Went back to Bletchley Park on Saturday, the first of the summer's "geek tourism" trips organised by Paul. I managed to take loads of photos, even though I'd already taken loads of photos when we were there a few months ago (They can all be seen here, although I haven't uploaded all of the new ones yet).
While the lads seemed to have the most fun nostalgically geeking out over the vintage machines in the NMOC, I remained impressed with the extensive collections of gorgeously-designed printed ephemera, and the sheer amount of both objects and information about them. Even though I've now been there twice, and spent the entire afternoon wandering around all of the various museums, I still feel like I've barely scraped the surface of information to be discovered, and will no doubt be back again before the year ends (my ticket is valid for another nine months, after all). There's a pile of 1940s books in the Home Front & Toy Museum that I'd love to have a proper look through, not to mention about a thick paperback's worth of reading on codebreaking that I've pretty much ignored in favour of other things on both visits. (My previous report is here.)
After exhausting ourselves looking at lots of different things in the museums, we jumped on a train back to London and wandered over to Smithfield for the third annual Smithfield Nocturne. I'd never have known about this if not for Paul mentioning it, which surprised me, because I follow a lot of London blogs and not one single one mentioned it. I don't know whose idea it was to hold a cycle race around Smithfield Market, but it was a good one, because it was very entertaining watching people zip around the market buildings on two wheels. We watched a couple of different races before wandering off to eat some delicious food and drink yummy Belgian beer at the Dovetail (it's a little pricey but very good). The most entertaining race was the "commuter race" with folding bikes, although I thought some of the racers could have made more effort with their suits. Wearing a shirt and tie with cycling shorts is just silly! I was impressed with Team Brompton and their matching maroon blazers embroidered with a special Brompton crest over the front pocket (as seen in Paul's pic) and also emblazoned with embroidered folding bikes on the back.
(Speaking of Smithfield Market, Yersinia recently started a blog about the project to create ships made from ice that was based there during WW2, which is recommended reading to anyone interested in quirky history, London, war tactics or mad science. Read about it here.)
