Just outside the Bi-Lo near home, they still have a few of those kids' rides - the sort that are just some moulded piece of fibreglass (the shape of a car, spaceship, whatever), that just jiggle around for a while, and then stop. Maybe there's a few flashing lights, but that's about it. Is it still that easy to keep a toddler entertained? While I'm writing this I can hear an ice cream van passing through the area, as if on cue. But anyway. A month or so back, my housemate and I were Amused(tm) by such a ride called "Doctor Weirdo's Freak Machine", though I notice it's now been replaced by Sooty (remember him?) and his van. There's just enough room in the front of the van for a kid to squeeze in next to some anonymous fellow traveller, and if you look at the back of the van, a forlorn-looking Sooty's waving out the side window, as if he's been taken prisoner. I'm not sure I understand.