I remember those secret places, totally hidden from the rest of the world. There were many, but one was really special. I used to climb underneath my nextdoor neighbour's house and make mini aerial landscapes, complete with rivers and hills and landforms, all in the dirt, complete with water courses - I loved tipping water into them to see it run through the rivers. Because it was out of the weather and totally secret it never deteriorated - it was just the same whenever I went back there. It might still be there!
Another, like many children, was up a tree, a jacaranda tree, where my friend and I made bubblegum pictures on the tree trunks, and made up our own language. Actually Tolkien said that most children make up their own languages - but he kept doing it throught to adulthood (the Elvish languages etc.). I felt like I was free up in that tree, far from the world below I could dream away the days - felt like I spent most of my childhood up there!
