The Untied Kingdom? - the British thread 2021

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  • SarasaSarasa Shipmate
    My son found the very small slide a bit scary when small, unlike his friend who ran down the thing. We had small (but still big), big and very big slides in the rec of my youth. My writing tutor is American and hadn't a clue when one of our number mentioned a witches hat in a playground in one of their stories, but the rest of us knew exactly what that was.
    It looks like we are exchanging either tomorrow or Tuesday with completion on the 18th. There is a vague hope that probate may be sorted by then, or at least close enough that we can put things in storage and go to an air b'n'b for a week or two before moving to our new place.
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    We had a Big Slide at our local park. It was huge and I loved it. Nobody was daft enough to fall off!

  • Nenya wrote: »
    Ah yes, the roundabouts made of wood with metal bars to cling to and the clearance between it and the ground just enough to trap and mangle a child's foot. :anguished: . Not that I ever knew anyone to whom that happened, but I'm sure it must have.

    We had one of those growing up, and it was still there when eldest child was small, 'cause we went and played on it (and I got very dizzy indeed). But the playground got refurbished a dozen or so years ago, and the roundabout was scrapped.

    The "big slide" of my youth was set in to a bank, rather than free-standing; if you came out of the slide, you'd have banged yourself up, but probably not have broken very much.
  • What about the Big Swing - a sort of long metal-bound plank, with handles, on which 4 or 5 could sit line astern. It was supported by swinging arms rather than chains and stayed level as it swung. Lethally heavy and hard if it ever hit you.
  • What about the Big Swing - a sort of long metal-bound plank, with handles, on which 4 or 5 could sit line astern. It was supported by swinging arms rather than chains and stayed level as it swung. Lethally heavy and hard if it ever hit you.

    O yes - I've seen one, but I don't think we had one in our Sports Ground.

    There was a See-Saw, though.

    Looking back, and as others have said, these *playgrounds* were potential death-traps, but I can't recall any serious accidents. A few knocks, bangs, scratches, grazed knees, and cuts, but hey - everyday occurrences, anyway...
  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    edited April 29
    Like measles, polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, scarlet fever ...

    Posh playgrounds had a sort of horse for about 4 people which went back and forth, a sort of cross between the Big Swing and a seesaw.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    It was on those roundabouts I first discovered my propensity to vertigo.

    In the Ulster of my youth the swings were chained up on Sundays and with Sabbatarian ingenuity, metal bars were inserted at intervals on the slides.
  • Like measles, polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, scarlet fever ...

    Posh playgrounds had a sort of horse for about 4 people which went back and forth, a sort of cross between the Big Swing and a seesaw.

    Ah yes, but all those childhood ailments boosted our immune systems - well, those of us who survived beyond childhood...

    I'm sure I've seen the Horse thing of which you speak, but not, I think, in our Sports Ground.
  • Leorning CnihtLeorning Cniht Shipmate
    edited April 29
    What about the Big Swing - a sort of long metal-bound plank, with handles, on which 4 or 5 could sit line astern. It was supported by swinging arms rather than chains and stayed level as it swung. Lethally heavy and hard if it ever hit you.

    We never had one of those. We did have a thing rather like a big horizontal tyre on chains, that could swing both back and forth, and also round and round in circles, and could hold four (or more, if you were small and/or very friendly) at a time. So we had a gang of us on it, and one or two would run around to get it going, and then try to leap aboard. If you didn't successfully board the swing (or if you fell off) then you were quite likely to be kicked in the head by the trailing legs of one of your friends.

    People's dangling legs wore a pit in the ground, which would invariably fill with mud, so there was a definite trick to getting on and off without getting too filthy. (Generally foiled by one of your mates leaping on top of you with several pounds of mud attached to his shoes.)
  • Ethne AlbaEthne Alba Shipmate
    Our treat was to be taken out to the nearest town for a picnic and a go in the park.
    Mum always reckoned that if we timed it right then everyone would be home for their meal. She was right too!

    We had dens in trees, lots of crawling along (filthy) ditches and endless fields with the odd crazy farmer +shotgun
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    We played on my brother’s father-in-law’s farm. My brother was eight years older than us and he was ‘courting’ the farmer’s daughter (she and my brother inherited the farm).

    Amazing sheds and barns to make rope swings etc etc.
  • Firenze wrote: »
    In the Ulster of my youth the swings were chained up on Sundays and with Sabbatarian ingenuity, metal bars were inserted at intervals on the slides.
    Raasay (Hebrides), pretty recently I think: https://tinyurl.com/44924hww

  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    While I was in primary school, they erected an Adventure Playground, which had all sorts of death traps Interesting Things To Fall Off. A favourite was the scrambling net - a set of metal poles in the shape of a table but without the top, with a net attached, which of course was very soon full of much bigger holes than it had started with.

    Of course, the surface beneath the aforementioned Interesting Things was concrete - those modern, bouncy surfaces hadn't been invented yet. As I recall, it was dismantled when somebody fell off it and fractured her skull. :flushed:

    Elfin Safety hadn't been invented either ...
    It's a bonny evening here, and could be limbering up for a good sunset. Supper of a risotto with prawns, mushrooms and tomatoes has been consumed and I'm now relaxing after a busy day.

    It's payday today (yipee!); they've finally sorted out my tax code, and the difference it makes to my take-home salary is almost exactly what my monthly railcard costs, which will make a very appreciable difference to my finances.

    I take it that at some point I'll get the amount I over-paid back from the Inland Revenue?
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    The Horse was the absolute bestest of the playground equipment. My attachment to it may have something to do with the fact that there was no Horse at home, but only when we went to stay with Grandad. It was rocked by Grandad's foot, and he must burned off a lot of calories every time we came to stay :relaxed:
  • Piglet wrote: »
    I take it that at some point I'll get the amount I over-paid back from the Inland Revenue?
    Yes, in my experience they add it on over the next few months by adjusting tax paid.

    I've relaxing with a beer after writing for 10 solid hours. But I do now have a draft research proposal of 15, 000 words :) Just need to write a research schedule tomorrow morning and then I'll send it to my supervisors for the once over before submitting it officially.
  • Piglet wrote: »
    I take it that at some point I'll get the amount I over-paid back from the Inland Revenue?
    Are you sure that the refund hasn't been factored into your new tax code and so paid back bit by bit over the year? They often do that - you should have had a letter explaining how your tax code has been worked out.

  • Fawkes CatFawkes Cat Shipmate
    Piglet wrote: »
    (T)hey've finally sorted out my tax code, and the difference it makes to my take-home salary is almost exactly what my monthly railcard costs, which will make a very appreciable difference to my finances.

    I take it that at some point I'll get the amount I over-paid back from the Inland Revenue?

    After a play with part of the HMRC website (https://www.gov.uk/claim-tax-refund/) I get the following;

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will post you a P800 tax calculation between June and October if they work out you’ve paid too much tax. The P800 will tell you how you’ll get your refund.

    If you think you should have received a P800, contact HMRC and tell them why you think you’ve paid too much tax.

    Your answers
    Start again

    1. What did you pay too much tax on?
    Pay from your current job
    Change1. What did you pay too much tax on?
    2. When did you pay the tax?
    Between 6 April 2020 and 5 April 2021
    Change2. When did you pay the tax?
    3. Have you got a P800 letter from HMRC?
    No

    (N.b.(1) This isn't based on any personal knowledge of Piglet's tax affairs - just the guesses I have made.
    (2) Note that HMRC will WRITE to you if you are owed tax back. They won't text or email in the first instance: those will be phishing scams. See https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/reporting-fraudulent-emails for details, hints and tips.)
  • PendragonPendragon Shipmate
    I actually came across one of those horses the autumn before last in a village playground with Dragonlets 1 and 2. I am a master at finding such places whilst Mr Dragon is doing complicated ringing things.

    Piglet, the busy phone sounds very familiar!
  • Pendragon wrote: »
    I actually came across one of those horses the autumn before last in a village playground with Dragonlets 1 and 2. I am a master at finding such places whilst Mr Dragon is doing complicated ringing things.

    This playground had a Horse, but it was shaped like a rocket - I thought it looked like a lot of fun but TIG#2 had a little go, then said firmly 'No!' and insisted on getting off.

    TIG#1's school seem very inventive when it comes to PE - the other day it was archery and yesterday, fencing! I did enquire, tongue in cheek, whether it was with swords or fence panels as a kind of apprentice training (he's 5!)

  • Archery and fencing have been suggested sporting activities in the PE curriculum for some time. Not normally in infants, but certainly in secondary and upper primary. It's the sort of thing offered at residential outdoor centres, which used to be a requisite part of year 5 or 6. I worked with a couple of centres offering archery and wall-climbing for schools and Guides until recently.

    Roundabouts were a thing of my childhood, but not my daughter's, although I've seen a similar one recently, but safer. And slides seem set into hillsides pretty universally now. The one newer thing I love are the zip slides.
  • SarasaSarasa Shipmate
    They've re-done part of a playground near us and it has a zip slide. I want to sneak in and have a go. It also has several strange swing things. One is a large seat between two poles. It doesn't seem to offer near the sense of peril that horses, roundabouts and witches hats did.
    It looks like while be exchanging on this place either today or Tuesday with a completion date of the 18th. Still not tied up at the other end, but things are looking slightly more hopeful.
  • DooneDoone Shipmate
    When my grandson was about 4 yrs old, my husband and I took him to a fantastic playground in Germany near to his home. He wanted to go on the smaller zip wire that was there and we thought it looked fairly innocuous. Yes, you’ve guessed it, he sailed along merrily, reached the end and the ‘judder’ caused him to lose his grip. He sailed into the air and landed in the deep, soft surrounding sand 😱! Fortunately, he was unharmed and found it hysterically funny and wanted to go again. Grandparents were in a state of shock and nearly needing resuscitation 😂.
  • Wasn't dangerous playground equipment one of Esther Rantzen's crusades in the late '70s-early '80s? I do recall our school climbing frame was mounted on tarmac with precisely zero effort to soften it should anyone land on their bonce.

    I suspect it's got to be a bit dangerous to feel fun (see the teutonic zip wire above), but nowadays at least you tend to have somewhere soft to land because sometimes kids really did die on the things.
  • Ethne AlbaEthne Alba Shipmate
    edited April 30
    What happened to all those inner city Adventure Playgrounds ?

    I seem to recall teetering towers built of off cuts and ever changing art work on the fences

    Play Leaders were a thing
    Facilitators more like

  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    Our park (very deprived area) has a fabulous, well maintained adventure playground. I can’t wait to take my Enkelin (granddaughter) there.

    It’s a huge park with a full time park keeper and a big ‘friends of the park’ team. I think our local council does a great job all round.
  • Boogie wrote: »
    Our park (very deprived area) has a fabulous, well maintained adventure playground. I can’t wait to take my Enkelin (granddaughter) there.

    It’s a huge park with a full time park keeper and a big ‘friends of the park’ team. I think our local council does a great job all round.

    I can't help thinking that you've summed up what's wrong with far too many places in the UK in that post.
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    Boogie wrote: »
    Our park (very deprived area) has a fabulous, well maintained adventure playground. I can’t wait to take my Enkelin (granddaughter) there.

    It’s a huge park with a full time park keeper and a big ‘friends of the park’ team. I think our local council does a great job all round.

    I can't help thinking that you've summed up what's wrong with far too many places in the UK in that post.

    You mean those which don’t have good council run parks?

  • In the sense that its very hard for councils to run things in the UK, because of the money they don't have to do so.
  • When the chaps were smaller the best outdoor playground we ever found was at Monkey World: rumour had it that it was tested out on the adolescent chimps 😄
  • No comment!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I am now the proud owner of a Lothian Buses Ridacard, having got off at the appropriate stop and located the Transport Hub in Shandwick Place.

    A delightful gentleman saw me through the entire Proseedcake (as Winnie the Pooh would say) so I should be a few quid a month better off (once the admin fees have been covered).

    I'm also on holiday until next Friday - yipee! 🙂

    Some sort of takeaway is beckoning, but I'm not sure whether it'll be Chinese or Indian.

    I decided on Indian, and I'm now waiting for it at Delhi's Winter. Will report back later.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    edited April 30
    As a child (and as an adult) I found and still find the danger element stops things being fun. I love a scramble along Striding Edge or Crib Goch but if I let myself think where I'd go if I fell I stop enjoying it until I distract myself with the view or technicality in hand. If I get myself into a tricky situation and feel I'm in real danger I (metaphorically so far) crap myself. Adrenalin junkies - the people you see climbing the outside of tall buildings or free soloing - totally bemuse me.

    I know people say that kids only got scratches and bruises off those old playgrounds but I remember when I was young there was always someone in the school with a broken arm or leg. Never seems to happen at my kids' school.
  • KarlLB wrote: »
    I know people say that kids only got scratches and bruises off those old playgrounds but I remember when I was young there was always someone in the school with a broken arm or leg. Never seems to happen at my kids' school.

    My local high school always has several people on crutches (it's usually either football or cheerleading) - so much so that they have special rules about releasing people on crutches etc. from their previous class a few minutes early, so they can get to their next class without being stampeded by the crowds.

    My friend from my schooldays who broke his arm managed to do it by cycling in to the back of a parked car.

  • HelixHelix Shipmate
    When talking about Elfin Safety, I always think of how far we have come since this.

    I can't watch it.
  • KarlLB wrote: »
    As a child (and as an adult) I found and still find the danger element stops things being fun. I love a scramble along Striding Edge or Crib Goch but if I let myself think where I'd go if I fell I stop enjoying it until I distract myself with the view or technicality in hand. If I get myself into a tricky situation and feel I'm in real danger I (metaphorically so far) crap myself. Adrenalin junkies - the people you see climbing the outside of tall buildings or free soloing - totally bemuse me.

    I know people say that kids only got scratches and bruises off those old playgrounds but I remember when I was young there was always someone in the school with a broken arm or leg. Never seems to happen at my kids' school.

    One of my students just got off crutches and another has just broken their arm. A former student of mine was notorious - he was so accident prone that on one occasion he gashed his leg, requiring several stitches, stepping onto the school bus.
  • SarasaSarasa Shipmate
    I remember going to the park as a child in the 1960s and there being a load of teenagers who'd taken over the swings. They were going very high and fast. The whole frame collapsed and one boy was a crumpled heap on the floor. I remember looking on in shocked horror as the ambulance arrived. It all looked pretty grim, but I hope he was OK.
    It was pasta and pesto night here, and I'm sitting enjoying a glass of chianti, and looking forward to another one shortly.
    Glad you've got your bus card @piglet. I hope the takeaway's a good one.
  • CathscatsCathscats Shipmate
    Ha, aged 12;I broke both my arms by roller skating while holding a rope wound round my brother’s bike seat. A small stone unturned dear my wheel and I lost control and met the on-coming kerb with outstretched arms, both of which snapped!

    But my favourite kind of roundabout, which I don’t see now, was what we called a witches hat. It had a wide circular rim which you could just sit on. But stretching up from that was a framework of iron bars, in a cone shape, which you could climb and from which you could dangle, all while going round. That was how I broke my ankle.....
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Well, that was ... interesting.

    I decided I'd treat myself, so I ordered pakoras to start, not realising (a) that they'd be Quite Big; and (b) there would be ten of them. They came with two sticky sauces and some pickled veggies, all of which were beyond my spice tolerance level (which I admit is very low). They were quite good though, and very nice dipped in yoghurt.

    As is my wont with an untried curry house, I had a korma as my main dish - lamb, in this instance - and while it was very nice, it was without doubt the spiciest korma I've ever had. Again, my trusty yoghurt came to the rescue. :blush:

    It may be a while before I patronise them again, but it's not down to any lack of quality on their part: possibly rather the reverse, as their saucing and spicing may just be more authentic than anything I've been used to.

    I'm now enjoying another glass of WINE (well, it is Friday) and nibbling on the complimentary poppadums.

  • Helix wrote: »
    When talking about Elfin Safety, I always think of how far we have come since this.

    Thanks, @Helix - I haven't seen anything with John Noakes for a while, so that was a nice excursion down memory lane. And you're right that Elfin Safety wouldn't permit that now, but it's not because the risks were very high, but because they exist, and are avoidable. Although the only bit of that climb that makes me a bit nervous is the bit where you climb out over the overhang, hanging from the ladder.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Moule et frite with a bottle of Picpoul - all courtesy of Aldi.

    Afternoon of putting in a few bedders, including slotting a potful into the bird feeder in lieu of a water dish. I've found this has been continually fouled and upset by magpies and pigeons, so replacing it may encourage the smaller birds.
  • MooMoo Kerygmania Host
    When I was a child I loved rides that felt very dangerous but weren't at all. My favorite roller-coaster involved a long downhill where my weight was neither on the seat or on the restraining bar. There was a wonderful perfectly safe free-fall sensation.
  • HelixHelix Shipmate
    When talking about Elfin Safety, I always think of how far we have come since this.

    I can't watch it.
    Helix wrote: »
    When talking about Elfin Safety, I always think of how far we have come since this.

    Thanks, @Helix - I haven't seen anything with John Noakes for a while, so that was a nice excursion down memory lane. And you're right that Elfin Safety wouldn't permit that now, but it's not because the risks were very high, but because they exist, and are avoidable. Although the only bit of that climb that makes me a bit nervous is the bit where you climb out over the overhang, hanging from the ladder.

    Wow I can't even go up 6 rungs of a ladder and feel weak! I often wonder how the camera men got up with their camera and stuff. The sound equipment wasn't small either and there were no drones!
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    I am so not an adrenaline junkie that I can't watch programmes where I can predict the awful thing that is going to happen because I can't cope with the tension. Let alone go on real things where I might fall a long way.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    edited May 1
    I've been on a rollercoaster once, and that was once too often.
  • I tend to find rollercoasters a bit "meh" as I just end up thinking "hmm... interesting application of centripetal acceleration" and the like.
  • NenyaNenya Shipmate
    Piglet wrote: »
    I've been on a rollercoaster once, and that was once too often.
    Me too. I have extra-low tolerance for anything like that.

    We have Nenlet1 and son in law coming over for lunch in the garden, so I'm hoping the sunshine holds. It's bright, but chilly.

    I tripped and fell on our patio yesterday so have some spectacular bruises on my face and arm and some other sore places as well. Grateful it wasn't worse - nose or head or hip. :flushed:

    I've had a whinge already about our new bathroom scales - Mr Nen has found a way of changing the kilos into something else which surely can only be pounds, but according to them I then lost a stone overnight. While I'd be delighted if this were true I know for a fact it isn't. >rolleyes<

    I've given up on trying to do pasta dishes with Gavi wine and yesterday evening returned to my trusty, easy, mild and Slimming-World-friendly chicken and spinach curry which we enjoyed with a Barefoot Pinot Grigio.
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    Well done for sticking to slimming world @Nenya.

    My new eating plan starts on Monday.

    No carb breakfast and lunch, normal tea. Three snacks - all fruit. I want to lose a pound a week, so hopefully that will work.
  • HeavenlyannieHeavenlyannie Shipmate
    I'm a fan of low carb for weight loss. The day my GP told me I was in the obese category I stuck myself on Michael Mosley's blood sugar diet (basically 800 calories a day for 8 weeks achieved by being carb free) and I lost 10% of my body weight. I continued to low carb for a few months and knocked 20% off in total. It has crept up a bit during lock down as my family are home and we are having carbs for lunch - when they are not home I am carb free.

    I spent this whole morning teaching (medicalisation and autonomy in death, dying and bereavement) and will now potter in the garden.
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Shipmate
    edited May 1
    I am doing the fast800 at the moment in the hope of getting my diabetes back under control. Worked for me first time round, but the pandemic and work stress meant I hadn’t set a good maintenance food plan and exercise routine. I will have to do that this time around.
  • NenyaNenya Shipmate
    Boogie wrote: »
    I want to lose a pound a week, so hopefully that will work.
    Yes, that's my aim too. I have a target weight and a date I want to achieve it by which I will do if I consistently lose a pound a week. Once you get to target at Slimming World you don't have to pay, or go each week, which will be good. I think keeping on target can be a challenge as well, but you're allowed to go (I think) 3lb above or below before you start paying again. As I seem to have been up and down over the same 6lb for months I'm hoping it won't be a problem for me; I just need to get the weight down so that it's a different 6lb.
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