glasgow!

see, we get about . i had a conference up in glasgow, and i am currently v keen to maximise time with family, as work is eroding on this time hugely for one reason or another. so decided we would all go up by train, and then dh and the girls would museum for 2 days and i would join them afternoon of one of the days, and then for the third day. excellent we had a plan

the journey up was pretty uneventful [well apart from a minor problem with tickets, luckilly resolved in the nick of time] we played board games – mostly ingenious, mostly SB – ds-ed [not me!] and read books. did play i spy – arguing with bb over s and c starts in some cases, which she is right, are unfair to her and silly games on the iphone. weather was lovely up and journey v easy loved that as we were staying at the premier inn charing x in glasgow that our train from edinburgh stopped at charing cross, making the whole thing v much easier. i did feel ill going up tho, and when we got to hotel, a bit late to catch the last conference session that day, so went with DH and girls to ‘the park’ where they had a great time running around, and then we ate prob the best meal at the little cafe [really really lovely seed past salad - you know, that tiny grain pasta]

next day saw me leave bright and early and part with huge wads of cash at the conference! it was a v good conference on the whole, and i also saw some ppl i hadn’t seen for a while, so opportunity to catch up etc. definately worth the money! that afternoon session was on the section not so relevant to what i do and the AGM bit, so i skipped out and joined dh and the girls at the science museum across the clyde. they had already looked round loads of it, and so took me to their favorite bits BB was ecstatic and loved it lots. SB said she is getting to old for a mostly levers museum that was a bit of a shock!! but she did seem to be enjoing it loads anyway it has changed a lot since we were last there when SB 4-ish and bb v little but we still got sb to put on the tabard with the body parts for good measure.

by the time we wended our way back to the hotel bb had ‘gone over’ . not helped by not having any money, and sb buying bb a birthday present with hers, but not wanting to let bb know, and so not showing her what she had bought etc etc. sb is such a darling and a fab big sister. BB really did want a telescope tho. she has added it to her birthday list, but wants it to be exactly that one [nat geograph] we snuggled bb and she pretty much fell asleep on the train back so we let her snooze a bit when we got to the hotel and then had dinner there. not a bad meal either.
placed here to remember seems better tho

i conferenced solidly the next day with another early start. dh took the girls on a boat trip up the clyde to the transport museum – newly opened. they enjoyed both the boat trip and the museum. the glasgow tall ship has moved to there as well. when i finished the conference they were still there, so i walked from the secc [at a fast clip as it goes past a very building/derelict area] i got shown all the fav bits, and did like how the old glasgow underground used to work. obviously we were there just slightly too long, as the shop closed, and bb had a massive melt as apparently they have the best drinks bottle she has ever seen there. if they had an online shop i might buy it for her birthday. they don’t, and i didn’t see exactly what she fancied anyway. cf the telescopes above. we walked to the train station and she pretty much fell asleep on the train back… this time tho we went out for a meal, and went to the pizza express. we all had yummy food, the kids behaved perfectly and all was right with the world! think it may have been fri they watched x factor? or is that a saturday thing? i actually fell asleep!! first night for ages – having an insomnia thing. was v happy to have family up with me for conference. SB is turning into a young woman as she is at threshold of teenageryness, and bb is leaving babyhood at 6. just want to capture all the precious time i have with them.

loved saturday had a big breakfast and then had arranged to meet some scottish home ed friends at the hunterian museum. unfortunately it was shut [cue massive bb wail, partic as she had wet trousers from not quite going past the slide in the park...] so we met at the huntarian art gallery [cue bb, it is just pictures, i hate looking at boring pictures] lukcily there was a welcome institute thing on dirt in the foyer, so we got to look at ascaris lumbricoides and other worms. one of the few things i remember about worms is what they look like on barium meal and follow through . girls v interested, and picked up some parasiteology mags to read later. then they did the craft – bb made vibrio cholerae – she made the flagellum particularly curly whirly, SB made influenza and H made lactobacilli H also ate some insects, which we thought was v fab and brave they were apparently quite nice! so she got a peppermint and ant lolly as a reward! the girls all did a handwashing excercise. was partic impresse with SB, and bb not as bad as anticipated then sb and i looked at the pictures, sb rather likes art galleries, but bb wailing was off putting, so we all went to the botanical gardens instead.

following a theme, the cafe was rather unfortunately shut! so we had food out of a van, and bb was v persistant in keeping pigeons away so friend didn’t have to shudder quite as often by proximity sensors . we then warmed up in the large glasshouse, and i partic liked the tropical bit bb partic liked the fish bit [it reminded her about a promise for a fish tank] and sb was happy with it all really. i did wonder whether we were being a bit boring company, espescially as it had taken them ages by bus to join us, but i am not that good at scintillating [always oscillate there between rolf harris and caractacus and PET scans] but i very much enjoyed seeing them it is good to see the real ppl behind the online friendships and just chat. could have done with proper cafe being open tho!! they went back home, and we raced around the other glasshouse [and got told off!] it had the nepenthes in it – i do like carniverous plants and then we found a micro geocache too.

walking back to the subway [we thought we couldn't make bb walk much further...] we went past a coffee and icecream place [we should have stopped there on the way too the botanics!] and treated the girls to icecream – they were v happy before getting on the underground and walking to the tenement house, as we had just got time to fit it in. great shame that we didn’t have current national trust memberships with us – so quite expensive, but v interesting, and declared worth it. SB was particuarly taken by it.

finally we walked back to the hotel, and even i thought we might have done enough walking… BB had a bath and we went out for a curry. the walk there was ‘illuminating’ we were quite early in the evening, but obviously glasgow starts its ‘revelry’ much earlier than i am used to i enjoyed the curry, partic the one sb chose. bb’s came extra spicy, altho requested extra mild, so a modicum of fuss there…

having collapsed into bed, the next day we ambled to the park for a chill out before catching the train home.
great time in glasgow and lovely to meet friends