A Baird day at the office

Saturday saw an early start for a trip to the London Natural History Museum.

The London Natural History Museum (c Rotton Yarns)

Two exhibitions to be viewed - the Scott Exhibition and Wildlife Photographer of the Year and both well worth anyone seeing. The Scott Exhibition is an amazing in depth look beyond that of the ill fated and failed attempt of five men to reach the South Pole, thwarted by the Norwegian Polar explorer Roald Amundsen. The expedition was also responsible for gathering a vast amount of valuable scientific data from detailed meteorological and geological surveys, to the collecting and recording of rocks, and all forms of wildlife. The expedition had set itself many objectives and in doing so was probably the reason why the men failed to reach the Pole before Amundsen who had but the one goal in mind. The exhibition tells the story through the diaries and photographs, along with an array of artifacts from the expedition, illustrating the harsh conditions endured by the team over the three years and just what a forbidding place the Antarctic is.

The Wildlife Photographer exhibition was a complete contrast to the earlier Scott exhibition. An endless array of simply stunning photos some more so  than others, I think it would be hard to pick an outright favorite there were so many I liked and for all different reasons. I think all you can do to appreciate the diversity of it all is to click on the link above and look at the pictures for yourself.

Between exhibitions we feasted on a wonderful selection of tapas from a nearby restaurant called Casa Brindisa in Exhibition Road. Apparently, of equal interest is the Lebanese restaurant next door, called Le Comptoir.

We also got to make fleeting visits around some of the other galleries at the museum and take time out for a coffee in one of the cafe there. In the mammal section we familiarised ourselves with what a grizzly should look like as we seem to have made a habit of not seeing them in America last year and have now set ourselves up for yet another dip in Romania later this year.

I think someone has eaten his porridge (c Rotton Yarns)

We also seemed to frequently find ourselves in the main entrance lobby of the museum where people seem to have been hanging around for a long time.

Dreadful bus service in these parts (c Rotton Yarns)

The geology gallery was also visited which again was very interesting in its use of media to demonstrate how the earth functions beneath our feet.

Entrance to the geology galleries (c Rotton Yarns)

I suspect by now you're probably wondering what relevance this has to the blog title. Well I would have thought as readers you'll be getting used to waiting for me to build up to it. And here it is!

As we left the museum to head home before any pending snow was able to disrupt our flaky transport network, I decided to check to see how dear old Fulham were getting on or not away to Manchester City. Encouraged by recent almost correct predictions as to the level of their defeats, I had anticipated a 6-0 drumming by the Manchester club. They were off to a good start, being 1-0 down to a penalty given away by the normally very effective Chris Baird. They went 2-0 down later on to an own goal, scored by Chris Baird. Fortunately, he does not seem to have anything to do with the third and final goal, but did get booked by the end of the match - hence the title of the blog. I was quite miffed at the result as I had grossly overestimated the final score.