Wilfred In The UK: Wilfred at Canary Wharf

Hello! It's me, Wilfred! Living my life here in London, England, with my two dads. And guess what? I am on my school holidays for Easter!

Last week was lots of fun, because my Aunt Debbie & Uncle Gord and my cousin Lianne were visiting from Canada. Aunt Debbie and Uncle Gord were at a hotel just down the street, but my cousin Lianne stayed with us. She slept in my room and I got to sleep ON THE COUCH!

On Wednesday, last week, we had our Spring Concert at Ravenstone Preparatory. My class, Form Two, sang "Mums & Dads" and "Gospel Train". Our headmistress, Mrs. Heath, said that we were very talented and that we had all done splendidly. Dad and Poppy said so, too.

Mrs. Heath said my whole school did splendidly

Wednesday was a BIG DAY for me, because it was also MY BIRTHDAY. That morning, I got to open presents before school. I got HOT WHEELS from Auntie Debbie and Uncle Gord, and a Lego train from "Toy Story 3" from Mrs. Grinter, our upstairs neighbour... and clothes and books from Poppy and Dad...

Dad & Poppy gave me a London book about Dick Whittington

Because my relatives were visiting, we had a family birthday for me on Wednesday after school. First, I showed Uncle Gord all the airplanes in the Science Museum, because Uncle Gord works for Air Canada and knows everything about planes. After, we went out for supper at Da Mario's Pizzeria and Disco (Poppy likes it because Princess Diana ate her pizza there) and then we came back to our flat for CAKE!

I explained everything at the Science Museum to Uncle Gord and Lianne

After, we went to Da Mario's -- Me, Poppy, Lianne, Auntie Debbie & Uncle Gord

Dad and Poppy said that because we had a family birthday on Wednesday, I could invite my school friends for a proper party on Sunday. I invited Bella and Julie and Reem, Mir Ali and Tal -- all from Form Two. But guess what? Because it was the holidays, all my friends went AWAY! Mir Ali went home to Kirachi, Reem went to Orlando, Julie went somewhere and Tal went to Tel Aviv! Only Bella stayed in London. Can you even believe it?

But you know what? That was okay. I was happy to have a birthday play date with Bella -- because she is my best girlfriend. And Bella thought it was funny that she was a party of ONE! She is a very good friend to me.

Me and Bella walking to Kensington Gardens

The ducks and swans weren't very hungry...but we tired

Me and best girlfriend, Bella

On Monday, Dad and Poppy decided to take me on the trip to the Docklands that we had to miss when I was sick. I really wanted to go, because I got to ride on the Docklands Light Rail!

To get there, we took the Tube to Tower Hill. It is just a short walk from the tube stop, past the old Roman wall and the Tower of London to the Tower Gateway DLR station.

I found a playground by the Roman Wall near the Tower Hill Tube

We got on the train to take the fifteen minute DLR ride to the Docklands.

Inside Tower Gateway DLR Station

The great thing about the DLR is that it is an electric train, all run by computers on elevated tracks. You whiz through the air above the East End of London with no driver! If you sit in the front car, you can pretend you are driving the train!

But Dad had a good question -- when there is no driver -- why does the DLR train have headlights and windscreen wipers? That is a mystery...

The windscreen wipers are a mystery...

The centre of the Docklands is called Canary Wharf. You can get there by river ferry or by tube, but the best way is definitely by DLR. It is a very modern looking part of the city that feels like a whole different place than old London and it is very cool to come flying into it on a super modern train that twists between the buildings like a rollercoaster on an elevated track . Dad said it looked like Futurama!

The Docklands is in a part of East London called the Isle of Dogs (not really an island, just a big loop in the Thames River on the way to Greenwich). There are old wharves and warehouses, mostly built by the Georgians, that were bombed in the Second World War. The ones that survived are now fixed up as condos and restaurants and are mixed together with new office towers built on the canal banks of the old port. Poppy said it reminded him of Yale Town, where we lived in Vancouver when Dad was working on his show. Dad said the office towers looked more like lower Manhattan - which I have never seen. I thought it was all very futur-y and cool. Especially the Canary Wharf DLR station.

Me watching DLR trains at Canary Wharf

Me and Dad in the Canary Wharf DLR Station

After a quick lunch at the station -- a burger place that overlooked the tracks so that I could watch the trains -- Dad and Poppy and I walked across to the West India Docks to visit the London Docklands Museum.

On the bridge to West India Dock

This pontoon bridge was kind of shaky

View from the other side...with a big buoy...

Me and Poppy outside the Docklands Museum

The West India Dock was built by sea merchants in Georgian times. The old port of London was near to the Tower of London, but it got run down and there were lots of THIEVES stealing things. The Georgians made lots of money from sugar plantations, so they just built new docks closer to the mouth of the Thames.

This guy is Robert Milligan. He built the West India Docks.
He got rich from a sugar plantation in Jamaica.

The whole story is told in the Museum. It starts at Roman times when they made the first port near the first London Bridge. The Saxons let the Roman port fall apart because they didn't like Romans and they didn't use docks or bridges. Their boats were shallow and they just pulled them up on the beach. There is a street in London called the Strand, which is the old Saxon word for beach. Then the Vikings came and the Saxons moved back inside the old Roman wall for protection and rebuilt the bridge so they could throw stuffs off it at invaders coming up the Thames. From then, the port grew and burned and grew and burned and grew again until it was the biggest seaport in the world.

Me on olden scales

They know lots about the history of the port because every time it is rebuilt they dig up so much old stuff. There are lots of artefacts at the museum, but what makes it so great is that they have lots of displays to show what life was life -- like "Sailor town" from the pirate days.

Sailor town

They also have movies and lots of lights and sounds to make it all more real. Dad said the exhibits about British slavery gave him lots to think about.

Over half of all the African slave trade was by the British.
Sugar made Georgians rich so they could build fancy houses like in Bath.

I really liked the movie that showed the bombs falling on the port in the war time. It was very scary.

Imagine sitting in this when bombs were falling! YIKES!

Poppy liked the part that explained how it was developed in modern times to what it is today.

After the museum, we walked across Canary Wharf to the tube stop. There are sure a lot of big buildings here. But the biggest of all is One Canada Square. It was built by Canadians and is the tallest building in the UK.