Slides

[squirmelia]

Disappointed Carsten Höller's slides at the Tate Modern have closed? mondoagogo and I investigated the alternatives, armed with a map of nearby playgrounds and a tape measure.

1. Name: Jason Slide.
Location: Rotherham Walk, Southwark.
Distinguishing features: Stickers, such as "lettuce is a member of the sunflower family" and "Jason".
Measurements: 144cm from the top of the slide to the ground. 297cm actual slide length.
Number of steps: 6.
Observations: Average slide, but a bit tight at the top for an adult. Slightly muddy.

2. Name: Tiny Slide.
Location: Rotherham Walk, Southwark.
Distinguishing features: Tiny slide, in the same playground as the previous slide.
Measurements: 58cm from the top of the slide to the ground. 146cm actual slide length.
Number of steps: 3.
Observations: Not very slidey. Adults may get stuck.

3. Name: Nelson Square Slide.
Location: Nelson Square, Southwark.
Distinguishing features: Slide is on top of a mound.
Measurements: 243cm actual slide length.
Number of steps: 11.
Observations: Quite slidey indeed. A sign warns, "no adults without children", so this may not be a viable option.




4. Name: None.
Location: Mint Street Adventure Playground, Southwark.
Distinguishing features: No slides in this adventure playground.

Comments

[pgd.livejournal.com]

Tee-hee! I like this, it could be a feature in the Guardian or something. Good stuff. "Quite slidey indeed" :)

[abigailb.livejournal.com]

no adults without children

rather unfortunate, but did you look into the possibility of a nearby child-rental store?

[tonight-we-fly.livejournal.com]

Hee hee, what a remarkably excellent post, Madam!

[tlrmx.org (from livejournal.com)]

The greatest thing about Test Site was the idea of integrating sliding into the public transport network. I wasn't too sure about the idea that it would provoke an emotional reaction - when people first started driving cars they were really excited about it, now people routinely fall asleep at the wheel and crash. I think once you had slides from the Waterloo rail platform level down to the London Underground station beneath, it would become routine and we'd have a generation of adults who don't experience any emotional response to sliding.

These reviews were very helpful I will look out for any unusually good slides during my continued surveying of parks in Southampton and Richmond.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Well, there were no children in the playground, so I just ignored the sign and played on the slide anyway!

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I forgot to note that there were no queues for any of these slides.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I have hung upside down on a climbing frame in an art gallery in Amsterdam before, so I didn't need to go on those slides in the Tate Modern anyway. Or at least, that's what I'm telling myself.

[turnedoffneon.livejournal.com]

london slides are so crappy. you should do this more often, i'd definitely appreciate it, especially if you found any good places.

i think we need to petition to get a whale slide though : http://friendsoflalaguna.com/gg.html

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Cool whale slide! This slide in Dorset was quite good:
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/squirmelia/371705736/)

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the slides in stations could be supplemented with fireman's poles, to provide the equivalent of the standing/walking sides of escalators?

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Or perhaps the slide could be greased and made extra slidey!