6th Week of the Holidays

It's a nice harbour - but where are the trains?

Saturday we decided to head to Bekonscott Model Village in Bucks.  This is a model village set in the 1930s.  It has everything, a game of cricket, a circus, a fayre, a farm, village centre, a house that keeps catching on fire, a harbour, a cable car, factory, quarry etc etc etc.  However, best of all - there was a model railway going round it.  It didn't matter how much we pointed out the detail, the only thing that interested Tom was the railway, he ran around with it and squealed whenever he saw it.

That's better - more trains

Tom did really enjoy it.  He happily trotted around the village for a circuit and then we sat down and had our picnic lunch in the sun before going around again.  Once again Tom only had eyes for the trains.  Once we had walked around again he got a go on the ride on railway - a short layout, but he was happy.  He went on once with Grandpa and then again with Matt.

As we were weren't far from Rusilip and we had plenty of time we decided to head over to see if it had changed much.  It hadn't changed much, the Wimpy surprisingly was still there, there was a Nero and and Costa which were new, the old greasy spoon had gone, the old fashioned department store was still there (we never understood how that survived in our day let alone now).  We showed Tom our old flat, he wasn't really interested, I'm not sure he can fathom out what we mean when we tell him about our life before Tom!  We found it interesting none-the-less.

There's a giant in the village!

Guess what - a trip on a train!

We both decided we were very happy to not be living in Ruislip very much although were surprised at how reasonable the house prices were.

Down a long slide

Sunday all 5 of us headed to Battersea Park for the day.  This is something that Pat and Bob had found out about quite by accident.  It is a huge park with an adventure play area and a boating lake.  On arrival we headed to the adventure play area - where Tom had a good play on the various pieces of equipment.

Next we played tennis.  Bob and Pat had bought a tennis set and Tom was desperate to play with it.  He was very very keen, but not particularly good.  His closed eye pout came into play again - great for photos but rubbish when it comes to actually hitting the ball!

Bum in the air balancing

He got us all off our feet though.  We were all made to play tennis and then I remembered French Cricket.  This is something we used to play in the close in Chipping Sodbury.  The rules didn't come back immediately, but as we played they did.  The hardest thing was trying to get Tom to stay still and not move (not easy when you are programmed to be in perpetual motion!)    

Hitting the ball!

We were beginning to get a little hungry so we headed over to the other side of the park and the cafe by the boating lake. By now the sun was out so we were able to sit outside and enjoy our food (pasta for the boy and paninis for us).  Tom was very excited by the boats, so was promised a ride if he ate a good lunch.  He did so he and Matt (I nominated Matt!) went for a paddle on the peddalo.  Tom really enjoyed himself, he was blowing his whistle for most of it and even did some pedalling whilst Matt sat back and enjoyed the sunshine. 

We then had an ice-cream each and headed back to the adventure play area for a quick run around before heading home.  It was a lovely day, enjoyed by everyone.

Not hitting the ball!

In the pedallo

Monday was a really nasty grey and rainy day.  A perfect day for being inside.  It was Bank Holiday, but we decided that we would brave the Natural History Museum.  We had to go as they had a special

2 boys and a mammoth

Mini boy with mini mammoth

exhibition about Mammoths on.  We had to pay for this, and got special timed tickets.  These turned out to be a real god send as it meant we could walk straight past the huge queues and into the museum.

Uncle Syd????

We enjoyed the mammoth exhibition (of course!), don't think we learnt anything new, but we enjoyed seeing all the models and Lyuba, the frozen baby mammoth.  We stayed a while trying to read everything (quite difficult with an excited 5 year old) and then headed into the museum proper.  First stop was tea and a bun (quite nice but very very very expensive).

Boy and a blue whale

We then went to see the Blue Whale and all the big animals in the huge gallery there.  I think Tom enjoyed this - he was able to engage more and understand and learn more than he has before.  I still wonder how much he takes in and remembers though.

Rolling tongues

Next stop was the mini beasts (he's been doing mini beasts at school so we thought he would enjoy this).  He took it in his stride, but I don't think he learnt anything new.  By now the crowds at the museum were just horrible.  Neither Matt nor I enjoy crowds and they were too busy for us so we decided to head on our way.  Tom requested a go on the escalator through the world before we left, so we did that and then we headed back through the crowds to the nasty, grey outdoors.

We walked back to South Kensington and found ourselves lunch in Wasabi - a Japanese fast food place I've only ever seen in London.  We bought a big selection box of sushi thinking it would be enough for us all - but a certain little boy got overexcited seeing Japanese food and ate more than his share.  Matt had to go back to get some more!!!

Me in a skirt!

We then headed back to Pat and Bob's.  Tom needed an afternoon nap as he was down on sleep and as we all know he can't cope without his sleep. Also he had an important evening as he was going for fish and chips with his grandparents whilst we were going out for curry in the West End to celebrate our forth-coming 10th Wedding Anniversary.  So a relaxing afternoon was had by all and then I was made to put on a skirt and headed out into town.  We went to Covent Garden initially for a look around but it was so wet and miserable that we spent all our time in pubs before heading to the restaurant for a very pleasant evening eating curry.  I managed to order the very biggest starter I have ever seen, but apart from that it was trouble free and very lovely to spend the evening with my hubby.

Eurostar

Tuesday was another grey and miserable day.  Matt, Tom, Bob and then Pat went to Stratford to shop and spot trains and I headed to Oxford Street to go shopping at Pepperbery.  As you can see from the photo, the boys saw the Eurostar.  I had an interesting time where my bank card suddenly stopped working so had to go to a bank and get a cash advance.  It all got sorted out and I managed to get the shopping I wanted.

I even managed to meet up with Matt, Tom and Bob at Liverpool Street and went for a couple of bus rides before heading home.

Wednesday was a better day.  We decided to have a day out to ourselves and spent the day riding around on the new Routemaster buses in the crammed streets (our idea of a traffic jam is more than one car trying to get onto the A65!).  First stop was Covent Garden where Tom and I watched a mediocre street performer whilst Matt went browsing around the shops - he's been after a pair of Dr Martens for a while (he tried them on and found them to be quite uncomfortable!) and of course there is a big Apple Store there.

Me and Tom on the wobbly bridge

St Paul's

We then had lunch at TGI Friday's (not what would be my first choice, but our first choice (a pub in Covent Garden) didn't allow under 18s in.  Only the second time in Tom's life we have come across a pub which doesn't allow children in.  

Me and Katherine

After a surprisingly pleasant lunch we got on another Routemaster bus to St Paul's and then crossed the wobbly bridge to the South Bank for a pleasant stroll along the river back to Waterloo.  Then back home - another nap for Tom and a relax for us.  I then went out that evening, back to St Paul's to meet up with Katherine, an old friend from Wokingham who just happens to be the best friend of the girl friend of one of Matt's old university friends (it is a small world).  It was an interesting night, catching up on years and years of life since we were 16 and also talking about people we both know quite by chance.  We had a great night, and I think we will be seeing more of each other in the future.

Eye on the ball..

or not!

Thursday we came home.  As it was a nice morning, we spent the morning in Richmond Park, playing tennis and plane spotting - the planes are very very low over Richmond.  

We discovered a new favourite pastime in London this visit.  As Pat and Bob's house lies on the flight path to Heathrow you can quite easily spot the planes.  With the help of an ipad app which will tell you what the plane is, where it has come from, model name and number etc, you can keep a small boy employed.  Given a choice of reading a story book or reading the city a plane has come from, it is the second.  Tom's reading of foreign place names got better and better as the week went on.  I even got out a map out to show him where all these places were.  Oh the fun.  In fact even once home we can carry on as we can open the app up, and pretend we are still at Grannie and Grandpa's house and carry on spotting planes - although it isn't as much fun when you can't actually see the planes.

Catching with Grandpa

Plane spotting

We had fish and chips in Richmond before heading back to Mortlake, to pick up our bags and head to the new Kings Cross where we met with Pat before boarding our train back home.  We met a nice family on the train on the way home with two girls: 6 and 4, they and Tom made friends and the journey flew, before we knew it we were back in Yorkshire.

It was a pleasant trip to London, just a shame the weather was so bad.  I think next time we go we will plan a bit better what to do.