B’s at the respite care place for a few days, and I had the day off work, so took F to see Mini Europe at the foot of the Atomium north of Brussels. Quite fun, and filled with tourists. Highlights for me: the motorway bridge representing Luxembourg with model traffic jam on top of it; the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate, you can knock a bit of it down and then it pops back up again for the next customer; the Ariane rocket; the Irish national anthem which swells to a climax and then omits to play the last line; trying to get F to remember the name of Big Ben. Highlights for F: the model TGV, the model Eurostar, the model trucks and boats; the real ducks and fish in the ponds; the ice cream in the restaurant afterwards. Highlight for us both: the model of Vesuvius which erupts with smoke and earthquake. Most of the cultural stuff is lost on a four-year-old but I think we’ll go back.
Indeed, Red Plenty seems clearly fiction to me. Out of interest, how do you feel about the argument that it’s science fiction? (Or at least a possible Best Related Book…?)