Who doesn’t love a Merry-Go-Round.

I mean… for crying out loud.  First of all… they go round and round.  And secondly…. they are simply Merry all over the place.

But ARE they? Truly?

Have you ever seen the movie… ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’?  As I recall… there was something extremely sinister about the Merry Go-Round on which Jason Robards lurked.

And what about action movies…  someone is ALWAYS getting in a shoot-out at the Merry-Go-Round.  And then one of the bad guys get hit… and they slump over the horse…. all dead and limp…. and go round and round…

What about the movie… The Sting… with Newman and Redford?  That Carousel was the secret entrance for the Brothel / Speakeasy.

Well…   The old Merry-Go-Round has been AROUND for a long time.  It started out in the 12th century… or about then.   Knights would gallop in a circle while tossing balls from one to another….. an activity that required great skill and horsemanship.

Over the centuries.. this evolved into a whole bunch of different things.  But.. it wasn’t until the 19th century…. that the very first steam-powered mechanical roundabout…. as they were called…. was invented by Thomas Bradshaw.

English Dude.  In England.  It appeared at the Aylsham Fair in about 1861.

But any way.  Back to today.  New Carousels kind of creep me out.  Mostly because the horses look crazy-go-nuts.   Wild horses.  They will drag you away.

If I were a kid… I would not want to ride the one I saw today.  Those horses were really eerie. Maybe even menacing.

Okay… okay…. truth be told… they are NOT really scary at all.  Falling off a roof is scary.  Riding a Merry-Go-Round is a bit on the boring side, really.  It is kind of like when you get stuck at some Social Dinner… sitting next to Edna…. and she talks about her pet snail collection for hours on end.  And how her husband, Claude, has a real preoccupation with edging the lawn… and it bothers her… the fact that he is out there.. all hours of the day.  Hell… he doesn’t even know the names of her snails.  And…
And… well… you get the picture.  It just goes round and round and round.  And the painted ponies go up and down.

Tomorrow…. it is back to the Fair for me.  I might try the Ferris Wheel.  It will be a little more like falling off a roof.

“Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace. – The Philosophy of Civilization.”  –   Albert Schweitzer

“Don’t you ever wonder maybe if you took a left turn instead of a right you could be someone different?” – Unknown