It’s that time of year. More precisely, time of years. That period which feels, for me at least, set apart from the year we have left; but also semi-detached from the one we now notionally inhabit. I have yet to press the ‘Go’ button for full throttle into 2014.
And in such circumstances, the mind idles. Mine idles thus:
Working for a moment on the assumption there’s no such thing as too much of a good thing, imagine then a world replete with adventure playgrounds, walking buses (I confess I find it hard to include the walking bus as a good thing; it seems to me a thoroughly bad initiative. However, I’m bound to mention it in the interests of feigned neutrality), play streets, pop-up playgrounds, playworkers a-swarm in parks and open spaces, after-school clubs, privatised ‘public’ shopping malls and whatever other forms of bounded, supervised space or service you may care to include. Continue reading
Bernard Spiegal 