I live in absolute poverty <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This shack is all that I have ever known <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is as you can see much decay <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only three families now survive <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did a railway once pass your home <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes long before I was born<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These lines used to carry freight <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tracks can still be seen <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was a busy commercial area<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then it was destroyed in an earthquake <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was that the earthquake of 1971<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My late father showed me this photograph <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Would you like to see it <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was taken from this balcony <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which is now unsafe <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have asked for it to be demolished <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But nothing happens <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even as you can see the rails remain <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a forgotten area <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you look to the right <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You will see the last remaining floodlight tower <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There used to be fifteen towers <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can see many of them in the photograph <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are those your parents <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were asked to pose for a magazine article <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rebirth of this once important port <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who is the figure in the background by the signal cabin <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is my aunt or at least the ghost of my aunt <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She appeared in many of the photographs at the time <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will you ever leave your home <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where would I go <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are various schemes <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both my parents lived and died in this shack <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was born and as raised here <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why would I want to leave <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know that it is slowly falling down <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each large storm weakens the structure <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I do not even consider another earthquake <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have enjoyed your company <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please do call again as I am always here <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes I feed the birds depending on the season <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The door is very easy to open <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I usually leave it unlocked <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nobody steals anything <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is nothing to steal <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In time the city will swallow this area up <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But this will not happen <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am sure of this fact <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes I see strangers in suits <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They carry very little <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their assistants take photographs <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then they leave and other faces reappear <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a girl of tender years<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who sometimes visits me <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She is an assistant <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And like the others she takes photographs<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her fathers father worked on the railways <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And this is I believe what attracts her <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I live in absolute poverty This shack is all that I have ever known There is as you can see much decay Only three families now survive Did a railway once pass your home Yes long before I was born These lines used to carry freight The tracks can still be seen This was a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29606"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29613,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29606\/revisions\/29613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}