One Day In London - Tower of London to Borough Market Area

I had booked a couple of days in London for the wife and me, which was mainly to celebrate my upcoming 40-something birthday. On previous visits to the capital we would usually aim for Covent Garden and end up trawling round countless shops, and end up in Oxford Street thoroughly worn out and wondering where the time had gone. Not this time however!
I had spent weeks planning, with military precision, where to stay, and what we would be doing, and how to do it cheaply, and not get bored.
A Travelodge is usually a good start, cheap and cheerful, and there just happened to be one near Tower Bridge which was the area I had in mind to visit. A search on the Tesco Clubcard site showed me I could use my points to get tickets for the HMS Belfast which is a museum ship that is situated within spitting distance of Tower Bridge.
I know how expensive restaurants can be so I also got vouchers for Cafe Rouge (£40 voucher only costs £10 - happy days!)

We decided to visit the HMS Belfast on the Saturday and, as it was nearby, take a look at the Golden Hinde II, and the Clinks Prison Museum too. All were well within walking distance of the hotel, and we could take in the Tower of London and Hays Galleria (shops & restaurants).

The HMS Belfast looks great from the shore, but truely comes to life as you embark.
Like Dr Who's Tardis it just seems to get ten times bigger inside.
With hundreds of rooms to explore, life-like models of sailors and crew in the rooms, its great entertainment and utterly fascinating. There's even a great little cafe onboard !

This enquiring fellow scares the bejesus out of you, suddenly appearing as you are walking along a narrow, claustrophobic corridor. So interesting to see how these sailors lived and experience what it must have felt like working and living on this incredible boat
Further along the Thames, at Pickfords Wharf, is the Golden Hinde II, a full-sized reconstruction of Sir Francis Drakes' famous galleon, which is colourful and impressive.

We had plenty of time to wander round the nearby Borough Market, which reminded me a lot of Camden. Literally hundreds of stalls selling and serving every food and drink known to man.
We had a takeaway Indian curry for lunch which was really tasty. We had to rub our eyes when Dawn French and hubby walked past.
Borough Market is simply stunning visually, and it's so good trying samples such as cheese, chocolate and mead. Our favourite was Sweet Roots which sold amazing varities of Liquorice. Definitely coming back with large bags!

We had a great time exploring this area of London, but I was already looking forward to Sunday when we had planned a visit to the Imperial War Museum.

TOYS THAT TEACH - WORKING WOODEN MODEL KITS

The Pathfinder Working Wooden Models are a brilliant range of kits, some of which are based on Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawings. They are designed to teach and educate on the workings of things such as Catapults, Trebuchets, Helicopters, Robotics, Hydraulics and much more. Some of the kits have even won awards, such as the Creative Child Top Toy of the Year

Pathfinders are an environmentally friendly company and use recycleable materials, natural, untreated wood, and local resources & production as much as possible with these kits.

THE ORNITHOPTER

An iconic part of Leonardo’s legacy, the ornithopter, was designed in about 1505 and shows his desire to see humans fly under their own power as birds do. 

THE HELICOPTER

Another of Leonardo's most iconic ideas, the Aerial Screw (also known as the Helicopter) illustrates the ingenuity of da Vinci, and indicates his obsession with flying. 

While it is clear this helicopter-style flying machine didn’t work, it has sparked the imagination of many generations as one of his iconic inventions.

 

 THE CATAPULT

Leonardo made two drawings of catapults in the codex Atlanticus, dated in the 1480’s. Gun powder had been invented well before his drawings, but he seemed to understand that it wasn’t always reliable and that catapults still had a place in warfare.

 THE TREBUCHET

Considered by many to be the most powerful and destructive of all the siege engines, the trebuchet would hurl huge rocks, giant fireballs and even diseased animals at castles.

The Trebuchet model kit allows you to create a tabletop working replica of a trebuchet made in the 13th Century. Standing 26 inches tall by 18 inches wide this model will shoot balls of plasticine (which are supplied) over 20 feet!

ROBOTIC ARM 

The robotic arm is an easy-to-build 3D model that grabs and lifts items horizontally, and can turn very close to 90 degrees

This model kit provides a great way to learn about Robotics, Levers and Simple Machines, Fluid dynamics, Engineering, and Invention, and Design and Technology - or just moving things around the house

Work Braces - Don't Let Your Trousers Drop !!

Strutt your stuff and support the load with quality braces which are designed for the job and look super cool, just like builder superstar Tommy Walsh !

Wear your passion or trade with pride, whether you're a fisherman, gardener, carpenter, or have a love of Route 66, cars, skull and crossbones, or even Leprechauns.
This is a small selection, but see our full range of braces here

They have good wide straps, leather cross over and extra strong clips, and if you  attach them to a tool pouch or work apron, the load is taken off the wearer's hips, making work a much more comfortable experience.
Our Smiley Face braces are great fun, and guaranteed to bring a smile to everyone's face who sees them, and our Airport Friendly braces will get you past the scanners without setting off alarms!

All of our braces simply excel at the most important job, for simply keeping up one's trousers

They make the perfect gift for Dad and Grandad. There's a pair of braces for everyone !

Museums At Night - Magical Night-time Festival 13th-16th May

Museums at Night, The UK Festival of After-Hours Events which will explode into life from Wednesday 13th to Saturday 16th May 2015 is a biannual UK-wide festival which attracts visitors into museums, galleries and heritage sites by throwing their doors open after hours and putting on magical evening events all over the country, like the sleepover at the William Morris Museum in London and the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

Who knows whether the dinosaur skeleton might come to life like in the Ben Stiller film Night At The Museum, but anyway, it'll certainly bring history to life.

Anyone in the Great Yarmouth area should take in the exceptional Time and Tide Museum which is Free on the 15th May, and those in Norwich need to explore the Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery also Free on the 16th May

See the full list of after-hours openings and events in your area at www.museumsatnight.org.uk/

Cadw Stargazing at Tintern Abbey

 

Galleries of Justice Museum - Nottingham

Mary Rose Museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

The Soviet Stalinetz Tractors Which Helped Defeat The Nazis

During World War II the Soviets relied on heavily on tractors. “Stalinets” tractors were produced in 1937-1941 in Chelyabinsk Traktornyy Zavod (ChTZ for short) for industrial and construction works, but they were also often used by the Red Army as a prime mover, pulling heavy artillery and mortars across battlefields.


During this time seven other industrial entities (including most of Leningrad’s Kirov Plant, and 15,000 of its workers.) were either wholly or partially relocated to Chelyabinsk, the resulting enterprise, commonly known as “Танкоград” (‘Tankograd’, or ‘Tank City’), The work force increased to 60,000 workers by 1944, from 25,000 during non-military production; during the conflict the works produced 18,000 tanks, and 48,500 tank diesel engines as well as over 17 million units of ammunition.
The Stalinetz S-65 was the most numerous of the Soviet tracked tractors of WWII with 37,656 being produced at the ChelyabinskiyChTZ and Zavod plants between 1937 and 1941 before ChTZ switched to tank production.
With a combat weight of 11.2t the Stalinetz S-65 was used to tow heavy artillery.

Production included the KV tank from 1941,T-34 tank from 1942, KV-85 tank and JS tanks from 1943, and T-34/85 tank and SU-85 self-propelled field gun from 1944 By 1945 the plant had been awarded the Order of Kutuzov, 1st Class, the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Star, and other honours for its efforts in helping to defeat Nazi Germany.

Here you can see a  “Stalinets” tractor which sank in the winter of 1942 in the Usoditsa lake of the Zapadnodvinsky district of the Tver region, Russia.
The tractor has now gone for restoration. It was in quite good condition with no rust, the mechanics were faultless, and the tanks had oil and fuel inside. This is a unique machine as there are now only a handful of tractors like this in the museums of the world.

Trumpeter have produced a 1:35 scale model kit of the Russian ChTZ S-65 Artillery Tractor without cab which makes an interesting modelling project. 

The following pictures show a model of the Russian ChTZ S-65 Artillery Tractor as completed by John Tolcher, "The kit is made by Trumpeter, with an engine from LZ Models. The canopy was scratchbuilt as a field modification. The model was painted with Tamiya acrylics and weathered using mostly oil paints and pigments."

See even more photos of Johns project here