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Original poster

What if you had to...

30 replies

Beeinalily · 13/12/2023 21:51

Go to the place of your birth when there was a census. Would you mind? Could you afford it? Would you be tempted to stay? I'm in the North of England but was born in Hackney, London. I'd be interested to see it again and the journey is doable. I certainly miss London a lot, but I'm not sure if I'd want to live there again, I've got used to a slower pace of life. How about you? 🤔

OP posts:
MilkChocolateCookie · 13/12/2023 21:54

Yes I'd be happy to go. It's about an hour away from where I live now and my parents still live there so I could pop in to say hi!

BANANABANANABANANABANANA · 13/12/2023 21:56

Happy to go, and could visit some family friends while there. The train ticket would cost a fortune though and I wouldn't want to use up a day's annual leave.

NightmareGirl · 13/12/2023 21:56

I don’t take part in the census anymore.

mynameiscalypso · 13/12/2023 21:57

I could hop on the tube and be there in about 20 mins.

BarefootbyMoonlight · 13/12/2023 22:01

Never mind a donkey, Shanks’ pony would get me to birth place

Might need the donkey to get to where I grew up though as that’s a bit further on

Happier to visit the latter than the former though as former is a shithole

AnneLovesGilbert · 13/12/2023 22:03

Couldn’t afford the flight and it’s an awfully long way away.

PonyPatter44 · 13/12/2023 22:04

Don't fancy trekking down the M1 on a donkey, certainly not in this weather!

AdoraBell · 13/12/2023 22:05

I was also born in Hackney and I would go back unless legally obliged.

dudsville · 13/12/2023 22:10

I went back. I left my childhood home when i was 15, and in adulthood i dreamed of it so often, with a kind of longing. In many ways it was good to go back, but/and seeing the difference between my childhood neighbourhood and what it had turned into was hard. The dreams ended, but I'm glad for that, they were bitter-sweet, melancholic.

Heyhoherewegoagain · 13/12/2023 22:11

I live 2 streets away 😂

3luckystars · 13/12/2023 22:12

I could walk there from here. I wouldn’t even need the donkey.

ohtowinthelottery · 13/12/2023 22:14

It's a city about 1 hour away from where I am now. I moved away to a completely different place when I was 6 weeks old. One of my DBs moved back to the city we were all born in so I'd be able to visit him. Although I like visiting the city occasionally I wouldn't want to live there - I much prefer my rural county.

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 13/12/2023 22:18

It would be 4.5 hours' drive for me, and have no particular desire to go there. I know nobody who still lives there (we moved to a different area when I was 11) and it's definitely not as nice as where I live now.

UsingChangeofName · 13/12/2023 22:34

Yup, another who could walk there. No donkey needed, even if I were 9 months pregnant.

Mind, if rules are the same, it would be dh's place of birth we'd have to go to, not mine. I would need the donkey to get that far. I'd rather take the car though. Wouldn't need to stay over.

Needmorelego · 13/12/2023 22:36

It might be interesting. The maternity hospital wasn't actually in the town we lived in (which we left when I was 3) so other than being born where I was I don't think I have ever been there. It's probably a couple of hours by train from where I live now so might make a nice day out.
I'm actually gonna Google the town now and see what's there 😂

3luckystars · 13/12/2023 22:39

Why did they ask them to go back to the place of birth though, what actual use are those figures to anyone?

Notthatcatagain · 13/12/2023 23:05

Not a chance, both parents were alcoholics, I lost my first baby there and my first husband died in a car crash there. Not many happy memories

Original poster
Beeinalily · 13/12/2023 23:43

I'm so sorry @Notthatcatagain . Lots of people still living near their birthplace, that's kind of nice. A couple missing the point, it was just a train of thought while watching a nativity play!

OP posts:
ChateauDuMont · 13/12/2023 23:53

NightmareGirl · 13/12/2023 21:56

I don’t take part in the census anymore.

Same here. I've previously completed it but the last one I refused to.

I'm still waiting for a knock on the door to be issued a fine!

Precipice · 14/12/2023 00:06

Easy flight, but expensive this time of year.

This would be a stupid and cumbersome way of running a census and there's no evidence that the Romans ever engaged in this ridiculous manner of census taking in their history.

Catsmere · 14/12/2023 02:06

@Precipice I read that and immediately thought, "People called Romanes, they go the house?!" 😆

DilemmaDelilah · 14/12/2023 08:51

45 minutes by car - so no problem for me.... DH 4 hours flying... Definitely more of a problem!

HomburgandTrilby · 14/12/2023 08:59

For most of my adult life it would have involved trains and a flight, for quite a few years it would have been a longhaul flight, but for the last few years I’ve been able to see the hospital where I was born out my front windows. I could walk there in about 20 minutes. Unfortunately, if DS were included in the census, we’d need to fly.

EliflurtleAndTheInfiniteMadness · 14/12/2023 09:02

No because my disability means traveling for .more then an hour causes hideous pain and my birthplace is 8-10 hours drive.

CrackersDontMatter · 14/12/2023 09:04

I don't live far these days. Half of my kids were born 200 miles away though. Would I have to send them alone?

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