Today was our trip to Brighton Dome to see The Bigger Bang science show.I’d stumbled upon it when trying to book tickets for something else through the Dome website and having heard local HEors rave about Big Bang science shows before I thought I’d book for that too.
It only costs £4.50 for the train for all three of us to Brighton and it would cost that in petrol to drive and about twice that to pay for parking in Brighton so we drove to the library, parked and got the train in. We played noughts and crosses on the train which made the 20 minute journey whizz past and then debated what to do with the couple of hours we had free before we had to be at the theatre. I’d have been happy to visit the museum and I suspect Davies would have been too but Scarlett had a £5 gift card for Sussex Stationers burning a hole in her pocket (birthday pressie from a friend) so we headed into the main shopping street instead. She failed to find anything in the bookshop that she was sufficiently enamoured with to part with her gift card so after browsing a few other shops we decided to get some lunch.
Predictably when offered the choice they both voted for McDonalds for lunch but when we realised it was opposite a KFC they graciously went with that instead. I hate fast food for all sorts of reasons, ethical and clearly lacking in free range meat (if indeed meat at all ;)) and haven’t eaten McDonalds for years if I can help it but I have to confess to really quite liking the taste of KFC. I do feel guilty, it crap food but the Colonel’s secret blend has me hooked!
I’d been exchanging text messages with Tasha to arrange to see them next week and she’d said they were in Brighton to which I’d replied we were too, for the show at the Dome. Davies and Scarlett had previously been asking me if anyone we knew was going to the show and I’d said no, not that I was aware of. So I looked a bit silly when Tasha rang me to say they were going to the Dome too and actually where was it as they were a bit lost! 😆
We walked to where they were and the kids had a run around together in the Pavillion gardens area while Tasha and I had a quick catch up chat and then walked round to the Dome together. Waiting outside was a HE boy we used to see lots of with his granny so we chatted to them for a while too. Tasha had seats in a different area to us so we went upstairs to find ours. The guy leading us to our seats told us we had the ‘best seats in the house!’ and indeed I’d have to agree with him – our view was excellent :).
As we were surveying the people coming in and Davies and I were playing our ‘they look Home Educated’ game we suddenly spotted Liza and Andrew along with a group of other HE folk we knew making a mockery of my insistance to D and S earlier that noone we knew was coming. Clearly I know nothing! 😆
The children loved the show, it was interactive enough to keep their attention, with regular explosions and flashing stuff and the ‘comedy’ within it was puerile enough for children their age to find funny. Personally I thought it was okay, I didn’t think the presenters were particularly good at presenting, some of the experiments either didn’t really work or were not impressive enough to carry on a stage and I’ve seen far better exhibitions of both exciting science-y stuff being put across educationally well and with flair for free in various places. But we were there for Davies and Scarlett and they loved it which is all that counts. There was an interval (which I hate, always strikes me as an attempt to get more money out of you for ice creams) and I think they may have been better making the first half 20 minutes longer and finishing it there.
After the show we met back up with Tasha, Toby and Vinnie to walk to the station and catch a train together. There was one about to pull away as we got there so we ran and just about got on in time. There was a guy with a blue mohican on the seats near us which all the children were very impressed by and talked about, loudly, for most of the journey home 😆 We called into Sussex Stationers in Lancing where Tarly finally spent her card on two Magic Kitten books and Davies borrowed £3 from me which he replaced with his lost tooth cash stash when we got home to buy a WALL E activity book.
Home for tea and getting changed and then off out again to Badgers. It was the last one before Christmas so adults got to eat mince pies and drink mulled wine and chat and then it was presentation of all the certificates and badgers for the Active Badger badge they’ve done this term. Next term Davies and Scarlett are doing different badges – Scarlett is doing First Aid and Davies is doing Hungry Badger as he’s already done First Aid. They handed out the programme for next term and rather amusingly the week that Davies will be learning how to make tea and coffee is the same week Scarlett will be learning how to give first aid for burns and scalds :lol:. Davies has been asked if he’d like to be in the team competing for a First Aid prize which he is very pleased about although I suspect Tarly will be foot stampingly cross over when she realises.
Ady joined me there and then he headed for home with the children while I popped to the CoOp as they have a big clothing concession where we’d spotted some perfect Christmas Eve pjs so I went to get those and various other things – they had some cheap craft kits which I got a stash of for Scarlett.
Ady is coming down with the NicCold so is feeling (and looking) a bit crap. Scarlett has a horrible spluttering cough and Ady is doing an odd throat clearing cough thing – I suspect I will be grateful to head off to work tomorrow ;).
this was the first time they had an interval, and i was not at all impressed by their wild west theme this year but the kids always love it 🙂
thought i’d said to you that we had booked, must have been someone else.