Lazy, lazy council workers
I woke up this morning and, incredibly, the sky was blue so I took my little girl to Griffith Park off Botanic Avenue to have a run around in the small but perfectly formed little playground. We arrived at 9.45am, hardly early by anyone’s standards (except, maybe, my own five years ago) and were surprised to see the gate to the side entrance locked. So I pushed the buggy around to the main entrance much to the annoyance of my daughter who had got all excited at the sight of the swings and climbing frame and see-saw (the only three things she has any interest in). The main entrance was also chained shut. I asked a man in his fifties who was pushing his chubby, and less than impressed, dog through the railings and preparing to scale them himself what the story was and he explained that the park doesn’t open until 10.
Sorry what? A public park, paid for by all of us, doesn’t open until 10 on a Sunday because the Dublin City Council wants to give its staff a little weekend lie in! It’s not like the signs at the entrance were of any help as they just carry the closing times, no mention at all of what time the place opens which seems very, very stupid to me. Anyways, I patrolled the perimeter of the park, like an angry bear, for a full half an hour before, eventually, the park and the playground opened.
Bah!
Mind you at least the playground in that park is safe and well maintained. A couple of weeks ago, we stopped off at the almost completely empty playground in Fairview Park. Scattered through the wood chippings that are supposed to make the place safer were huge shards of broken glass that would have a small child in casualty gushing blood before you could say ‘sort it out council people”.
We didn’t stay long and haven’t been back.
