Yesterday the girls and i took another trip to the Royal Institute to watch a science lecture; this time it was about magnets and electricity and was excellent. While i liked last weeks, it didn’t have enough explanation in it but this one was both interesting, fun and informative. The lecturer was good and had some great stuff to show and we all came away with things we’d learned. Since science isn’t my strong point, i can use all the pointers i can get so i was best pleased by the explanation of amps and volts and the comfortingly visual comparison to how water flows in various rivers etc. Very helpful indeed. The girls variously got excited by positive and negative charges and home made batteries.

Fran was mostly delighted because, having collected her new glasses on Tuesday, she could see

She’s got a reasonable prescription (-1.5 and -1.25) so the difference is quite dramatic. She’s been fairly hilarious the last couple of days – reading and exclaiming about things in the distance like they’ve only just been put there! So having thought she would hate them, she’s really quite delighted to have so much to look at!

We’d gone to London without Max at the last minute due to a staff issue, which worked fine and had lunch in the park with Nic and co which was lovely. Once we parted company, the girls and i walked down to the end of Green park to take in the view…

and talk a bit about the monarchy, what a republic would be and quite why the heck we have kings and queens any more. I do find questions like that tricky as i’m not really anti monarch (why bother when there is so much government to be cross with?) but actually “because we always have and we’re too polite to get rid of them” doesn’t really wash! Was thinking more about it as we drove home past an Antiques Fair and wondering if people of my age will have much interest in ‘old things’ the way people of a generation or two above me seemed to have (or do i just come from an antique-y family?)

Anyway, we sung the Alice song as we went through Green Park, causing people to sweep their skirts from the odd home educating family. Probably not unreasonable Girls wondered if the Alice in question was Alice in Wonderland but i ‘think’ it is supposed to be his nurse?

Headed home again and got back in time for Josie to have gym, which Fran helps at, home for tea and then back for big girl gym. They all had a good session though Fran clicked her elbow once and then hurt it again when another child messing about caused her to have an accident in the middle of doing a back flip. She was lucky not to dislocate it i think and i’m very cross about it.