This weekend, we took our first proper day out as a little family unit. Adam, Matilda’s dad, came to visit, and we decided to head out to Jodrell Bank.
There’s something fitting about spending the day under a giant radio telescope when the last few weeks have felt like tuning into a completely new frequency. Everything’s been white noise, sudden signals, sleepless static—and now, slowly, we’re picking up moments of clarity. Like this one.
Its been years since I’ve been to Jodrell Bank and it looks totally different. The planetarium as been completely rebuilt but its still awesome inside. The new exhibition hall walls are panelled using tiles that have fallen off the dish outside, made into projection surfaces & displaying the history of the centre.
Seriously, if you haven’t been yet, go. Its amazing, and its something to be proud of. We have a lot of scientific heritage in the North-West and it seems to rarely get talked about.
It was a good day. Honestly, a really good one. The sun came out. We walked, we talked. We got to feel like people again, not just sleep-deprived survival machines. Lyra was with us, of course, and this was her first science-filled day out. She probably didn’t care much for the observatory, but she looked good in a little hat, and that counts for something.
We did, however, forget to bring a feeding bottle.
There was a brief moment of oh no panic—the kind that hits fast and hard, but fades just as quickly when you realise: this is parenthood. You’re always forgetting something. And every time, you learn. Next time, we’ll triple check. We’ll bring two. Maybe three. Maybe a backpack just for feeding gear. But for now, we made it work. And, if I’m being totally honest, we were more worked up about the whole ordeal than Lyra was.
It’s strange how a small outing can feel like a milestone. Not just because we went somewhere, but because we came back a little more sure of ourselves. A little more confident that we can do this. Curveballs and all.
One day, she’ll ask about these early weeks—what it was like, what we did, how it felt. And maybe I’ll tell her about the day we went to Jodrell Bank, forgot the bottle, and still had a really good time.
Because sometimes, that’s enough.
And we go on.