Today, as mentioned in the earlier post, we were going to see the da Vinci exhibition at Millennium Galleries in Sheffield. I saw lots of amazing sketches by da Vinci – real, original sketches, not prints or copies – and I was quite overwhelmed by the realisation of what I was looking at. He saw a noisy museum and lots & lots of people. I saw iconic pictures, he saw buggies and toddlers and parents and older people and people in the way and people blocking doorways. I heard people talking about the pictures, he heard unbearable noise. We still looked round the exhibition, and also looked at the other exhibitions in the gallery, and then we left.

We went to the cafe, but that was too noisy as well, and I felt I had to mention that he was autistic and was there anywhere quieter, but there wasn’t. We then asked at the help desk if there were any cafes close by that might be quieter, and when the man gave us a quizzical look, I had to explain why again. We found the cafe which was lovely, just what we needed, and then as we still had time to kill before heading home, we went to the National Videogame Museum (also in Sheffield), and as we went in, the noise hit us, and we had to leave, but before we did, I asked if they had autism hours – mentioned ‘it’ again! Now, none of this matters, and it’s nothing to be ashamed or worried about but this was the first time I felt compelled to ask or explain.

Still with time to kill (meeting eldest as he finished college) we ended up buying safe food from Gregg’s, and then finding a quiet platform at Sheffield Station to eat, drink and people watch until it was time to go (and if you’re ever in a similar situation, the benches between platforms 8a and 8b are just next to a cafe and aren’t busy at all!).

No rugby tonight as he’s teetering at tipping point for a shutdown, so lots of hugs, the weighted blanked it out, and we’re watching trash tv. We’ve talked about the day, and he does remember the pictures and not just the people, and he remembers all the things we saw in the other exhibitions, so it wasn’t a wasted trip at all – and we saw sketches and pictures by Leonardo da Vinci!