Bellwether
Yesterday my lovely, fabulous, soon to be birthday boy Nik and I went on an adventure!
We hopped onto a flying train early o'clock and chuffed our way into the big smoke. Knowing how easily bored Nik is, I had invested in some travel games for the train and so a mini Guess Who tournament, followed by a Battleships grudge match and a few rounds of ridiculously long word hangman helped to pass the time.
Nik had no idea where we were off to and weeks of meticulous planning on my part had been involved. We started the day by heading up the ridiculous heights of the London Eye. Now as most of you know, I am not a great lover of heights. I think it is fair to say that I am pretty damn scared of them in fact! So taking Nik on the tallest, scariest thing I could find was quite a surprise for him as you can imagine. A few expletives emanated from my mouth as I doubted the wisdom of this particular element of the adventure. I managed some deep breathing and eventually hobbled my way on with very heavy feet. Once up there I held on, looked out and even managed a laugh! It was ok being up that high. Some good views and it did not fall from its axis, crash to earth with a thud and a splash and roll off down the Thames. Hurrah!
Onwards then to wander through an Anime exhibition in County Hall, then back onto the Tube to South Kensington and the Science Museum. We dashed about pushing small children from the hands-on exhibits, investigated ship building, munched on some picnic lunch and then trip trapped off to the final part of the adventure. I had covered tourism and education so only culture was left.
The trip from the station to The Millennium Bridge caused much jolity as the ridiculous sign posting led a good half a dozen of us on a wild goose chase and round a random building before finding ourselves exactly where we started. It amused me that everyone pretended they knew where they were going when they clearly didn't. We plodded carefully across the bridge in the misty rain, avoiding the others who had decided to attempt to slide from one side to the other. Noisy fun had by many it seems. Once we had alighted the bridge, there in front of us was the wonderful building of the Tate Modern. I love that place. I find the building to be a greater work of art than many of the exhibits. So dramatic and foreboding, yet so graceful and beautiful. Nik sparkled as we wandered through Rachel Whiteread's boxes, I cooed over Rothko, Calder and Miro, then a trip to the shop and back to the station to head home.
The train home was a more subdued affair than the outward journey, we ate more picnic, drew plans for the ArkAngel, listened to various opinionated people discuss everything from global petrol consumption to whether Arsenal do still play the best football before picking up a take-away and some beers and being welcomed home by some very furry, purry moggies.
What a grand adventure! I hope Nik enjoyed it :)
