Monday 24 September 2007

Playgrounds


This is the playground that my kids grew up in. To the left is the boating lake where we went fishing in in August.
When Tessa was young she used to make a beeline for this lake as she likes swimming (the retriever in her)from the other end of the park, hurdling the mini cattle grid put in place to prevent dogs entering, with us in hot pursuit. Amid a flurry of feathers and quacking and me trying to tempt her out of the lake with whatever was to hand (rustling a crisp packet) a small crowd used to gather and the parkie used abandon his tea and come out of his hut to tell me off.
Actually this is the second playground, the safety conscious one with the bark chippings in case you fall. Notice half a climbing frame as somebody at the council got the measurements wrong and they couldn't fit it all in. The old one was on concrete and had huge tall slides (and I couldn't look when they were at the top) the sort that people used to grease and you used to slide off the end, and those round wooden roundabouts that used to go really fast so that the kids were kept in place by g-forces. Also monkey bars that only the best kids used to manage and I had to carry my kids on my shoulders while they pretended to do it, to recreate the effect. Similarly swings which always seem to threaten to go right round when you went really high. This playground is a lot safer, though probably less exciting.
Hull City Council always do a good playground(when they get the measurements right)and there is a pirate ship complete with rope swing hammock inside. Great for hiding in when my kids and mates played hide and seek, though not as good a hiding place as crouching behind the blue bin and not as good as going round and round the parkie's hut while the seeker follows you ad infinitum. Instead of a roundabout is a treadmill running roundabout where you run and stay in the same place while the wheel goes round. Also twizzle sticks that I used to turn round while the kids used to sit on the base asking them questions like an interrogation('Do you clean your teeth? Are you going to eat all your dinner?) and if they got them wrong used to turn it faster, which they seemed to like.

10 comments:

Bez said...

Well Bev, you have forgoten your physics. The kids aren't kept on those wooden roundabouts by g-force, their white knuckles are the give away. The momentary angular inertia tends to throw the little cherubs off at a tangent. Anyway the knee is feeling quite a bit better, another drink from the fountain of youth and I was able to train on Sunday. Your dog chasing ducks isn't as bad as Alex Matinelli trying to catch one to eat when he was a student. He never completed his degree but inherited his dads business. Last time I saw him he was in a two seat sports car with leather and walnut interior, 0-60mph in well under five 5 seconds he assured me. Having ridden on the back of his motorcycle I declined the offer of a lift.

lebanesa said...

Ooh - I used to love those wooden roundabouts. (still do - if the truth be told) I remember on Heaton Hill - one of us would run round as fast as we could pushing the thing and jump on - a few muddy legs and grazed knees when we missed. Know what you mean about slides. I could never watch my dear child climbing up one of those. Did you used to have a deep puddle in damp weather and iron hard ground at the bottom of the slide.
Nice post Bev. I love your writing too. You have a gift for it.
Has Bez written anything yet? Also sounds like an entertaining writer.

lebanesa said...

Course not.
Come on Bez - get blogging LOL

Bez said...

My blogging career is in its infancy. Bev pointed out that my blog was possibly the shortest on the internet, containing only one three letter word. Seems a shame to spoil it!

Bev said...

The name Alex Matinelli sounds familiar. Don't know anything about him and ducks but remember when Paul Fenty brought a snake onto the lower school play field.

Bez said...

OOOPS I meant Martinelli. He was the year above us. I cant remember what Paul Fenty looked like. Wasn't he excluded from a school and sent to us? I believe he let the snake go in the lower school. I remember Juanita Fenty, not sure they were related. Great name Juanita, but I guess there was a conflict of interests with her parents because her middle name was Edith.

Bev said...

Not as bad as some people I know who like all things American and called their kids Levi and Drew Foxcroft.

Bev said...

Bez, I bet you remember Juanita Fenty....

dianeclancy said...

What a fun photo and story - it creates all sorts of mystery and a sense of adventure and place ... I want to go play too!!

~ Diane Clancy
www.dianeclancy.com/blog

Irene said...

It's wonderful how you always find new places to share with us, never mind the G-forces. I was so very fond of playgrounds when I was a kid and there was a really good one close to my cousin's house where I would go and spend a week in the summertime. We were on the playground all day long, if not in the woods making huts to live in. Your post brings back good memories!