I hereby announce that on our Uk/Europe trip next year my boyfriend and I will ride on every single carousel and ferris wheel we see; from the big, grand ones in themeparks to the little, wobbly ones in fairgrounds. I haven’t told him yet, so he doesn’t know. All he knows is that I’ve promised to have a post up by tonight and it’s to be about carousels and ferris wheels. Hongjun, surprise!
To justify myself, I’ve a very good reason for making this decision. I’m currently home in Singapore for my summer vacation. Before I flew back, however, some friends and I took a couple of casual trips around the UK to wind down after a busy school year. The first trip was to London with two girlfriends of mine who wanted to pamper themselves with good food, city shopping and a West End musical or two. The second was a relaxing daytrip to Scarborough with two housemates and a friend of one of them who happened to be visiting. Now, holidays mean many things to many people: a two-week tour of Europe, a weekend at Genting or even a sleepover in a 5-star hotel in Singapore could be a ‘holiday’. Invariably, though, holidays mean ‘having fun’. Some people equate fun with spending a week in a spa being massaged by preferable attractive masseuses and snoring away their afternoons, others get a kick out of flying to a foreign land and rushing from one might-see landmark to another snapping photos and buying souvenir t-shirts. Some people like extreme sports, others take overseas bargain-hunting to extreme-sport level. Me? I like carousels. =)
I’m not sure why but ever since I was old enough to toddle around, in other words, since I was a toddler, I’ve insisted on riding every carousel in sight. I’ve rode the ones they used to set up at the large-scale pasar malams that existed before housing estates took over all empty grass-lots in the country, I’ve rode the slightly wobbly-looking ones available in Malaysian casino resorts and I’ve also rode the princess-pink-and-white ones in all the Disneylands in the USA (twice). Perhaps little girls and ponies just have a natural affinity, or perhaps it’s a subconscious Freudian effect of my having watched the free-running carousel-horse scene in Mary Poppins one too many times. My carefree, carousel riding days ended with the onset of puberty and public consciousness... teenagers just don’t ride carousels, it’s childish; unless they’re in a group and doing it brazenly because then it’s so conspicuous it somehow counts as ‘cool’. I’d recollect how my dad would accompany me on the carousel when I was younger; it always looked like he was enjoying himself too. I’d wish I had a younger sibling to ‘accompany’ on a carousel, sometimes I’d consider following a random little kid onto the ride and pretending I was just there to watch over him/her.
Two weeks ago in London, along Queen’s Walk by the Thames, I spent the best 2 pounds I’ve ever spent on my first carousel ride since puberty (seriously).
It must have been fated. I wasn’t with my travel buddies at the time, I had spent the morning rifling through the National Theatre archives researching for an essay and arranged to meet a friend of mine who lives in London since I happened to be in her area. We planned to meet for a coffee and ended up drinking milkshakes underneath an upside-down purple cow (it was part of some summer festival). After that we decided to stroll along the river towards the Tate Modern (which is free! Just so you know). The English weather was actually being cooperative and the walk was pleasant; we indulged in light conversation as, arm-in-arm, we walked past trees and water and a carousel. We didn’t really look at it, covered it in a few passing sentences; we walked on. Then I said I wanted to ride it. My friend didn’t bat an eyelid, she just agreed. I began to suspect that maybe all of us secretly wish to ride carousels (or bumper cars or rotating teacups or ferris wheels). We paid the carousel man his two pounds and choose our horses with care; they had different colours, manes and even had names! We sat on Tony and Janet. Not to exaggerate but that was definitely the best carousel ride in the Universe!! It was fast, faster than I remember a carousel to be, and hence exciting. There was the river and pretty buildings to look at as we went round and round, which beats a themepark or the interior of a shopping centre any day. Of course, it was too short, but rides always are. The funny thing was, I didn’t feel too self-conscious riding a rising and falling horse on a rotating platform. There was just Emily and I, and a woman who was accompany a baby girl, but it felt as if there was no one else outside the world of the carousel to judge us or look at us quizzically.
After the carousel we continued along the Thames until we hit a photobooth that was free pictures of people in a tent. All you have to do is write down your favourite part of the summer festival on a whiteboard and hold it up to the camera. Emily and I shared the same board because we wrote the same thing. Can you guess what we wrote? You can see the picture here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/southbankcentre/3684400912/
So, in the midst of good food, shopping and musicals, a carousel was the highlight of my brief trip to London. And a little ferris wheel was the highlight of my trip to Scarborough.
In the light of the London Eye and the Singapore Flyer, the Scarborian ferris wheel on the beach isn’t a ride worth mentioning but it sure was fun. We spotted it from a hill, it was on the far end of the beach, and we walked past the many fish-and-chipperies and crowds of retirees that Scarborough is famous for just to find it. There was also a lighthouse along the way and fresh seafood stands that sold fresh crabsticks and lobster cakes. Somehow, walking the entire length of a beach to get to a ferris wheel makes the ride truly memorable. I haven’t as much to say about the ride itself though, probably because I have more of an affinity to carousels than ferris wheels. However, the girl in Charlotte’s Web had her first kiss on a ferris wheel and ever since I read that I’ve kinda thought ferris wheels are inherently romantic no matter how tacky they look. So it’s appropriate to ride them on our trip.
Watch out for many pictures of painted horses and gaudy rotating carriages next year! =D If anyone happens to know of a carousel-and-ferris-wheel-making company that would be a good sponsor, let us know. Otherwise, I’m still un-deterred and very determined to ride them all.
~Ming
