thawaio.a personal journal
thawaio.

Part 2 of 8Tagging along to London

Daddy and his little bus navigator

While my wife worked, my son and I went out on our own by bus, to lakes and meadows, an urban farm full of animals and a LEGO aisle in Staines.

By Thawaio1 min read25–27 April 2022 · London and Staines-upon-Thames

A boy in a navy hoodie and jeans, seen from behind, reaching through a wooden fence to feed a brown goat with curved horns in a sunny paddock. His face is pixelated.
Feeding a goat at Hounslow Urban Farm, 26 April.

Getting around

While my wife was working, my son and I went out on our own. I preferred the buses to the Underground, and I would say about 95% of our journeys were by bus.

My son had a remarkable memory for bus numbers and routes, and for which side of the road to catch them from. Our division of responsibility was simple: “You remember, Daddy manoeuvres.”

Lakes and meadows

On 25 April, we spent the morning among the lakes and meadows of Bedfont Lakes Country Park.

A calm lake with reeds and young trees along the bank, ducks on the water and a wide stretch of grass in the foreground, under a grey sky.
A lake at Bedfont Lakes Country Park, 25 April.
A small boy standing on a dirt path where it forks across a wide green meadow, under heavy grey cloud. His face is pixelated.
On the path across the meadow.

Hounslow Urban Farm

On 26 April, we went to Hounslow Urban Farm. My son loved animals. He was not afraid of frogs, snakes or salamanders. He wanted to hold them and interact with them.

A boy in a navy hoodie standing in front of a large blue sign reading “Welcome to Hounslow Urban Farm”, set in a thick green hedge. His face is pixelated.
Hounslow Urban Farm.

He particularly enjoyed feeding the goats. At one point he asked me:

The back of a boy’s head as he looks through a wire-mesh window at two hens and a cockerel in a wooden coop.
Watching the chickens.
A boy seen from behind with both arms stretched up, leaning on the wooden fence of an enclosure on a sunny day.
At one of the enclosures.

In a barn lined with hay bales, there was an animal-handling session.

Two clear plastic tubs of soil held up side by side, one with a black scorpion and the other with a large brown tarantula.
A scorpion and a tarantula in their tubs.
A patterned brown python draped around a child’s shoulders and resting along his outstretched arm and hand, with hay bales behind.
A python, held by my son.
A brown, orange and white guinea pig on a child’s lap, with his hand resting on its back.
A guinea pig on his lap.

Staines-upon-Thames

On 27 April, we went to Staines-upon-Thames, mainly because of my son’s interest in LEGO.

A child in a green jacket, seen from behind, walking past tall shelves packed with LEGO boxes in a toy shop.
The LEGO aisle in a toy shop in Staines, 27 April.

I bought a hoodie there. It became a favourite piece of travel clothing for years, although I no longer own it.

Rumali roti

During the first week, my son also developed a taste for Indian food, especially rumali roti. I remember eating it near the hotel at Heathrow, but I cannot say on which day.