Sitting in Priory Park, enjoying the sun and the view and watching people going about their Sunday afternoon activities from the vantage point of my favourite bench atop the wall at the south east corner of the park, a small child, no more than four or five, scampered up nearby. I’d seen him playing with a couple, who were either older siblings or his very young parents, who were sat in the centre of the cricket pitch, eyeing him lazily through their sunglasses. The child stood there, took off his sandals whilst muttering under his breath, and threw them down the embankment onto the floor of the park. He then said "This way!" before scuffling along the footway along the top of the wall, barefoot, muttering "ooh, eeh, aaah, oohh" as he made his way along the hot tarmac.
Across the park came the shouted command: "Alistair! Pick your shoes up or else!"
Good luck, kid.
separating the wanted from the unwanted