Dear LPG   

I want to address my comments to those readers who think that they are too long in the tooth to discover anything else and tell them that I was one of those people too.

I have a fairly large family and, especially during the summer months, there is always one of the children arranging family trips out.  I used to be invited quite a bit but I suppose that they are fed up with my saying 'no' when asked and the invitations are not so regular these days.

I think that it is the trauma that goes with getting packed and ready to go that is the most off-putting and I also am very aware of how much slower I am.  I see myself as the family member who will spoil the enjoyment for all the others because they always have to slow down when I am a part of the group. 

The other day I was invited on such a trip to the SEA LIFE London Aquarium.  In my head all that translates into is a lot of being pushed around for me, a lot more waiting around for the smaller children and a lot more responsibility for the generation between the two, but I did say that I would go after all the repeated pleas offered by the children.

Sea life is not really one of the things that particularly fascinates me, and there are many other things to see in London but I did go and really had no idea of just how much information is to be learned and how many beautiful sights there are to be seen whichever one you visit.  I thought that I had seen all an aquarium had to offer when I was much more mobile and visited ten years ago but there is always something new to see and learn; something you missed the last time you experienced this.  It is also a good time to bond with the children; yours and theirs. 

so my plea to those readers who feel that they have seen it all before is to take another look and your camera if you have one no matter where you are invited to in the future.

Many such venues are wheel chair friendly these days and I have to admit to slowing the rest of the family down a little but, as my granddaughter observed, “the slower you go through a place like that the more you see.”.  No matter how many times one does these things there is always something new to discover.

NM, Greenwich

(►►►)   (►►►)