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stella41b -> RE: Where's the Crappiest Place Y/you've Ever Lived? (6/4/2008 5:14:40 PM)
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Despite being born in West Yorkshire my earliest days were spent brought up by my grandparents on the Drumchapel Estate in Glasgow and I was to spend my early teens in the notorious Manningham district of Bradford, living near Lumb Lane. I knew early on about shebeens, prostitutes, drugs, and both the stabbings and investigations which went on around a couple of the local pubs. I lived with my divorcing mother on the Sloan Square estate. I even remember the address, 55 Sloan Square East. Two squares of four concrete apartment blocks. Concrete within. It was the sort of place where a policeman had to stay in the panda car to prevent it getting stripped by local kids. However I have seen a police car with both policeman and wheels removed. My father, a racist and bigot, repeatedly claimed that I would end up 'a Paki', commenting on the predominant Pakistani population of Bradford, part of which was concentrated in Manningham. I lived in what at the time seemed to be a multi-racial ghetto surrounded by terraced back to back houses occupied predominantly by Pakistani families. By far Mohammed was the most popular name in my school. Perhaps this is why I have a positive attitude towards Pakistanis and Muslims, I got to know them, understasd them, they represented safety. The older men formed their own 'protection'. One was the owner of a textile shop in the White Abbey Road, one of a few who could freely walk the streets with a baseball bat. I heard he had a collection, just like Joe DiMaggio, but used them in quite a different manner to Clipper.
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