Anyone grow up in a British tower block?

It might be a nice diversion to psychoanalyze you in public and then move on to a broader discussion of Britain's social ills.

@fmf said
It might be a nice diversion to psychoanalyze you in public and then move on to a broader discussion of Britain's social ills.

It might be, if one had the slightest idea what you're talking about.

@suzianne said
It might be, if one had the slightest idea what you're talking about.

One doesn't have the slightest idea what tower blocks are?

@fmf said
It might be a nice diversion to psychoanalyze you in public and then move on to a broader discussion of Britain's social ills.

I would never have coped with living in a tower block.

Was your thread partly inspired by this recent photographic exhibition of Soviet-era buildings in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan?

https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/11123/fuel-soviet-central-asia-architecture-photography-roberto-conte-stefano-perego-extract

@fmf said
One doesn't have the slightest idea what tower blocks are?

Nope, one does not. Although British English is a strange beast. It could be something I'm familiar with, but with a different name. Confidence of that, though, is low.

@fmf said
It might be a nice diversion to psychoanalyze you in public and then move on to a broader discussion of Britain's social ills.

My parents were on a waiting list but we never made it.
My uncles, aunts and cousins lived in tower blocks in Tottenham, North London.

I was always jealous when we visited because
they had a plumbed in bath and a fitted kitchen.
They all bought their flats in the 80s.

@drewnogal said
I would never have coped with living in a tower block.

I once lived on the second floor (i.e. the third floor for you Americans) of an inner-London Edwardian terrace. That was the highest off the ground I ever lived aside from my halls of residence at university where I had a room on the third (U.S. 4th floor) floor in my first year.

I lived in a caravan for a few weeks when I was 7 years old because there was a mix up with the people vacating the house we were to move into down south, and we'd irreversibly moved out of the house in Manchester. That was a one storey caravan.

It appears that the topic here is called, in America, by the rather ordinary name of 'apartment building', although I confess there could be more to the description. In highly populated urban areas, sometimes these are referred to as simply 'the projects', and are meant as low-income housing.

@drewnogal said
Was your thread partly inspired by this recent photographic exhibition of Soviet-era buildings in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan?

No, I've spent this morning doing some preparation for a radio programme about the tower blocks 'era' in British cities in the 60s.

@wolfgang59 said
My parents were on a waiting list but we never made it.
My uncles, aunts and cousins lived in tower blocks in Tottenham, North London.

I was always jealous when we visited because
they had a plumbed in bath and a fitted kitchen.
They all bought their flats in the 80s.

I had a good friend who lived in Trelick Tower, Kensal Town, London, just up the road from where I lived. It was kind of grotty in its public areas and a wee bit scary late at night or in the early hours - if coming and going - but my friend's flat was a very cosy den on the 27th floor. Great view too.

@suzianne said
It appears that the topic here is called, in America, by the rather ordinary name of 'apartment building', although I confess there could be more to the description.

Flats - or apartment buildings - in Britain could be just two storeys, or maybe even just all on the ground floor [not sure about this]. I'm not sure how many storeys a build has to have to qualify as a "tower block", six, eight? You could call them "high rise" flats too, I suppose.

@fmf said
Flats - or apartment buildings - in Britain could be just two storeys, or maybe even just all on the ground floor [not sure about this]. I'm not sure how many storeys a build has to have to qualify as a "tower block", six, eight? You could call them "high rise" flats too, I suppose.

Yeah, "tower block" is a bit arbitrary but I think
6 floors will always qualify, maybe even 4? (G,1,2,3)

I think the footprint influences the description too.

@fmf said

I lived in a caravan for a few weeks when I was 7 years old because there was a mix up with the people vacating the house we were to move into down south, and we'd irreversibly moved out of the house in Manchester. That was a one storey caravan.

We call these mobile homes, or trailers, and we stayed in one in North Carolina for about 9 months when I was 8 or 9. There was a shortage of housing in the area for military families, so they just rented half the park and we stayed there with some other families nearby. I remember some multi-family barbecues while we were there. This was just before we moved to Phoenix.

@fmf said
It might be a nice diversion to psychoanalyze you in public and then move on to a broader discussion of Britain's social ills.

I spent one year, nine months actually living from in a room on the top floor of “the tower” at University Halls, Cardiff. I could see the both Severn bridges from sitting on my bed and the views across to Somerset and Avon were spectacular.

In the next room there was a cute redhead studying medicine.
I mention this only as a footnote to add a pulpy dimension to my postcard from another time.