A post-work Meadows ramble in which we encounter a suspected Weirdo

Today after work we hustled along to make the most of the rapidly fading daylight, our goal being the wonnnnnderfully diverse play park on the Newington corner of the Meadows.  According to the council, the proper name for these premises is 'Magnet Playarea;' for more information, please consult the official website.

The word diverse does not even begin to describe this playground, which seems to exist primarily to overstimulate an already hyperactive generation of kids and adults for whom a basic swingset/jungle gym combo simply does not suffice.  Good old Magnet contains several varieties of swing, multiple iterations of jungle gym, and a plethora of other shiny, spinny things such as the contraption pictured below.

I am admiring its sturdy and symmetrical properties

There is also a tire swing, a flying fox, and a climbing wall that does a fair job of disguising itself as a large boulder.  I have witnessed this playground on a sunny weekend and unfortunately it tends to be packed with small grubblers and their handlers.  There is, however, a bonus ice-cream truck.  We visited just as darkness was falling, which prompted the appearance of quite a different species of human.

As we were spinning on the tire swing, a shortish man with headphones and a rucksack began loitering nearby, watching us in an awkward and (in my opinion) socially unacceptable manner.  Surely, I thought, he would approach us if he had a question; if his only purpose was to gawk, he would surely do so using more discretion.  Not so.  He dithered away for a couple more minutes before asking me if this was in fact a playpark, and if this area was in fact Newington.  I answered in the affirmative and scuttled away.  

Why was he there? Did he suspect our motives? Why did he ask me such obvious questions?  I began to wonder if the sight of adults playing on a playground was an inherent magnet for weirdos.  The answer will have to wait for subsequent adventures.