Rising in Rings
Walking the children through the park I managed to get a snap of the new carving outside our recently re-opened Lido - itself the inspiration for a commemorative style poem.
Rising in Rings
Droitwich Lido Park
It's salted a bit like the dead sea, only it isn't dead.
Children's voices are very much alive,
and splashing alongside adult memories
rising in rings to the water's surface.
I used to come here as a kid, I did.
Osmosis has filtered out the impurities
of the old redundant lido ruins;*
run-down walls and ravaged roofs
replaced by new bricks, new tiles,
new tarmac, new hope; shining.
The tick-tock of the clock's no longer
idly marking time, it's living it.
Even the signs of forgotten days have gone:
no vacant spaces for 'invalid carriages',
now everything is valid, verdant, vibrant,
past and present swimming side by side.
*The new Droitwich lido was opened summer 2007.
Comments, Pingbacks:
· http://www.freewebs.com/theapprenticewriter/ There are modern open air baths/swimming pools in my home town in Norway - I remember the opening -and the gorgeous lifeguard... oops, did I say that? My best friend 'won' him, but we were all good friends and spent most of the summers there. Didn't get any free tickets, though. LOL. Still, that was back in '69 - so I dare say they've updated it since. They must have, as it's still very popular.
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20/02/08 @ 20:31 · http://www.milltech-systems.co.uk During the summer our lido is so crowded (it's next to impossible to actually swim properly except perhaps very first thing or last thing) I think one would literally have to nearly drown to get noticed by any of the lifeguards (though I'm sure that doesn't stop some of the young girls trying!)!
Joking aside, it is great fun there (my kids especially love it) even if it does make one feel a little insecure with all the beautiful young teenagers around in their skinny bikinis! Personally, I do find it slightly annoying that it's completely closed in winter. Our main pool is so busy that I think we could have done with a winter cover for the lido.
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21/02/08 @ 06:41 · http://www.suekendrick.co.uk Permalink
21/02/08 @ 08:54 · http://www.milltech-systems.co.uk I think one of Kay's early blogs was about titles. Sometimes they just come to you like a gift, but more often than not I struggle!
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21/02/08 @ 12:08 Great title, too.
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22/02/08 @ 11:13 · http://www.milltech-systems.co.uk Permalink
22/02/08 @ 12:39