Gal got sent some leaflets about bus routes, and was poring over them when we met up last week. She mentioned something about visiting Crystal Palace Park over the weekend and I was enthusiastic, having noticed from said leaflet that the park had dinosaurs.
So Saturday saw us hop onto a bus, climb a few rather big hills, alighting near the park, and venturing in through the gates.
The top part of the park, the site of the old Crystal Palace is a little like you imagine an archaeological site would look. There are remnants of balconies in one direction, big sweeping staircases that don’t seem to lead anywhere, and Sphinxes, just stuck in the middle of the park. It seems a shame that the extent of preservation these icons have received has been merely to surround them in wire fences, presumably to stop people damaging them or being damaged by them. It’s unique though. Apart from these relics, the area is barren. Strolling through it, you feel like you’re waiting for something to happen, there’s so much potential here, it just needs somebody to love it.
Finding a map, we head off into the distance in search of the dinosaurs. They’re a lot more impressive than I’d expected. I’m sure that I saw dinosaur exhibits as a child, but the only ones I can really remember are the ones at the Natural History Museum or at Alton Towers. These ones are far more convincing and look, compared to the hollow models at the Theme Park, to be a lot more substantial. Gal is convinced that there are fewer here than when she was a child, that perhaps the dinosaur models are echoing their heritage and dying out. A quick check today shows me that the whole dinosaur area has been refurbished, that somebody does love the park, or at least, loves the dinosaurs. It’s the busiest section of the park, even on a cold winters day, and I imagine that, as a child, it’s the sort of thing that I’d have adored.
But its between these two areas that I get a flashback.
As we were walking from the site of the old exhibition, we see a strangely shaped roof in the distance. It seems to be coming off a café style building at a 60% angle, arching into the sky for no discernible purpose. It’s old brown metal, I say something about it resembling a Jawa Sandcrawler and we move in that direction so that we can see what it is.
