Beware of The Dinosaur’s Tail
When the vast beast turns, its tail often thoughtlessly knocks over people and things. Sound familiar?
I spent some holiday time on the Jurassic Coast this week looking for dinosaur fossils.
It was a wonderfully terrible endeavour.
It was wonderful because we were joined by much of my extended (and eclectic) family. It was terrible because the weather was predictably cold, wet, and windy, making me grumpy.
My parents often took us down here when we were kids. But as I dragged my wet feet through the pebbles this time, the only thing I dug up was a forty-year-old memory of my brother and me submitting our collection of childhood fossils to the Natural History Museum in London.
They were promoting a big new dinosaur exhibition and inviting collectors to get their fossils valued, etc. Anyhow, after several hours of painful waiting, we were disappointed to have confirmed that our bucket full of belemnites and ammonites was utterly worthless.
So, as I watched my nephew running around with his colourful bucket and spade, expecting to unearth a full-blown T-Rex, oblivious to the howling wind and sea spray, I had to be very intentional to avoid dampening his forlorn enthusiasm.
