We went rather nervously, it has to be admitted, given all the news stories, pictures, rumours, reports and hashtags that are flying around. But I reasoned that the part of London we were going to was very central, and we were going to be on a train out by half past three. So after trotting to the osteopath for a little more stretching and massaging this morning, I rushed home, ran around a bit, and then briskly headed for the railway station with Smallest.
The occasion was the Vtech launch event for their new Innotab, a tablet computer/games console aimed at children age 4 – 8.
The sweetener was the offer of an Innotab of our own after the event 😉
So we had a straightforward train journey down, a standard encounter with someone oblivious and rude in the tube corridors who nearly flattened me with her huge wheeled suitcase (yes, you were slim enough to fit through that gap. No your suitcase was not. Yes, you nearly knocked down the woman wearing a baby. No you didn’t even look round. Rude.) and then a succession of encounters with incredibly helpful friendly ppl, going out of their way to stop and give me directions even though I wasn’t actually lost, just checking the map so I didn’t get that way.
The hotel was very posh. The food was excellent. The presentation was thorough, and the questions from the audience thoughtful (including those from the children in the audience). And then we got to get our hands on pre production items to have a go ourselves.
Obviously when I say our hands, I actually mean Smallest got her paws on one. And she was away. She may be rather younger than the target age, but she’s got two older siblings demonstrating tech left right and centre, and she’s no slouch. She was well away with the colouring, demonstrating her favoured left handed grip, and got the hang of the ereader and penguin game quickly too. The motion sensitive game passed her by, but I quite enjoyed it, and I can see the whole thing being something she will really rather enjoy.
Whether it will really entice her to leave my phone alone remains to be seen!
So after 20 minutes or so playing, and a few biscuits to tide us over, we headed back to the train station and safely home, this time with Clare and Jacob from seasider in the city. It was good to have company on the way back.
(Technical details to be added in the morning. But now I’m kind of tired, and Smallest is falling asleep on my lap. Goodnight.)
Disclosure: I paid my own travel expenses, but will be receiving an Innotab on release.
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