EDitorial ± 23-Apr-2007

Bouncing Babies

Down the bottom of the garden where you can go to eat worms if that's your bag, the grass is scuffed, the plants go untended and the nettles reach out for your bare legs. Not the most attractive play destination for kids with access to CBBC and a half-decent DVD library. So, all change:

  • out with the dead cherry tree, recently maniacally chainsawed by father-in-law
  • over the fence with the Little Tykes slide, donated to the neighbours
  • away with the swing, Freecycled to a good and grateful home

Encouraged by watching the kids make endless use of the Family O's skip-scrounged 8ft trampoline, we too jumped in and, after careful bamboo stick measuring, opted to go rectangular. Quadrilaterals are very in this season.

Took delivery of two mighty long cardboard boxes: this, dear reader, was a (full scale) model of elegant elasticity, the TP Nairobi. Fair bit bigger than their other model, the Tokyo: Out Of Africa outstrips Lost In Translation.

For the benefit of Mr Kite
There will be a show tonight on trampoline
— Beatles, Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite

Had it assembled PDQ thanks to some enthusiastic helper children. First, a good read of the doom-laden instructions: blah blah paralysis blah blah death. Yikes. Plenty of printed Dos (supervision, one at a time) and Don'ts (knee drops, somersaults) on the blue padding too. And my, look at the height of the thing!

A while back, I'd had a chuckle at some friends who'd made a similar purchase: they'd decided to minimise injuries by sinking the trampoline in the ground, necessitating the excavation of a huge pit. Didn't seem so daft now. Hit upon the idea of Time Team type trenches for the legs. Can you dig it?

Worked a treat, kids still having ample clearance. On steps Dad, egged on by Middler saying "Try a seat drop". Let's just pass over the posterior pain and point out that there's now a further dugout directly underneath.