Saturday 19 March 2016

In a spin…

Do you remember when you used to get dizzy for fun instead of it being a hazard of getting up from the chair too quickly? What were we thinking of? And why does spinning around and around make us dizzy? Even though the Earth is spinning all the time it doesn’t cause us to reel about like a drunk. Going around and around a racing circuit in a car doesn’t make us fall over. Even sitting on a fairground carousel doesn’t often leave us grasping for invisible handholds in the air just to find our balance.

It’s a localised thing. I remember at the park when I was a boy that getting dizzy was the thing. There was a few ways you could do it. The slide didn’t do it, that just made you want to pee yourself with fear because it was so tall. Nor did the long scary-smiled rocking horse with handles and seats for eight or nine children, that just made you feel sick with the up-down motion of a landlocked sea. Of course the swings were a different matter. You could sit on the seat and wind the long chains around until they were tight as a spring, then lift your feet and off you would go in a clanking whizzing spin, then back again and back again - clockwise then anti-clockwise - with a guaranteed result of extreme dizziness when you fell off and tried to stand up.

Of course in our park, Elms Park in Thame, there was an old wooden roundabout exactly like the one in the picture, although that isn’t it. The - not at all child friendly - slide behind it is almost as high as the one I used to climb too. We piled onto that roundabout pushing it around with one leg and clinging on for dear life. It would get faster and faster, the girls sitting on top and clinging on for dear life too. We would pedal it so fast that it felt like we were going to fly off and we’d work it for ages, the park a blur of green and brown as we span. Then we’d leap off and try to walk. Of course that was impossible and sometimes the dizziness would last for minutes. Why we laughed as we stumbled around on the cracked concrete (no rubberised floors back then) and falling over and over I have no idea, but we did.

So why does it happen? Basically it’s an inner ear thing. When you spin for a prolonged time the hairs in the ear get used to the spinning and when you stand still they continue to send the spinning message to your brain. But who cares? It was fun and I wish that I could still do it today without fear of broken bones and concussion. 

1 comment:

  1. Anne Donaldson We had one up here that went round and up and down like being at sea and I often wonder if that's why so many people now of a certain age suffer from Mennieres disease

    Andrew Height Maybe. My wife suffers from that i'll ask her.

    Paul Whitehouse There was a similar 'ride' that I remember but it had no wooden seats just a metal handrail which divided it into segments, you could spin it round and then hang off the edge at high speed for your life !

    Andrew Height I remember those too Paul. All enough to give an H and S council inspector a heart attack these days.

    Andrew Height's photo.

    Andrew Height
    How about this hand cruncher Paul?

    Anne Donaldson
    Oh yes elf and safety would have had a field day with that one

    Andrew Height
    Ours didn't even have the guard at the front. just the mechanism l
    Paul Whitehouse See-saw and witch's hat also a H & S nightmare!

    Anne Donaldson
    We called the witches hat the maypole

    Paul Whitehouse
    On the swings did you stand on the seat ever?

    Andrew Height
    Of course!

    Andrew Height
    And get it at 90 degrees and jump of. Broke my ankle once.

    Andrew Height's photo.

    Andrew Height
    kids these days are piss scared.

    Anne Donaldson
    Anne Donaldson's photo.

    Anne Donaldson
    How did we ever survive lol

    Paul Whitehouse
    I can still feel the pain of having gravel removed from a grazed knee ? Can you ?

    Anne Donaldson
    I can remember landing on the corner of a bit tin and slicing my knee open and screaming at my dad that I didn't want stitches because they hurt lol

    Anne Donaldson
    Tetanus jab didn't bother me of course

    Anne Donaldson
    I think I was maybe a tomboy

    Fraser Stewart
    We pretended we are training for NASA.

    Anne Donaldson
    Did NASA exist then??.

    Fraser Stewart
    Yes...I was 8 when Neil & Buzz landed on the moon.

    Andrew Height
    We really were Fraser.

    Fraser Stewart
    When you considered how fast we push them, NASA had ready made Astronauts in Motherwell. While NASA could get men to the moon, they couldn't find Motherwell. Shame...they would have had hardy Astronauts costing a fraction of their training budget.

    Dave Harbour
    That one in Elms Park we used to run as fast as we could round it then jump on and get in the middle while someone else span it faster and faster! Then we would get on the outside and hang on for dear life! Not for long tho you'd eventually get flung off on the grass if you were lucky enough to miss the concrete

    Dave Harbour
    The rocking horse was ace! If you got the head end you were fine but the ass end you would get flung in the air and got your ass smacked cos the seat was coming up as you were going down ��������

    Dave Harbour
    God we were indestructible as kids not like today's bubble wrapped babies

    Andrew Height
    Did you ever climb the slide steps on the outside, climb over, and then slide down headfirst on your back Dave?

    Dave Harbour
    I climbed the slide every which way I could and came down in every consievable way

    Lindsey Messenger
    I liked the horse and roundabout. Can remember spinning round on the swings also.... Doesn't seem that long ago.... But it was

    Andrew Height
    Scared the shit out of me Dave. But it had to be done.

    Gloria Brown
    I climbed the slide steps had a few falls showing off, loved the Elms park.

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