Last Saturday afternoon, still tired from my Friday night out withy the missus, myself and a couple of mates met up in that London, for a day of nerdiness at The Science Museum.
The last time I had been there, was many years ago with the family. We didn’t stay long, that time, because it turns out my family – unlike me – have no sense of wonder and lack any thirst for knowledge.
To be fair, the kids were only little at the time and could probably only take so much of seeing their dad get over-excited in front of a mock-up of the lunar lander.
But this time, there were no kids… apart from those inside three grown men with a combined age of 130.
For several hours we wandered around, marveling at this, that and some of the other.
It was impossible to see it all in just one visit, but we gave it a helluver good go!
The area devoted to telecommunications was probably my favourite (as you might guess) and I could easily have spent the whole day just in that section.
Once we’d had enough, we headed out onto the street and went in search of a pub that sold food.
The first one we came to was packed to the rafters – as one might expect on a Saturday night in that London. As was the next one, but luckily, just as we were about to give up on that one, a table became available and we grabbed it.
Many beers (and a couple of whiskys) later, having put the world to rights several times over, closing time arrived and we were turfed out.
We parted company and boarded our respective trains home.
I fell asleep on the tube and was fortunate to wake up just in time.
I then also fell asleep on the mainline train. Luckily for me, it terminated at Luton. It was the sound of the driver slamming his door on the way out, which woke me.
With BST arriving and adding a virtual hour to my watch, it was a long old day.
But, as Bill (and/or Ted) might say, it was most excellent.
Wonder who was the senior of the trio.
Do they still have a radio shack there or am I confusing it with another museum.
That would be me, of course.
The Science Museum did have some Amateur Radio related stuff there, but no, no radio shack.
Maybe you’re thinking of the National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park?
I remember seeing it so was definitely not Bletchley. They used to operate on certain days giving demo’s. Mind you I am going back to my school days.
Schooldays?
Oh, well, that was probably Marconi himself doing the demo. 🙂
They do the other down there in the science museum? Well I never knew that. I should go. I haven’t been for decades. But it’s in that London and that’s a very long distance from here. But I should go. But it’s a very long (repeat ad nauseam)
You should go.
Yes, it is a long distance from you.
But you should go.
Yes, it is a …
Me and Mrs W also went to the Science Museum last month, and as you said, the telecommunications section kept me occupied for a good while too.
I did find it a bit disconcerting to see that many of the exhibits were either in my era of work or were devices that I owned; technology has certainly moved at pace, even in my lifetime!
Did Mrs W find the telecoms section just as interesting as you did?
I’m willing to bet not. 🙂
I enjoyed explaining to my colleagues, the history behind Strowger and a little of how it worked. Still fascinates me how well it worked, even today.
Most enjoyable, Make it an annual event Mark.. On the Sunday when clocks change