Monday, June 09, 2008

Doing Time...


This is a picture of our neighbourhood jail.

True as true. Would I lie about the criminal justice system?

Isn’t it just the cutest jail you’ve ever seen? Kind of makes you want to commit a crime just for the opportunity to stay awhile. (A short while.)

And while you’re serving your time, you could do a little decorating – some window treatments, landscaping, perhaps a white picket fence… Looks like the roof could use some work, too. Get those inmates to work!

Okay, reality check. This quaint jail no longer exists. The picture was taken circa 1955.

Our neighbourhood criminals have graduated to THE BIG HOUSE.

Mercy me, how times have changed.


(Photo courtesy of a flyer sent by a local real estate company. This is the kind of junk mail I enjoy receiving.)

13 comments:

Sherry said...

Okay, at first I thought "this is another one of this "trick" posts of Beth's" and then when you said it came on a real estate flyer...well then I KNEW it for true!!! lol!!

That's looking like just too much of a cozy little cottage for me -- and seriously if the house still stands, would you want to know you'd bought "a big house"?!?!?! ;)

Curiosity has me asking -- what street is that on?

Sherry said...

...and yes, you can tell by my typos -- no coffee yet -- :()

oreneta said...

There are a fair number of halfway houses that look kind of like that. I thought that is what you were referring to...Funny eh, I guess you never can know.

Anonymous said...

It really is a sweet looking place. I would have never thought it was a jail. I love looking at photos of the way towns, villages, etc. use to look. Our town has tons of pictures when the Erie Canal ran through it.

Anyway, I wish those were the only size prisons we needed now. That would be nice. sigh.

Have a good day!

Beth said...

sherry:
No trick. There's an entire book on the history of this neighbourhood - lots of neat pictures like that.
Don't know if that "house" is still around - I'll do a drive by.
(And I'll give you the street name by email - must try to keep my location (semi) secret.)

oreneta:
This was no halfway house - it was the real thing!
We have other houses in the neighbourhood that used to belong to the Hydro company - now converted to "real" homes.

eileen:
It is a sweet looking place.
Bygone eras, more innocent times...

Mrs. G. said...

What a charming little big house! Times have changed. Did you ever see the Michael Moore piece on Norway prisons? They don't even lock the doors.

Sornie said...

Doing time in that jail probably included visits from Aunt Bea with some fried chicken and her wretched pickles (Sorry, couldn't resist the "Andy Griffith Show" comparison)

Patience said...

Yes, that is truly an adorable jail!

Ed & Jeanne said...

Yard work and fix it projects? Dang, that's hard time! Can't they just throw me in a cell...it would give me time to catch up on blog post material....

Lainey-Paney said...

oh my goodness....

Beth said...

mrs. g.:
Haven't seen that Michael Moore piece - will look for it. Curiosity piqued re: the no locked doors.

sornie:
Good one!
(Although we're not really that kind of small town at all.)

patience:
Who'd have thought the word "adorable" could ever be used to describe a jail?

ve:
I think blog post material must come to you even in your sleep - you never seem at a loss for a topic - and the ability to make it funny.

lainey-paney:
Indeed! And it brings a smile, too. The good old days.

Princess Pointful said...

This reminds me off the Hostelling International Hostel in Ottawa, which is actually an old jail-- where the last execution in Canada was held, I believe. I slept in one of the cells. It was a little eerie!

Sherry said...

OMG on Princess Pointful's comment -- sounds like a fun vacation!! ;)