“I saw the ruins, once the smoke cleared. Once upon returning home.”
Sammy Hagar
You can never really go home again. I could keep going on and on with the stereotypical melodramatic quotes but I won’t (well, maybe later in the article).
I returned to my hometown of London, Ontario at the end of May, 2022. It had been five years since my last visit and about 30 years since I last lived there. There was no ‘home’ to return to. My parents passed away several years ago and the house I grew up in belongs to a young family now. Most of my friends and neighbours have moved away and there’s little left but the memories.
As for the ruins, at times the downtown core looked the part. Construction is the obvious dominating employer in the city, as it is in most cities in Southern Ontario these days. I planned a route for the video included here but had to wing much of it because of road closures.
Downtown London, Ontario Driving Tour [Video]
But, although many, many things had changed or were changing, many stayed the same. I was able to get a 20km run in through Springbank Park and Greenway Park (see more about that run here: Springbank Park Tourist Run). It was much the same as I’d left it decades ago. In fact, it was a bit better because you actually get drinking water at a number of places along the route.
The downtown was interesting, in that all the construction is meant to give the city a affluent facade that shouts to the world that London, Ontario is a sophisticated big city. However, if you look closely, it’s still evident that this is home to poverty and homelessness, along with alcohol and drug addiction. It’s not London’s fault, though, every major (and not so major) city in Southern Ontario looks the same.
London, Ontario Image Gallery
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Although I was only there for part of a day, I was able to capture some new video of the downtown along with some images. I also toured my old neighbourhood. I thought I’d be sad driving by the house that my parents lived in for over half a century. But, seeing signs of a happy young family living there now actually brought a smile to my face.
However, if I’d played Bruce Springsteen’s “My Father’s House” while driving by, it might have ended up more emotional…
Last night I dreamed that I was a child
Out where the pines grow wild and tall
I was trying to make it home through the forest
Before the darkness fallsI heard the wind rustling through the trees
And ghostly voices rose from the fields
I ran with my heart pounding down that broken path
With the devil snapping at my heelsI broke through the trees and there in the night
My father’s house stood shining hard and bright
The branches and brambles tore my clothes and scratched my arms
But I ran ’til I fell shaking in his armsI awoke and I imagined, the hard things that pulled us apart
Will never again, sir, tear us from each other’s hearts
I got dressed and to that house, I did ride
From out on the road I could see its windows shining in lightI walked up the steps and stood on the porch
A woman I didn’t recognize came and spoke to me through a chained door
I told her my story and who I’d come for
She said “I’m sorry son but no one by that name lives here anymore”My father’s house shines hard and bright
Bruce Springsteen
It stands like a beacon calling me in the night
Calling and calling, so cold and alone
Shining ‘cross this dark highway where our sins lie unatoned
It won’t be another five years before I return. I am set to run a 50km race at Fanshawe Conservation Area in October. It’s two 25k loops around the lake on a fairly flat and smooth trail. I’ve done the single loop before and found it quite enjoyable.
