Soft Places

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Corporeality is overrated in the comic book multiverse. Grant Morrison’s theoretical conceptualizations of the infinite reality have interwoven themselves through the vein of modern storytelling, but Gaiman’s play on this concept is also well documented in Sandman and equally as influential. In the second of the Convergence collection, Gaiman evokes the concept of Dream’s intervention with humanity in an odd twist, perhaps the most notable being his antithetical construction of reality in the form of the Soft Places. While the former installment of the Convergence series ( The Hunt, Sandman #38) worked to explore and remember the Old World and its endurance through time, Soft Places defeats the physicality of the Dreaming by introducing the eponymous locales as blurred points in space and time. Analogous to the Bermuda Triangle and what Gilbert in the issue refers to as “a few thousand square miles of central Australia… a field in Ireland [and] an occasional mountain in Arizona,” the Soft Places serve as the launching point for clarifying the already grayed locales of the Sandman universe. Gaiman uses the arc to critique and honor the Travel Narrative genre, and its illustrious literary corpus as well. Though most of the works are utterly fantastic, many spurred westerners to seek out the vast lands yet undiscovered, bringing Western culture out of its insular shell. The issue is self-referential in nature, allowing a young Marco Polo to confront what would be his legacy, but is not without subtle, though humorous, critiques. The soft play area at The Hop Farm Family Parkis perfect for children up to the age of 11. Parents can relax and enjoy some food and a drink in the Safari Café adjacent to the soft play, while the kids run around in a tropical jungle of entertainment. There is a separate area for toddlers and under-5, which also has baby changing facilities and toilets.

Activity World in Peterborough has one of the largest and exciting indoor play area frames in the UK. The frame itself covers almost 10,000sq ft of space on three levels. Children aged 7 and under must attend with an adult, while kids 8 and older can be left to explore the activities independently. At the same time, the parents do something else (like going shopping in Westfield London). All the kids will have special electronic wristbands as an extra safety measure and can only be removed by an employee with parents’ consent. The Fun Factory is an awesome soft play centre in Ballymena featuring a huge play frame, baby and toddler areas, sports court, a climbing wall, and more! Find out more Lemur Landings, Dorset

11. National Maritime Museum

Fairly small, but well designed soft play area. It is a sort of “cage” on 2 levels with a couple of little slides and obstacles to get over. At our indoor soft play areas, your child can have fun, interact with others and develop important life skills through play. The benefits of soft play for children, toddlers and babies can include: Forget what you know about the AR36 platform, this 1990s space gun has been revamped for 21st century warfare thanks to Novritsch! The SSR63A2 is Novritsch's reimagining of the AR36K platform, boasting the same advanced ergonomics as the original platform with a new CNCmachined aluminiumM-LOK/20mmPicatinny hybrid handguard and 20mm top rail, providing extra strength when compared to the original configuration and keeping things in line with other cutting edge platforms.

Kids can discover landmarks from around the world, and even play a football match at Wembley at this exciting indoor play centre in Crewe. Find out more Fun Factory, Northern Ireland From sensory spaces for very young infants to dodgems and climbing walls for older children, indoor play areas offer plenty of entertainment for children of all ages. Don’t miss enjoying some Injoy fun in Derby too. Injoy indoor play centre in Derby has an awesome soft play, a trampoline park with ninja course, laser tag, fun walls, and an interactive zone. Find out more Folly Farm, Pembrokeshire The loos are lovely (yes I’m sounding very middle aged). But they really are – nice handwash and art on the walls too!With huge themed play structures, a giant ball pool pit and slides, Partymanis a great place for the kids. There is even a football area, and a special toddler area for under-3s. There is a café and they host parties which offer arts and crafts, food and drink and themes. The Partyman Company has 20 different business in 10 different locations around the country. Orientalism in Western literature is highly documented and a celebrated trope in the Travel Narrative. The subtle nods to the trope in Soft Places lie in Rustichello’s pet designation, Marco Millions, for the older Marco Polo that shares his cell once Marco is taken captive as a prisoner of war in 1295. Between 1923 and 1925, Eugene O’Neil penned a play of the same name, which was a comedic satire on the triumphalist accounts of the Middle East and Eastern countries. The inserted detail assumes that Marco’s stories were too fantastic to be true, but Gaiman’s account otherwise treats the material with reverence. Given the stylized telling of the story, and Rustichello’s praise for Polo’s ability “to describe the cities. Not just the land, or the trade, but the soul of the city,” Gaiman’s clever addition serves to poke fun at the skeptical tradition of Polo’s received incredulity. That being said, the Travel Narrative often boasted such fantastic descriptions and details so falsely imbued into the locales for the sheer purpose of amusement or political satire. Gulliver’s Travels (Gulliver’s name a pun for “gullible”) is the most famous of the Travel Narrative satire and served as a critique on the supremacy of Whig ideology in British parliament in the early 18 th century. Thomas More’s Utopia served as a scathing chastisement for contemporary European society, which at the time was plagued by inequality and class warfare. While Orientalism was used to deconstruct Western Society by way of comparison, it also conjures the ignorance of Western Civilization towards the Far East. Gaiman’s use of the Soft Places in the issue draws attention to the elusiveness of the Orient, possibly suggesting that in further defining the world through discovery and categorization the inherent wonder of the distant locales were irrevocably lost. Lego fans can enjoy the ultimate in indoor fun at the Legoland Discovery Centre in Birmingham. Featuring rides, soft play, a 4D cinema, plus lots more fun to discover. Find out more Legoland Discovery Centre, Manchester This popular indoor play centre in East Kilbride features go-karts, a large play frame, epic slides, and moon crater slide, there’s even a chocolate factory! Find out more Round the Twist, Newcastle upon Tyne The British Invasion: Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, and the Invention of the Modern Comic Book Writer