Yesterday I went on a school trip to the Houses Of Parliament- technically, it was an A level trip, but somehow BB and I (along with three Year 9s) ended up going too.
It involved a fairly early start, setting off from the school at 7am! To be honest, we probably could have set off later- instead we stopped at a service station shortly before London, where BB and I threatened to buy a scarecrow (they were very cute). I spent most of the trip pointing out animals, which BB claimed was driving him mad, and listening to cheesy music.
We got to London around 10ish- I think?!- but it took a long time to actually get to Westminster. I really really like just
being in London though, so had a good time people-watching. I also swapped animal-spotting to tourist-spotting.
When we got off the coach, we still had some time to kill, so we sat on the grass and took pictures. It was very sunny!
BB and I had a challenge of who could take the weirdest thing; I took a skipping rope (that was never used) and a clothes peg, whilst BB took a sheep (a Christmas present from moi) and a bear dressed as a monk. Funnily enough, the trip leader- Mr F- wasn't surprised at all by the sheep, and even held it up for a picture.
Finally, it was time to go in, though this took a bit of a trek- we first went to the wrong place, and had to cross various roads etc. Anyway, we got in eventually, and went through security. We weren't allowed to take our phones (or iPods, in my case- I left my phone at home) in, so there are no pictures for this part!
Some people needed the toilet, and as we walked across the foyer/canteen, I saw my aunt, who works for an MP. I didn't think I'd see her, so that was a bit of a surprise!
We separated into two groups; I was with BB, the Year 9s and a couple of sixth formers. I was the only girl in the group, so the two female teachers- Miss H and Miss C- said they'd be with our group to keep me company, which was nice.
We looked around both the House of Commons and the House of Parliament. It was all very very interesting! I think my favourite part was learning that, in the House of Commons, to vote they have to walk through one of two chambers, the 'ayes' chamber or the 'noes' chamber, which allows the vote to be counted quickly and easily. It's also possible to 'positively abstain' by walking very quickly through both.
In one part, there are head-statues of different politicians, with the ones decided to be most important given full-length ones. BB had told everyone earlier how Clement Attlee apparently has only ever been 'given' one statue, which is outside the library in his home-town. When he mentioned this to the tour guide, however, she told him that she didn't think so, and gestured to the Clement Attlee full-length statue right next to us.
Our group was pretty good on the weird question front; I think, overall, we asked more 'random' questions than political ones. Examples include 'is that pure gold?' and 'how much would that cost to buy?'.
After tour, we did a making laws workshop, where we were taken through the various stages on making laws. Again, very interesting! Unfortunately, our team- there were three at this point- didn't win :(
We then had just over an hour before the coach home, so most of the sixth formers went off to get food whilst the Year 9s and 11s (and a few sixth formers) stuck with the teachers. We went to St James' Park to have lunch. By this time it was very sunny, so it was really nice.
After lunch we walked through the park. BB started to discuss laxatives, which soon became a very weird discussion involving all the males in the group- at which point I begged Miss H and Miss C to save me!
Stopped on a bridge to take some pretty pictures.
You can see the London Eye in the back of this one!
The flowers were also out in full bloom- it really did feel like spring!
Carried on up the park to Buckingham Palace, and got a few pictures there, though we had to be very conscious of time.
We had to do a very quick-walk back to the coach! Miss C tried to set the pace, but soon left us in the dust.
Coach back home was fairly uneventful; I gave up on the animal-spotting and just listened to cheesy music, occasionally getting very into it. I think the sheep liked the coach, though.
Near Bristol we got stuck in traffic, and Miss H got bored and decided we should play a game. This resulted in BB, Miss C, Mr F, Miss H and I playing 'I went shopping...', watched by the Year 9s who apparently looked like they were getting more and more fed-up with each repetition. We had a
weird shopping basket by the end of it:
Alligator, Banana, Catacoomb, Japanese Dictionary, Eagle, Fudge, Gorilla, Miss H, Ice Cream, Jehovah's Witness, Kingfisher, Leprechaun, Martian, Nuts, Orb, Pirate, Queensland, Rabid Dog, Shotgun, Telesales Person, Uranus, Vicar, Womble, Xylophone, Yes Man and a Zodiac Description Man. (In case you're really bored and want to work out who said what, it went Miss H, me, BB, Miss C, Mr F. Also, guess which one made everyone giggle?!).
After that Miss H tried to test me on RE revision- resulting in one of the quotes I have to learn becoming 'Don't get pregnant with martians, it will only ruin you'.
Got back to Bristol around 6:15ish having had a really great day!!!
Thank you so much to JG for a brilliant night!!
