Thursday, August 23, 2007

Model Village

We went to a Postman Pat exhibition the other day. The village of Greendale was faithfully recreated, not quite life-sized (assuming Pat and his neighbours, if they were conscious beings capable of cognitive thought, would be of average human proportions), but certainly big enough for you to amble around.

Press a button on a small stand and Pat waved mechanically at you from a doorway. Press another and the hapless Ted would slowly saw away at a piece of wood in his workshop, while another button resulted in the industrious Mrs Goggins stamping a parcel for the eight-hundredth time that day.

Why can’t everywhere be like Greendale? Everyone was smiling; there was no litter or graffiti or boy-racer cars with those peculiar flashing blue lights underneath. One of the younger residents (a small boy named Bill Thompson) does have a hoodie, but a smile adorns his wooden face, not a scowl, and you can bet that his pockets are full of recently scrumped apples, not firearms.

Among the “Patular” paraphernalia which illustrated the scope of Greendale’s appeal was a collection of themed merchandise and educational material from all around the world. Apparently, Postman Pat is called Postmann Pat in Norway. You learn something new every day.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did little Stevie C like Pat? Or did he have that look of confused horror that my children have when they meet automatons?

Mr Griffles.

Anonymous said...

e.g MP's etc. (OOOHHHH BIT OF POLITICS!)

Mr Griffles

Stevie C said...

I did find Alf particularly terrifying as he looked like he'd just drunk about twenty coffees and his jerky automaton movement wouldn't have looked out of place in the Thriller video. Genuinely sinister.