The play areas in Marvel Loch strike a lonely chord; I’ve not seen one child frolicking on the climbing frames, not one hoop shot on the run down basketball court, and not one youngster swinging innocently and joyfully on the tyre swing. Granted, the current climate has probably had a lot to do with the lack of childlike joviality one would hope to witness in a town this small, and I fear the four or five youngsters under the age of 15 that live here have had no other option recently but to play indoors; despite this I had hoped to have seen these outdoor fun factories being put to good use.
It’s quite sad to see something so widely associated with youth neglected and empty. Even if the child population in Marvel Loch doesn’t rise above ten (it might do, I have no idea, but I’ve seen about three children in the two weeks I’ve been here, two of whom were picking stones from the ground around the bus shelter) it would bring much delight and inner joy to see those children actually enjoying outdoor play and making use of the equipment that has been provided for them. I remember when I was younger, most nights would be spent playing curby out on the street, trying to dodge the neighbours by advocating a game of knock-a-door-run, or visiting the local park to play on the swings and vandalise the slide with permanent black marker pen, the words “Amy loves [insert any number of random names] 4EVA, IDST” scribed forever for all future generations to see. I don’t have much inside knowledge on the youth of today but I do still hope that playing outside is something they cherish.
Having said all that, I’m not giving the kids of Marvel Loch much credit; the weather recently has been truly shocking, to the point where I’ve often found myself thinking I might’ve been better off staying in Preston (think Britain in summertime, but much, much worse). We’ve had one or two good days of sunshine (last Wednesday and Thursday) in which I actually managed to sit outside and read my book without having to wear a jumper and fifteen pairs of socks. I even had to find and don my sunglasses! Fancy that!
So, I think the kids out here maybe deserve to be cut some slack. I wouldn’t wanna play out in the rain, wind and cold, and I can’t imagine the children around here would either. As the weather starts to improve over the next few weeks (and I’m praying to all the Gods that it does for I’m seriously lacking in Vitamin D) I’m looking forward to seeing a little more activity from the youngsters around Marvel Loch, and who knows, I may even jump on the nostalgia bandwagon and go play on the monkey bars myself.
Chasing Amy-Lou 