I've always been a private splosher. Unless you count that one bit of fun involving a lot of squirty cream, a very hot girlfriend in silky underwear, and a shower. But yes, always been a solo endeavour. And it doesn't bother me that much to be honest. The thought of playing with another to the same level that I enjoy playing myself is intriguing but delving into that kind of sharing isn't in my comfort zone.

And that's what leads to the journey from opportunism to planning. Like a lot on here, I would imagine childhood TV programmes sparked an interest in things being less than spotless. Gunge and slime and quicksand. Staples of the time. But it wasn't until I hit adolescence that the thought of doing anything similar occured. I was in a household where my folks were pretty social so I knew I would have a few hours to myself most nights after they headed off out for a drink or two. And there is the opportunism.

The first metaphorical toe-dipping in to the Wet and Messy world was either bathing in varying degrees of clothing or pouring of slimy substances into my underwear. That was usually either household stuff like soaps, shampoos, conditioners or food like ketchup, salad cream or soup. A bit of this. A bit of that. And it continued like that through the latter part of my teens until opportunity disappeared and life took turns.

Kick on a year or ten and the reawakening of the desire for something slimy and slippery to be a part of my fun kicked back in. Initially it was just a bit of something sweet into the boxer shorts but then the desire for a bit more grew. Food started to be poured down the t-shirt. Then it progressed to being in the bath to indulge in pouring over the head. And so it evolved . . . .

My first bath full of custard was quite the event. A culmination up to that point. And quite an intro into how to plan. Timings, food supplies, containers, location, what clothes, how many different outfits to make the most of the opportunity. It was pretty meticulous [wonder if it verged/verges on OCD?]. Circumstances changed. Opportunities increased but finances decreased. These big messy sessions aren't cheap. So the planning and prep came in. Sneaky stockpiles of supplies bought over time. Not like I was going to buy 30 cartons of custard at one time anyway. Always wondered if the checkout operators would wonder about the generous quantities of sweet foods I was buying anyway, so a BIG shop was never going to happen.

But again, circumstances changed. Opportunities arose and finances improved. So what for the next step? Clothes had evolved from jeans and t-shirt to adding a jumper to a shirt, tie and trousers all the way to a suit. I've always really like the feeling of the smartest of outfits being trashed with mess. From one extreme to another. Just look at the beautifully dressed and made-up ladies from MessyFun and you'll get my drift. Now I want more though so it was time to look at an inflatable pool. Significantly more volume to hold messy goodness and to get messy in. But more supplies required to make the most of it. Plus the additional clothes change to make the most of the mess. And then more planning to go for even more messy again. Better and better. More and more fun.

So what's next? Well, I've tried small doses of gunge now and it intrigues me. So much so that the planning keeps going. The next inflatable pool is bigger still (3 metres by 2 metres by half a metre deep pretty much) and probably about 800-850 litres of gunge. Oh, and about 8 or 9 different changes of clothes. As before, got to make the most of it. A full day of prep, a couple of days of gungy fun, and likely a day of cleaning too. Really looking forward to it. About 6-7 weeks to go until that happens but the question at the back of my mind is . . . . how do I top that? I wonder what that planning will bring.