Busy week at the grandparents

We all went to my parents for a week and a bit, which all seems like ages ago now even though it was last week. Mum and Dad have a nice big house and garden, so there was football and helping Grandad to pick the vegetables and feed the fish. He also gave them some rides in his wheelbarrow, which was well-received. J had a go at cooking some of them (the vegetables, not the fish!) into a veggie shepherds pie (with Katy and my mum as sous-chefs) which was very tasty.

We had a trip to The Lowry in Salford, and met up with three fifths of Stepping off the Path. I must confess to not being the biggest Lowry fan in the world, but it had some good bits to make it more than just an art gallery. J had a go at drawing me by looking through an empty picture frame that was fixed up like a window frame, and then Katy drew him and K – all very good pictures. Further round there’s a bit where you can try on hats and draw yourself by looking into a mirror, as many of Lowry’s pictures had people wearing hats. More drawing by J, which is always nice and especially so when it happens spontaneously. K had fun doing a pairs matching game of Lowry paintings. After shuffling round the gallery we went into the shopping centre opposite and found a shop selling extremely large and comfortable bean bags, where I could have easily stayed for the rest of the day as you could try them out (and they really were very large and very comfy).

Quarry Bank Mill is nearby, and we combined a trip to it with a mini sling meet. (A meeting up of people who use slings and so on to carry their children, so they can try each others out and chat.) The Mill was great as you get to see everything from cotton plants with their fluffy bits on through to finished cloth. There was a woman doing hand spinning and weaving, and then you got to see the machines that made people like her redundant :(. The noise must have been unbelievable – there were two machines running every so often and you had to shout to make yourself heard, but when the Mill was fully working there would have been whole floors bigger than tennis courts clanking away. Also, some of the machines were cleaned by having children sweep up underneath, but the cleaning happened while the machines were running which sometimes had horrible consequences.

Some of the stuff we skipped as it was for older children – things like social change, slavery, trade and so on. But there were lots of excellent big things to look at or play with to do with water and steam power, and some printing too. All very educational, and enjoyable too.

A micro-sling-meet (a micro-meet of slings, not a meet of micro-slings) at someone’s house meant that the children and I could watch Finding Nemo and Katy could talk slings and baby ponchos. This was on the far side of Manchester and on the way back we stopped off at the Science and Industry Science Museum.

More fab steam engines, some steam trains (including one cut open so you could see the innards), a surprisingly interesting exhibit about sewers and more printing. Also there’s an excellent hands on section where the boys lifted a Mini using gears, a pair of goggles that reversed left and right, and a hall of mirrors. Plus there was an excellent talk, just at the right level for our lot, about what Martians would be like if they existed (tall, thin, red, furry, with broad feet, big eyelashes and closable noses like camels). This included a Solar System parade, where J was Saturn (holding an exercise ball), K was the Earth (holding a tennis ball) and I was Neptune (football) and Pluto (marble) and we learned the mnemonic My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets (Mercury -> Pluto) although this is now shot to pieces by the IAU ruling about Minor Planets. 🙂

We missed out an awful lot of the museum and so have promised to return next time we’re up North. We also didn’t have time and energy at the same time to visit Jodrell Bank which we pass on the way home, so that’s on the cards for next time too. All the trips around Manchester involved the tram, which went down well, and will definitely be repeated next time.

A nice coincidence was that a friend of mine from school was getting married nearby while we were up, and we had a lovely time despite occasional rain (thanks to a very large marquee in her parents’ garden). There was a ceilidh at the end, and the boys joined in as did L (most of the time strapped to Katy or me!). There was a whole roasted pig which made K a bit puzzled (“Why do people eat pigs?”) but there was plenty of excellent food for herbivores like us too.

On the way back home we stopped off at large park in Peterborough so that Katy could meet some of her imaginary friends at another (non-sling) meet. The boys and I had a wander in the wild bit and found some mushrooms and different flowers that I had no hope of identifying (other than dandelion 🙂 ).

Sorry to ramble on, but this is partly to help me remember before it all leaks away.