宜昌记忆（一）简陋的居住环境

    1962年正是中国大饥荒时期，我的出生，给贫穷的家庭再添一张口。不过因为前面是两个哥哥，可能我还是受欢迎的！我爷爷有三个儿子一个女儿，现在我们家基本也是这样的情况，男孩多，女孩少！因为我妈妈的基因，我是天生的卷发，而且是大波浪的那种，遗憾家里太穷了，连一张相片都没有照过！

     从我有记忆起，我们就住在湖北宜昌镇川门，门口的街叫沿江大道。这条道两边基本都是木板房子，我家是两层楼的木板房子，是我爷爷从汉川来宜昌不久买的。从我家后门出去需要穿过另外一家人的房子中间的小小过道兼厨房，小过道两边是这家邻居的两个房间！从过道下几步阶梯，是一个小巷子，叫“爱农巷”。这条小巷子大概有400-500米，两边基本都是木板房子。好像也有几间砖瓦房。这里大家彼此认识，小孩子经常在一起玩。不过我印象深的还是每天早上排队上公共厕所！简陋的厕所，也没有注重隐私，厕所经常很脏，臭气熏天，以至于到现在那种厕所还出现在我的梦里！特别更恐怖的是有时候等厕所等得来不及了去另外一个厕所，那个厕所就是几根柱子支撑了一层木板，下面全是空的，小孩不小心完全可能掉到下面粪坑里，现在完全无法想象！

AI根据文字描述画出的图片

(AI 根据文字画出的,看起来有点貌似小时候住过的房子和街道)

      我家房子两层加起来面积差不多80平方米，婆婆爷爷和两个哥哥住楼上，我爸妈和我还有弟弟住楼下。虽然不是太大，但是基本够住。我家房子的门很特别，好像有四扇可以对开的门，可能是以前沿街做生意的房子吧，需要把门都打开。门口有两棵梧桐树，门口的一小块空地是夏天乘凉的好地方！

    每天我们在家门口的下水道口刷牙，废水倒入下水道。冬天到处找洗澡的公共澡堂，所以一般一周洗澡一次。门口两米远的地方，有个卖水的水龙头，有人负责放水收钱，我爸爸或爷爷每天去买水，他们通常会挑着一担大水桶出去，挑回来以后将水倒入家中的大水缸里，用葫芦或瓢来舀水。有时候，由于买水的人太多，只有一个水龙头，所以还需要排队等候。我记得有时候不知道什么原因停水，我爸爸就去挑长江里的水回来，幸好我们离江边很近。不过长江的水比较混浊，通常需要把明矾装在一个下面有一些小洞的竹筒里，然后把竹筒在水桶里搅和一阵，水慢慢变得清澈，桶下面则是一层薄薄的泥沙！

此图片来自互联网

I was born in 1962, during the Great Famine in China, adding another mouth to feed to my poor family. But maybe I was still welcome because I had two older brothers! My grandfather had three sons and one daughter, and now our family is basically like that, more boys and fewer girls! Because of my mother’s genes, I have natural curly hair, and it’s the big wavy kind. Unfortunately, my family was too poor to even take a picture for me!

As far as I can remember, we lived in Zhenchuanmen, Yichang, Hubei. The street in front of our door was called Yanjiang Avenue. This road was mostly wooden houses on both sides. My family lived in a two-story wooden house that my grandfather bought shortly after he came to Yichang from Hanchuan. The back door of our house was a small passage and kitchen in the middle of another family’s house. On both sides of the passage were two rooms of this neighbor! Down a few steps from the passage was a small alley called “Ainong Alley”. This alley was about 400-500 meters long, and both sides were mostly wooden houses. There seemed to be a few brick houses as well. Everyone here knew each other, and the kids often played together. But what impressed me most was lining up for the public toilet every morning! The toilet was simple and did not pay attention to privacy. It was often dirty and smelly, so much so that it still appears in my dreams! Even more terrifying was that sometimes when I couldn’t wait for the toilet, I went to another toilet. That toilet was just a few pillars supporting a layer of wood, and underneath it was all empty. Children could easily fall into the pit below if they were not careful. I can’t imagine it now!

My house has two floors and the total area is about 80 square meters. Grandma, grandpa and two brothers live upstairs, my parents and I and my brother live downstairs. Although it’s not too big, it’s basically enough to live in. The door of my room is very special, it seems to have four doors that can be opened, maybe it was a house that used to do business on the street, so you need to open all the doors. There are two phoenix trees at the door, and a small piece of open space at the door is a good place to cool off in summer!

Every day we brush our teeth at the sewer entrance at our doorstep, and the wastewater is poured into the sewer. In winter, we look for public baths to take a shower, so we usually take a shower once a week. Two meters away from the door, there is a water faucet that sells water. Someone is responsible for releasing water and collecting money. My dad or grandpa goes to buy water every day. They usually go out with a big bucket of water on their shoulders and pour the water into a big water tank in the house after they come back. Use a gourd or ladle to scoop water. Sometimes, because there are too many people buying water, there is only one faucet, so you need to queue up and wait. I remember sometimes I don’t know why the water was cut off, my dad would go to pick up water from the Yangtze River and bring it back. Fortunately, we are very close to the river. However, the Yangtze River water is more turbid, usually you need to put alum in a bamboo tube with some small holes at the bottom, and then stir the bamboo tube in the bucket for a while, the water slowly becomes clear, and there is a thin layer of silt at the bottom of the bucket!

My house has two floors and the total area is about 80 square meters. Grandma, grandpa and two brothers live upstairs, my parents and I and my brother live downstairs. Although it’s not too big, it’s basically enough to live in. The door of my room is very special, it seems to have four doors that can be opened, maybe it was a house that used to do business on the street, so you need to open all the doors. There are two phoenix trees at the door, and a small piece of open space at the door is a good place to cool off in summer!

Every day we brush our teeth at the sewer entrance at our doorstep, and the wastewater is poured into the sewer. In winter, we look for public baths to take a shower, so we usually take a shower once a week. Two meters away from the door, there is a water faucet that sells water. Someone is responsible for releasing water and collecting money. My dad or grandpa goes to buy water every day. They usually go out with a big bucket of water on their shoulders and pour the water into a big water tank in the house after they come back. Use a gourd or ladle to scoop water. Sometimes, because there are too many people buying water, there is only one faucet, so you need to queue up and wait. I remember sometimes I don’t know why the water was cut off, my dad would go to pick up water from the Yangtze River and bring it back. Fortunately, we are very close to the river. However, the Yangtze River water is more turbid, usually you need to put alum in a bamboo tube with some small holes at the bottom, and then stir the bamboo tube in the bucket for a while, the water slowly becomes clear, and there is a thin layer of silt at the bottom of the bucket!