Monksdale Road

We received an email from the suburbs from a guy named Harry. The anecdotal tone of the letter worked well, so we’ve made very few edits. To show the ‘weird concrete river’ we popped to the park and snatched a photo of the water pipe.  

H: Hi,

Saw her all the time in the playground near the park on Monksdale Road. I don't have kids or anything like that but I walked past it on my way to the shops all the time.The park has this weird concrete river running through the middle of it, fed by a water pipe near a football pitch.

This woman sat on the grass near the goalposts. Always the same woman. No kids running around her, no toddlers. Not even a book to read.  I mentioned it to my friend’s Gran, and she said it was 'Sulis Minerva'. I thought she was joking..

I've only been inside the park once. My mate and I were chucking a rugby ball back and forth on the pavement. He never made the team. Soon that ball went over the fence, and into the water. Being an adult man in a kids’ playground was stressful enough. The thought of Sulis Minerva watching put me right on edge.

The ball lolled in the centre of the river. I had to bend down, and stretch across to avoid ruining my trainers. The stream was warm, and smelt of eggs and pennies. Something rustled in the bushes. I put my hand in the stream to steady myself, and just a few inches away the water was fridge level cold. Footsteps followed.

That ball was in my hands in moments, and I was out of the park in seconds.

She was in her spot a few more times after that. Now the bus sorts my travel needs.  If I ever have kids, we will play somewhere else.

The water pipe and the weird concrete river.