One word? When seven would do…

national travel, science (chemistry), walking through London, meeting up with friends from all round the country, lobbying parliament, public transport foibles and more. We need a bigger checklist for our timetable ;).

Up far, far too early this morning but not early enough as we struggled to get out of the house. I’d been hoping for a leisurely park, walk to the station to buy tickets, maybe call into Asda for a takeaway cup of tea and then boarding the train. Ady tells me it is very unfair I am blaming him but he often seems to be a common factor in times we are crap at getting out of the house. So we left, with me thinking we’d be cutting it fine for the train and then got stuck behind a refuse collection van. In a narrow road with cars parked both sides it would be impossible to turn round in, so we were stuck. I jumped out and ran to the station to buy the tickets, leaving the others to park the car and get to the station (platform for London trains is on the other side of the tracks to the ticket office). So I did running before 830am.

The gate came down as I came out of the ticket office and I had to do further running (with steps) over the bridge with the train pulling in. We literally caught it with moments to spare and I took quite some minutes to recover.

Our seats were facing backwards which Davies has decided is an issue for him so he moaned about that for a while. He was sitting with Ady, while I sat with Scarlett and as Ady isn’t great at engaging the kids in just chatter he quickly got bored and became annoying so I got him to come and sit on my lap which meant he could face me and therefore the right way and he, Scarlett and I could talk. Ady sat grumpily behind us, even more so when the train got busier and he ended up with someone squashed up next to him. The kids and I talked about bears mostly as I recall.

From Victoria it’s just one tube stop to Green Park so that was quick and easy and we were at RI by about 1020am. Which meant we had time to sit in the cafe and finally have my first cup of tea. We got ushered past the queuing school children and had fairly good seats in the usual Home Ed strip of chairs.

The show was Fizz, Foam and Flubber and was very good. For once there is a very good back up of information as the speaker, Lorelly Wilson has a website where she lists all her talks and all the experiments she did along with details of how to do them again at home. My only critcisms would be that it is a bit ‘science-lite’ and that she wasn’t as much of a presenter as some of the other speakers we’ve seen. I was also a bit cross that she didn’t tell us just what that number 6 with all the zeros was as I could hear various people round the audience muttering about it.

Finally, for our first time we ended up with nightmare children behind us. One woman with two children who I don’t think were her own. One was a very small, very precocious boy who kept yelling stuff out and claiming to know everything already, on the other side of her was a bigger girl who insisted on having her feet – in shoes, on the back of Ady’s chair. Which is slightly annoying in itself but she then just didn’t keep still with wriggling, kicking and moving about the whole time which was just incredibly annoying. I glared a couple of times and even Ady turned round twice but the woman with her was just really ineffectual at dealing with it. The girl then got all arsey about us turning to look at her and I started to feel really irate. I was on the verge of saying something at the end but she suddenly became all contrite and apologised, which I rather grimly accepted. The thing with the RI is it is one full hour of sitting down, shutting up and keeping still. If that is beyond a child then I don’t think they should be there. I know Scarlett struggles with some of them so I have been very careful about the ones I have chosen and I ensure I sit where I can deal with her and would take her out if necessary but I would take any and all measure to ensure she was not disturbing or annoying other people. I wish everyone would exhibit the same courtesy.

Show over we debated getting on the tube at Green Park or walking through the park to Buckingham Palace and getting the tube from that side of the park. We went for that and arrived at the palace just in time to see two horse drawn carriages with visiting foreign dignatories of some description leaving the palace with very comprehensive police escort. We took pictures and waved at them despite not having an inkling of who they might be.

We could see Big Ben and the London Eye so decided to walk to Westminster as it was a lovely sunny day. We walked through St James’ Park which I don’t think I’ve been in before and enjoyed all the birds, particularly the pelicans, loved the little allotment in the middle of the park and all the very bold squirrels including the duo nicking food out of a picnic bag belonging to a man sitting on one of the benches.

We arrived at Parliament and didn’t quiet know where to find everyone but spotted another small group with a HE banner so followed them at a discrete distance. We caught up with them when we spotted a whole posse of folks with banners and actually chatted to them for a bit as it turned out there were from Chichester which is just down the road.

I saw loads of people I knew straight away including Ros so we sat down to eat some food and watched the group increase more and more until there was finally about 450 of us. I have to confess to feeling a bit disheartened at the thought of the people who weren’t there really, I do think apathy will be our downfall really. At least I will know I wrote every email, typed every letter, made every phonecall, attended every protest, spoke with my MP, wore our T shirts, talked to everyone I know and many people I didn’t, have been on the TV, radio, papers and have done all I can to ensure I am protecting our lifestyle.

I didn’t actually eat much but did manage to chat to lots of people. We attracted a lot of attention and the banners made a fab impact. Scarlett stood against the railings for ages along the road side cheering and waving at all the many cars, busses full of tourists, vans and other vehicles going by beeping their horns and waving their support. She adored it :).
This photo was taken by someone else and uploaded today. It got mentioned on a list as a good shot because the little blonde girl had just appeared infront of the banner jumping and cheering while the photographer was just after a shot of the banner. I had a sneaking feeling as I read that that it might be Tarly and sure enough….

We crossed the road and joined the long windy queue to get in which must have been nearly an hour for us but for some was closer to two hours I believe. We chatted to those infront and behind us and it went quickly though. At the entrance we were all given a lanyard and as we stepped in our photos were taken and attached. Security was very fierce with airport style walking through full body screens and all your possessions put through an xray machine in a tray.

The other side was much calmer and we were welcomed in. We decided to visit the loo (for Parliamentray wees) and nipped into the cafe where we enjoyed the free tap water (and Ady grabbed a stash of monogrammed napkins). I balanced my camera on the desk to get a self timer and the clerk offered to take it for me but I explained we have a collection of self timer photos in weird and wonderful places and wanted to add this to our collection :).

Up into the central lobby where we filled out green cards requesting our MP come down to meet us. We knew he was not in Westminster today anyway but in the end we had to go back up to the desk to be told officially. I really liked being there though and we’re planning a proper tour in the new year organised through our MP. For that reason we didn’t have a look at the House of Lords or the other public areas. Scarlett managed to crack her head on the wall which must have really hurt as she cried lots 🙁 She will have a Parliamentary bruise there tomorrow.

Finally we decided we needed to leave if I was to get back for my course and Davies for Sea Scouts so we came out, buying souvenir badges for the kids on the way out. Back to the square to collect our bags, hailing Michelle and Chloe in the queue as we passed them and saying goodbye to all the people still in the square.

Tube back to Victoria and then a 20 minute hanging around for a train but we did at least get on it first and had a table and chairs all the way home. I sent my tutor a text to say I’d be slightly late and Davies decided he was just too tired for Sea Scouts after all. They ran me to my course where I was 20 minutes late and came home for baths and dinner. They then had to turn out again to collect me at 9pm.

My course was interesting again – a visit from the company who process all our recycling and stuff from the tip. My nose started running while there and hasn’t stopped yet, which coupled with general knackeredness may or may not be the onset of some lurgy 🙁

We’ve decided Primary Proms just isn’t going to happen in the morning, which is a shame but would be an even earlier start than today with another 3 hours worth of trains, another dashing back for Badgers and another 20quid in train fares. Instead I think a quiet day at home is in order to recover from today.