Weekend roundup, cough cough

I thought I would just catch up on the last few days of thrills and so on, but I have a wretched cold and can't really write much. Type a sentence, delete it... But I shall continue to try. Maybe I'd better find a picture or two, and then I don't need so many words.

Saturday, Rocket party: This is Arthur, having just set off a pop-bottle rocket powered by water and compressed air (put water in the bottle, pump air in with a bike pump, until the pressure builds up and the bottle rocket takes off, with a tail of water exhaust). Sometimes there are failures on the launch pad, like when the rocket scientist gets a face full of water because the rocket does something unexpected.
Also we had a rocket powered by baking soda and vinegar, which had a few design flaws, but it worked pretty well. This is it having crash landed...
We had 3 other families visiting for this extravaganza. Girls and boys and young and old, and it was a really fun time. Of course, it being March, it was snowing when we got out to the Common, but there was bright sunshine about 10 minutes later! This ends the March portion of birthday season, and we have a few weeks' break before our last birthday of the year.

Sunday: The kids' school arranged coaches to take families to London. It was very cheap, 5 pounds per person, and they dropped us right at Exhibition Road, where the Science Museum, Natural History Museum and the V&A are all located.

A good deal, but really, it took much longer than the train and we felt a bit constrained about having to be back in a certain place at a certain time. Not to mention any unmentionable stuff like motion-sickness, which usually isn't a problem on the train...

This little bomb was in the Science Museum, where we spent the morning, and since it was stationary, both kids sat happily in it! Other big sights were the old steam trains, the Cray computer, all sorts of timepieces... it's huge and varied!

After lunch we headed across the street to the V&A, where we wandered aimlessly through China and Japan, ironwork, silver, the crazy room where they collected casts of all the great large works of sculpture -- there's Michelangelo's David, there's Trajan's whole dang Column! And then there are cases of things like metal pillar box money-boxes.

I should give you links for some of these things, but my brain isn't really working...

After our weekend of excitement, Elaine and I are both coughing and spluttering. I think it will pass shortly -- won't it?? I haven't been to the grocery store in days and days, so I'm trying online ordering and delivery! Whoo hoo, I say. I think I ordered too much of some stuff, and was sort of nervous about letting them choose my meat and fresh veg, so we're getting a lot of pasta... I think it would be good for one who was organized, instead of one who was desperate.

I got a good bit of sock cuff knitted on the bus Sunday, and I've almost finished my pinkish yarns in the afghan squares, and the red teacosy is sort of boring, as it turns out, so it's just sitting there. I also have had issues with the pink 4-ply. I am determined to do something with it, and having been considered for scarf, gloves, and the get-rid-of bag, it's now being turned into a baby hat. It'll not be warm enough for Mongolia or Afghanistan, but I'll find a local charity, I think, unless a baby girl turns up pretty quick! It's a fun pattern from an ancient Patons learn-to-knit book. I'll show you... tomorrow.