Saturday, 1 February 2020

The Slime Under the Stairs

Spending time with our Grandson Moonbase Junior reminds me of how I imagine my own childhood must have been when I was 3. I have no memory of it whatsoever, save for a sheaf of old photos, so imagining it through Junior is the best I can do.

Junior loves everything. The world is a glorious garden of excitement and fun. No problems. No worries. No politics. Its a privilege to be in the company of a true human before all the BS messes things up later on.

To illustrate Junior's unabashed adventure into the world he absolutely adores all things slime.

Slime is a thing of beauty to Junior, a marvellous blob of clammy joy. His passion for slime is a broad church: ready made pots of goo, powdered slime sachets that need water and that old fave, bouncing putty. All are welcome.

Today it was the turn of glow in the dark slime. We bought it in a museum shop off one of those counters of classic toys like miniature slinkies and kaleidoscopes. He went for the slime like a bee to honey!

We made the stuff as soon as we got home. Packaged in a test tube, it contained a small packet of green powder and  a lolly stick for stirring. The instructions read like something from a lab and scared me to death! There was mention of phosphorous, its discovery and the creation of the philosopher's stone by boiling urine! I didn't read out that bit to Junior!

Junior wasn't phased. He can't read yet. He just wanted to stir the mixture. Along with Missus Moonbase we took turns to shake the tube of diluted powder off and on for 10 minutes.

When the moment arrived to release the kraken so to speak Junior was beside himself. He poured the thick green gloop straight out onto a plastic plate. "It doesn't glow!" he protested.

"We have to light it up with your torch first!" I explained. We proceeded to drape the goo over a small hand-torch like something out of Quatermass.

After a few minutes we took the blob and put in the dark cupboard under the stairs and yep, it glowed like a silicate from a Hammer horror. Junior was suitably impressed and the allure of slime goes on.

The glowing stuff, however, will decay in four days and turn to liquid!

Are you of the slime?

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