Last Thursday I heard that they were going to knock down mother and fathers old house situated on Janet’s Corner the following day. Yesterday I called round there to check it out. Sure enough, the old house on James Road had been reduced to a pile of rubble. The 4 bed room house and the one next door have been flattened to make way for an old folk’s complex. I don’t have a problem in making way for the future. Isn’t that what we all do at the end of the day? We are simply here to mind space. It doesn’t prevent me from becoming nostalgic though. As I sat in the car outside our old house I couldn’t help thinking of my old Dad. The endless hours and hours of work he had put in to the garden. He won the Castletown garden of the year award no fewer than 6 times. Dad died last April and now it seemed that all reminders of him were slowly being destroyed as well. Strangely enough, amongst the entire rubble one rose tree stood alone. It was almost as if it was making a last stand against progress. It seems as if someone has been following Dad through life, making sure that as soon as he moves on, all reminders of his presence have to be removed. He spent 15 years stoking in Castletown gasworks. The gasworks was later flattened and is now the Commissioner’s yard. The coal boats he discharged in Castletown harbour are all gone. Now the old house has gone as well. I wonder how long the rose tree will stand defiant! All that is left now are memories. However, they will last forever. No one can, or will even try to flatten my memories. Life goes on, but sometimes pauses just long enough for us to shed a tear for yesterday, and then gather our hopes for tomorrow.