The Moon, Mithras and Money!

So today was the last major Grandparent Duty day of the summer holidays - we do have them on Monday, but they will be helping us load the motor home for our next trip - and we hadn't seen the boys for two weeks while they were first in Italy and then staying with their other grandparents.

We couldn't meet at Warren Street, because the northbound Victoria Line is not stopping there pending escalator works, so we met in the courtyard of King's Cross.  First port of call was a Starbucks for coffee for the Swan Whisperer and me, and juice for the boys, and then we headed round the corner to the Institute of Physics where they had an exhibition about the moon landings just over 50 years ago.  There was an exhibition, of sorts - placards round the walls - but what there really was was educational activities for the children.  You could make a model showing how the moon orbits the earth and the earth, in turn, orbits the sun - I think The Boy already knew that, but it was news to Boy Two, who enjoyed making the models.  I, meanwhile, made a model of the moon, rather badly!  There was lego - you had to build your choice of three models wearing thick astronaut gloves, and then you had to do so with only your left hand, and/or with one eye closed, and/or only manipulating one piece at a time, to show the kind of conditions the astronauts laboured under.  And there was a lunar background you could take selfies in front of. 

(taken by The Boy).

When we had done all that, and sat on the sofa to read some of the books provided, suitable for all ages (I think The Boy might have enjoyed doing this a little longer), we headed off and took the Underground to Bank.  However, I don't know what we did wrong, but we ended up going up an enormous staircase that it said at the top had 128 steps.  My knees and my stamina definitely didn't like that, and I was fit for nothing by then, so we had to find somewhere to lunch.  The trouble was, all the places that sold nice-looking food seemed to be take-away only, and all the sit-down places didn't do very nice food!  I did see other branches of the nice-looking chains later, which had plenty of seats, but that's sods' law.  Anyway, we ended up in Leon, where the boys abandoned all thought of healthy eating and chose chicken nuggets (The Boy with a side order of chicken meze), while the Swan Whisperer had a chicken salad, and I had a halloumi wrap with a side of crushed pea salad, which I found I didn't really want, although it was delicious.  I shared it with the SW.

On our way to find somewhere to eat, we passed signs to the Mithraeum, and decided to call in.  Slightly daunted by being asked whether we had booked - we hadn't, of course - but luckily we didn't need to as it was fairly quiet.  We spent the first twenty minutes helping the boys find various objects on the display of artefacts, and then we descended to the lower floor, where we waited to be allowed down to the Temple proper, which was fabulous!  We know it's not authentic - it has been rebuilt a couple of times in a couple of locations - but it's still impressive.  Mostly, I think, because of very clever lighting.

Anyway, when we had finished there, we went up to the Bank of England to visit its museum, which I didn't think was as interesting as it might have been, but the Boys both seemed to enjoy it.  I think I was just too tired.  I was very amused at Boy Too saying, "Oh Gran, I was reading that!" when I went on to the next screen on a computer exhibition.  I promptly apologised and went back!  Both boys enjoyed the gold bar you were allowed to touch, and then we enjoyed a video about the gold vaults.

I think I would enjoy the museum more had I been less tired.  I let the SW take the boys home, and I, meanwhile had awful trouble finding the bus stop for the 35, but I did at last, and dozed comfortably all the way home.  Memo to self: Don't go out without paracetamol another time!

The RAF Museum at Hendon

For some reason, I'd never been to this museum, and thought that it was too far away and too difficult to get to, but, in fact, it's only the other end of the Northern Line.  Plus, it's free to enter, so I thought we'd take the boys there today.  Of course, it turned out that they had been before.... but I hadn't been, and I wanted to go.

We met the boys at the Pret a Manger in Warren Street, where we were having coffee while waiting for them - although we were still queuing when they arrived.  So we dived back down the Tube to the Northern Line platforms, to discover that all trains were going to High Barnet (why?) and we would need to change at Camden Town.  However, this is not particularly difficult, and one of the joys of the Charing Cross branch is that it stops at Mornington Crescent, which I am never quite sure is a real place!

Once we were on the Edgware branch, it didn't take long to get to Colindale.  I had hoped we could catch the 303 bus to the museum gates, but there wasn't one for 8 minutes, so we thought we would walk on to the next stop and see what happens - turns out that the bus must go a different route, as the "next stop" turned out to be outside the Museum!  But it was not a long walk. 

We spent awhile looking at the "Guard" Spitfire at the pedestrian entrance

and then went into the museum proper.  After the obvious bag checking, we split up, agreeing to meet in about 90 minutes to have lunch.  Boy Two and I put our rucksacks into the lockers provided for the purpose, which did mean we had to go back there when we wanted a drink of water, but that didn't matter - they were token-operated, although I could only find one token in my purse so we had to share.  I did have two in there, I found later!

I really think Boy Two is just the wrong age for this museum - he is too old, really, to enjoy sitting in the scaled-down model aircraft

and not really interested in the actual aircraft as such.  I liked them, though.  What he did like - and which amused me, too - was the undressed model in one of the exhibits - we wondered what would happen if we pulled on the strap round his bottom!

We looked at Hangars 1 (Meet the RAF), 2 (First World War) and 6 (Facing the Future), and passed Claude's Café on the way.  We went to have a look at the menu and discovered that there were several options on the children's menu, including a child size macaroni pesto with salad leaves.  Boy Two instantly said he'd have that.  I teased him that he was eating very healthily, to which he replied that he'd been eating very unhealthily all weekend (he and his family had been camping with friends) and needed to make up!  His brother, however, ordered chicken and chips..... the Swan Whisperer and I had the salad bar, which was excellent, and then I treated all who wanted - the Swan Whisperer didn't want - to an ice-cream.  The boys chose salted caramel, even if Boy Two did accidentally call it "salt and vinegar"!

After this, I was done, and the boys didn't really want anything more, either, so we went to the playground while the Swan Whisperer had a quick look round Hangar 2, which he hadn't yet seen (he and the Boy had done 3, 4 and 5, or parts of them, which I think covers the rest of the time between 1918 and the end of the 20th century).  I would have liked to have seen them, but was tired and had had enough.  The boys spent about 10 minutes playing in the playground, and then came and sat next to me and told me rather more than I wanted to know about their school's annual talent contest, and when the Swan Whisperer said couldn't he PLEASE have another half an hour, the answer was a resounding "No!"

We were taking the boys to their father, so it made sense to get the bus up to Mill Hill Broadway station and catch a Thameslink down to Blackfriars.  Of course we just missed a train, but they are pretty frequent over that section of the line, and we didn't have to wait long.  Both boys - and, it has to be said, their grandparents, too - were fascinated by the site of the former King's Cross Thameslink station, now called "Do Not Alight Here" (this had to be explained to them) - and then we were at Blackfriars and there was their father, so we said goodbye until the end of the month, as they will be enjoying family holidays until then.

Anyway, I think the Boy, now aged 9, enjoyed it rather more than his brother, who is very nearly 6 ("Only six more weeks until my birthday!"); it has masses of stuff for very smalls, and of course the older ones are interested in it for what it is, but Boy Two is just the wrong age!  Ah well..... maybe our next outing with them will be more of a success!

Making Science Happen

This was the title of an exhibition at the Francis Crick Institute which we took the grandsons to today.

In not sure how much they got out of it. It was mainly about the work done by people behind the scenes of science - lab technicians, maintenance engineers, etc. Boy Two, who may well be the scientist in the family when he is older, seemed interested and listened to the various podcasts, but I'm not really sure what, if anything, he got out of it.

It was a very small exhibition, but it did keep us going for about 45 minutes in air-conditioning on a very hot day. There was a cafe which did a very nice kind in cakes and snacks when we had finished, with books aimed at various age groups that one could browse. 

No photos, I'm afraid, but I think I'd give it 3 stars. 

Lambeth Country Show 2019

This time last year, the Swan Whisperer and I went to the Lambeth Country show for the first time in many years.  But, as I said at the time, "If I had been by myself, I'd have spent a lot longer looking at the various shops and stalls, but of course the Swan Whisperer doesn't really care for that sort of thing."  This year, however, the Swan Whisperer had another engagement, so once the Tour de France had ended for the day, I decided I would go down and enjoy all the stalls and shops!

And I did!  As last year, there is a big perimeter fence, and you mayn't take open bottles of drink, but there are standpipes where you can fill your water bottles.  And, rather like at the Christmas markets in France, if you buy a drink they charge you a deposit on the glass (it's not glass, it's reusable plastic) and if you return it, you get your £2 back - although you could, of course, keep it as a souvenir of your day.

I wandered all round the stalls - lots of African fabrics and crafts.  I remember that back in the day I used to buy Indian cotton skirts - I still have some - and things like that, but the only thing that really tempted me was a butterfly-print shirt.  And maybe an African cotton wrap.... but I didn't succumb.  The only thing I did buy was a 2-pint bottle of cider to bring home.  And some gyoza and noodles to eat on site, also some fruit salad and apple juice.  I had wanted to try a Buddha Bowl,

but the queue was rather long and slow-moving, so I didn't bother, and the dumplings were very good!

I also visited the farm (of course) where there were the alpacas

and a very splendid tom turkey that I couldn't get a good photo of!

And then home on the bus, pleasantly tired.

Birthday Celebrations

Today, the Great Western Railway celebrated the 175th anniversary of the route between Didcot and Oxford.  And yesterday, it was my 66th birthday.  So I asked whether, for my birthday present, we could go to the celebrations.

We took advantage of the occasion to travel to Oxford from Marylebone, a route we had not done before.  It's cheaper than via Paddington, and the train was absolutely rammed!  We did manage to get seats, but many people were not so lucky.  We went on the Underground, changing at Oxford Circus, but the Bakerloo Line was crowded and there was no step-free access at Marylebone.  Still, it didn't really matter.

When we arrived at Oxford, we went out of the station to ask about buying tickets for the 175th anniversary, which the website said could be done at any GWR station.  However, the woman at the information desk had never heard of such a thing, and didn't know what we were talking about!  Fortunately, the staff at the ticket office were better informed and, armed with a ticket, we went out on the platform just in time to see the 175 Luncheon Circular Tour depart. 

Then there was a modern train heading to Paddington

and, a few minutes later, one of the regular shuttles to Didcot.  This stopped at Radley, where we tried in vain to see any trace of the branch line to Abingdon that had been such a feature of my childhood, and at Culham, from which my father had commuted to London every day over 62 years ago!  Then it arrived at Didcot, where we found the entrance to the railway centre was just a few steps from our platform.

Our tickets included entrance to the railway centre, which was good.  First port of call was the café, where we had rather dry coronation chicken sandwiches and incredibly weak coffee, and then I had a
Toblerone ice lolly and the Swan Whisperer had tiffin and his weak coffee.  Then we set out to explore.  There was lots to see, including a museum which also had a 1960s signal display being demonstatrated, locomotives in steam and hauling passengers from one end of the site to the other

to the skeletons of carriages awaiting restoration

(is that Alexei or Sergei in the first picture?).  There were replicas of the original engines and carriages that ran on the broad gauge

And so on.  After a while, we decided we had finished with the site, and caught the next train back to Oxford.  We could, perhaps, have visited a funfair in Appleford or an exhibition at the Old Ticket Office at Culham, or even a fair on the site of the original Oxford station, about a mile from the present one, but there are limits on my energy, so we caught a train back to Oxford, and had a cup of tea in the station buffet there before getting a train back to Marylebone and a no 2 bus home.

Well worth the entry fees!

The Markfield Beam Engine

Ever since I have seen signposts to the Markfield Beam Engine, I have longed to visit it, and today it was not only open to the public, but also in steam!  So this was an Easter Monday outing to please me, if nobody else! The Daughter invited us to a barbecue lunch and after this we set off - as their car won't seat six, the Son-in-Law decided to cycle.  The children's bikes were put in the car, as the car park the Daughter likes to use is quite some way from the site.  In fact, she was able to park slightly nearer than she thought, and we set off to walk the remaining 1.5 km to the museum.

It was a lovely walk along the River Lea,

although the towpath was jam-packed solid with people - mostly ultra-Orthodox - out for a Bank Holiday walk.  The Daughter was rather concerned for the boys, between the Scylla of falling into the river and the Charybdis of knocking someone else over, but the navigation happened smoothly, and we arrived at the museum about five minutes before the introductory talk started, and then the engine was started.  It was brilliant, and smelt absolutely gloriously of coke....

we did wonder, though, whether it would have smelt quite so nice in the days when its function was to pump sewage.  The boys rapidly got too hot - it was hot in there - so we went out and had ice-cream and then the Swan Whisperer and I continued our walk along the river to Tottenham Hale Tube station, and so home. 

The Institution of Civil Engineers

Some years ago now, it was a joke that if you looked up "Boring" in the yellow pages, you were directed to civil engineers.  I think the Institution of Civil Engineers (known as "ICE", slightly to Boy Two's confusion) must have taken that to heart, as it has adapted their library to be an exhibition space, and this year's exhibition is "Water: From source to tap".

We had no idea what to expect, but in fact it was a delightful exhibition.  We arrived very soon after it opened, and were about the first people there, although it did fill up a bit later.  There were loads of videos you could watch, with headphones; there was a film (rather dull) in the built-in cinema; there were interactive touch screens and games, and even a virtual reality headset.  The Boy had a go on that, and had great fun exploring his world rather than playing the game that you were supposed to, but I, for one, would have done the same, I suspect.  There was lego and other construction materials, there were books (some free to take home) and generally, there were lots of ways to spend a morning!

Above all, two things stood out - one the slightly relentless focus on how much the world needs civil engineers and how they are "secret superheroes", and the other about Don't Feed the Fatberg.  Apparently it's not just London that has a fatberg problem, but all round the world!

I am not sure how much Boy Two enjoyed it, although he did like playing with some of the construction materials and the games on one of the touch screens.  He was faintly confused by the acronym ICE for the Institution, but I think he might have sorted it in the end.  The Boy enjoed himself, and was heard telling his father all about fatbergs.....

When we had had enough, we followed our noses to the basement, where there is a café and a brasserie, both open to the public.  We looked at the brasserie's menu, but decided that it was a bit expensive for lunchtime, so we went to the café, where I had a salad bowl, the boys had paninis and salad (half a panini each, and their "salads" were only cucumber and coleslaw, but they enjoyed them), and the Swan Whisperer had a panini with potato wedges.  This was all delicious and disappeared rapidly, and was also excellent value for money.

After lunch, we decided to head up to the Stow, specifically to Higham's Park, as I wanted to go to the big Tesco there (well, any big Tesco, really, but that one was easy enough to get to).  We walked to Green Park Tube via both St James' Park

and Green Park, which was a lovely walk, and at Walthamstow Central we were delighted to find that an Overground train arrived almost at the same time as we did.  I left the menfolk to have drinks in Costa while I went to shop, and then I joined them.  And then a bus back to theirs.....

I definitely recommend the Institution of Civil Engineers - the Boy wondered why on earth it wasn't more popular, but I don't think it's widely known.  They have had previous exhibitions, but I was never confident of finding them - but now I know, I shall keep an eye on it for an Easter holiday activity 

A visit to the Emirates

The Boys are "fitba' mad" at the moment, so we thought that, for their half-term treat, we would take them on a stadium tour. Mind you, had we known how much it was going to cost, we might have kept it for one of their birthdays, but we don't grudge it! They are - well, the elder one is - a staunch Spurs supporter, but Spurs' new stadium isn't ready for visitors yet, and Arsenal is. So we decided to go and visit the Emirates stadium.

Before then, however, we stopped off at King's Cross station to visit the engines from the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland railways that were visiting London. Although the Boy isn't as mad on railways and trains as he was a few years ago, he still enjoys them and both of them spent a happy quarter-hour investigating the engines and the carriage that had come with them. 

Then we headed on up the Piccadilly line to Arsenal, although with hindsight Holloway Road would have been better, as it was on the side of the stadium where the tours began.  And it had lifts!  Arsenal just had steps, although to be fair, the Piccadilly Line is fairly near the surface there, but even still, my knees were beginning to complain.  We then had to walk quite a long way around the stadium before we found the museum entrance, and once we had, there were even more stairs!  But once we were up there, it was quite interesting, although rather too hot.  Mostly about the early history of Arsenal, and then, thankfully, a film screening where one could at least sit down, and a bit about more recent history.  All the familiar names....  I don't follow football at all, but it is quite difficult not to have heard of Arsene Wenger, etc.

Once we had finished with the museum, it was time for the stadium tour.  You go in at the Holloway Road side of the stadium, and walk underneath it until you get to the stairs to the Directors' Lounge - there is, fortunately, a lift.  When you get there, you can go out and sit in their chairs and look at the pitch and listen to stories about it on your audio guide:

Then you went up another flight to the Diamond Lounge, which is the posh restaurant where the "prawn sandwich brigade" sit and watch and have their expensive meals.  This was rather lovely Art Deco, reflecting the old Highbury stadium which apparently was all like that.

Then you took the lift right down to the ground floor where you visited the Home changing rooms (very lush indeed), and the Away ones (less so, but still a lot nicer than you get in the average ice rink), and then went through the tunnel out to the pitch itself.  You couldn't go on the pitch, of course, but you could sit in the dugout (although we didn't, as it was raining).  We did chat to the assistant who was wielding an umbrella with more enthusiasm than accuracy - all the assistants were charming, and very helpful, even though they all teased the poor Boy who was using his Spurs rucksack.  Serves him right - he does have others!

Anyway, after that, that was nearly the end of the tour, but you went out past the interview rooms, the press rooms, which were rather amazing, and the press conference venue.  And so back out to the main exit, being allowed to keep the headphones, although the audio guides had to be given back.  Boy Two had found them rather awkward to cope with on the move and had, I think, listened to all the audio clips while we were sitting in the Directors' Lounge!

By which time, the Boys were so hungry their bellies quite thought their throats had been cut, but it wasn't quite lunchtime so we meanly made them go back to Walthamstow.  The Boy asked if we could try the Chinese restaurant Yum, Yum in the mall there, but it was closed, so we went to Nando's instead.  And then back to theirs for a quieter afternoon!

A Pirate's Life for Me

That was the title of the exhibition we decided to take the boys to see at the V&A Museum of Childhood. However.....

The day started out badly, as on the way out of the door I knocked one of our photos on to the floor and, needless to say, the glass in its frame smashed.  We had no time to do anything about it, other than quickly sweep up the glass, as we wanted (I wanted!) to take the bus to Russell Square as we were picking up the boys at Senate House today.

We got to the Museum all right - only to discover that the Boy had been and gone and left his rucksack on the Tube.  He was very upset, poor child,  but I looked up what you had to do about it, and gather there is a form to fill in on the TfL website, so I have left it with his father to do that, and they will email him if they find it.  I hope they will - one of the books in it was mine, and the other was a library book!

Neither boy was at all impressed by the Pirate exhibition, although they did like the passage you had to go through to get there, lit by ultra-violet light, which made their teeth glitter and Boy Two's rucksack look really magical (it was an owl, with each petal made of different material).  Other than that, there was basically a large pirate-ship, heaven for 3-year-olds to clamber about on, but the Boy exhausted its resources in 2 minutes, and his brother didn't take much longer!  So we headed on, and both boys made a beeline for the "sensory pod", with its light shows and changing colours, but sadly there was a projection on to the floor which revolved, and did my vertigo a great deal of no good!

So we came away.  But both children were fascinated by the Museum, I've never known them so engrossed in things.  After a trip to the loo, they got into building with flat blocks.  It was noticeable that the Boy had learnt about staggering the layers to make them more stable, but his brother hasn't grasped that concept yet!

Then it was time for coffee and cakes, which we took in the rather expensive museum café.  And then they wanted to see the rest of the museum, which took even longer!  They loved the dolls houses, especially the Rachel Whateread exhibition of 150 of them, all empty. 

The Boy took this overview of the museum which he thought, rightly, would make a lovely photo:

Then they rode on rocking-horses:

played with giant versions of those faces with beards made out of iron filings, and a magnet to move them around with, watched a wave machine with fascination (straw waves, they were amazing), were not very impressed by the model railway - at least, they liked it, but you didn't get much for your 20p in the slot, and finally spent ages with the magic lanterns.  It was noticeable that the Boy was fascinated by the mechanism and how it works, and Boy Two was more interested in how fast he could make the images move!

And we finally came away, to catch a bus over to Spitalfields and the promised lunch in Wagamama, which was delicious and copious.  The boys loved the various pieces of public art in the area, and we went downstairs to see the foundations of the Spitalfields Charnel House from the St Mary's hospital that gave the region its name (I could have sworn I'd taken a photo, but maybe not).  And a train to Wood Street and a W13 bus back to theirs.

At about 5:00 pm, we got ourselves organised to go home, but when we got to Walthamstow Central we found that the Victoria Line was closed, so we had to catch the train back to Liverpool Street.  I was totally not going to brave the Northern Line at that time of night, so went to catch a 133, but found the bus station is closed for renovation, so got a 35 instead.  This took ages, as it always does, but I eventually got home.... only to have to dash into Lidl to get orange juice and bread, as we were nearly out of both, and then realised I hadn't a shopping bag with me, so had to buy one.  Oh well....

The British Library

We managed to get in another trip before the end of the year!  Our friend J is on her annual visit from across the Pond, and we decided to meet her, and her hostess A, in the courtyard of the British Library today.

I have been to the British Library before - I was part of a panel of speakers there at an event a couple of years ago - but not often.  We went to the café there to buy lunch, which was a bit of a failure as the food was very, very expensive for what it was (industrially-produced sandwiches for nearly a fiver each, anybody?) and they sold their coffee in disposable cups, which meant I wasn't about to buy any.  AND most of my eye-wateringly expensive BLT fell out of its wrapper and landed on the floor when I opened it.  SIGH.  But hey, the company was good and we sat and chatted for a long time before deciding to visit the exhibition that had first drawn us there, which was the one called "Cats on the Page".   It was really rather glorious; lots of familiar friends, from My Cat Geoffrey to Mog, via Old Possum and some splendidly Victorian moralistic cats.  But no cat that walked by himself... I suppose they can't have everybody, but I did feel that was a particularly egregious omission.

Once we had looked round that, we thought we might want to go to the Anglo-Saxon exhibition, but we found you had to pay for that, unless you were a member, so we decided not to, but instead went into the permanent exhibition of the Treasure of the British Library, which I have been to before, but which you can spend hours and hours in.  The "Treasures" are eclectic, ranging from the Codex Sinaiticus to draft lyrics of Beatles songs, via Magna Carta, Jane Austen and P G Wodehouse! 

The Magna Carta has a room to itself - you see the copy of the charter itself (one of only a very few in existence) with a modernised transliteration on the opposite wall.  And there is a video that highlights the salient points of it.  An awful lot of it was very personal: "We will remove completely from their offices the kinsmen of Gerard de Athée, and in future they shall hold no offices in England. The people in question are ,. . .." with a list of names. Fascinating stuff, and I could - and might - spend a long time studying it!

But the highlight of the exhibition is the displays entitled "The Art of the Book", lots of lavishly-illustrated manuscripts, often of the Bible.  Many of the Bibles and prayer-books were commissioned by wealthy landowners, and sometimes the illustrations are of them and their family.  There was one lovely Nativity scene inside a letter "P" (starting Puer Nobis).

We eventually had to tear ourselves away as time was getting on and the Swan Whisperer needed to get to Figure Club.  J and A headed for Library shop, and we headed home.  A delightful afternoon, with brilliant company!

The Museum of Jewish Life and the Regent's Canal

This will be the last museum visit of the holidays, as the Boy appears to be museumed out!  Don't blame him.... however, his mother suggested we take them to the Jewish Museum as there was an exhibition there about the life and work of Rene Goscinny, the co-creator of Asterix, and, of course, the Boy loves Asterix.  To the point that, uninterested in the displays, he sat down and read the various books on display, although he knows them well. 

I found the displays quite interesting - they were mostly about his life and early work, once he and Uderzo invented Asterix, he never looked back.  Of course, he also wrote the "Petit Nicolas" books, but they weren't mentioned. 

The display was on the top floor of the Jewish Museum; the displays further down were arguably more interesting; there were plenty of things for the children to do - a broken jug to reassemble, a game of snakes and ladders to play, and the Boy spent ages with an interactive display of Yiddish theatre.  Boy Two kept having to be reminded to use his indoor voice and not run, so I hope he wasn't too bored.  The curator tactfully steered them away from the displays about the Holocaust. The first floor of the museum was about Jewish faith and worship, and again there was plenty to interest the children, asking them to find the various animals on the menorahs, and so on.

When we had finished with the museum, it was just about lunch time, so we got our coats and bags back from the cloakroom - still wet; we had been caught in an extreme shower just after leaving the Underground - and walked up to Camden Lock market to choose street food.  Boy Two and the Swan Whisperer both chose burgers, and got a chips to share; the Boy chose a pizza with pepperoni on it, and I got a vegetarian pita bread - that stall was really nice as they had two vegetarian choices; one was mushrooms and halloumi, which I had (although it would have been nicer had the halloumi been crisper, but it was still tasty), and the other was hard-boiled egg and something.

After that, we each had a salted caramel mini-cupcake for pudding, and then we wandered through the market to the canal basin, where the water bus to Little Venice was waiting.  We were the only passengers!  It was a lovely run; the boys weren't quite as interested as I had hoped they would be, but they had workbooks to do, and they both enjoyed seeing wildlife, and the jackals in the zoo, which gratifyingly ran alongside the boat for the length of their cave!

 

When we arrived at Little Venice, we decided the easiest thing to do was to head to Farringdon, which is only about 15 minutes' walk from the Temple, and the boys' father met us there and took the boys back in charge, while we got the Thameslink home.

Fulham Palace and Bishop's Park

A hundred years ago - well, the best part of 50 years ago, anyway - when I first came to London, I lived in Fulham, but Fulham Palace, back then, was not open to the public - in fact, Bishops had only just stopped living there!  Bishop's Park was open, but who had time to go to parks without small children to amuse?

So neither the Swan Whisperer or I had ever been there, and we decided to take the boys there.  We picked them up from the Temple at about 10:30, and went straight to Putney Bridge on the District Line (blissful air-conditioned trains, lovely!).  There were an awful lot of steps down from Putney Bridge, which my knees didn't really like, but once we were down it was a lovely walk along the Thames Path.

When we arrived in the park, there was a large children's playground, which I think Boy 2 might have liked to have played in, but The Boy turned his nose up!  We walked round the lake, and across a bridge that Boy 2 described as "Ribenary", which wasn't a bad description, we didn't think.  The Boy was very disappointed to realise it was plastic, not real wood painted purple!

We spent a few minutes watching potential footballers training at Craven Cottage,

and then walked back to the Palace proper.  We went first of all into the Palace gardens where the boys enjoyed (typical small boys!) "picking the bishop's nose" - a carved wooden bishop, I hasten to add:

Then we walked round the walled gardens, and then it was time for lunch.  We went into the palace itself to enjoy the "Dining Room".  The children's menu was a choice of pizza or chicken goujons with baked beans - both boys chose the chicken, which also came with a small salad.  I thought they were rather optimistic, but in fact, Boy 2 ate all of his, and The Boy ate a good third of his.  Mind you, it did have a very sweet dressing (we finished The Boy's, as he didn't want it!).  I had a panini with mediterranean vegetables and hummus, and the SW had what was described as "The ulitmate" ham and cheese toastie, but frankly, that was an offence against the Trades Description act, as it looked very manky.  Then the boys and I had ice-cream, and the SW had a cup of coffee and a slice of cake. 

Then it went a bit pear-shaped, as we went into the museum, and enjoyed looking at some of the things, but then we needed the loo, so I took the boys while the SW went on looking round, but when we came back, we found the officious librarian had moved the scooters and was cross with us for bringing t hem in (though there was nowhere obvious to leave them).  So we came away, rather cross, although I felt we really hadn't seen much of what there was to see.

We cheered ourselves up, though, by a visit to All Saints Church at the entrance to the park, which was lovely.  But why do the boys have to remove their hats when they go into a church and I don't have to?  Not a question I could answer, but I still made them take their hats off!

And so we wandered back to the main road, and decided to get a bus to South Kensington to avoid the steps - just as well, as that part of the District Line promptly fell over - and so back to the Temple and a farewell to the boys.

The London Museum of Water and Steam

I had been wanting to visit this museum for some time, so the first day that we were on grandparent duty in the summer holidays it seemed like an obvious thing to do.

The museum is a few minutes' walk from Kew Bridge station, so, after picking the boys up at Senate House, we caught the 59 bus to Waterloo and then a blissful air-conditioned train to Kew Bridge.  Great giggles from the boys because the computer went pear-shaped and kept telling us we were heading back to Waterloo, and then when they did get it to go to Twickenham, they went the wrong way.... eventually the guard, or whatever they are called these days, had to take over!  But the train was lovely - seemed incredibly spacious, air-conditioned, and generally very nice.  Wish they'd had them when I was taking SW trains regularly!

So anyway, we arrived at the museum and paid our entry fee - two concessions and two kids, but the children were free.  Boy Two, who isn't quite five, would have been free anyway, but The Boy went free as a holiday concession.

We started off in the steam hall, which was quite interesting, but slightly, when you've seen one steam engine you've seen them all.  The history of the building was interesting, though, and we all loved a model which asked you to find the four cats who had lived in the pumping house back in the day - we found them all, even though, to scale, they were the size of ants!

We then moved off into the water area, which was much more interesting - at least, I found it so, and judging by the time they spent there, so did the boys.  It was basically the story of how we got the clean and safe water that today falls out of our taps, from the earliest beginnings of piped water into the home, via the Victorians and so on.  Ditto how the waste was got rid of, and when they began to separate the two.  There were also free water-saving devices on offer, and a card game (which I meant to give the boys before they left, but forgot), and a free chilled water dispenser (you could buy a reusable bottle if you didn't have one, but we all did).  There were also life-sized sewers for the children to crawl into, and handles to pump to move water, and all sorts.  We spent a long time there, but finally moved on to the outdoor "splash zone", which was terrific fun - lots of interactive water play, including one exhibit that both boys loved, where by dint of judiciously placing barriers, you could divert the flow of water to one waterwheel or another, or none. 

Eventually, though, we got hungry and headed to the café for lunch.  The boys each chose an enormous ham and cheese baguette - Boy Two only managed half of his - and we chose quiche, which was lovely, but I'd have liked some salad with it.  Then we each had an ice, and then the boys played with a huge Brio railway layout (they've nearly given up playing with it at home, go figure) while we watched and probably dozed, and then decided to call it a museum and head home. 

Lambeth Country Show

This year is the 44th Lambeth Country Show, apparently.  We hadn't been for several years, but certainly went every year earlier in our married life - it was one of the Great Unmissables.  In recent years, though, either we had got more staid, or it had got less fun, I don't know, but we hadn't been for some time.  And once the Tour de France had finished for the day, we were both fidgety and wanted exercise, so we decided to go down for the last couple of hours of the first day.

This year, for the first time, they had erected a perimeter fence and required security checks on entering.  You couldn't take a full water bottle in, but you could take a bottle and fill it from one of the many standpipes dotting the grounds.  And you couldn't take in your own alcohol, which has apparently led to much grumbling, quite why when it's not actually necessary to drink to enjoy yourself, I haven't quite worked out.  There were plenty of beer tents, although the product wasn't cheap (would you expect it to be?  Apparently!).  The entrances were huge, and plenty of room so we didn't have to queue for security checks at all.

Actually, there seemed at first to be more loos than anything else, but as you walked further into the site, you saw more and more of the food and drink tents, and then the various shops and charity tents, and so on.

There seems to be much more of it than there used to be, despite the adult fun fair not coming any more (there were plenty of rides and slides and things, though).  The farm section was still there, with birds of prey

and sheep

among others.  Including most of the animals from Vauxhall City Farm, which were as delightful as ever, including 3 alpacas. 

If I had been by myself, I'd have spent a lot longer looking at the various shops and stalls, but of course the Swan Whisperer doesn't really care for that sort of thing.  However, by then it was 7:00 pm so we decided to eat there, and then have our usual Saturday sausages and mash tomorrow.  There was no shortage of choice when it came to food - I had a plateful of Moroccan tagine (vegan),

and the Swan Whisperer had a cheese sausage with sauerkraut from the German stall.  He had wanted the Currywurst, but they had run out.  And we had been going to have an ice cream for pudding, but just as we got ready for that, the van closed up its windows.  It was quite nearly closing time by then, though.

We decided to leave from the Herne Hill exit, on the grounds that the buses would be less full there.  We did just miss a 37, but there wasn't long to wait before the next one, and we were able to get on and get a seat very easily, which was not true by the time it got to Brixton Water Lane!  I don't know what crowds can have been like these past few years, as the place was heaving while we were there, and there were masses of people coming to and from the site on foot (when it was smaller, they provided a car park, but they don't any more as they want, sensibly, to discourage people from using cars when it's not necessary; plus it was horrible for the grass if it was a wet year). 

It was a very enjoyable late afternoon/early evening outing.  But I've done it for this year, and don't want to go back tomorrow, particularly!

RAF Centenary Celebrations

We knew there was to be a flypast today, to celebrate the centenary of the RAF.  Of course, it had existed in other forms - notably as the Royal Flying Corps - for some years before then; my great-uncle, Michael Topham, had been a member and had been killed in April 2017, flying back from a raid near Lens, in France.  His name is on the RFC memorial in Arras cemetery.

However, today was about the RAF.  We hadn't realised there was to be a service in Westminster Abbey, and turned the television on just in time to see the Queen coming out of it, looking as though she ought to be using a walking stick but didn't quite like to in public.  We watched the parade and so on for a bit, trying to decide where best we could go to see the flypast, and finally decided that, if possible, we would get a 59 bus to Waterloo Bridge and watch from there, as it was recommended as a good place to see it from.

Because we thought the traffic might be terrible, we left longer than necessary and arrived at Waterloo Bridge with a good 15 minutes to spare.  It was already busy, and got busier! 

The flypast started punctually, and we enjoyed watching the planes come past, although we weren't quite sure which was what.  Chinook helicopters are fairly obvious, of course.

as are the bomber/fighter formation that we so often see at these things:

The flypast continued, with various aircraft past and present, concluding with some wonderful formation flying

 the last of which got a huge cheer.  But the largest cheer was reserved for the very last formation - the beloved Red Arrows:

It took a long time to get off the bridge after they had gone past, but eventually we managed to walk down to Waterloo Station and a much-needed sandwich in Pret a Manger before heading home!