So this year I made a bit of a effort and actually did something for Halloween me and my friend going by the name of Arctic Fox revisited the playground which is old and creepy looking and in a place in a place in Shortwood but near Pucklechurch here in Bristol in the UK. We looked it up on Google and the park is unmarked on the map but is off a road called Cattybrook Road and off a main busy road. I live in the outskirts of the town and is quite near the countryside and I used to enjoy going for walks with me, my dog Patch and sometimes my friend but after I put her down in 2019 I haven’t been out so much so it’s great to get out and get that countryside air. We first found the playground in 2021 – 2022 around and in the midst of COVID-19. We’ve been there once before we first found it and it’s a lonely old park with swings, some baby swings, the elephant and horse which you sit on and ride and also there was a roundabout as you can see the marks where it was I seem to remember it being there when we first visited. It’s a interesting place actually as the park is right by a farm and the equipment in the park is retro and scary looking. The elephant and there is also a horse but the elephant which is a elephant on a spring was featured on one of my songs called Elephant Springs and had the sounds from the playground more lost footage. They are both made by Wicksteed Leisure and is the UK’s leading manufacturer and supplier of commercial outdoor playground and fitness equipment, operating for over 100 years since its roots were established in 1876. They look like they have been there for some time and are worn from the last time we were there so it looked extra creepy and perfect to film. My friend bought the masks around two weeks before one at Co-op and the other in Tesco which are supermarket branches they were a mummy, vampire and clown mask so I knew it was only about time I got out of my feelings and less lazy and get out on Halloween night. I wasn’t really looking forward to the walk as we seem to go overboard and walk for hours only to realize we got around two hours sometimes more journey back and are feet are already begging for mercy. Also I like to think of it as a traditional thing to do on Halloween night I mean go on a walk usually in the country as I don’t like the rush rush of the city’s traffic but I still do it. We set off around 3.30 PM as I wanted to get there a little early for the light and atmosphere as there was no point filming in the dark and you could barely see what’s going on we don’t carry light’s with us but now I think about it something like a travel studio light would come in handy but the lights I have comes with a plug and bit heavy and bulky to carry around if it didn’t come with a plug. There were some good houses we saw on the way all decorated and in the festive mood and on the way back when they were lit up. The journey took around a hour each way and we were going to walk to Pucklechurch to get more footage on the still and video cameras for a later date like today but I decided only to walk to the playground and it was decided it was probably going be another hour’s walk from the playground to Pucklechurch and onwards so I thought it would be enough to go by at the park to make the videos with and to take photos. I wanted to bring a big knife with me for the clown video but I voted against it as it would look manic if I was walking around and carrying a big ass knife but I still think it looked good without it but it would had to be done…maybe next time. On the walk to the playground I was eating some crisps and I swallowed too quick and it got lodged down my throat and I had that horrible scratching feeling down my throat but thankfully it went down after a couple of minutes and before I heaved it up again and in front of a jogger lol.
My friend filmed me first with the clown mask on running around on playing on the equipment and we also took some pictures on the still camera. It was a Saturday night so the streets were filled with Boy Racers with their fast cars speeding in the background so it was kind of noisy I don’t know if it was because it was Saturday or there was a motorway or dual carriageway nearby but there was certainly a lot of traffic. The country lane next to the park was dead though we saw one car whilst we were there use that road and like the playground no one was around it was quite eerie though. I must admit I’m not as fit as I used to be with all the smoking and whilst running around and on the elephant rocker I was quite tired exhausted in fact I could hardly breath in the mask and it was getting quite sweaty and nasty so I was thankful when I took it off and had a nice sit down and I’m 42 next year in March LOL!
My friend got in a mask next and actually makes a good mummy doing his thing. It was getting dark quick so we were now rushed for time but we did manage to film everything before it got too dark and we couldn’t see but we did have torches. It’s a shame we didn’t dress up properly I mean have something fancy dress to wear but I don’t fancy walking around in the streets in full dress as I would look like a Trick Or Treater and would make me feel uncomfortable to be honest but I’d probably put it in a bag and get dressed there for reference. The masks are slightly hard to see out of so it was hard to keep our faces forward and not see our faces but that’s what editing is for.
We both wore the vampire mask my friend wore it in the park and I had it on in the country lane and on the field in the park and was quite a laugh actually but it all was. As I said we filmed also in the country lane which was right by the park and we couldn’t be-bothered to walk any further and it was a perfect place to film the rest of the footage. After we filmed that it was getting more dark and we finished off with the lightening stuff we had like the lantern and pumpkin lights which I haven’t used and probably save for next year now but it’s something for next year. We saw the houses lit up on the way back and there was a lot of trick or treaters out at that point and we got back for around 6.30 PM which wasn’t bad. My feet were aching and when I got up next morning my back of my legs were aching but they weren’t too bad just a bit wobbly and jelly like but we survived.
