Over the Dome

The Millennium Dome, London. A great piece of architecture built to celebrate the coming of the year 2000 sat on a bend in the river Thames. I can distinctly remember visiting the dome back in 2000. To my eight-year old eyes it was a mind-blowing. There was a giant human body which you walk inside and had a giant beating heart that for some reason was absolutely terrifying. There was a spaceship which you could sit inside and an alien would give you a tour of the Earth, complete with effects like wind blowing at you water squirting. There was a giant screen where the characters in the short film appeared in the room, a beach inside which had something inexplicably to do with pencils made from recycled materials and there was a chance to have your photo taken with E.T. It was probably one of the most memorable days from my childhood.
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The O2, a.k.a the Millennium Dome
Last week, I returned. In the 14 years that have passed since my visit the dome has become a huge concert venue where all the massive stars perform when they visit the UK and it is now simply called “the O2”, after the phone network of the same name. My purpose for visiting this time was rather different- to climb over the top!
On arrival we were asked to sign some forms which would basically be used to contact your relatives if you fell off. This was an alarming start. It soon became clear though that you would be so harnessed up that to manage to unclip your harness and fall off you would have to be some sort of Houdini.
I was a little anxious about it all though. It wasn’t that I was scared of the height or anything but being dyspraxic I know that I can find practical/physical things challenging. The thought of trying to work out how to put the harness on was quite a worry and it was only because I paid such careful attention to the demonstration that I knew exactly what to do.
Fortunately I had little trouble with the whole experience and the only time I tripped was on the flat bit at the top. There is a walkway built over the top of the dome and you are attached to the middle of it and have to push your harness through slots in order to proceed. I found this surprisingly easy and was amused by the girl in front on me having real trouble. The walkway is quite bouncy, although you are strictly told you mustn’t bounce on it. So we didn’t. Well, not much anyway.
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Walkway over the O2
The organisers compare the experience to walking over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, although I think that is probably a bit over the top. The summit is 52m high and some parts of the walkway are quite steep, up to 30 degrees. But actually it wasn’t physically challenging and you get a really good view over the east side of London from the top.
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View from the top: the Thames/ Canary Wharf
Not content with that, we decided to see the east side of London from even greater heights and went on the Emirates Air Line, which is a cable car which goes across the Thames. There are no bridges on this part of the river so it serves as both a tourist attraction and a piece of public transport. It was also surprisingly cheap for something of it’s nature.
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The Emirates Air Line
It was all a great adventure and it is nice to do something a little bit different. The O2/Millennium Dome is a place that is always going to hold remarkable memories for me.
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Some clever framing by yours truly which sums up the day!
Something a bit more familiar is the Bournemouth Air Festival, an event which sees amazing aircraft displays over the seafront of our local seaside town. I’ve been to every one for years now and it is also excellent, especially when the magnificent red arrows perform.
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The Red Arrows at the Bournemouth Air Festival 2014
As much it may look like I’ve been living life to the full I’ve actually been working a fair bit in my summer job and getting reading to start my full-time job next week! More on that to come very soon and stay tuned for several new posts over the next few days- I’ve got a lot to get out of the way blog-wise before I start work!

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