Fear! Fire! Floods!
Feb. 23rd, 2014 08:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
A few photos from the last couple of weekends.
First, last weekend we went over to Slimbridge.
You know, I can remember when all this was fields...

Second, this weekend it was the Taruithorn banquet, so we went over to Oxford. As usual, a very fine occasion, involving large quantities of excellent food, lavish decorations, good company, dancing, god-child-wrangling, and this time (the venue being Erebor) a magnificent dragon with a diamond waistcoat.

And what could be more appropriate for a Feast Under the Mountain than cakes and chocolates coated with gold?
We also wanted a look at the Museum of Natural History, that having re-opened recently after lengthy refurbishment. It is lovely - light, spacious, and no more ancient buckets strategically placed to catch the rain dripping through the broken roof tiles. I was particularly impressed with the way they displayed their Iguanadon - they couldn't re-arrange him to reflect modern understanding of the way Iguanadons worked, so instead they had a series of small models in a neighbouring case, showing how the way Iguanadons were seen and displayed had changed over time, from lumpy plodding quadrupeds in 1851, through tail-dragging bipeds, to modern tail-in-the-air, biped-or-quadruped as the fancy takes it, graceful mobile creatures. On the other hand, I wonder if the museum is maybe taking this whole "Cathedral of Science" thing a bit too seriously?
S. Rex.

And finally, have a completely gratuitous shot of the main court of the museum from the gallery.
First, last weekend we went over to Slimbridge.
You know, I can remember when all this was fields...

Second, this weekend it was the Taruithorn banquet, so we went over to Oxford. As usual, a very fine occasion, involving large quantities of excellent food, lavish decorations, good company, dancing, god-child-wrangling, and this time (the venue being Erebor) a magnificent dragon with a diamond waistcoat.

And what could be more appropriate for a Feast Under the Mountain than cakes and chocolates coated with gold?
We also wanted a look at the Museum of Natural History, that having re-opened recently after lengthy refurbishment. It is lovely - light, spacious, and no more ancient buckets strategically placed to catch the rain dripping through the broken roof tiles. I was particularly impressed with the way they displayed their Iguanadon - they couldn't re-arrange him to reflect modern understanding of the way Iguanadons worked, so instead they had a series of small models in a neighbouring case, showing how the way Iguanadons were seen and displayed had changed over time, from lumpy plodding quadrupeds in 1851, through tail-dragging bipeds, to modern tail-in-the-air, biped-or-quadruped as the fancy takes it, graceful mobile creatures. On the other hand, I wonder if the museum is maybe taking this whole "Cathedral of Science" thing a bit too seriously?
S. Rex.

And finally, have a completely gratuitous shot of the main court of the museum from the gallery.

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Date: 2014-02-23 08:06 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2014-02-24 08:53 am (UTC)The Museum looks wonderful - terrific Victorian architecture. (Love that era for public buildings - public works in general, indeed.)