Just Max and me – Adventures Day 9 – Techniquest.

Max looked tired when he arrived this morning. He still had the lines of his pillows imprinted on his cheeks. He still smiled and we took a long time to gently prepare him for the day!

Max ate 3 Weetabix for breakfast! He ate slowly, enjoying it and watching the wood burner glowing in the fireplace.We had our adventure planned already – a day at Techniquest.

techniquestWe had our adventure planned already – a day at Techniquest.

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Each month this exciting Science Exhibition in Cardiff holds a Toddler Day. They call it Snowflakes and Sparkles – although I wasn’t expecting to see either.

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We also received the good news that Max’s cousin Eli was also coming down, that would be great fun.

Max got dressed and prepared for the day. We set off just before ten for the short journey down to Cardiff Bay.

Techniquest first opened on 13 November 1986 on the site of the old British Gas showroom on the corner of Duke Street and St John Street in Cardiff Town Centre. There were 48 exhibits at that time, many of them were designed and built by Techniquest. The former showroom housed the centre for around nine months. Less than seven weeks after it had opened Techniquest had welcomed its ten thousandth visitor.

In 1988 Techniquest re-opened in a pre-fabricated building opposite the now demolished Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum in Bute Street. The two buildings were removed to make way for Mermaid Quay.

They moved again in 1995 about 100 metres along Stuart Street to its present location on the site of the former Baileys engineering workshop which is now its permanent headquarters. The building, the UK’s first purpose-built science discovery centre, opened on 1 May 1995. It uses the steel framework of the original building which can be clearly seen on the photograph.

We parked up and waited for Eli to arrive.

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Kids are free on Toddler Day. I asked for one OAP ticket but was rebuffed and told that all tickets were cheaper today, so I duly paid my £5.80, put on my wrist band and in we went.

Max absolutely loved it and so did Max. Every exhibit brought new delights.

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It was an effort to drag Max from one to another, he cried when we moved on but squealed with delight when he saw what was next it was truly wonderful.

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We did stop at one place so Max could have a tattoo done. Unusually, he sat quietly while it was being done. In all fairness the young man who was doing it was really gentle and kind. Max was fascinated!

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On our way round, we met several friends. Bibby was there with Oliver and Clive and Beatty French were on Grandparenting duty with their little ones.

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We had a great chat.

We even met with old Father Christmas…

IMG_4244Max wasn’t too sure though!!

We moved on and made our way upstairs to see even greater delights….

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These two had no body to play with!!!!

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Max and Eli are such lovely friends as well as cousins….

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We even let the boys make a bauble for the Christmas Tree!!!

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It really was a day filled with wonder…. and one of the greatest wonders of all…..

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Beautiful Elsie Joy….

On the way out, Max even sat still to have a reindeer painted on his face.

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Great stuff.

 

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The Bear Nobody Loved – Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Making friends

 

George was very nervous. It was a long time since anyone had visited the caravan. He was hoping there would be some children. George like it when children came to stay. Grown ups didn’t usually bother with him and they left him on his high up shelf.

He heard the keys turn in the lock and then he heard the door of the caravan open slowly…

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He put one leg over the edge of his high up shelf so he could get a better view.

Suddenly he heard a child’s voice. Then he heard another child’s voice and then another.

After that he heard the voices of the children’s daddy and mummy. The children were called Mia, Millie and Lois. They were very excited and ran about laughing and jumping on the seats. As Millie was jumping excitedly up and down she noticed George, he was looking down.

Millie stopped and stared.

Millie looked at George and George looked at Millie. He thought that Millie had a kind face. He hoped they could be friends.

‘Mia look!’ she shouted, ‘a bear… let’s play with him. Get him down Mia, get him down!’

Millie’s mummy said that the bear looked a bit old and dirty and that they were not allowed to play with him.

The girls were very sad.

‘Mummy can we give the bear a bath and then we can play with him?’ the girls said.

They felt sorry for the bear, he looked lonely up there on the high up shelf. Mummy said that she would, and she took George down and put him on top of the settee to look out of the window. George was very excited.

After they had unpacked all their cases, mummy took George very gently and gave him a bath in the washing up bowl.

Mummy looked closely at George. He wasn’t a very handsome bear. He had one eye missing and his other eye was very scratched.

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George thought that mummy had a very kind face. He loved having a bath. The water was warm and there were lots of bubbles.

George liked bubbles. The last time George had had a bath it was in a washing machine. George got very dizzy in the washing machine. That was the time he lost his eye.

Mummy washed George very gently and dried him with a towel. After that George was put outside on the line to dry.

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He was very uncomfortable with a peg on his ear, but he loved being out in the sunshine after being in the caravan for so long.

He could not hear anything out of his ear with the peg on, but in his other ear, if he listened carefully, he could hear the sound of children playing on the beach and he could hear the sound of the sea.

George loved the beach – he could not go in the sea; sea water was not good for his fur but he loved to climb rocks and build sandcastles and lay on a towel on the beach.

After he was dry, George was taken off the line and he was given a packet of his favourite snack. They were called Pom Bears.

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George was so happy. He felt a little tear trickle down his cheek. It wasn’t a sad tear; it was a happy tear. George was a happy bear.

He felt clean but most of all he felt happy because he heard Mia’s mummy say that after dinner they would be going down the beach.

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‘Can we take George to the beach? Millie asked.

‘Yes, of course you can,’ Mummy replied, ‘as long as you keep him out of the water.’ Millie and Lois promised that they would be very careful and that they would look after George.

Millie gave George a huge cuddle.

‘You’re coming the the beach; you’re coming to the beach!’ she shouted.

He smiled.

George felt, clean, happy and loved.

 

Chapter 3

George goes to the beach

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