Planetaria and Personal Challenges

Today it was my clock radio that woke me up, but that was deliberate so I woke Jof up too.

Then we gathered in the schoolyard and set off for the train station, each class setting off at 5 minute intervals so we didn't totally overwhelm the pavements and stop the rush hour traffic for hours on end. Our trip to the Planetarium cost so much we had to have a sponsored sleepover to help pay for it but I knew it'd be ace because I've been there before.

One of our number only just arrived in the nick of time, he wouldn't want to be the only representative of Year 5 in school today, probably have to go in with the Year 3s and help change nappies or something. Once we'd got to the Planetarium we sat in the dome room with planets and constellations buzzing around our heads, quite like Stellar Cartography in Star Trek, but darker and with fewer Klingons.

Then we had lunch and I did the Scavenger-info-hunt with Ben and scored all the targets and then, believe it or not, we learnt about the sun and had to do class karaoke with such epic song lines as "The sun is a mass / of impenetrable gas". Then there was the mandatory gift shop where I totally missed the bag of £8 Bud had put in my bag and relied on the £5 that Jof gave me, which got me a bouncy globe, a golden pencil and a bookmark with astronaut hologram.

The return train journey was even louder and we did selfies and were on track to be late back from school but at the road junction right by our house, Bud was waiting and we all laughed at him and my teachers let me go directly home with him which saved me a good 20 minutes and a mile or so, which was splendid and everyone was jealous.

In Cub Scouts, the latest badge is a Personal Challenge Badge, and you can't get the Chief Scout's Silver Award without it. For it, I have to complete 2 challenges that are beneficial, and cost some real effort, rather than saying I challenge myself to eat 5 chocolate biscuits in 1 go. Amazingly, it just so happens that I was due to start my daily runs today, so I ran round the park twice which was 2 kilometres and yes, I did go pink and yes, I did have to stop to wheeze 4 times but I'm out there making the effort, getting the badges and shrinking my waistline. I just have to persist, that's all.

We take Flynn to Scouts now and all the way back we had a big discussion about the stamina levels of chickens and whether they'd be able to escape smart bullets by burrowing underground. He is deeply obsessed with chickens and their abilities.