One of the girls was leaving the office yesterday and we decided we would go out for lunch to mark her last day.
We strolled up the street from my office in Enfield to the Bridge House bar and restaurant on the west side of the village. The business adjacent to the Bridge House is the business where I spent a good deal of money and time back in the late 1990s.
I bought it from my father in 1996, did a deal with the Shell oil company and signed a solus agreement, and invested quite a bit of money developing the site, upgrading the shop, and putting in a car wash.
As we walked past the station, which is an Apple Green now, I remembered well having the flower beds built, the use of red brick in a copying of the way Esso had their sites at the time, the installation of the car wash, etc.
It always seems strange when I think about it, and it does not happen too often. This happened over 25 years-a quarter of a century ago-and yet I can remember it like it was yesterday.
And one of the most peculiar things is the fact that I have only moved around 100 yards down the village to a different location. But I am in a completely different business, a totally different world.
Despite the proximity of 100 yards and my clear, vivid memories of the filling station it seems like a world away. A completely different world.
I guess it was. But it is nice to have the memories, even though the girls in the office just see my observations as we pass the station as funny or weird.
P.S I have written about flashbacks at the filling station previously.