30 January 2016 (Saturday) - The Imperial War Museum

I slept surprisingly well last night, waking only minutes before the alarm. Over brekkie (shared with "Furry Face ^TM") I watched "Toddlers and Tiaras"; something I've not watched for a few weeks. Today's show seemed to be devoted to the children of the incredibly obese; not a single mother interviewed seemed to be less than thirty stone in weight. They all seemed very annoyed with life in general. (Somewhat like me over the last few days!)

I checked my emails; I had one from an employment agency (Black Belt Healthcare) asking if (with my scientific background) I'd ever considered doing the job I've actually been doing for over thirty years. I can't help but wonder if these people actually read the C.V.s that get submitted to them. Not that I've submitted one to anyone for a couple of years, and certainly never to Black Belt Healthcare. (Whoever they are)

Jimbo and Stevey arrived and having settled "Furry Face ^TM" (who was going to have adventures of his own with "Daddies Little Angel ^TM") we made our way to the railway station. We met up with the rest of our number and fifteen of us got on the train to Waterloo. As we travelled Stevey told us of a film he'd seen; a war-time romantic comedy set in a restaurant about two gay zombies (a nom-non bom hom zom rom com) and that rather set the tone of the day.

Despite what I read on-line every day the train service got us to our destination with no delays, and soon we were looking for brekkie. We found a place called "Ecco". I specifically mention it because if any of my loyal readers are in the area and want food I feel I should warm them. We ordered several full English breakfasts between us. The portions were rather small and the food was cold. the so-called "grilled" tomatoes were utterly raw.

From here we made our way to the Imperial War Museum. I took a minor diversion for geo-purposes (today was a calendar day) and once at the museum we broke up into smaller groups and all did our own things for a couple of hours. I had this plan to start at the bottom of the building and work upwards so me and "er indoors ^TM" made our way into the World War I exhibition. We played with the interactive displays; I dressed as an officer from a hundred years ago... and suddenly we realised we'd used up over half of our alloted time and had only seen half of the first floor. We had four and a half more floors to cover.

We moved on through exhibits from the Second World War; I had no idea the V2 rockets were so big. We found the actual civil emergency telephone which would have been used in Ashford in the event of a nuclear strike. We saw some of the wreckage from the 9-11 attack, and a suicide bomber's vest.

As we walked round we met, joined with, and wandered off from others in our group. Having made the conscious decision to all do our own things no one felt under any obligation to stick together, and everyone could do things at their own pace. That was a good thing. Some people want to read every work on every exhibit; I can see the entire museum in one glance. Today's plan worked well.

We'd agreed to all meet up for lunch at 1.30pm. We did so. Lunch was coffee and cake. Very nice coffee and cake. And as everyone chatted over coffee and cake I devoured mine and fell asleep for half an hour. I was finally woken by a phone call from "Daddies Little Angel ^TM" with a dog update.

We then went back into the museum for a bit. I made a point of not going to the section on the Holocaust. Perhaps it was cowardice on my part, but I don't think I want to know more about what happened. Instead we went up to the top of the museum where there were many displays about the careers of many individual heroes.

And then, pausing only briefly to have a look around the TIbetan Peace Garden we made our way back to Waterloo and Ashford.

As I walked I found myself in a rather thoughtful frame of mind. Did I like the Imperial War Museum? In all honesty I didn't like it. It was a really good museum; the dispays were excellent. It was thought provoking, and I had tears in my eyes on several occassions. I can thoroughly recommend it as an exellent place to visit. Everyone should visit it to see just how nasty people can be to each other.

But I didn't *like* it.

We were soon on the train to Ashford. Some of our number had to say goodbyes; the rest of us adjourned to the pub for a crafty half then on to the Imperial China for a spot of dinner. I don't think I've been in there before. the "all you can eat" buffet wasn't cheap, but we certainly got our money's worth.

I came home. I took several photos whilst we were out; I uploaded them and then sat feeling rather sorry for myself alternately farting and realising the fallacy of letting a greedy person like me loose on an "all you can eat" buffet.