Amber Stevens- 100479437

Ashby Road appears almost dead as I walk down it. The odd few cars speed past, pieces of litter dancing in the wind and some dilapidated houses still haven’t opened their curtains even though it is mid day. One of these houses reminds me of the many drunken walks back from the town’s pubs to my boyfriends house, and have witnessed my many emotions from my relationship. From happily walking back together full of laughter to furious rows over pointless disagreements, this road and particular house has seen it all. I walk further down the road and it is now impossible not to notice the huge pit wheel looming. The landmark of Coalville. The symbol of it’s past. The wheel seems sad as I walk past, unused now for many years and once was part of the thriving Snibston Colliery that employed thousands of men. My grandad holds completely different feelings to this part of the walk to myself. I was not born when the pits closed down so I hold this area with memories of drunkeness and the nerves I used to feel when I first started seeing my boyfriend and was making the walk up to his house, checking in my compact mirror that not a hair was out of place! He however, would hold this point of the walk with emotions and memories of his workplace and the times he shared with his colleagues. I pass the wheel, and move onto the old outbuildings that were once a part of the colliery, and inside my head I am thinking of the many people that once walked in and out of those buildings and the noise and life that was bustling around them. Now they are evidently silent and the silence is filled with my thoughts of laughter with my friends as an eleven year old walking past these buildings after a full day of playing on the park and possibly running away from a knock-a-door run prank. Innocent emotions and memories fill my head as I pass these buildings, and reminds me of the simple-ness of childhood.

As I venture further down the road, I pass the new car dealership garage, which has not been there for very long. This modern building as such does not spark any emotions or memories for me, but the site it stands on does. The car dealership stands on the site of the old bus station. The old derelict bus station in which I remember, as a teenager, my friend ran into at night as a dare. This brought back the feeling of adrenaline, and the enjoyment of foolishness with friends. When I was a young child I remember, being slightly scared of this huge bus station building. The huge buses stored inside slightly resembled monsters in a dark cave to a seven/eight year old. However, this fear has long left me as I have grown up. All I am left with is the memories from this site is of mischievous acts as a teen and irrational fear as a child.

Strolling past the car dealership, I come to a wall, probably about 100 years old, that stands near ASDA and the railway bridge. Immediately a smile stretches across my face as I remember all of those times that I met my boyfriend at this wall when we first started dating and would walk to his house together. This wall has seen me change from being a shy, demure person around him to being totally confident and carefree. As I walk past this wall, I wonder who built it and what it has seen in the changing years of the town. Most definitely the shift between the town being a tight mining community and coal supplier, to becoming a multi-cultural town where people are no longer as familair with eachother and the demise of coal usage and the decay of the town since the mines shut. Standing close to the wall is a railway bridge which still has tracks visible underneath. The tracks lead into the colliery which would have been busy transporting coal for many hours of the day 40 odd years ago. However, I have no memories of this but my father can recall trains coming in and out of Coalville, laden with coal. My memories of this bridge are very different- I associate this with the walk to the football ground where my dad manages and the feelings of excitement and nerves with my family about the games as we cross the bridge to get to the ground.

Carrying on from the bridge, nearly at the football ground. I walk past a small council residential area which now has overgrown grass verges and kids play areas. This area does not bring back too many fond memories, as I remember as a child being frightened of the children that used to play out here and they always seemed much tougher than me. Now I look back, I was just being a bit of a wuss. I also remember falling off my bike here as a child, and grazing my knee which hurt tremendously, and I was scared to get back on my bike for weeks after this. I keep on walking down the road, through a small pathway that has an old people’s home on one side and brown garden fencing on another. This pathway triggers back my unpleasant memories of vomiting after drinking at a football match on a sunny day.

Now, I have reached the end of the pathway and nearly concluded my walk. I cross a road, and see a house that immediately sparks unpleasant feelings of fear as soon as I notice that their gate is open. The house used to have a big dog that would roam the front driveway and would attempt to jump up and bark and growl at anyone who walked past. As a child I was very scared of this dog, and so was my mother so it made it even more terrifying. Now times have changed, and I imagine that the dog is no longer alive and if it was it would not trigger such fear or negative feelings from me now. I will always attach feelings of fear and anxiety with that house. As I reach the football ground, my walk has now reached its end.

My walk made me consider the memories that I have attached to buildings from both my childhood, and my growing up phase as a teen and young adult. Drawing upon the works of Stevenson’s ‘Emotional City’ and Caruso’s ‘Emotional City’ concepts has helped me to consider this. Memories and emotions have drastically changed as I have grew up- such as going from feelings and memories of irrational fears such as that of buses and monsters to memories and feelings of drunkenness and romance as a teenager. The past plays a big part in my walk, as the majority of buildings I pass are old and are a part of the towns history, although I do not have the memories of their glory and original use I have now attached my own onto this history.