Shady Christian is back in town. ‘Grey’ has broken all records,
selling millions in its first week alone. EL James missed the Derby last
weekend, but she did come to the Curragh to present a trophy to the winner of
an all grey horse race in 2012. Maybe next year the Curragh will entice her
over again and I can ask the woman how on earth she came up with the idea. The
ropes, the cable ties, the whole bondage thing; she looks so sensible too. Still,
even I learnt last week that handcuffs can lead to some surprisingly good
fun.
It wasn’t my idea to visit Dublin, I had no
clue where we were going; my husband arranged the whole thing as a surprise. It
was a mystery trip, one that he had been planning for a while. On the way to
our secret destination we passed noodle bars and sex shops on Capel Street.
With the four kids in tow that last one wasn’t easy. Whilst the teenagers
giggled, I distracted the younger two by pointing to the sky, pretending that I
had just seen Spiderman and not a scantily clad woman beside a row of sex toys
in the window.
We followed our leader to Little Britain
Street. “We are HERE!” my husband said. I looked at the red door, the frosted
windows and read the sign above, ‘The Adventure Rooms’ “Is this a joke?” I hissed,
my mind was going into overdrive, “What about the kids?” Both teenagers reached
for their phones and started to take photos. Whatever it was behind that door
was about to be photographed and any minute now, would go live on Snap Chat.
I knocked on the door. Thankfully, Christian
Grey didn’t answer; instead, a tall man named Keith greeted us and handed me a
piece of paper, “Sign here”. We signed a waiver, handed over our phones and
followed Keith into a very dark room. “Only 30% of people make it out of here.
Good luck”. With that, he handcuffed each one of us to a wire fence and with a
“You have one hour to escape,” left us to it. I watched the door close behind
him and wondered what every other mother of four was doing at that moment in
Ireland.
Regular readers will know that I am the
first one to try out something new. Only last week I was in a canoe, the week
before I was in the Japanese Gardens listening to the Mikado. But anything
involving danger sends me into a mild panic. The game had begun and our leader
started to shout instructions. “LOOK FOR CLUES! LOOK FOR CLUES!” My handcuffed
eldest teenager stood beside me and rolled her eyes. “How long do we have to
stay here?” she groaned. “55 minutes and 45 seconds” I replied looking up at a
digital clock on the wall that had begun the countdown.
Being handcuffed to a fence was a first;
it’s what protesters do. The rebel in me enjoyed it for the first few minutes.
“I can’t get it off” the ten year old tugged and pulled at his wrists. “We have
to get the KEY,” our leader shouted. In the dim light, clues were all around.
All we had to do was calmly and logically work out what they all meant. Without
my glasses, I was the weakest link. But with five other family members, all
with 20/20 vision, we slowly started to find things and the fun began.
The Adventure Rooms is part of a new wave
of entertainment taking the world by storm. It is a live escape game for up to
six people, the object being to get out in less than sixty minutes. Fans of the
show Crystal Maze will understand immediately. All around, in the sparsely furnished
rooms, there are hints and puzzles. The fun is in finding and solving them.
“Let’s GO” our leader and Crystal Maze enthusiast shouted. He’s been on cloud
nine since he discovered that the show is making a return to our TV screens
next year.
It took half an hour to find the clues and
make our ‘escape’. I had been of no help whatsoever. Thoughts had drifted off
to a noodle bar on Capel Street that we passed on the way in and a picture of a
bowl of Chicken Chow Mein in the window. “THERE’S ANOTHER ROOM!” our leader
yelled ahead of us. The next room was different, darker and with a blackboard
on the wall. “LOOK FOR CLUES! LOOK FOR CLUES!” This time I was shouting, hunger
was getting to me.
All of a sudden, out of nowhere, my
dysfunctional family did something remarkable. We started to work together. The
ten year old spotted something that no one else did. He then did something with
it that nobody else could do. The teenagers kicked into action when they found
a torch. I stood back and watched as they all began screaming instructions to
each other, running from one end of the room to the next. Then it happened. I
saw something that everyone else had missed.
There might be a need for a spoiler alert
here. I’ll try and describe it without ruining the day for anyone who might be
thinking of going (and go you should). What I can say without getting into
trouble is that if you have ever had smelly household problems, this tool sorts
it out. In the Adventure Rooms last week, the same tool helped us escape. It was have my only contribution in the 54
minutes but it proved an important piece of the jigsaw.
With a surprising amount of teamwork we did
it. We were in the 30% to make it out of the Adventure Rooms. We were elated. Being
in a locked room with the whole family was the highlight of my year so far. I
might even try it at home.
