A little story about the sand pit at Clyden.

When I was very young, probably just out of the toddler years, I got the surprise out of every kid's dreams... a sandpit! And what a sandpit it was, for many years after recieving this fantastic present, I spent many a day in the school's yellow grained pits, digging, building and sifting. It was something that made up a lot of my childhood.

My little sandpit at home was from a simple design of a border of wood with a heap of sand dumped in the middle, hence 'the sandpit.' But as simple as it was, it was one of my joys as a child. I think I have always been very sentimental and the sand pit just proves this theory. One day I dug the deepest hole I could, (I even reached dirt, fascinated with the apparent concept that I may dig to China) that I assume now, wasn't so deep after all and I placed in it, a few treasures. These treasures were merely sea animal shaped plastic moulds in blue, red and yellow. But to me they were nothing less than treasure and I buried them, hoping they'd be there forever.

For plenty of years I would go back and dig up the pieces, making sure they were still there and when my parent's split up, these treasures became even more special. Digging the shapes up every second weekend I went to visit my dad becaome a ritual, knowing everything was okay.

I wonder if my parents knew what I was really doing when they would wave to me from the house...

One day when I happily went back to check up on my treasure, I sat down to dig happily, to find my gems.... gone.

I was shocked and upset, but I put it all down to the possibility that I had been looking in the wrong spot in the pit. I also noticed that the sand had shifted, the pit was mostly dirt. With dirt under my nails, I spent every spare moment digging everywhere for the treasures, until I was called away.

Weekend after weekend I went back to check every spare millimetre of the pit, but there was nothing. There were a few rough times envolving house ownership during this peiod, so I went to Clyden less and less frequently.

Now I know why civilisation is so abundant. In my sandpit I could get humungously creative building cities and cities until I couldn't any more. But when the centre of my city was gone, the world seemed to crumble down.

What treasure is holding our world together?

KK

Nostalgia is yet to come..

It's only one more month until the home I grew up gets passed on into quite unwanted hands. No I haven't started my scrapbook yet... but I am taking hundreds of photos. I think that when it happens, I will be much sader than I am at the moment. It's all just one of those times when you just have to believe that life goes on. I know I'll reclaim my childhood one day though!