Leicester Larks

I've spent the last four nights staying with group B questacon science circus compadre Regan and her partner Rick. Apart from an afternoon in Manly Reg and I have not had a good catch up since the end of circus in 99. It was nice to spend time finding where eachother was at and remeniscing.

I spent much of the few days recovering from my travels, casual lunches, Leicester Indian Meals, updating the blog, email etc and of course having a BBQ english style.

I landed at Reg and Rick's a day before they were off to a Ball for the local association of anesthetists. I don't usually pack black tie when travelling so I had to stretch the definition of Black Tie assisted by Rick's wardrobe and some shopping at Marks and Spencers. I'm glad I went though as it was a great night and I liked comparing UK balls with those back home. Sadly I did not win the tickets to next year's ball in the raffle.

Leicester is home to the National Space Centre, which Regan helped with the development of many of the displays. They have a brilliant collection with some great interactives and I even picked up some ideas for the centre in Parkes.

When travelling I try to find unusual or unique places for lunch and I think sitting below the funnel of a rocket has to be near the top of "exotic" places to eat! Two large rockets are housed in a very distinctive tower near the entry of the centre.

The space centre is also home to the only Challenger Learning Centre outside the United States. The centre runs simulated space shuttle missions for groups. It sounds like a lot of fun but now I have to figure out how to convince the powers that be that some teambuilding here for the visitor centre staff would be worthwhile...