Hello everyone!
This morning, my son and I went to the Mt Stromlo Forest Park. For those not in the ONC*, the park is dedicated bicycle and equestrian park set on some 20 acres of land. The trails are wonderful - from really easy (bitumen or hard packed dirt) to very difficult.
My son and I were riding on one of the easier trails when suddenly the sprinklers came on. Sprinklers in the ONC is a rarity. To use sprinklers requires special permission.We are now nearing our 5th year of water restrictions. My son is 5 years old. He's never truly seen sprinklers before. My son and I (along with other riders on the trail) stopped to marvel at the sprinklers when an old childhood memory hit me.
I turned to my son, "Hey do you want to do something I used to do when I was a child?"
Him: "Yep!"
And to his shock I got off my bike, took off my bike helmet and started running through the sprinklers. The other young riders (aged between 8 to 10 years) on their bikes soon followed suit. My son laughed his head off but at first wouldn't go in. Finally he was coaxed in by one of the other younger boys.
We spent the next few mins shrieking with laughter, streaking in and out of the sprinklers.
After 15 mins, the sprinklers were turned off. And all of us stood there thoroughly soaked, shivering slightly in the breeze with huge grins on our faces.
Eventually our fellow sprinkler mates got back on their bikes and rode off to tell their parents of their adventure. My son and I slowly pedalled back to the car and let the warm sun dry our clothes.
I felt truly blessed that I was able to give my son this one experience from my childhood.
(Note: I tried to find an Australian photo of people running or playing through sprinklers**...but I couldn't - with thousands of creative commons licenced photos at my finger tips, there was not a single photo of Aussie kids playing through sprinklers.....I guess its that much of a rarity these days. If there's ever a next time, I'll be sure to take a photo. :) )
*ONC - Our Nation's Capital
** All photos used on this blog have a creative commons general attribution licence - ie they can be used freely provided I attribute the photographer.
7 comments:
i luff sprinklers!
http://storyofaustralia.blogspot.com/2009/04/day-47-devils-marbles-to-banka-banka.html
Just goes to show what we often take for granted. Here in WNY its a childhood activity to run through the sprinklers, although when I was a girl it was running through the lawn sprinklers and now they sell kids play sprinklers.
That used to be out favourite activity back home in Canada during the summer. So glad you were able to share this moment with him. xo m.
That conjured up a fantastic image Eilleen! Thank you for sharing.
I have recently seen a few people watering their lawns (brown patches?) in SE Qld as the water restrictions have been lightened slightly in the past few weeks.
It seemed a bit surreal and in my head I was yelling at them to turn the hoses and sprinklers off!
Will have to take some pics of our kids running through the sprinklers next time they do.
Your story reminds me of how each of my boys when they were between the ages of one and two years were shocked and a little scared each time it rained. They saw it so little, living out in the country during this drought, that they couldn't seem to comprehend water falling from the sky!
FANTASTIC! and I am most impressed that you restrained your self from stripping off and doing it in the roody noody (or at least our undies) like we all used to!
Eilleen I live just down the road from My Stromlo and am often up there mountain biking - I will have to keep an eye out for crazy people in the sprinklers in future!
Awwww! How I miss the sprinkler... that and the Slip and Slide! I grew up in Vic and with water restrictions a plenty... I moved to Byron for a few years and saw people hosing down their driveways, it was a bizarre sight! Now, I live in an area supplied by bore water and we can water our gardens, do the washing (without a hose that runs out to the garden) and don't have to divert any rain we do get into huge tubs. Having said that, we've had 5 major floods this year... I'm not sure which is worse!
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