I've got two related stories, cum reviews,
for you. I'm going to split them by geography, but
they are related, in part, by one very important factor.
This factor is my three-year-old daughter cum hurricane,
Hannah. She is my first-born baby (conceived on a
Jethro Tull tour, born during an Iron Maiden tour);
I also have Lauren (couch at home, and Iron Maiden
again, for those of you who must know). Lauren enters
in Part 2 of this story, but let's first look at a
couple of aquaria in England.
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The first is a little jewel of a place, which surprised the
hell out of me when we came across it. Syon Park is in Isleworth,
Middlesex. It has a big country house, huge grounds, a garden
centre, and a very, very good branch of Maidenhead Aquatics
(the aquarium and fish suppliers). It has also got a fabulous
butterfly house and aquarium.
We first went there to buy some fish and stuff from Maidenhead
Aquatics (this is not a plug, by the way). We had Hannah with
us, it was near to Christmas, it was cold, and so we thought
we'd go to the tropical butterfly house. I'd never been to
one before, but I was absolutely entranced. There were butterflies
everywhere. The sheer scale of variety of colours, sizes and
species was staggering. There were incubation tanks, full
of chrysalis, in various stages of development, as well as
feeding stations, soaked in sugar, and plants and netting
everywhere, to give you a great view of these brilliant creatures
wherever you look. On top of that, there was an ant colony,
complete with feeding area, which the ants could only get
to via a rope, slung between posts, which joined the colony
and the feeding area. A couple of koi carp ponds, and a dozen
electrically coloured parakeets complete the setting. We've
since had many great days out there, and it is one of Hannah's
favourite places on Earth.
As you leave the butterfly house, you go through the bug
enclosure. For those of you who remember the bug scene from
"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", most of
the supporting cast have relatives in this bit of the park.
Creepy crawlies with more legs and wavy things than any sub-phylum
has any right to have hanging out there, delighting the kids
and giving adults a full-fledged attack of the screaming heebie-jeebies.
The aquarium is small in physical size, but what a collection
of animals! There are three or four big tanks and surprisingly
deep, filled with South American species, such as Pacu, gibbiceps
plecostomus (or Bob, as Hannah calls them), catfish, and so
on, and so on. The fish look incredibly healthy, and mix together
well. Other tanks include marine, an electric eel, various
cichlids and piranha. They all look very contented with their
lot, and the bright, greenhouse roof makes the whole place
look bigger than it is.
As you walk around, you realise that part of the floor is
actually a walkway, and swimming below you are several terrapins,
looking either for food, or for the keepers to turn a blind
eye, so that they can perform the world's slowest ever dash
for
freedom! You then walk around several other enclosures which
house alligators, crocs, some bloody big snakes and various
breeds of poisonous frog!
The best part for me, however, was a big pond, at waist
height, containing about fifteen huge koi carp. The idea was
that you could buy 35mm. film cases full of fish pellets,
to feed the fish. Not only do the kids love this, it's great
for the alleged adults in the audience, too. Standing there,
watching the unbridled joy on the kids' faces, as they bombard
these beasties with food is brilliant. The squeals of delight
are fantastic, and the look of wonderment as they, hesitatingly
at first, stroke the fish makes you so happy to be a Dad and
share a bit of this wonderful world. By the way, the food
cost about twenty-five pence a tube. I spent £3.50 on
bloody fish food before Hannah allowed us to leave!
One final word about Syon Park. They staff also run displays
and lectures for the kids, which include touching snakes (don't
think so… not for me, I'm afraid), and hairy great spiders
(see previous). A journey out there is well worth the trip,
and there are some great pubs nearby. We also live quite close,
so come by for a cuppa.
And so we move on, dear reader, (yeah, right) to this summer.
I had four weeks off between "Riverdance" tours,
and wanted to do something special, just Hannah and myself.
She had been to Barcelona aquarium with me on the first part
of the tour, and had a riot there. I thought it would be a
great idea to combine three of her favourite things, namely
trains (she adores Thomas the Tank Engine), aquaria (she is
my daughter, after all), and McDonald's (again, see previous).
We left the house on a beautiful morning for the half-hour
journey into Waterloo, during which time I was climbed upon,
sung to and told exactly who lived in which house as we screamed
by at sixty miles an hour. Apparently, my mother lives in
about six different houses.
After our sumptuous repast…. well, Big Mac, fries,
and a happy meal for H, which included some bizarre mechanical,
magnetised toy with whiskers and a detachable fish! we crossed
the road from Waterloo Station onto South Bank. The
London Aquarium is located in the old GLC Building, or County
Hall, as it was when I were a nipper. Whilst we were waiting
to buy our tickets, H was enthralled by a small car, filled
with water, rocks and several cold water British river fish.
She got all flustered when she couldn't open the car door,
so she decided to take some photos of the fish with her brand
new Pingu camera.
The aquarium is split over two levels. It has various exhibits,
such as native British fish, fish in the Thames (yes, they
do exist, and not like Blinky, Mr.Burns' three-eyed fish),
all manner of fresh-water, tropical and marine species. My
favourite
element within the aquarium was the architecture. A variety
of sculptures and three-dimensional pieces decorated the larger
tanks, with designs taking influences from such diverse subjects
as statues from Easter Island and Mayan bas-relief. Believe
it or not, they actually work very nicely indeed. The best
is, of course, the shark tank. An Easter Island figure stands
guard over the collection of raggies (of course), sandbar
and tawny nurse sharks, as well as a fair smattering of rays
and larger shoaling fish. Once more, the quality of the fish
was good, and the observation areas were great. The top level
(the first level you enter through) has one large bow window
with a small sill, so that the kids can have a good close
look, without getting trampled by any larger adults, or Japanese
tourists who could only see the world through the lens of
one of several cameras. Don't laugh, it nearly happened to
Hannah.
Hannah was very funny all the way around the aquarium. All
she wanted to see at first was the sharks. We nearly did the
entire top level in about five minutes flat, until we came
upon the shark tank. Then, being three, she of course came
across all shy and scared. She wouldn't leave me alone for
about ten minutes, until her confidence came back. It was
great to see her as she became more and more independent around
these big beauties. "That one doesn't scare me, Daddy,
'cos he doesn't have any teeth" was a sign that she was
back on form. It was not the time to explain about retractable
jaws. "I could ride on his back, and Dino (her pet Brachiosaurus)
could eat him if he was naughty" was my personal winner.
Like most aquaria these days, London caters for school holidays
very well. Organised trips, lectures and the like are all
easily available, as is the poor bastard stuck in a six-foot
tall, yellow, bug-eyed fish costume. Great gig, huh? You forget
when you're a Dad, and spend a lot of time with your kids,
and see them at their best and worst, that they're only little.
A six-foot bloke in a suit is a laugh for you or me, but to
a three-year-old, it is like being confronted by Moby Dick.
Hannah refused to have her photo taken with him, but said
she'd take one of me with him. Actually, it came out very
well, and I carry it around with me. Yes, I know. I need to
get out more. Again.
I know much of this article has been about Hannah as much
as it has been about the aquaria themselves, but I think that
is entirely the point. It is wonderful to go around on your
own if you can, just to see the wonderful exhibits lovingly
put on
display, but going round and looking at them through the eyes
of a kid and sharing something special with your family is
magic, especially if, like most of us in this business, you
don't get much time at home with your loved ones.
Here's to the next lot!
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