Southend U3A

Balloons - Annie Moss

July 2010

Mr. and Mrs. Balloon were a prickly couple, blowing up at the slightest provocation, they also had an inflated idea of their own importance. They had numerous children, aunts, uncles, cousins and a very large extended family, abroad as well as at home.

They loved parties, usually going mob handed and making a tremendous noise as the party got going - putting themselves about and generally showing off.

At a children’s party one afternoon a clown was making ‘pictures’ with his hands’ as shadows on the wall, he also used a handkerchief to make shapes of animals. Miss Balloon thought ‘I could do that.’ so she asked the clown, ‘Would you make me into the shape of a dog please.’ The clown twisted the little pink body into the shape of a small poodle.

‘This is such fun,’ giggled little Miss Balloon, ‘better than going to the gym.’

The whole family usually descended on Fairs. It was their forte. They went everywhere. Stalls, rides, ice cream vendors, etc. They loved it all - it was part of their lives.

One day little Master Balloon asked his dad if he could float amongst the clouds. ‘When you are a big boy.’ dad told him. He reached quite a large size, so they tied a basket to him and up, up he went. He floated over land and sea; saw the mountains and beautiful green vegetation – ‘What a wonderful world.’ he thought, ‘If only the politicians could view it from here, surely they wouldn’t wage wars anymore.’

A very large company approached Mr. and Mrs. Balloon one day and asked if they could advertise their goods for them. Of course, said the couple. A financial agreement was reached and the Balloon family went all over the country sporting their advertisements.

Soon other companies took up the idea, making the Balloons quite rich. The young Balloons were picking up on technology and the whole family were quite soon doing the rounds with the hydrogen technique - they thought this was quite brilliant, and took a tremendous amount of money with this new initiative.

Grandpa Balloon wanted to know more about the family’s history so he went to a Genealogy class and was stunned to discover that the family went back as far as the eighteenth century and originated in the Middle East.

The ‘Balloons’ dabble in almost everything, including medicine (inserted in blocked or partially blocked blood vessels near the heart), and condoms.

They are an extremely versatile family and can be found all over the world at millions of Happy Events.