Meeting The Cousins, or Making the Most of It

Every year The Rags and I start our Christmas celebrations with an afternoon of ice-skating.

In recent years I have not skated, my role has been as banker, chauffeuse, photographer and cheer-leader as my offspring took to the ice at Hampton Court Palace - one too many skiing-accidents has wrecked my knees and kept me off the ice and snow, very sensibly, uncharacteristically sensibly for me!  

But last Christmas I was feeling reckless. Something to do with the realisation that there may not be that many Christmases left and that the potential risk to my body was not as important as the positive benefit to my spirit, and so I booked tickets for all three of us to skate at an outdoor rink in London.

Global warming.
It was unseasonably mild.
The ice-rink was a paddling pool.

Happily we were outside one of our favourite place, The Natural History Museum, so we did that which we always do when Life throws a spanner in the works of our plans, we used it to cobble together another adventure and that took the form of a new exhibition that could have been constructed just for me.  

It is no secret that I am fascinated by our evolution as a species.
Or that I am rather passionate about our cousins, the Neanderthals.
So this was serendipity at her finest.

I am fortunate to have two Rags who are patient with me and who are content to follow with amused smiles as I do my impersonation of a little kid let loose in a sweet shop.

There were many cries of, "Look at the distinctive skull, look at the ridges over the brows, you can't see it but there's an impression round the back caused by their strong neck muscles ..."  

and, "Did you know that they buried their dead? You can tell by the placing of the skeleton and there's even a suggestion that they covered them with flowers..."

and, "Of course we know that they made stone tools for killing their prey and cutting up the meat"

and, "Look at that face and then tell me he was a savage, non-human!" 

Of course then there were dinosaurs...

I defy anyone to visit The Natural History Museum and ignore the dinosaurs.
We have never failed to find the time to admire the dinosaurs, not in what must be around a hundred trips to the museum.  

See, it really isn't about weathering the storm, or in this case the melted ice, it's about having fun splashing in the puddles.  

The Natural History Museum, naturally

The Rags and I had wanted to spend a day together and, my son being an impoverished student in London, we decided to meet there and visit a museum. We do like museums, and I've been taking them to the London museums for the last 25 years, but we never tire of them, the same exhibits, new exhibits, the same exhibits in different positions, exhibits ....

By choice I would have gone back to The British Museum and paid homage to The Swimming Reindeer because they are my all-time favourite favourites and I do adore them and could spend hours just gazing at them and chatting about them with other passing fans, but a Tweet from the museum indicated that they were in Japan, on loan as part of a tour of 'A History of the World in 100 Objects' exhibition and so .... No Swimming Reindeer, no visit.

So we went to The Natural History Museum...

And once there we conferred, debated, argued, compromised about that which we would like to see, since experience has taught us to be selective and not to attempt to see everything in one visit. We do so dislike seeing people rushing past, viewing the museum through the lens of a camera/mobile phone/dazed eyes, trying to take it all in in one huge gulp. We do like to wander slowly, to pause and stare, to take our time and to drink deeply.

The Ragazza was interested in the ecology exhibitions, these eco-warrior genes she has inherited from her mother. The Ragazzo was relaxed and undemanding, the giant sloth, maybe the 'earthquake/volcano stuff'. I was happy simply to be there and with them but I did express an interest in Neanderthal bones, should there be any available? Perhaps? Hopefully? Would be nice...
And dinosaurs, well, dinosaurs were a given.

And so...

I found my Neanderthal skull and spent a very long time examining it from all the angles that I could, decently, assume, taking photographs, feeling out-of-place-and-time in that way that I do when I come face to face with something that has remained from our prehistoric times. I was very content.  
 

And we tracked down the giant sloth and it really was gigantic ...

As you can see, The Ragazzo is over six foot tall and no, those genes he did not inherit from his petite mother ...
    

And there was the ecology section for The Ragazza who assumed her teacher's hat and lectured us a little, which made me smile ...

And finally, of course, there were dinosaurs ...

But mostly there was just The Rags and me hanging out together, re-discovering old favourites, finding new treasures, making more happy memories.

That's what it's really all about, isn't it?
N'est-ce pas?