Thursday, July 10, 2003

(Hee, hope you don't mind Andi...)
Got this from the Prosfanfic list.
Go to google.com.au and type in 'weapons of mass destruction'. Click on the 'I'm feeling lucky' button and read all of what comes up, carefully...

Today the cubs and I went with friends to the St Kilda Adventure Playground. This is an amazing place! It looks… adventurous. Unlike standard playgrounds, which tend to be modular, safe and rather dull ultimately, the SKAP is full of exciting, dangerous things. Trampolines, a flying fox, a row-boat swing, billy-cart track, a big wooden castle with squillions of rooms and secret chambers and hidden paths. The place looks haphazard and colourful, just as if a bunch of kids had been let loose in a junkyard to cobble together the ultimate cubby-house. It's not that dangerous, of course - all of the guidelines for safety have been followed - it just looks like it could be. There's a central area, around a brazier, filled with old armchairs, a comfortable place for adults to relax while the kids go nuts. There's also a fully functioning kitchen where you can get tea and coffee (you're asked to leave a donation to help cover the costs, I have no problem with that) and even cook if you want/need to.
In one corner of the playground is a closed-off area of tranquility - only staff can go in there - that has a pond with goldfish and a waterfall, and chickens; happy, healthy [plump, delicious…] looking chickens. I spent a lot of time hanging over the fence just watching. (Discovered that my personal space, where chickens are concerned, is 6 feet - any closer than that and their aura of evil becomes palpable. One of the playground's volunteers, a nice young man with long hair and mutliple facial piercings -this is in St Kilda, after all - gave the chickens his left-over chips and laughingly commented that they were strange because they had no compunction about eating chicken-flavoured salt. I told him it was because they had no souls… he thought I was joking.)
There's only one toilet there, which is a little awkward. I waited 10 minutes to relieve myself because 3 small children in quick succession needed to go to the toilet now and I couldn't in conscience make them wait. Bladder control is a vital issue at that age. *g*
It's a fun place, though cos it's in an inner suburb, parking can be awkward. I found a 2 hour carpark a few minutes walk away, which wasn't a problem except I had to go and move the car or get a ticket. A small annoyance but given the overall wowness of the place, not something to get stressed about.
We stayed for 3 hours and the cubs ran themselves ragged! *g*
Soulsis, Niki, Andi - I think all of our brats would have loads of fun there. : )

The past couple of nights have been good for dreams.
Night before last was one of those story-telling dreams where the disparate 'scenes' flow together seemlessly but make no sense when you're awake. Can't remember all of it but at one point I was flying up to Brisbane with some friends and reminiscing about an earlier trip there with another friend (never been to Brisbane, btw). To get out of the airport you have to go up an intensely steep and long escalator or, as I did, clamber up the adjoining, ivy-covered concrete wall. When I got to the top I remarked to my friends how surprised I was to have done it as easily as 'last time' given how less fit I was this time. : ) Oh yes, I was going up to Brisbane to receive an award for something academic I think. The end of the dream involved helping a woman sneak away from her abusive husband - secretly organising things so she could disappear while he was away…
In last night's dream, the cubs and I went to the 'Bondi Surf Museum', someplace else that I don't think exists but that I've visited before while dreaming. Not a lot of surf memorabilia, but a long line of gum-ball machines lining the path into the ticket place and some interesting tanks of fish inside. At some point I came into a room that was being used for ritual cleansing by women - there was a long line of traditional white-clad brides waiting to use the place as well as a few pagan women. I danced with a woman there - a waltz, she led - and as always in my dreams the dance made me feel joyful and free. I knew my partner at the time, but couldn't remember her when I woke.
Interesting, eh?

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