Devastation in Japan

Having worked for Canon for seven years and during that time worked closely with Canon Inc. in Tokyo, the images that have appeared on TV in the last couple of days have been truly heart-breaking.

They’ve been expecting “The Big One” for many years but I doubt anyone was expecting it to be this severe. From working with the Japanese, they would be the most prepared nation on the planet for this type of disaster.  The buildings seem to have pretty much survived the earthquake, but the devastation to the NE of Honshu caused by the Tsunami is unbelievable and you just wonder how anyone could have survived the 10 metre wall of water sweeping through, taking with it everything in its path.  Then, add to this the risk of a nuclear disaster at Fukushima … it just doesn’t bear thinking about.

Thankfully all the guys I used to work with appear to be safe but they are understandably very shocked, shaken and really worried about their friends and family who they cannot contact.

I just hope and pray that all your families are safe.

London … Weekend Treat

It is a fact – we are blessed to have the parents we have.  Mum turned 65 at the start of March and wanted to treat the family.  Initially she thought about getting tickets for The Lion King or the new Wizard of Oz show as she loves a good musical … but the cost was working out very expensive.  The other thing she wanted to do was take us all on the London Eye.

We managed to get a very good rate for 3 family rooms at the Hilton Metropole Hotel.  Perfect location – 10 mins walk from Paddington and right opposite Edgware Road Tube Station. 

Now what to do beside the London Eye … Callum would be happy watching the buses and taxis and going on the trains and the underground, Tom was desperate to see Buckingham Palace and the rest were just happy doing whatever.

We headed into London on the train early on Saturday and went straight to the hotel to drop our bags off.  Two rooms were ready so could leave our bags in the room … which the boys inspected.  We headed to South Bank so the kids could get their first glimpse of the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament. 

After lunch, we headed over Waterloo Bridge and walked down Embankment.  There is a fabulous memorial to commemorate The Battle of Britain.  It’s truly a work of art and a very fitting tribute to the servicemen, women and also the civilians who lost their lives over 70 years ago.

In the afternoon, we’d booked tickets for the Dinosaurs Unleashed Exhibition at the O2.  Last time we went to the O2 we used the Thames Clippers to get there and back and thought the kids might quite like a trip on the Thames.  They loved it … especially when the captain put his foot down once he’d got passed Tower Bridge.

The exhibition was actually quite impressive.  Life size replicas of what the experts thought the dinosaurs looked like.  T-Rex, Megladon, Diplodocus, Stegosaurus and Triceratops were all present as were Velociraptors (who looked nothing like their counterparts on Jurassic Park … apparently they loved the name, but not the look!).

There were plenty of educational activities to keep the kids entertained as we went around.  Jigsaw puzzles, interactive Dino colouring in, computer puzzles and a good old fossil hunt.

Afterwards we had tea at “Spur” before heading back to the hotel.  Dan was sharing our room and think we got the best deal.  Callum was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow … Dan not far behind him.  We could hear Jess still awake in the room next door at least 45 mins later!

We knew the kids would be up early in the morning so beat the real rush and had an early breakfast.  We were on the Underground heading towards Buckingham Palace by 8.30am!! 

From Buckingham Palace we walked through the park towards Horseguards and then walked along Whitehall to The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.  A quick stroll over Waterloo Bridge and we joined the queue for the London Eye.

The boys (& Jess) loved seeing everything from up high.  You could get a pretty good view of The Shard being built and also The Gherkin which has become a feature on the London Skyline since the last time we went on The Eye about 10 years ago.

A quick play in the park filled in the time before walking along South Bank to the Hungerford Bridge  and saw the street artists and worked our way over to Hamley’s – we’d promised the kids a treat if they’d been good and on the whole, they had been.

Time to head home … and all the kids slept well as we’d walked their little socks off!

 

Thanks Mum and Dad for a fabulous weekend … and hope you all enjoyed this weekend as much as we did xx

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