Thats the time and temperature in our bedroom. Bit of a cold start this morning! No heating in my place – not normally needed, but this is the chilliest its been for a long time.

Battersea Bridge Lit up at Night

Great night. And they even played old fashioned (i.e. 20th Century) music. Which was nice.

A temporary rink is due to be built on Pope’s Road, Brixton for two and a half years and then towards the end of 2013, a new permanent rink will open.

There will be a Closing Gala at Streatham on Sunday 18th December 2011 starting at 4pm with a Gala performance from 4 to 6pm followed by a party on the ice until 8pm. Tickets will be £7.50 to include the Gala, the skate afterwards and skate hire if required. For more details see Gala Poster.

Please come along to watch, skate or both. It is a chance to celebrate the long life of the much-loved 1931 building and mark the end of one era and the start of the next.

This will be the last day of operation of the rink. The temporary rink will be open on Monday 19th December.

It’s a dry run for a much bigger construction this time next year, during the Olympic Games.

BBQ at the Zoo

The annual Friends of Battersea Park BBQ at the Zoo event took place last Monday 13th June and we were lucky enough to be able to go – the event was sold out.

We enjoyed a private ‘after-hours’ view of the animals and play area, and the BBQ food and entertainment was excellent.

As you can see from the photo, the event was very well attended, thanks in part to the very good weather.

Although there weren’t many children along, there were entertainments laid on, as if the zoo itself wasn’t enough. Here a local facepainter generously gave her time to help the fundraising efforts.

Toy Ships at NMR

Taking advantage of the sunshine, we took a trip on a Thames Clipper riverboat from the London Eye to Greenwich. The pier at the London Eye serves both this commuter-style service and the tourist boats – the Clipper is significantly faster though even with the extra stops.

At Greenwich, the Cutty Sark is still shrouded in scaffolding after the terrible fire last year. We took the kids to the National Maritime Museum and enjoyed the Toy Ships exhibition currently showing there.

What caught my eye, one pictured here as No.5, are some Stirling-engine powered boats. The description for this example reads:

Pop Pop Boat £4.50 at NMR

In the shop on the way out I picked up a pop-pop boat, powered by candle. On test runs in the bath we found it a bit underpowered so changed the candle for some solid parafin tablets.  Lots of dire warnings about how it isn’t a toy and not suitable for children, which is a shame as it makes a lovely sound as it chugs around.

For those of you with your own workshop sheds, here’s a great article about how pop-pop boats work and how to build one yourself.

Natural History Museum - Darwin Centre cocoon building

The Natural History Museum seems more popular than I ever remember it. We visited at about 3pm on Sunday and there was a queue from the door right down the ramp to the gates on Cromwell Road. Fortunately the queue was fast moving (no ticket desk after all) so it only took about 10 minutes to get to the entrance.

Just like the Science Museum next door, the Natural History Museum has been updating its layout. Old favourites like the blue whale are still gathering dust but they’ve added a massive concrete cocoon exhibit which features bugs on pins and real live scientists that you can verbally poke as you tour.

What I remember most about the museum from visting as a child, apart from the dinosaur in the main entrance, and the whale, is all the buttons that you could push. These exhibits still exist but of course seem tame by today’s standards. This new exhibit has a host of up to date interactive features, plus if you have ‘lively’ children with you, you’ll be glad of the unclutted outside space they can run around in afterwards.

Inside the Darwin Centre