London, August 30th
Sister needed to go to the Austrian Embassy in London’s West End for a reason I’m actually unsure if I can reveal come to think of it so I won’t and since Bro-in-law was out of the country she asked me to come along to help with Niece and Nephew being, as they are, 2.93 and 1.66666… years old respectively. And I agreed. And it was painless and fun, especially as the embassy bit only took 10 minutes leaving us the rest of the day to do a bit of London.
Initial plan was to do the Natural History Museum for Dinosaur Action but the Bank Holiday factor (which I always forget about not being someone who notices Bank Holidays) meant every other bloody family in the South East had the same notion so we gave up on that. However there was no queue whatsoever for the Science Museum next door, which must piss off the Science Museum people no end. How can we get in on this Dino Action, they must be asking themselves, regretting they day back in time when they let Natural History go off on it’s own. Plant and animals – pah! Who’ll be interested in that? They’ll be back in no time. We’ve got steam engines and airplanes and space stuff! They’ve just got stuffed rodents, a bunch of bones and some rocks! Never underestimate the power of the dinosaur…
The great thing about children at the ages of 2.93 and 1.666666… respectively is they can be entertained by pretty much anything, especially if it’s an airplane hanging from the ceiling. And the great thing about the Science Museum is it’s perfect for letting small children run around pointing at things. As usual I was depressed by the stagnant Space Exploration exhibit, especially the tatty Apollo Moon Landings mock-up which really should be taken away as it’s kinda embarrassing, but at least the Apollo 10 command module is still standing proud. That’s something.
And then it was a walk back across Hyde Park (no Tubes were involved in this outing – do you think we’re mad?) stopping off at a play area (that rubbery concrete stuff is weird!) before four tired persons aged 2.93, 1.666666…, 30.86 and 33.95 got the train home.