We used to have fun by calling everyone. All phone numbers were similar, but only one or two numbers were different. So, we called and talked nonsense. Sometimes people on the other end recognized us. We thought we were in deep shit.
Kate
Mostly I remember mischief – ringing bells and running away, etc.
Anita
When it rained my brother and I went to the yard wearing swimming trunks and played in the industrial lakes and stood under the drain’s urban waterfalls.
Martins
I have lots of good memories, who mostly about yards and neighbour kids... we had a friendly community. New games every day... we hang out no matter the age, we built forts and we rescued a dog’s Zuze’s puppies from the street sweeper, who wanted to drown them, we collectively took care of them...
Olga
Oldest teenagers drew lines in the yard, they made paper licenses and when you passed the exam, you could drive in the “town”. They themselves were milicija (the police). We climbed upstairs to the roofs of five-storey houses. We acted like we’re cool and tried to go as close to the edge as possible.
Janis
The sense of community, at least in childhood. Everyone was friends within the “courtyard”. It was a whole other world. Kids from other yards didn’t get into this world.
Anete
You feel better in your own district, trees and flowers smell like always and you feel peace of mind when walking through the yard late at night. Nostalgia about childhood in the yard and people, who were around you.
Liga
In childhood they were doing improvements in the yard in 2001, my friend and I played in construction pits. It was fun.
Anda
Games with Latvian/Russian kids in one company.
Agnese
The basement seemed enticing and something amusingly unusual, the same as the attic. The attic was meant for drying the laundry, but they soon locked them unused. It was different with the basements. One stray cat had kittens there. Once the basement door was unlocked, we ran to look at them. One day we snuck in, to visit the kittens. We played with them, but when we went upstairs, we found out we are locked in the basement. I thought it is the end of the world. My introverted inner Latvian didn’t know how to solve this situation, I froze in fear. Thankfully, I was with two Russian girls, who mentality didn’t get confused in this situation. They both started to bang on the door and yell for someone to open it. A neighbour was passing by and left us out loudly scolding us “It’s your own fault you went inside.” Totally embarrassed and with a trembling heart I went into my flat. I didn’t want to go outside for a long time. But my curiosity about the basement vanished forever.
Liga
The yard is like a childhood world.
Davis
In childhood seemed like a huge adventure finding stairwell, where the upstairs floor had an open hatch to the roof. Climb upstairs and sit there, hanging out.
Alina
There’s a beach under the asphalt – it made me a person, who learned to dream big in spite of external conditions and daunting concrete life.
Mara
Kids from one blockhouse were in a team against other kids from another blockhouse. We played games together. Invariably most of the kids gathered together and played games.
Atis
Courtyard life was a big part of childhood. I was running around with friends from early morning till late evening, playing all sorts of games. It was very cool. I don’t think that I missed out on something in my childhood because I spent time on the concrete of the blockhouse yards.
Anete
Ring the neighbour’s doorbell and run away.
Sabine
In childhood, I visited my cousins in Purvciems. Of course, we went outside playing at the scant playgrounds, with one marked swing left (always occupied) and some kind of soviet climbing bar. but we got bored soon, so we found ourselves our own “playground,” which was a big, fallen willow tree. We climbed it and played there for days – we spent our summers on this willow!
Santa
Every evening we spent in the courtyard on playground slides.
Zane
As children, we went to my brother’s friend’s house, and we built many shapes from matches and burnt them on the balcony. Or shoot them over the balcony. The same friend made moonshine on the balcony.
He was 12.
Aina
When I still lived in the district, I was very keen to be grown so that I could be in the company, who played Baltic billiards in the evening, but I didn’t get to do it. I don’t know whether those are the same people, but they still play it in the courtyard every summer evening.
Liga