Here’s the problem with finally having a “BBQ Summer” – there’s nowhere to actually have a fricking BBQ. I understand the H&S logic of not making fire on dry grass but I think the tabloids and TV weathermen responsible for this phrase need to either rebrand the experience or build a fireproof BBQ pit in their collective back gardens and invite us over for a chipolata in penance.
The reason I came up against this was because we’d promised – as a home group – to send our Brazilian church intern back off to Brazil with a traditional English BBQ, partially-raw sausages and all. But as the agreed date drew closer the restrictions stayed in place. We scoured the Olympic Park to see if their brick BBQs would do the job but intel suggested there were likely to be all full on the day of a West Ham match. Still, Islington Council broke with the habit of a lifetime and did something in a timely manner – the weather cooled and the ban on BBQs in Highbury Fields was lifted. With, like *hours* to spare.
Which is how we ended up inventing the very unusual Chargrilled Wotsit Delight avec sausage juice jus:
Kids loved em. Natch. So much so that Eva was leaning over the grill to get her next fix, hair perilously close to the flames. But don’t worry, this isn’t a sad story. She didn’t catch fire and we went to the playground. Let me tell you all about that:
Whole load of buttocks.
Strangely-detailed mosaics aside, it was a nice playground. A big sandpit and then climbing frames around the corner and then a separate area with some massive slides. Not quite the size of the Victoria Park ones but big enough. The climb up alone is pretty intimidating:
No wonder that both kids got to the top and then changed their minds about going down. Reuben claimed that the Orbit slide experience had put him off dangerous slides forever. But Eva eventually gave it a go:
Roo was more comfortable sticking to the climbing frames:
And the bonus was that there was a toilet, although there was a strict rule about only using it with a child in tow, which would lead to me later having to borrow a child in order to use it.
So here’s a few more pics:
See, lovely! And not too crowded on a sunny Sunday afternoon. And yes, Eva was dressed as a fairy for no apparent reason.
It’s worth mentioning too that there’s a little swimming pool on Highbury Fields that we visited sometime during the heatwave – I believe it was on the day that England played Sweden. A pretty basic pool with a very warm training pool and a little slide in it..not worth a blog post of its own but handy if you’re in Canonbury to teach an English class and the kids are demanding a swim.
Don’t say I never tell you anything useful…
