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These last couple of weeks millions
of people have been logging online and, unbelievably, willing vast sums of money to have disappeared from their bank
accounts. Sums of money that they probably can't really afford to lose and
almost certainly shouldn't have agreed to be taken. Amounts large enough to
cover the mortgage and quite a few bills, or even next year's family holiday.
It may sound unlikely but it is
indeed true. And more bizarrely still, for the last couple of weeks many of
these people have actually been limiting how much they spend, just to ensure
there's plenty left in their account to take. Yes, it's a rare occurrence indeed
when anyone actually wants their bank balance to deplete overnight, but then again,
it's also a rare occurrence when tickets for The Biggest Sporting Event In The
World come up for grabs. We are of course talking about the 2012 London Olympics
Games and the chance for a lucky chosen few to watch world-class athletics up
close.
Normally participation in this
spectacular quadrennial event is limited to those who can afford to cross
several time zones and visit foreign shores in order to attend. But next year it
will only cost a tank of petrol, a swipe on your Oyster card or a return economy
train fare to get there. Come to think of it a train fare can often cost the
same as a trip through several time zones, but let's not dwell on that right
now.
With 20 million applications made
for 26 Olympic sports and only 6.6 million tickets actually available, it was
inevitable however that rather a lot of people were going to be disappointed
with the outcome, including, surprisingly enough, many of the sportsmen and
women who weren't even able to secure tickets for their own families. Others
fared slightly better in the 'lucky dip', with one man receiving £11,000-worth
of tickets. It has to be said his odds of winning were slightly higher having
applied for £36,000-worth to start with, after an agreement with his bank to
increase his limit should he be successful.
Ticket
fiasco aside, the Olympic games are a hotly anticipated event (coming a close
second to Take That's sell out concert perhaps) and one that the team here at
Treehouse Life are certainly looking forward to watching. Perhaps we're excited
because we feel that in some small way we're already playing a vital role in
shaping the athletes of the future. Is that a ridiculously big claim for a
relatively small treehouse building company to make perhaps? No, we don't think
so.
Yes
it's true that we don't hold a track record in training gold medal winners or
sporting superstars, but we do know a thing or two about bringing out the best
in every child. And let's not forget that it's the children of today who will
become the athletes of tomorrow.
So
with this in mind, as well as creating treetop adventure playgrounds that offer
children the chance to develop their imaginations and enjoy endless hours of creative play, we also strive to coax
children away from those screens, encourage a passion in sports and highlight
interests and skills that they didn't even realise they had.
Through
our unique designs we offer a wonderful world of 3 dimensional play in which
budding athletes can run and jump, leap and climb, clamber and slide, sprint,
glide and even fly. We allow children the freedom to stretch boundaries and
discover for themselves just what
they are capable of achieving. We make exercise FUN and show kids that it's
important to be adventurous and give it a go.
So
if you're one of those millions left feeling incredibly
annoyed that you didn't win your tickets (and aren't now financially worse off because of it), then let us help
you to ease the pain. Why not use the money you had set aside and put it
instead towards something even more
worthwhile - your child's health and happiness.
Granted, taking your children to
watch an Olympic event would undoubtedly be an unforgettable,
once-in-a-lifetime experience, but giving them the opportunity to learn and
grow through play everyday is a far more important gift.
And if next year you still feel
miffed that you're not amongst those crowds, then remember this. Whilst some of
your day watching sporting history happen would have been highly exciting and
worth every penny you'd spent, much of it wouldn't. The reality is you'd also
have had to deal with congested roads, overflowing car parks, enormous crowds,
seriously overpriced food, a severe lack of usable toilets and, worst of all, a
miserable looking child attached to the end of your arm. A child, who, if you
could actually hear him above the din, would probably be saying he's bored,
tired and wants to go home.
Now we don't want to blow our own
trumpet here, but we're fairly confident that with a Treehouse Life treehouse
in your garden, boredom is not a problem you'll ever have to deal with again. Getting
your child to step away from the fun and actually leave the house to go
anywhere, now that might be a totally different matter.
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