...was something my Dad said to me as a lad when we drove through some industrialised part of Birmingham. I knew that was something that grown ups often said, and although on some occasions I did attempt to imagine what the area looked liked before it was a B&Q and car park, most of the time it meant little to me.
After stopping Keith on his Sunday morning constitutional canal side walk for a chat and a portrait under the Spaghetti Junction, he too reminisced that as a boy this was once canals and open fields. Standing below the concrete sprawl I realised how easy it is to take such every day realities for granted and the difficulties of thinking of a time before it existed. Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens, explains this as constructed myths - or to put it simply - humans have agreed collectively that somethings should exist to serve a purpose. Very few things actually, really exist. Gravity really exists, whereas cars and roads suspended on huge concrete pillars are 'myths' based on our collective belief in our need for them.
Needless to say I didn't discuss this theory with Keith of course in case he thought I was a nutter (or more of a nutter beyond someone who asks for pictures of total strangers), but for once I did genuinely empathise when he looked around and lovingly recalled the playing area of his youth.
Till next time,
Matt Peers