She Goes With Me into A Blossom World...

When I was little, this sad, weary little place was one of my favourite play places.

My mum and dad, or Gran would bring me down here with my sister in the summer. The "paddling" area was twice as big as it is now, and there was a "shallow" area too. It really was a "little persons" place.

It was always busy. The water was always cold. But I could stand for hours at the side of the pond emptying water out of the paddling pool with my bucket, and watching it trickle back in. I remember once my gran bending over, with her blue raincoat on, (yes, even in the summer), and feeding me a bit of cadbury chocolate, like a seal.

When I was older, my friends and I would sit in the shelter of an evening - normally at the other side watching the sea and sitting giggling and laughing, and generally just being kids.

I haven't seen it filled with water for ages now, and it looks sad and shabby. I suppose the council are wary of drowning and danger....and liability.

Sometimes don't you wish life wasn't so litigious?