LONDON
London was my home for 14 wonderful years and it is without doubt my most favourite city in the world. You will not find a more culturally diverse and accepting place anywhere else in the world.
I saw lots of things during my time working as a crime scene investigator with the Met police but I can’t even begin to imagine what the victims went through during last nights atrocity.
I’ve moved away from London now but just a few days ago myself, Jaime and our unborn son were in Borough Market where this horror happened.
Jaime had a meeting in London Bridge so we took the train to Waterloo and walked along the Southbank to where her meeting was.
As we walked along in the sunshine the skateboarders were out in force, children were playing in a giant sandpit and the sun was on our faces.
After I dropped Jaime off I walked back through Borough Market and I thought about just how much I love London. All the different stalls, music and people of all colours and cultures. All of the things that help make London such a fun and unique place to be.
I took this photo as I walked along the Southbank. People playing on the river and a tiny stretch of sand in the middle of the one of the biggest cities in the world. Amazing!
I had no intention of sharing this photo. It just made me happy and I remember feeling particularly happy on this day. It also reminded me that there was still a big part of me that missed living in London.
It was a gut wrenching feeling today waking up to today’s horrific news. The news that another few extremist idiots had ended and affected the lives of innocent people.
This particular attack felt even closer to home as it happened somewhere that I had not only just visited but also somewhere that had brought me great joy.
I wanted to write this post to say that like every other Londoner I won’t let events like this ruin the life and the city I love. We can’t let fear win which is what these terrorists want.
I can’t even begin to comprehend what these terrorists think they are achieving.
Eventually all it does is make us stronger.
Our love and thoughts are with the victims of this terrible and tragic act of violence.
Much love and respect also goes to the amazing NHS and my former Met Police friends and colleagues, who last night proved once again that they are the finest police officers in the world.
Stay strong London.
X
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM
Get ready to squeeze a little something extra onto your lists gang.
When my friend Fifi first asked me if I wanted to spend the night at the Science museum in London I thought she was having a bit of laugh.
It turns out she wasn’t joking at all and we both got the chance to live out a childhood dream, and spend the night in an actual museum.
The Science museum in London has now started opening its doors at night in an incredible all night long science extravaganza called Astronights.
Astronights starts at 7pm and ends at 09:30 the following morning and is packed with workshops, exclusive access to galleries, a three course meal, an Imax movie showing, breakfast and best of all…. setting up camp and sleeping between the exhibits and displays in the world famous London Science museum! Both Astronights and the Science museum in general cater for those with disabilities so this is suitable for the everyone.
Have a look at the website for more details and see below for the 101 experience –
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/…/nighttime-eve…/astronights
THE 101 EXPERIENCE
Our night started with a cheeky free drink before being allocated an area of the museum to sleep in. With around 200 people there, everyone is split into groups and given an exhibition area to sleep in. Fifi and I, like kids in a candy shop were almost too excited but being responsible grown ups, we opted for the display nearest the toilet and the water station. 🙂
We laid our sleeping bags underneath a display monitor in the space section on the second floor. Amazingly, a lovely girl called Megan, who I met when I was in Nicaragua was there with her boyfriend and had set up camp right next to us. The world really is a small place after all.
We then took part in two interactive and educational workshops which were amazing, followed by the worst three course meal you could ever imagine. Great service but very bad food which was the only downside of what was an amazing night. With free reign to explore different parts of the museum we got to choose which workshops and displays we visited.
We decorated bags, checked out some other hands on work shops but my favourite part by far was a torchlight exhibition led by two actors who played inventor Thomas Eddison and the first woman to fly solo across the atlantic, Amelia Earhart. This was incredible and the actors were amazing. If you go, definitely check out this part of the night.
At a half past midnight we all grabbed our (price included) popcorn and drinks and sat back for a private showing of the new Star Wars film on the enormous Imax screen which was mind blowing. This ended at around 3:30am and then it was a compulsory few hours sleep before breakfast and access to the morning De Vinci exhibition.
Despite the evening meal, this was an incredible experience.The staff were absolutely incredible and really made this experience what it was. It’s not cheap at £180 but keep your eyes peeled for deals near the time of the event and you should be able to get cheaper tickets.
It’s fair to say it was an exhausting but incredible night. Learning whilst having fun. Best combo ever!
The best part of all though was spending this time with my gorgeous friend Fiona. She is probably the loveliest person you could ever hope to meet and one of the very first supporters of 101 Things To Do When You Survive. Fifi had a cake sale to help raise money for me when I was still in the planning stages and I will be forever grateful to her.
A huge thank you to Fifi for this amazing night at the Science Museum but most of all for all her support and friendship over the years.
I hope you guys get to do this one day.
X
