National Maritime Museum

I saw all this today - and I thought it was cool.

Where have all the good times gone?

Have you been wondering about that lately? Well, wonder no more - for today I found the answer. They're here at the Museum of Childhood:

I was never 100% sure whether or not I ever did find the precise location of The Good Times, but there was certainly an abundance of toys and other stuff to look at/play with. There was also a big sandpit with deckchairs, Punch and Judy, etc. which was all reasonably beach-like.

Apart from it not actually being beside the sea-side (beside the sea).


The museum is pretty small - compared to some I know - but they pack a lot in.



There were lovely shiny things from modern times . . .


As well as shiny things of yesteryear: this dolls' house is from 1673! Would you Adam and Eve it?! Ooh - it's like a time travel adventure in the Tardis!


There were also some old familiar friends, from long ago when I was small.

Now of course I am big - and almost as tall as a very large robot . . .

This visit was surprisingly good fun - even though there were far too many children there blocking my view of the exhibits. Don't these kids have TVs and computer games at home??

Plastic: fantastic since 1907

I saw this super exhibition today, which is here to celebrate the 100th anniversary of plastic first entering our lives.

There were all kinds of plastic items, including a full sized coffin!

I particularly liked this small selection of Barbies (and Barbie friends):

I also thought that this chandelier made of Bic pens was rather splendid:


Here is a close-up shot that I found on the web . . .

There were cool facts to discover too. I was surprised to learn that the person who first invented plastic (back when it was called Bakelite) was called Leo Baekeland. I suppose I'd never really thought about the name/word Bakelite before.

Imagine my surprise and delight then, when I found out that Tupperware was invented by a Mr Tupper!

But wait . . . there's more!

By amazing coincidence, during that very year (1907) that Leo Baekeland was inventing his Bakelite, a young Mr Earl Silas Tupper (of Tupperware fame) was born! Two fantastically plastic people connected by the same year of history!

You're right, Barbie - life in plastic really is fantastic!

Buddha's birthday

This was an interesting event - I just happened to see it as I was passing by. There was lots of loveliness to enjoy, and everyone seemed very smiley and cheery.

It was all set up inside some biggish tents in Leicester Square.



There was plenty to see inside. In one area, people were taking turns to kneel down on little stools and pour water onto small statues. I had assumed that these were devout Buddhists performing a deeply religious ceremony. But apparently this was a part of the celebrations called 'bathing the Buddha' and is one in which all are welcome to participate.


With guidance from the attendant on proper protocol, I bathed the Buddha and it was great!


Maybe if more religions/faith groups could be as welcoming as this, then the world might be a more cheery and smiley place for everyone.

Points mean prizes!

I took part in a super treasure hunt this weekend. On a lovely morning, our intrepid team set out to find the Treasure . . .

and, after a splendid effort from all, I am proud to announce that we won! There were even prizes - woo hoo!

This achievement was a well deserved reward for our excellent and highly motivated performance.

However, I have heard rumours that some people feel I was a little bit too motivated to win. Perhaps even a tiny bit too competitive. Me?

So just to counteract these unwarranted slurs on my good character, here are some photos showing the utter cheeriness of the event.

Here is the team relaxing and posing for photos. Note that some of us are even having a nice sit down.

Here we are enjoying a lovely picnic as we hurry across the wobbly bridge. We remained stationary for the entire time I was taking this photo.


Here we are at the end - giddy with success and all still smiling.


Well done team mates - I salute your efforts! Huzzah for treasure hunts!

Why I don't like sushi

I went out for sushi the other day and I tried to enjoy it - but I didn't like it. At all.

The food is on a dear little conveyor belt next to the tables and customers can just reach out and take a plate (bowl) that looks appealing. That's if they're quick enough to grab it before it sails past.



This food grab thing seemed like a fun game for a short time, but then it just seemed too much like work. I'm not really a hunter-gatherer type or a farmer or whatever the latest classification is. Mainly I like food to just arrive under my nose. Preferably in one great big bowl - rather than lots of little separate ones. I am able to eat reasonably successfully with chopsticks but, again, it seems so much like work.

The whole raw seafood/tiny little sushi bites theme didn't really appeal to me either. I managed to eat a teeny little dish of edamame peas before boredom reduced my appetite to zero.



Luckily I was out with the sushi beast, who showed me how much fun a true sushi-holic can have. Note the small pile of empty sushi plates by her side.


Moments later*, her pile of empty plates has become a mighty tower.


*actual time elapsed 2 mins

Haik who?

I've been meaning to have another go at writing a haiku. Or two.
Today seemed a particularly good day to compose . . .

• firstly, today is HatFest (where families gather to swap hats in the sunshine)


• nextly, a crazy chick turns 13 today - look out world, it's another teenager


• lastly, the weather: first the heatwave, now it won't stop raining, what's happening?

However I'm not inspired as yet - so instead have included some funny haiku-ish computer error message thingies I found. On the Interweb. By googling 'haiku error messages'. Would you Adam and Eve it?

A crash reduces
your expensive computer
to a simple stone.

The Web site you seek
cannot be located but
endless others exist.

Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.

Where you bin b4?

I found an online travel map thing today and clicked away to see how much of the map I would fill in to illustrate my extensive world travels. Not much apparently. I'm glad I went on that one trip to Montreal, which coloured in all of big old Canada, or I wouldn't hardly have nuffin coloured in at all.

Go here and colour in your own map. Or not.

(I've put my own map at the foot of this homepage - just temporarily.)

Vegetables

I felt a bit poorly today and actually took the day off work - gasp! I've been taking it easy all day and only eating small amounts of bland foods like plain toast. As a result, I haven't had my customary daily fruit and vegetable fest - and I really miss it.


In addition to this inner craving, in my email today I received lots of fruity and vegetably stuff. So I thought I'd share a couple of things with you.


Here is a splendid picture of a real vegetable. Some call it a cauliflower, some call it broccoli. The picture was accompanied by lots of information about patterns, fractals, etc. and I even read a little of it! It all seemed super interesting in a geeky, mathsy sort of way.

I just liked this penguin picture because it was so very silly! One day, when I have some spare time to fill, I'll return to this and photoshop in some speech bubbles. Or maybe hats.

I 'spect you have remembered that to see a larger version of any image on this blog you can just click on it and a magic carpet will take you to the land of the bigger pictures. For free.

May the 4th be with you

Beware of the Dark Side . . .

always look on the bright side of life.