The NHM

I pass the Natural History Museum on my way home from lunch .. sun going down and not yet 4PM (photo from mobile phone). The museum holds 70 million items covering botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaentology and zoology.  A giant brontosaurus greets visitors at entry but my favorite the sequoia slice which adorns the top-floor, away from foot-traffic. Indeed, this the very same redwood in Big Tree National Park I have known these many years. It was chopped in the 19th Century because it was there. Such folly then leads to Copenhagen today (but I digress).  The NHS has many special crannies including the Darwin Centre which opened in 2008 and allows visitors to see specimens once archived .. in phermaldehyde .. inside wooden chambers .. no air-conditioning nor sprinkler system.  Fire hazard there, wot?   I once considered joining the Natural History as Commercial Director responsible for income strategy and fundraising.  Americans, these Brits know, have no hang-ups about asking for dough. It would have been a hard job but interesting too. Plus Sonnet and I commuting together - how cute.  But it was not to be - one family member at a museum sufficient.