“I’m off to the Arnolds” and with that statement, one of the Baskerville brothers would disappear out the front door of our Gap home in Brisbane and head on down the hill. Well, it did not take long before three more Baskerville boys were also exiting the front door and heading down to the end of the road where the Arnold family lived. However, not before we had covered our extended straight forward reaching arm with bread slices, that were adorned with a smorgasbord of exotic toppings like white sugar, hundreds & thousands, peanut butter (and butter) and treacle yes, even black gooey molten treacle. To any ill-informed onlooker it may well have looked more like a Hitler Youth March’ going down that hill rather than just four boys off for some late afternoon adventure with their well-armed snacks. Now, in those days, the Arnolds and the Baskervilles were as inseparable as the force that joins the north and south poles of a magnet there was always an instant thick as thieves connection whenever we met. The kids from both families possessed a strong inclination for adventure, sport and just a little mischief. The sport thing I have already covered look, they whipped our arr. bottoms OK! But when it came to dangerous death defying action and adventure, the smaller framed Arnolds were no match for us Baskervilles. This fact was none more evident than in the “Three Legged Swing” ride that David set up on the biggest tree in the forest growing near the Arnold’s place. Not content to install a single stimulating swing rope that swung back and forth over the creek bank OH NO! David decided it would be far more exciting to have three rope swings tied to the same spot of the high overhanging tall tree branch. I know what you are saying don’t worry, I hear it “You must be mad, because three rope swings joined at the same point are going cause a collision of bodies at some point!” PRECISELY, my dear Watson – now you are getting it. A real Baskerville adventure is one where there is a 90% chance of serious injury, coupled with a 10% chance of just injury. Otherwise I ask you, why would you want to play? So come on now, let the fun begin! All right let me explain a few things first. Well some things in this orbital aerial game you did control – and some things you didn’t. What you did control was the timing and direction of each push off from the thickset centre tree trunk. Your choice was either to perform an open aerial circular orbit or a straight-line push out-and-back pendulum action. Ultimately whatever your choice, the physics of inertia, centrifugal force and gravity brought you back to the same starting point at the tree trunk. Now, the part of the ride you did not control was the timing and direction of the other participants in this swings of death game. So then, a good ending result from the inevitable mid-air collision of bodies, was to arrive back at the starting tree trunk – feet first. A bad result was ten years of chiropractic adjustment to a back that was slammed so hard against the tree trunk that it made the coyote’s splatter on the cliff as he failed to catch the Roadrunner once more, look like a just another cartoon. “Are we having fun yet?” was Bancroft’s only lost-for-breath question after a particularly bad result for him in one battle of the titans swing with David. Of course a mid-air collision only occurred when the swing participants were not properly prepared. If you were so prepared you would have met your opponent in mid air and then launched them in a spiraling opposite direction with the full force of you spring loaded legs. Those poor small-framed Arnolds did not stand a chance did they? Well, this bruising battering beat-up managed to keep us all entertained for weeks until each exposed weathered swing eventually wore out and broke. It just so happened that they each broke with a heavy set Baskerville family member sitting in the riding position (a real yang for the Arnolds who had suffered too much ‘ying’ in this game). It’s OK mum, we all lived to tell the tale of the Three Legged Swing ride so it can’t have been that bad a crash-landing. I remember looking up from my crash position nestled between two granite boulders of the creek back and thinking well that’s the end of that ride and I survived, I wonder what David’s next death defying adventure will be!
