One Sketch #61) Lazerzone, Swansea

Laser fighting's not for me
It's really not my cup of tea
I find activities like this
Bring out my latent pacifist.


As an end of course treat I accompanied a group of pupils to Lazerzone in Swansea. Lazerzone, as the name suggests is a place where kids get to shoot each other with Lasers. Rather than slicing each other to pieces, all this does is set off sensors on their vests which register hits and convert to points. I'm sure that you know the sort of thing. What makes Lazerzone interesting to me is that it takes place in the building of what was previously the Castle Cinema, and indeed, the rear of the building, sketched here, still has the castle cinema sign on it.

One Sketch #60) Old Hospital Bed

My tonsils gave me constant gyp
The Doctor said, "Let's get a grip,
It's time that you were sent, old Scout
To hospital to whip them out
I wasn't brave, just sad and glum
And made a fuss, and cried for mum.

One of my classes had to produce a piece of autobiographical writing for an assessment, with the them being a time that you learned a valuable lesson. I wrote one as an example, telling of how , when I was 8 or 9, I had to go into a grim old Edwardian hospital in Ealing to have my tonsils out. Horrible as the place was, the anticipation of having my tonsils out was far worse than it actually happening.

One Sketch #59) Victorian Pillar box (Weds 23rd)

A wonderful thing is a pillarbox
It takes a long time just to fill a box
Whatever its size
I think you'd be wise
To admit that a mail box is still a box.

Not sure what possessed me to go for this very early Victorian pillar box, but I like it. I think that it's well known that the first UK pillar boxes were the brainchild of a certain Mr. Anthony Trollope, far better known probably for the huge number of novels he wrote, including the excellent Barchester and Palliser novels. The novels, sadly, are no longer widely read. The pillarboxes, though, show every sign of being an important part of British life for the foreseeable future, email notwithstanding.