East Midlands, small market town. I still go back and visit 3 or 4 times a year. The changes are really depressing. 25 years ago the historic market centre was full of independant shops; countrywear, women's occasionwear, wedding shop, pets shop, Butchers, fishmongers, bakery, cake shop with tea room, a number of little restaurant/bistros, little old historic pubs. The only chain was a co-op, which was the only supermarket. There was a thriving weekly market, the village show every year, the churches still did all the bring and buy sales, strawberry fairs, bazaars etc which were well attended, there was this long standing busy social calender for the town as a community of many things that were looked forward to each year. We roamed all over on our bikes and the small town was surrounded by farmers fields, orchards, we swam in the river all summer, camped in the woods in tents. All that is unthinkable now for my three nephews who are growing up there, it wouldn't be safe. Most of those natural environments are covered with soulless housing estates now all crammed into tiny plots. The bit of woodland left is a disgusting dog toilet. The river is much dirtier, you wouldn't swim in it now - regularly there are sewage leaks. We used to see herons and all sorts, my sister says they don't see anything like that now. The population has doubled, the cars on the road have quadrupled. I'd swear there is 10x more dogs being walked up and down the pavements. The shops are now horrible cheap chains like pound land, aldi etc. There is a macdonalds now and any number of grotty looking takeaways. There used to be a cheap shop that sold all sorts of random stuff when I was small but it was independant and quite charming in its way, a good place to spend pocket money. The sweet shop with the barbers upstairs has gone, the sweet little newsagents that was in the same family for four generations has been replaced by a spar. The beautiful antique shop is gone, the arts, crafts and dramatic socitey centre is now a martial arts, zumba and slimming world place, the boules club, rotary club, local history society are all now more. Used to be a popular river for anglers but no longer. The beautiful historic library is now a private residence. The dolls House furniture shop that was such a big part of my childhood changed to a mobile phone shop, then a kebab shop and now its been empty for ages. The old council estate is now scary rough, it never used to be, a few down and outs but harmless enough. What my mum notices when she goes back is the private gardens, she said it used to be such a pleasure to walk about the roads and streets as such a high proportion of residents took pleasure in making their gardens beautiful wheras now most front gardens are paved over, or just low maintenance - some even with fake lawn. The calibre of people has gone downhill, I'm not sure how or why but it has. Just so many rough people everywhere - white British for the most part - and they just seem so uneducated and scummy. Spitting and vaping, barking at their children in a guttural uncouth manner. It never used to be like that, even though it was always an affordable area. Two old people's homes that were near our house are still there, one a very grand and imposing town centre house and the other a country estate like house on the outskirts- both were so lovely to look at with very elaborate grounds full of rose bushes etc, beautifully maintained. It would make you weep to see them now, clearly there is no money for gardeners or property maintenance and hasn't been for many years. The school I went to has been expanded beyond recognition and looks exactly like a high security prison. It used to be rated excellent wheras now its got a terrible reputation and has been classed as failing for a while. Its the people who confuse me the most, why have they changed? There never used be dog poo all over the pavements or drugs in the secondary school. I look back at the pictures of my childhood, the street parties and various occasions in our close and im looking at my parents and their neigbours thinking - these were all very ordinary working class people, not at all wealthy any of them, and yet they were all decent with nice clothes and nice gardens and lovely homemade food. My dads friend a few doors down organised the dads of the close to build us kids a wooden boat between three trees on the little green in the centre of the close, looking back we were so lucky. In the summer usually my dad or someone elses would start up a game of cricket or rounders after tea and the mums would bring out something so simple like lemon barley water with ice cubes or a box of cheap choc ices but it felt like such a treat. Theres a soft play centre in an industrial estate on the outskirts near where my sister lives and she used to take the boys there when they were younger but it was always being closed for rotavirus or noravirus, but we didnt need soft plays in the 90s - we had the oudoors. Sometimes I wonder if I'm remembering it as more idyllic than it was but everyone I've spoken to agrees. It makes me terribly sad, it's a horrible feeling to be longing for vanished world but perhaps that is just part of the human experience and always has been.