Streets in the Sky

The old building stands tall but gloomy instead of majestic like it once promised. An architect’s vision turned in to a reality granting him success. It was supposed to be revolutionary, ahead of its time. There was a generation that once described it as paradise. The grass once looked green and the sky was once blue but now the sky seems grey and the grass brown.

The flyer on the ground next to it advertises a community BBQ and you’re reminded of a time gone by.

This derelict building was once full. It was a home, a refuge from the outside world. A life once existed here but now they are just echoes of a time gone by. You can hear the world going on outside without a consideration for it. Trains and trams rush by, people walk by dismissing it as an eyesore instead of admiring that it once held so much potential.

There used to be life here. Children running around the playground, adults having a cup of tea on the balconies, fights between one side and the other, lovers’ tiffs, first dates.

The coloured boards put up are nowhere near as colourful as the love and laughter that once filled these homes. Deprivation overrides them now and pity replaces the sentiment.

The graffiti ‘Will you marry me?’ scattered across a high bridge introduces an eeriness. A young love occurred here, childhood sweethearts had their first kisses in a lost corner where it felt as if they were the only two people to exist.

The pub was once a local, where people came for an end of the week pint or ten, brimming on a Friday night. Arctic Monkeys echoed out from the Jukebox to the other end of the estate where teens cherished the taste of their first sip of cider out of a plastic bottle from the corner shop they had bribed an adult to buy for them.

Red and white stripes were a uniform worn proudly and a march was taken to Bramall from here on match days.  Gruff voices chanting ‘My Sheffield United, come thrill me again’ could be heard all around.

Streets in the sky the authorities said oh so proudly, it sounded like a utopia! A fresh chance for those that had scuppered their life. Now, the building itself has to be given another chance.


People felt alive here once, life was given here, love was made.

Was, as in no more.

What happened to all those people?

Where did that love go?

Is it an echo of a time gone by or failure?

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