Stairs

It was the day to collect The Boy - so up to Loughborough, setting off at 8.30am.

Mr A and I decided to make a bit of a day out (so as not to waste the long journey) and stopped off at the National Space Centre in Leicester. The Boy didn't want to join us, so we wandered in for a looksie. At first it seemed to be full of under-fives, but perhaps it was just the noise they made that implied there were more of them than there actually were?

Anyway, it was well worth a visit - the Planetarium was very good (although I did nearly nod off at one point as those seats were very comfortable) - and we happily wandered around for three hours. As it was, we didn't see all of the displays, so might pop back another time for a quick look at the bits we missed (by signing up for Gift Aid, it converts your day ticket to an annual pass so you can visit again). The Space Centre is aimed at school children up to GCSE level, so all the information boards were written in simple-to-understand terms (even for a non-technical person like myself, ha ha) with one tale telling:

"In 1707, Admiral Sir Chowdisley Shovell commanded a fleet of five warships that won a great naval battle. But his glory was short-lived. Victory turned to disaster when his navigators fluffed their calculations. The victorious fleet ran aground, and 2000 lives were lost."

There is even a Soyuz space capsule on display - looking unbelievably primitive and so very small to house 3 grown men.

Oh, and I nearly forgot - my blip for the day is a shot looking down on Mr A as he descends down the first part of the five-storey stairwell of the rocket tower.