Sunday, March 24, 2013

Area avoided often

I'm participating again in River's Sunday Selections event that invites bloggers everywhere to post up photos they haven't yet published, consider linking them with a theme and write something about them.

...this will help me get over the fact that Love Chunks, Sapphire and myself had a bog-ordinary Burger King meal at a roadside stop near Rolle, Switzerland that cost us Seventy Seven Francs.  That's fancy eatin' money!

On with the meme.

A bit after 8:00am on weekdays and weekends, Milly and I trot happily over to Parc de Trembley to stretch our collective total of six legs.  All furry, if I'm to be brutally honest.  It's a slab of land with a busy street that carves it into two segments, one considerably larger than the other.

We owe a lot to this humble park as it allows Milly to run free and keep her post-arthritic body in better shape than when she was first diagnosed with two irreparably wonky back legs over six years ago.  A sniff of a squirrel or the opportunity to snuffle around bench seats has resulted in a sleekly fit dog who can jump up into the back of the car with ease when she was completely unable do so in Melbourne.

With a paddling pool, ornate flower beds, ponds, ancient trees and friendly gardeners who know us and greet us, we both feel as though we know this little part of Geneva like the back of our hands/paws.

And yet there is one section that neither of us want to enter.  That's probably a good thing, because the sign outside this section already forbids entry to dogs:
















The sign always leaves me feeling slightly offended on Milly's behalf as she should NOT be compared to disgusting urinators, vandals, noise polluters or litterers.

Then again, she's a beautiful and intelligent beast who hasn't shown the slightest interest in venturing into what I can only call - wait for it - brace yourselves - Pedo Playground.....

















These creepy 'animals' are presumably meant to be cheery creatures intended to invite children to climb on them, play on them and generally enjoy themselves, but I have never ever seen a child - or adult - in there.  It seemed long past time to break the rules stipulated by the sign and have a whizz, sorry, take Milly in for a closer look.  She'd protect me if she had to, I'm sure.....


With a shaking dog so close to my legs that we tripped up several times, we tentatively approached this yellow abomination; a filthy chunk of butter with a tangible sense of unwholesomeness about it.  Made by a angry person with an old box and no artistic skills or is there a more sordid meaning behind the nubbin for a tail and the demonic blue ears?




















Smile or not, the purple 'up yours' horns did not conjure up any innocent joys of childhood.















And these....?  A creepy looking camel and a half submerged pervy pincered crab? No way!




















F-words aren't usually my go-to words, but what the phark is this pink thing??  A par-boiled testicle??





















Milly whined several times as I nervously snapped away.  If this was supposed to be a dog with antennae for ears, porn star breasts for eyes and nose and a distinctly un-PG tongue lolling out lustily, it was a challenge getting her to pose next to 'it'.....


It was a relief for both of us to get the hell out of there.  A-poo-behind-a-bush-relief for Milly, and a thank-god-we-have-wine comfort for me.

That is, until the label revealed that it too wasn't offering real comfort....





















But dear old LC did.


25 comments:

MedicatedMoo said...

It is, isn't it? And some of the excremental objects have plaques on them, proudly proclaiming what company made them!

Pandora Behr said...

Who designed that playground? Oh my goodness. So glad to see that Milly is loving ot over there :) And you too. xx

MedicatedMoo said...

A company proud enough to stick little metal plaques on each one with their contact details, Pandora. What I'd like to know is how much follow-on business they received after installing these anti-fun devices.....

Anonymous said...

It troubles me that the designer of those things might actually be proud of their work

Alexia said...

Yuck - what a horrible place. Playground for what species of creep? I can't imagine what sort of local council would commission such abominations, and what weird company would make them.

(Must admit I did have a giggle at "par-boiled testicle")

Great that Milly's joints have improved in Switzerland. We lost a wonderful Golden Lab at a very early age because his front knees were badly damaged in a jump from a high bank when he was just a pup. :(

Red Nomad OZ said...

I thought us Aussies were masters of obscure signage graphics - but now I see we're still in that earlier evolutionary stage where we don't have to be told not to urinate in a children's playground ... although that's a pretty loose description of the horrors lurking within! Maybe it's a playground for really naughty children???

MedicatedMoo said...

Exactly, Andrew, Exactly. I am quite sure that you and I could make more enticing play equipment given five minutes in a 3D studio than these 'experts' have done.

Alexia, 'Pedo playground' is what is has been called in my mind the second I clapped my bemused eyes on it. Sorry to hear about your doggie. We were told in Oz (six years ago now) that there was no way that Milly was allowed to run and only two x ten minute slow walks a day.

Here, I take her off lead in Parc de Trembley and *of course* she breaks into a run, plus we're out for at least an hour. Not running all the time of course, but to give an apartment-dwelling dog time to pee on at least a dozen items, sniff whatever bush/gutter/tap appeals to her and to roll in the grass.

RedNomadOz, these Geneva council signs are found everywhere, but in Pedo Playground I've yet to see even a naughty child enter the dreaded depths...

FruitCake said...

Firstly, those signs discriminating against persons in need of a pee, or feeling the urge to make loud noises while throwing rubbish around, would be really hilarious on the Franger line.

Secondly, that playground is an abomination worthy of any overfunded and poorly managed government project.

Thirdly, that is one very, extremely severely serious bottle of wine.

Finally, thank you for some good laughs and a capcha which says "le gunts" [feel free to translate].

MedicatedMoo said...

Ha, 'Le Gunts', Fruitcake...?
Kath's definition: the unsettling effect of designs that have moved from plan to reality.

Jackie K said...

That is one horrible, horrible playground. I might just have nightmares about it.

River said...

Those animals are just plain creepy!
Our bronze pigs are much happier and kid friendly. Adults love them too.

MedicatedMoo said...

Jackie, 'horrible' is just one of the words. 'Menacing' is also one that springs to mind, but mostly it's 'creepy.' Very creepy....

River, bronze pigs would be lovely here or they could put some animals in that are more local, like some marmots or deer.

Optimistic Existentialist said...

That is one creepy playground LOL. I hope you had a good weekend :)

MedicatedMoo said...

We did, OpEx - once we got the image of the Pedo playground out of our heads.....

wilbo43 said...

Playground - Nil
Wine 10 (despite the name

MedicatedMoo said...

Nice one, Wilbo43!

Hannah said...

Ahaha! That playground! Oh, mercy.

Plastic Mancunian said...

Bonjour Kath,

Cripes - those playground beasts will give me nightmares...

:-)

Cheers

PM

MedicatedMoo said...

Since taking those photos, Milly is still visibly relieved when we walk past and not *inside* every morning!

MedicatedMoo said...

Especially the pink one, PlasMan?

diane b said...

When looking for a good restaurant , I always choose the one with many people inside as it usually means the food is good. I think the same must be true of children's playgrounds, If it doesn't pass the kid test its no good. I doubt any research went into this useless one.

MedicatedMoo said...

I think you're right, diane. Even on the weekends when naughty folk like to get drunk and leave their rubbish everywhere, there's never any debris in Pedo Playground.....

Optimistic Existentialist said...

I hope you have a great Easter weekend :)

ropcorn said...

Yeah, those animals looked quite creepy. Milly did not seem very impressed either. Hehe.

MedicatedMoo said...

Thank you OpEx - I did and am about to do a post on it shortly....

Ropcorn, Milly and I are about to go for a walk and we'll be giving this Pedo Playground a very wide berth!