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6.9.12

PARQUE de Parque de la Reina


Parque de la Reina has a park - El Parque de Parque.
The Arona Cabildo announced a couple of years ago that they were going to build one, and the first thing they did was to demolish the football pitch and children's playground, leaving the kids with nowhere to go but the streets, and the builders moved in. The park looks quite nice - a series of overlapping circles that step cleverly down the steep slope - but we can only see it from the road because it isn't open yet.

There is a small children''s play area with brightly-painted climbing frames. Next to it is one with plain wooden frames, presumably for older kids.

There are circular areas everywhere - for congregating in, perhaps, though I can't see any benches - and curved paths and lots of walls made from that very expensive grey stone.


 There are overhead arc lights and these upturned ice-cream cone things, and a cat toilet - or is that a sand-pit?

And the bonus with all these interlocking curves is that there are lots of little corners for the local youth to smoke their cigarettes and buy the other substances from the people who lurk in such places. At least it will keep them away from our block.
When it's open.
Which may not be for a while, because on my morning walk yesterday I saw five men going through the gate and asked what was happening.
We're thinking of planting grass, they said. On an island that hasn't had rain for over a year, they're going to plant grass?

Give me strength!

To cheer you up - see my recipe page for a very easy Kipper Pate.

6 comments:

  1. You sound just a little bit skeptical about the parque! :)
    Must try that kipper pate.

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  2. Sceptical - moi? When it's open I hope I have to retract this blog, but somehow I doubt it. Do try the pate - it's a winner with guests and so easy.

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  3. That is so sad and funny at the same time, and so typical of urban planning projects. I guess it's the same the world over.

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  4. Official planners don't seem good at planning, do they?

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  5. How frustrating, especially for the kids. Why are councils all over the world so incompetent and narrow visioned?

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  6. It employed a lot of people for a while, which may have been the point. In the US they are spray-painting the dry grass green, so it looks the part, and never needs watering. Maybe they could adopt that idea?
    It all looks rather hard and urban and unwelcoming.

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