Page 170 - this is the longest period of time I have ever lived in the same place. As Dad was in the army we moved around a lot, I suppose I was lucky to see many different places, and it all seemed normal to me! When we bought our house here it was classed as a village, but now with all the extra building that has gone on, one village just runs into another until they reach the nearest towns in each direction. But we are still lucky enough to have green spaces and a lot of army land to walk through. We also have the Basingstoke canal, with it's thriving visitor centre, and the Blackwater river. Our local primary school is nearby. There was a time when the children were young that I knew just about everyone, but now I don't. We still have a few original neighbours. Most of our shops have gone, and I really don't understand why we need two Indian restaurants, a chippy, Chinese take away and two hairdressers! Oh and a pub, which now has a Thai restaurant attached! I still think I live in a pleasant area, a fairly quiet road, but fairly good access to all amenities. But government policy dictates more houses to be built in the area, and I fear our local services and hospital will be hard pushed to cope, but this must be fairly typical for many areas! I have seen a lot of changes in the area, the ones that upset me most are the demolition of beautiful old buildings and Victorian houses, we should be treasuring these!