Science Suffers

Hooked by the challenge and interactivity, I went to to Ice Station Antarctica, the Natural History Museum's temporary exhibition,. I asked how long it would take to go around and was told it would take 1 hr. For the £7 ticket price, an hour of edutainment seemed reasonable. I'd pay a bit more or a bit more cinematic entertainment.

I went into the exhibition and the first room was about the only place in London that was colder on the inside than on the outside. It was cooled to -10 deg C which I learnt is a hot day in Antarctica.

I was disappointed with the exhibition as there were only 2 interactive exhibits - a snowmobile simulator and a divers' simulator. They were both superficial but fun. I was denied more than 2 goes on each simulator as I needed to get my ticket scanned - so my score can be accessed on a website. I'm not sure why I need to do that.

The rest of the area comprised of photos, text, videos, equipment and a mockup of a room in a polar base.

I finished going around in 1/2 hr and felt ripped-off. I wrong in the comments card that it was only worth £3.50.

It seemed to be an advert for their main sponsor: British Antarctic Survey which I had to pay to experience.

On the plus side, I did learnt that divers work in the Antarctic, people drive snowmobiles to hunt for meteorites and scientists look at penguin droppings to find out what they eat.

I then went to the Science Museum to window shop in the gift shop. There were lots of toys and interactive experiments but I was shocked to see that they had eliminated every single book. In the good old days the shop was lined with books on several walls. I know kids have to be entertained but this dumbing down has gone too far.

Poles Present

The BBC claims that there are a million Poles in the UK. There not here to hold up telephone wires but to install them. It's true. Indeed there is talk of the "Polish Builder" as the only type one can find.

Everyday I go out, I see a car with Polish plates: I hardly see foreign car that isn't Polish-registered. The Polish either immigrated with their cars or have gone home after earning pounds and bought a bargain.

In my local high street, a Polish shop has opened next to the East-European shop. Even the bank has posters in Polish only.