Today LucY is waiting for us with a low tyre pressure warning on the rear left tyre. The reason for this quickly becomes apparent when we want to pump in some air at the petrol station opposite our hotel: A huge screw is stuck up to its head in the tyre. Wow. We must have caught it somewhere along the way. But we’re in luck: there’s a tyre repair shop two houses down. They take a look at the car straight away and, even though they don’t have a tyre like this in stock, they can order one. It should arrive this afternoon or tomorrow at the latest.

We leave LucY right there and call Enterprise. No, not the spaceship, but the car rental company. And they can actually help us. The employee picks me up at half past twelve and drives me to the branch in Aldershot. Once the paperwork is done, we can still set off on our trip to Milton Keynes in a Mazda CX-30 – three hours later than planned, but still.

I’m enjoying driving a car with the steering wheel on the other side and shifting manual gears with my left hand again. If only there weren’t all the traffic jams on the way to Milton Keynes. But it’s the M25, the ring road around London, where there’s so much congestion. LucY would keep in lane, accelerate and brake on its own. The Mazda can’t do that. After a lunch stop at Burger King, we finally arrive.

We had already booked our combined ticket for today for the National Sci Fi Museum, the newly opened Brickz Museum and the Pixel Bunker. And WOW! What an experience!

We start with the Science Fiction Museum and are quite amazed. Almost all the exhibits are labelled ‘Production used’. So it really is Indiana Jones’ shirt and hat, the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant that were used during the filming of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, and not just replicas. It’s incredible to be able to see them up close and in such detail. And lots of costumes from Star Wars, including original parts of the golden robot C-3PO. And of course lots of things from Doctor Who and other British productions. When we come to a room with Star Trek uniforms, my eyes go wide. They weren’t just bought from the nearest science fiction shop either, but were worn by the actors. I would have loved to take the picture frame with fabric swaps with me. The exact colours of the uniforms can only be guessed at if you want to sew them yourself. As most of the exhibits belong to private collectors and have been loaned to the museum, photography is unfortunately prohibited almost everywhere. Only in a few spots have ‘Selfies allowed’ stickers.

The next entrance leads into the recently opened Lego museum ‘Brickz’. It starts off charmingly with a tropical island with a volcano on the left and a large castle on the right. Beautifully built, but not quite as spectacular. We also like the Mos Eisley spaceport with the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars taking off. But then we come to a room with early space sets on one wall and trains on the other. I’ve heard of some things but never seen them before, for example the insect mask that came free with the purchase of certain Insectoids sets, or employee sets that were only distributed to LEGO employees and never went on sale. That’s amazing! When we get to a city scene with sets from the 80s and 90s, my heart skips a beat. That’s exactly what I’m building in my hobby room right now. And above it are the boxes, presumably unopened new-in-box sets, which are displayed a second time below. I’ll show Gabi the sets that I’m still missing. These are mainly sets that were only released in North America and England and were never available in German-speaking countries. I haven’t even known about them for that long. Now Gabi is glad that we have less time and can’t linger here for hours. Just before the exit there is another MOC, a ‘My Own Creation’: the skyscraper in New York on which the Ghostbusters fight Gozer at the end of the first film. Very nicely done. The path to the exit leads past the tropical island with the volcano from the beginning of the film. From this side, the MOC reveals much more: natives with a secret treasure cave and a fight between redcoats and bluecoats.

It’s closing time soon, but there’s still time for the third museum. There are heaps of old video game machines and pinball machines in the Pixel Bunker, which visitors can play for free. I let the balls roll in Jurassic Park, go on a SEGA rally and actually find a video game machine with my favourite game ‘Bubble Bobble’. I play it until the light in the hall goes on, signalling that it is about to close.

Before heading home, we stop off at Horton’s and pick up some donuts that we haven’t tried before. Then the navigation via Apple Car Play takes us back to Fleet by stealth. With the steering wheel on the other side and manual transmission, it’s really fun – no, not meant satirically. This works really well, even if the Mazda quickly reaches its limits and we sit in it rather uncomfortably. Before getting back to the hotel, we head for the shopping centre in Camberley to pick up something for dinner. It’s about time for my first ramen noodle soup! Gabi has doughnut plans and only eats a small taco from Taco Bell.