 Changing Places Week 133 W/C 31st August 2008
Where have all the children gone? That was my concern in my few days in London. I use a friend's apartment in Tufnell Park in North London when I am there and I wander the smart streets without concern. I bumped into Neil Kinnock the other day - he lives just around the corner when he's not doing European things in Brussels - you always know when he's home because he has two cars parked outside his house - one very smart - (the name escapes me because I care not) and the other an electric car plugged in ready for the off at a moments notice. In parts of Islington they have free charging points for electric vehicles and the owners get very irritated if a disabled person on an electric scooter gets in front to charge their ` high powered' means of transport. Its dog eat dog in Islington and the vision of the electric car bearing a former leader of the Labour Party and a line of elderly people in their mobility scooters chugging along the road gave me a picture that made me smile all day. Anyway back to the children - I came across a notice in a nearby estate encouraging children to play outside. It said that the `Play Rangers' were on duty and it was safe for the children to come outside into the gardens and play under their supervision. Islington always was a council with an interesting take on life and I applaud their sentiments but it appeared to be making no difference - not a child in sight. Structure has its place and safety is a paramount concern but what price freedom in North London streets. Life for Kate and Emma in Majorca is a very different experience.
The summer holidays are slowly drawing to a close and the Port of Soller beach, with not a play ranger in sight, is their playground. The local children gather daily on the beach and swim out to the diving platform and push each other off. The pedalos are given a bashing with every child clamouring on board once a brave dad says he'll take the kids out on one. The children have the run of the beach in sight of their parents and mess about like children do. This world seems a million miles away from those child free London streets. The older Soller children hop from town to Port on the tram or on their bikes and know the winding small streets like the back of their hands. When there is an open air cinema in the main square in Soller the parents all complain because it doesn't start till 10 p.m. This means that they will have to stay awake until the key in the door says that their children are back home safely. Children walking the streets at midnight here after such an event are commonplace. Maybe their `play ranger' is the local police who have their office overlooking the main square and see everything that is going on. I only know that talking to mums of the younger teens that this is the level of freedom they feel it is normal to give them. Relocaters here from the UK are often heard to say to their children that they don't know how lucky they are to have the life they have here. The children ignore the comments because they don't know any different, their UK memories are receding and anyway what's the big deal - everyone is out on the street at midnight.
School uniforms in the wash, school shoes to be polished and a tally of summer homework that should have been done. Kate was given a reading list for the summer and was checking if she had completed it. The requests for treats to be brought back from London are always comics for the girls and magazines for Mum. That together with Cadburys chocolate is enough to make a perfect night in as far as they are concerned. The beach days and magazine reading evenings are almost done and Kate goes back to school on Thursday. The international schools go back a week before the state schools so Emma has got another week before she heads back down to the Port, not to the beach but to her school and returns to the Majorcan speaking world again.
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