The Playground

You won't bail on me will you ?

Several groups here in town have been collaborating on replacing the playground equipment . An upgrade is in order. The cost of this is significant but well worth the price. Hopefully more children will come out to play and get the much needed exercise. I have not seen the actual plan or what equipment is being installed. I have been to several rather large and modern playgrounds at the schools in the area.
I have noticed the changes in equipment since I was a kid. Most of it is formed plastic. The ground beneath is covered with some sort of shock absorbing material. Some of the things we had are no longer there and new items have taken there place. I don't see any see-saws anywhere. Guess they have determined they are not safe or something. Not that I ever did, but I have seen people jump off of them to send the other person crashing down. I enjoyed the see saw because you could talk while doing it and it wasn't too strenuous an activity on a warm day. Remember the slides back then ? Galvanized steel that would get so hot it would burn you. I remember rubbing them with waxed paper to improve slipperiness. Now they are plastic and generate static electricity. I have been zapped more than once playing with the Grand Kids. When the conditions are right it is quite a shock. We also had those things we called a merry go round. Just a platform with bars to hold on that you could spin in a circle. The object there was to go as fast as possible without flying off. Getting dizzy and flying off into the dirt was great fun as I recall. And of course the Jungle Gym.
As I remember them they were all steel bars formed into a dome shaped object. The ground under these was as hard packed as concrete. The swings are still on the playground and haven't changed much. They have added the ones for little kids that are much safer. The chains are now covered with a plastic sheath to protect your fingers. Got mine pinched a few times and soon learned about that. Only happens when you go so high slack gets in the chain. Remember jumping out ? The kids still do that. At the elementary school I attended we had a drainage pipe on the playground that you could crawl through. I remember that well and enjoyed it.The ends were a little bent in so you had to be careful. Of course you would be covered with dirt but who cared ?  A few swipes on your pants and you were ready to go. I seem to remember one playground had a pommel horse in it. Or at least something like it.
I'm not sure of the time frame for the installation of the new equipment. I'm guessing early spring. There has been a lot of planning and fundraising going on. Should be a wonderful place for the kids. I'm wondering if they have included a drinking fountain. There was one located next to the fence but it was rather old and rather unsanitary looking. Maybe not though as there are a host of issues associated with that. I'm looking forward to taking the kids to the playground. Maybe we will fly kites again this year. Wonder what kind of cool new stuff will be there.