Paul J Penton – Songwriter

Drainpipe- Daily Object Writing – Sept 30

At High School, to alleviate the boredom of recess we’d invent dares, which usually involved climbing. On the side of the main building near the corner housing the Library was a grade one drainpipe challenge. Three stories straight up. Of course looking on it now the health and safety implications are horrendous, but then we were invincible and the challenge was to tap the roof – It was a big thick thing doused in rusty brown paint, shiny and dangerous in the wet – don’t think we would elicit the challenge then. It had useful rungs that licked the concrete wall.

Starting out our feet would scramble at ground level slipping and letting loose mortar dribble from the brick work. The pipe would be hot in summer and chilled in winter – it seemed to be a conductor for whatever weather was going on the day. You could always get a rest on the 2nd floor balcony and a quick scan for teachers out on patrol – we never did get caught. Back then vertigo was no issue, heights no problem, so being up that high was just another adventure. Now, I think my muscles would become gluggy and frozen and my heart would be beating in my mouth at such a venture. There was some sense of freedom being up so high, a sense of being beyond the world. For those few moments you were the king of all you surveyed. Then a tap on the gutter that supplied the pipe with its entertainment and a quick scuttle down , not going too fast as this could cause blisters…..