Alabama 2023 - July 8 - Playground

We completed another bag of Lego today, perhaps the smallest bag of the kit, tomorrow we will tackle bags 6 (2 bags), 7 and 8.

In the early evening, we played with Mave and watched the birds flitting between the two dead trees just beyond the fence.  Like all 5-year-old dogs, she has calmed down a lot.  She clearly remembered me, but I'm not so sure if she remembered Jo, last time she saw Jo was a long time ago.

Opposite Robbie's school, there is an accessible play area for children, it is a remarkable place, undoubtedly the best play area I have ever seen.  We visited in the evening, once the heat of the day had gone, today has been wet so not as oppressive as other days.  There are climbing frames, percussion instruments, monkey bars, slides, swings and a whole load more, including a zip wire.  It was there last year, and while there are signs of wear and tear, the accessible zip line is closed, some patches of the rubber floor have lifted, and some are worn, there is no sign of vandalism.  The children had a great time, and so did the adults (well, this one anyway).  There is lots of shaded seating too, but unusually for America, not a huge amount of car parking.

We were speculating on its cost, I guessed at about $1,000,000.  I was way off, the actual cost, a matter of public record, was closer to $4,000,000.

New Play Area on Sun Corner

Sun Corner is the local name for the green space at the junction of the A129 London Road and the B1007, the High Street.  It is directly opposite the 'Rising Sun', so that may be the reason for its name, or it may pre-date that.  It is on the hillside, but only just, and is flooded with sun light and dawn and dusk.  Sun Corner is owned by Essex County Council and has been reduced in size when Quilters school was built - a number of years ago.  There is still a large field that the school have never used fenced off from public access.  Over the years the fence has degraded and it is now a regular haunt of dog walkers and bored children.  Recently the school put 'keep out' notices up, but they soon disappeared.  Nothing was done about the fence.  I have long suspected that our Essex County Councillors would like to turn it into a car park - one of them has said as much to me.  The Sun Corner site became a Diamond Jubilee park (Fields in Trust Queen Elizabeth II Field to use the correct title) in 2012, and I have high hopes that it will be better maintained.

The old play area on Sun Corner had been deteriorating ever sine my children were at Quilters School, starting in 1989.  A short while ago the roundabout broke, the pole holding it in the ground sheared off it was so old!  The old roundabout was quickly removed and the hole made good.  That left a slide and some swings.  There were almost never any young children there, only the teenagers who congregate in the late evening and the early part of the night used it.

Very recently the area was cordoned off (it didn't stop the teenagers, they just broke the fence down), and work began on upgrading the area. It is now fenced off, with a low fence and gates, and there is new equipment.

From the Laindon road, looking west

Two pictures from the London Road, looking South:

Now there are families in the park enjoying the new equipment.  I had to take these pictures in the early morning to get a scene without people - so that you can see what there is.

So thank you, and well done to whichever council provided this upgrade.  Whether it was Billericay Town council, Basildon District Council or Essex County Council, we are very pleased with the result.