Cultural Exposure

Half term arrived quicker than we'd planned, so we made a last minute decision to go and visit the family in Manchester and do a few days in London. When we moved to Dunbar we were well aware of how much cultural diversity we were leaving behind, and so we try and make a point of exposing the children to lives different to those they see in sleepy Dunbar.



We headed into Manchester first of all where we briefly saw my mum and dad, who spent most of the week back and forth to York where our Sarah had just had her baby girl Elsie. We did a shopping spree and introduced Isabelle to Aflecks Palace in Manchester. For those not familiar with this retail outlet, it is an odd collection of independent boutiques selling very trendy clothes, furniture, stationary, music, etc. Lots of weird looking people, mixed with very bland looking folk like myself. I've not been in there for yonks so it was good to nosey into the world of goths, rockers, SK8R's and alike. Having a curious 9 year old in tow gives you access to all areas...including the tattoo and piercing place. Lots of strange sights and smells too, mostly coming from the large joints being smoked in doorways. Isabelle loved it and I can see it being a regular part of our Manchester trips in the future.

In contrast we also went to Primark. This is another alternative shopping experience where you get to see first hand the labours of.....well...child labourers! All being sold very cheaply and too good to be true. One item of interest was what I can only describe as being an adult size baby grow in the mens department. I am not sure who or what it was for but seemingly they are selling like hot cakes. I was making it clear that I did not want Santa bringing me one, when this woman pipes up how she is getting one for her 24 year old son. If he wants to look like a Telletubby in the bedroom then good look to him!

We also paid a visit to see our Jane's new motor home. Her and Andy have got themselves a Max & Paddy type van. The passion wagon gives them the freedom to head off wherever they want to, and as long as there is a lay by they will be sorted. It was very impressive and quite amazing how so much can be packed into such a small place.

The next day we took a trip to London for a few days. The kids have never been there. Isabelle nearly went once with Brownies, but the 7/7 bombs put Brown Owl off. For some reason our train seats were all spread out, so we nicked someone elses and got ourselves a table. To deter whoever's seats they really were from trying to claim them, I had a routine each station of saying to Sturat in a loud voice 'IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE SICK THEN DO IT IN THIS BAG!". Worked a treat and we had them to ourselves all the way.

We decided to go for a wander on the first evening. The kids quickly mastered the Tube and we enjoyed soaking in the atmosphere of a big city at night. At Leicester Square we stumbled on a movie premier, so we stuck around with the crowds hoping to see someone. And we did...Colin Firth, Ghandi (Ben Kingsley) and Helena Bonner Carter and him off the Pirates films. I was hoping for Wagner off the X-Factor but he did not appear. Later in the week we also saw other celebs, including Rebecca Adlington wandering down the street (her wet hair and goggles gave her away). And on the tube Isabelle found herself sat next to Ben Fogle. Photo: Ghandi was just one of the many stars we bumped into in London

A bargain on the tube! Just as we were about to buy a ticket, this woman gave us two day passes. Kerching! We spent the morning at Camden High Street and market. Having been there a month before we knew the kids would like it. We couldn't get them away and we spent a small fortune on very trendy shoes and Asian food. After that we all had shoppers legs so we opted for the Thames cruise. 80 minutes of sailing up the river with a guide to tell you all about it. Feet up, on board heating and even a coffee shop. Well worth it and a great way to see the miles of amazing London architecture and hear its story. We got off at Greenwich but only raced through a museum as we were too overloaded with info from our tour guide. It was a slightly quicker journey back to the Houses of Parliament giving us more time to recover.

In the evening we headed to the West End. My second in a month...what must folk think. Our choice of show was mainly decided on where there were cheap tickets. Pricilla Queen of the Desert got us £15 seats up in the gods. The ticket man convinced us there would be no obstructed view. He was right...apart from that balcony that was in front of us.....twat! I saw the movie a long time ago but hadn't really given much thought into it's content and suitability for kids. The usher had, and insisted she point it out to us as we tried to get our 9 year old son in. Well this was a cultural trip and what harm would the story of a load of drag queens do him as he played his part in smuggling in bottles of pop and bags of Haribo's past the eagle eyed ushers? The language was a little bit colourful at times, but most of the jokes were lost on him, as was the Thai girl who fires ping pong balls from her fanny! Aside to that it was actually quite good. I enjoyed the theatre of it as much as the show itself seeing how they operated back stage (this was one of the up sides of our budget seats). Afterwards we all got to see London city night life. What a carry on that is, and why anyone would want to head into those bars is beyond me.

Final day we had an early booking at the London Dungeon. I was pleasantly surprised that it had a lot to offer other than failed drama students doing very poor Vince Price/Brian Blessed impressions as they told ghastly stories. There was a couple of rides and it took over 90 minutes to see. The biggest horror was of course the gift shop prices. £9 to get a single photo of yourself looking terrified!

Our last stop was one too many. The Science Museum on the first Saturday of the school holidays is just too much. It was packed with busybody parents trying to interest their kids in science. A certain type too, all orgnaised with their humus and celery sandwiches, home made fruit salad in Tupperware boxes and a guide book that they followed to the letter. Their kids mostly had little interest in the science of what they were doing. They just wanted to do do stuff and play, and so it was toe curling to see the painful efforts of Nigel trying to explain radiation to 3 year old Poppy, or Fifi trying to explain the physics of space travel to Conroy who just wanted to dress up as an astronaut. For us it was a trip too far. Andrew looked like he wanted to start a fight with some of the geeks who salivated over the interactive pc's. I know I have a had enough because I get tired and try and trip kids up who are running around annoying me. We all slumped back on the tube, back to the flat and wound down watching the World Gymnastic Championships, where Britain won a gold. Then it was back to Euston for a return journey with exactly the same seating arrangement as before. My new plan was to be asleep at every stop and to ensure lots of litter and crumbs were spread across the table. It worked a treat too. I'll use that one next time.