Sunday 17 June 2007

Slidin'

It has been brought to my attention (by Lorraine no less) that I've been neglecting my dear readers in not telling you all my exciting times in Londinium (I mistakenly called it Londonium in a previous post). As a result I have decided to rectify this with a rip roaring yarn about how I went sliding down the slides at the Tate Modern. This will of course include pictures of me and Mitch and even a VIDEO! Yes, I videoed myself going down the slide and you'll get to hear me giggling like a wee lassie as I go down. Stop sniggering in the back there.

So, we went wondering along to the Tate Modern, perhaps for the second time, to go on the slides. Just outside it has a great trees and light combo:


The Tate Modern looks like this at night:


It's terribly dramatic looking- it used to be a power station you know.

So after we queued up and got out tickets we were ready to go! So we wandered around the buillding for a wee while as I took photos of the glorious 10 second ride facilitator that awaited us.

Look at it! A wonder of technology!


It looked so good I had to go upstairs and get another picture:


So, once we had our tickets and got in the queue, we were almost set to go! It is so arty in the Tate that even the shadows of the slide looked good enough to photograph:


The slide itself is one of a number located on different floors, so naturally we went for the top floor slide the daredevils that we are! Look at how high it is!


Dead high. So, being the man in the relationship, I persuaded Mitch to go first so I could get a photo of her before she went. Nothing to do with me being scared either, honest.



Mitch claims that she was too tall for the tattie sacks we were given to go sliding in, contributing in no small way to her "thump thump thump" noises all the way down, resulting in the bored attendant looking at me and saying: "that's a slow one". I don't think she was talking about Mitch's mental faculties though, but one can't be sure (only kidding!).

I had to smuggle my camera inside my sleeve to get the following footage- they are very keen you don't take anything on your person when sliding these days. See the dangerous situations I put myself in for the avid readers of this blog?


And of course, when you get to the bottom it's all over, bar the shouting. But you do get to land on the big comfy pillow things at the bottom.


Well, you did. Apparently they've now taken the slides away. Shan't be going back if that's the case- I'll be headed to the Tate Britain where apparently my Flickr show has been on display...

9 comments:

Brigham said...

"Brilliant!" as your people say.

Brigham said...

Oh,
And how much did a slide ride cost?
Just wondering.

That's the sort of thing I wonder about.

niall said...

It was free! FREE! Museums and galleries are generally free in the UK, along with sliding. That probably goes some way to explaining why we went a bunch of times. I like free things.

Brigham said...

See, I imagined it would be free as I've enjoyed the freeness of London museums but you mentioned getting your tickets and so I thought "Yes, a ride on a slide, that would probably cost some money" because the Tate Modern (at least sometimes) does have galleries you have to pay for.

niall said...

It still does, and I was really surprised to see that the slides were free myself actually. But happy! The tickets are a way of controlling the crowds I think, but we tended to go later inthe evening to avoid all that malarkey.

LMcD said...

Hooray - that's what I'm talking about! I especially enjoyed the video where you laughed like you were in a carry on film! Thank you - more of the same please!

AM said...

Niall just made all my dreams come true. Mich's beautiful face! A giant slide! Niall giggling! Nothing could ruin my mood right now! Nothing! Not even Bright Eyes on David Letterman.

Richie said...

What about Bright Eyes from Watership Down? Brings a tear to the eye every time.

niall said...

Poor man's the otter from Ring of Bright Water that gets malkied with the shovel at the end!