Driveway no more

My Dad’s cousin Janet will be ninety years old on 7th November. We will be in New Zealand at the time, so I took Janet out for lunch today to the Homegrown Garden Centre in Gartcosh as a very early celebration. I like her very much; she is an amazing lady and I love listening to her stories about the Russell family in the old days in Coatbridge. She talks about the present as well; she is very well read and intelligent, has a great sense of humour, and has an active social life with friends and family. \

On the way home I visited my Mum and Dad’s memorial bench and then walked past our old house in Grenville Drive. Every time I have walked past over many years, I have paused to admire the concrete slab across the bottom of the driveway, mixed and laid down so neatly by my Dad sixty years ago. It was still there in the spring, but today it was gone; a new driveway has been laid right down to the street and my Dad’s work is no more. I felt a bit sad, but I suppose that it was always inevitable that it would be replaced one day, and it lasted for a long time.