London bound 7th June

The day in London for Elspeth's birthday started with the old railway hazard, a delayed train. Still it enabled us to sample the delights of "Pumpkin" the exhorbitantly priced and thoroughly naff on platform cafe... better going to the Costa stand.

The journey down was quick and efficient, there's a story behind the tickets on GNER... the travel experience has changed since the days of one rail provider and before the likes of Easy Jet or Ryan Air came on the scene in terms of air travel. Since when has single tickets been cheaper than returns?? Firstly trying to check train times on the GNER web site is a pain as you have to register to get the information.

Trying to book tickets on the GNER website the returns were £42.30 each "advance apex" booking, that's the other thing there are about 12 different kinds of ticket depending on how far in advance you book, whether you want a transferrable ticket, an open return... so many conplications, I JUST WANT A TRAIN TICKET TO LONDON...

Rant over.... return [well 6 single tickets] to London came in at just over £62.

Kings Cross is a great hub, straight onto the Picadilly line to South Kensington and walking down the tunnel to the Science Museum. Both Sarah and I hadn't been for at least 20 years... it'd be a shame if it was still the same, fortunately we were not disappointed, the interactive displays were excellent, we wandered around the ground floor and Elspeth was taken by the rockets and the astronauts - "we must email Nasa again daddy" [i.e. You must get NASA and shake them until they answer my email...]

But Bob the Builder was the main attraction, an interactive experience for the children, Bob, Wendy and Spud all present to engage the children in building a numbered path, recycling a fallen tree into stepping stones, rebuilding a wall and mending some guttering, rather than paying the child labour the labour had to pay £6 each for the event, as did their accompanying parent...

After Bob we popped on the tube to see Big Ben, Elspeth appreciates that Big Ben is the bell in the Tower at the Houses of Parliament, but I think that is all she really wanted to do on Thursday, see Big Ben. We wandered over Westminster Bridge and walked with the throngs of people on the South Bank to have tea at Wagamama. After Wagamama one of the best walks in London, to the Tate Modern, over the Millenium Bridge around past St Pauls to Blackfriars, tube to Kings Cross Thames Link and a short walk to Kings Cross for the return journey.

Both girls were wide awake on the journey back and gave much entertainment to a friendly couple from Newark, Jemima in excellent form bouldering over things as if they were mere steps, clambering over the table was a favourite, standing on the table looking out of the window another.... as a consequence they were both wide awake on arrival back in Doncaster at around 9.20pm so we went for a drive out to the A1, down to the M18 and off at junction 4 to go home... both in bed and asleep by 10.15.. parents in bed much later as the preparations for the Peter Pan and Tinkerbell party on Saturday were not yet completed.... knackered.. good simple journey though.