Familiar Fictional Streets
I enjoy imagining all sorts of things. Sometimes they are what you would expect of an imaginative person - there are haunted fortresses and warp-drive ships. But sometimes they are far more mundane and today I will expand on the Shop Street Shops to describe the setting of an entire neighbourhood.
The Shop Street Shops are across the road from a small community park called Nextvale Square which sits at the centre of an old housing commission development of seven-by-seven blocks of residences. The seven shops are somewhat wider than many other such backstreet shops but also shorter from front-to-back. A narrow laneway separates the shops from the houses behind them and if you look over the back fence of those houses you can discover that they share one large back yard. The houses on this block are occupied by retired members of the Worldwide Order of Oddballs (WOOB). Front yards are separate but mask a very shared way-of-life for its occupants.
Nextvale Square itself features some shady trees, park benches, picnic shelter, drinking fountain (the new kind that includes a dog bowl) and a passive rain-driven water feature. Small public conveniences are open during the day. The shops are across from its southern perimeter. Across from its western perimeter is the Nextvale Primary Shool which occupies its entire block. Its library and basketball court face the park and after school hours are open to the general public (just ask the librarians for basketballs). Across from the eastern perimeter of the park is Nextvale Medical And Health Centre. This block includes a small indoor swimming pool overlooked by a gym. The eastern side of the park also sports a bus shelter for the one public transport route that connects this precint with larger centres. Across from the northern perimeter of the park are the only homes that face the park and the centremost of these is the Nextvale Neighbourhood House. It runs a number of short courses and hosts the meetings of a few local community groups. The rest of the homes on that block are small rental units still owned by the state.
Walk three blocks in any direction from Nextvale Square and you will come to the borders of the neighbourhood. Its western boundary is the Tarmacadam Highway. Here are the westernmost homes of the neighbourhood but also a service station (including tool shop) and a pool hall (including band room). There may be warehouses or offices across the road but they are beyond the confines of this description.
The southern boundary is the Sluggish Creek track while the northern one is the enbankment of the Herevale railway line. One can access bordering neighbourhoods via a foot bridge (south) and a pedestrian underpass (north) respectively. The creek and railway line run parallel to each other for five blocks but then gently curve inward to intersect some distance past the easternmost street of the neighbourhood. That arch-shaped parcel of scrubby land is the site of a former scout hall that now serves as home of the Herevale Naturalists (whose work takes them to open spaces in many locales beyond Nextvale) who tend a community garden there. The hall and its car park hosts a monthly swap meet and car-boot sale. Among the houses across the road is a bed-and-breakfast for the few visitors to the neighbourhood who cannot crash on the couch of a friend. The retirees who run it do so as a labour-of-love and for some extra income.
This makes reference to a Herevale that I name in some older posts. It draws on my past experience of wandering suburbia and visiting the neighbourhoods of friends. I was too lazy to draw a map but I think this tested my descriptive writing. What is it for? For its own sake I suppose. However it could always come in handy as the setting for an adventure of the kids-on-bikes sub-genre that has recently had a resurgence.
The Shop Street Shops are across the road from a small community park called Nextvale Square which sits at the centre of an old housing commission development of seven-by-seven blocks of residences. The seven shops are somewhat wider than many other such backstreet shops but also shorter from front-to-back. A narrow laneway separates the shops from the houses behind them and if you look over the back fence of those houses you can discover that they share one large back yard. The houses on this block are occupied by retired members of the Worldwide Order of Oddballs (WOOB). Front yards are separate but mask a very shared way-of-life for its occupants.
Nextvale Square itself features some shady trees, park benches, picnic shelter, drinking fountain (the new kind that includes a dog bowl) and a passive rain-driven water feature. Small public conveniences are open during the day. The shops are across from its southern perimeter. Across from its western perimeter is the Nextvale Primary Shool which occupies its entire block. Its library and basketball court face the park and after school hours are open to the general public (just ask the librarians for basketballs). Across from the eastern perimeter of the park is Nextvale Medical And Health Centre. This block includes a small indoor swimming pool overlooked by a gym. The eastern side of the park also sports a bus shelter for the one public transport route that connects this precint with larger centres. Across from the northern perimeter of the park are the only homes that face the park and the centremost of these is the Nextvale Neighbourhood House. It runs a number of short courses and hosts the meetings of a few local community groups. The rest of the homes on that block are small rental units still owned by the state.
Walk three blocks in any direction from Nextvale Square and you will come to the borders of the neighbourhood. Its western boundary is the Tarmacadam Highway. Here are the westernmost homes of the neighbourhood but also a service station (including tool shop) and a pool hall (including band room). There may be warehouses or offices across the road but they are beyond the confines of this description.
The southern boundary is the Sluggish Creek track while the northern one is the enbankment of the Herevale railway line. One can access bordering neighbourhoods via a foot bridge (south) and a pedestrian underpass (north) respectively. The creek and railway line run parallel to each other for five blocks but then gently curve inward to intersect some distance past the easternmost street of the neighbourhood. That arch-shaped parcel of scrubby land is the site of a former scout hall that now serves as home of the Herevale Naturalists (whose work takes them to open spaces in many locales beyond Nextvale) who tend a community garden there. The hall and its car park hosts a monthly swap meet and car-boot sale. Among the houses across the road is a bed-and-breakfast for the few visitors to the neighbourhood who cannot crash on the couch of a friend. The retirees who run it do so as a labour-of-love and for some extra income.
This makes reference to a Herevale that I name in some older posts. It draws on my past experience of wandering suburbia and visiting the neighbourhoods of friends. I was too lazy to draw a map but I think this tested my descriptive writing. What is it for? For its own sake I suppose. However it could always come in handy as the setting for an adventure of the kids-on-bikes sub-genre that has recently had a resurgence.
Labels: Creative Writing
posted by Dan at
9.5.21
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