Up, up and Away!!

This is an unexpected discovery. But what is so special? It's indeed just a children playground at Cherry Garden, an old residential area behind Maxwell Road. However, what attracted & surprised me is the playing gadgets that stand still right here are hardly seen in Ipoh nowadays. The number of gadgets that survived in a single playground is totally out of my expectation. It recalls so much of my childhood memories where some of these were my favorites. To me, the most significant one is the rocket. There was one I used to climb on at Anderson Road Children Playground in city center, which had been removed decade ago. Flying a rocket to reach the outer space was a dream of almost every kid during 1960's-70's. So this was an iconic piece in many playgrounds at that time.

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Although the arc ladder is just a simple gadget but it does stimulate the kids' creativity. They might climb on top, hanging at the middle span, squeezing in between iron bars & many other funny posts. However, as to mention commonality, swings must be one that cannot be denied. Again, there are many different styles are available, sitting on the wooden patch is not the only way, but standing on it & cross-sitting side swinging like horse riding are equally common.

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The first thing in my mind when looking at this would be cactus, iron cactus. But you may not be able to imagine I did consider this as a school bus. Yes, school bus, no kidding :-). When sitting one step higher from the round iron plate, I can "drive" the bus with this "steering". My passengers have to squeeze beside me and climb to the higher steps to "take the ride". Isn't it cool? Well, during our time, many students were travelling to and fro school with school bus. The bus driver was indeed one of our teachers that taught us discipline in social life. And I believe kids pretend to be teacher should be a universal behavior.

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The iron gadgets have been painted several times. Some are even having broken parts & getting rusty. To maintain the condition, it needs proper care & regular repair. In recent days, plastic gadgets are replacing these iron bars & eventually, I am sure we will see its extintion.

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Beside the iron gadgets, these concrete rings are also a popular item in the playground. Its maintenance should be less costly but the rough outer surface may cause injuries to kids.

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Before I took my step to leave, I found a clue of the age of this stuff from this ring. A date is carved at the inner surface. It's 9-Feb-1968, 42 years from present day.