Bang went the theory

We succeeded in scoring tickets for the 'bang goes the theory' live stage show. It's a show that makes science interesting, fun, loud and appealing for all age groups. The adolescents and the adults all quite excited. We were not disappointed. The presenters had a quirky fun style, with jokes for young and old, and there were some satisfying bangs. The whole 'theme' was, was rocket power better than human power, culminating in a man v rocket football kicking contest. They invited a dad shaped volunteer from the audience to kick a football into a net. Describing him as the pinnacle of human evolution, he just looked like an ordinary Sheffield bloke in trackies and a football shirt to me. He did a good job of belting the ball unfortunately over the net. His second attempt was on goal, and the ball was traveling around 47 miles / hour. Pretty impressive. Less impressive was he lost all his change out of his pocket, and him and the presenters were scrabbling around on stage to retrieve it!  Then came the rocket powered football boot. A rocket was if ignited at the end of a tunnel, it whizzed along the tunnel, propelling a boot mounted strategically on a block, which rammed into the ball. The ball, on target, flew into the back of the net, whilst the city hall gradually filled up with smoke. All very dramatic. But, rocket power was not victorious, only 36 miles / hour. 

I learnt you can kick a ball faster than a rocket can because only a fraction of rocket power can be transformed into energy, and if you intend to volunteer to kick a ball on stage in front of hundreds of people, wear suitable trousers.

Not such a shambles

Last saturday in North Yorkshire and it's raining. What can you do in North Yorkshire, in the rain with two teenage girls and an octogenarian? Yorvik Viking centre in York was what we agreed upon, so back in the car.

please come back

nice tree

We realise the village where we are staying  is rather lovely and North Yorkshire is relatively flat compared to the Peak District (I guess the clue is in the name). We also realise the traffic in York is very heavy on a Saturday and we should have gone for the park and ride. Oh well, we eventually find a  parking spot near the Yorvik Centre, and find some loos, essential when traveling with the old man. 

Outside the centre there's a bird of prey demonstration taking place, dad, the girls and me make ourselves comfortable on a wall, whilst Leanne sorts out the tickets.

still in the tree..awkward

Finally!

The bird man is talking about his birds, flings one into the air and it flys off to sit on M & S. Then, he gets what looks like a shredded rodent to tempt the bird back. The bird has other ideas involving the tree. It flys into the tree and remains there for around five minutes. This must have seemed like hours to the poor bloke on the ground, waiving his shredded mouse around to try and tempt the bird out of the tree! Meanwhile, half of York are staring into the tree, and observing the man and his embarrassment. He does a fairly respectable job of holding it together and talks about the birds keen eyesight and hunting abilities.

Finally the bird returns to the man, and Leanne comes back with the tickets. We all enjoy the ride back in time and the smelly yorvik centre. Most of the staff actually look like Vikings, it may even be a prerequisite for getting a job there. One guide was amusing the girls asking what sort of fur was on Maisie's hood, and pretending to not know what sort of creature a nylon was.

The girls and Leanne went off to a dig experience whilst me and dad wandered up and down the shambles and had a peek in York Minster.