i’ve noticed at least in the shire a massive increase in abandoned shops and houses everywhere. everything that isnt a few years old is up for lease or smashed and stripped of everything it obce was, i mean christ just look around taren point lmao, almost every second former outlet store along that abysmal stroad is deserted with random cars using it as parking.
theres an abandoned servo just a block away from the houses in question i talked about that was a huge part of my childhood. it had a sign that said “FOD STORE” on it in 2014 and you can see it from google street view XD. i’m looking to at least salvage a sign or two from the demolition guys tomorrow. fingers crossed!!
by jeeby grimpler; ; Report
jeeby grimpler
there is so, so much more id want to talk about in detail with this but its 12:40am. need rest.