A Microscopic Giant


The prompt for the latest 100 Word Challenge is this sphere of prehistoric bones in the National Museum of Scotland. 



It reminded me of awed afternoons in Oxford's Museum of Natural History.


The Gothic contours resemble a dinosaur’s rib-cage so I feel I’ve been swallowed whole. And they’re echoed by the skeletal giants that motionlessly prowl the aisles. The Eustreptospondylus oxoniensis and Camptosaurus prestwichii once roamed nearby fields; now they’re poised in reinforced glass cases. Their names are as daunting as their dimensions. But, for me, they’re dwarfed by a flea concealed in an upper gallery. It’s detectable only though a magnifying lens, yet it wears minute hiking clothes. I’m awed by the power and perfection of such a microscopic being and by the humorous tenacity of the human who clothed it.




Comments

  1. rmannell8 May 2012 at 14:14

    I enjoyed your entry. I was wondering who might turn their thoughts to dinosaurs. Well written!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adventures of a Middle-aged Matron8 May 2012 at 14:33

      Thank you for the compliment and double thank you for commenting!

      Delete
  2. Simon John Cox8 May 2012 at 15:20

    This is a lovely piece, I like the imagery and contrast between the giants and the tiny flea.

    By the way, there's a typo in the link you've posted on the 100 Word Challenge page: "http://hadventuresofamiddle-agedmatron.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/microscopic-giant.html" - it said "blog not found" until I realised and deleted the stray "h" at the start of "adventures" in the address.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adventures of a Middle-aged Matron8 May 2012 at 15:27

      I'm really grateful that you took the trouble to find me and point this out. Not sure anything can be done about it alas - but thank you!

      Delete
  3. jfb578 May 2012 at 17:11

    I'm in awe of the names! You certainly have the vocab for a post like this ;) I love the comparisons of size and danger. Wonderful piece to encourage a wander in the museum

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adventures of a Middle-aged Matron8 May 2012 at 17:32

      Thank you. I urge you to go. And there are shrunken heads in the section behind.

      Delete
  4. Older Mum8 May 2012 at 17:13

    Again, really good. Love the contrast with the tiny flea.

    By the way I don't know if you knew, but you've been shortlisted in the Lit category of the BIB awards. Oh sorry, you did know - you have the badge. Very well deserved!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Louise8 May 2012 at 18:05

    My son was a dinosaur fanatic (like many small boys pre-nintendo!) so have spent many hours gazing at bones.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous8 May 2012 at 19:41

    This is so orginal and a joy to read!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous9 May 2012 at 01:14

    train of thought is fun to try to follow...I can imagine the tenacious human...LOL!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adventures of a Middle-aged Matron9 May 2012 at 09:21

      It's quite extraordinary the effort they must have gone to to make and fit such weeny garments. Mad, pointless but strangely wonderful!

      Delete
  8. Anonymous9 May 2012 at 07:17

    The dinosaur part is very clever but I like how you have drawn our attention to the delights to be found in tiny things!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adventures of a Middle-aged Matron9 May 2012 at 09:21

      Thank you! And thanks for taking the trouble to comment.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous13 May 2012 at 13:13

    I really enjoyed the sense of effortless travel; from architecture to exhibits, to fields to exhibits again. You have a wonderful way with words!

    ReplyDelete
  10. DancingInTheRain13 May 2012 at 20:16

    Beautifully expressed and interesting too. Well done!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anna14 May 2012 at 11:18

    A very original take on the prompt; enjoyed reading this and loved the idea of the flea being dressed in hiking clothes! Are those real dinosaur names btw?

    ReplyDelete
  12. forensic microscopes6 August 2012 at 07:56

    I value your important and informative point of view here. You have written this article so nice and informative. Thanks for sharing your time and effort.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous26 January 2013 at 18:09

    This post is worth everyone's attention. How can I find out more?
    Here is my web page : easy diets that work

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous24 April 2013 at 03:41

    Hi there, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was just curious if you get a lot of spam feedback?
    If so how do you stop it, any plugin or anything you can suggest?

    I get so much lately it's driving me crazy so any help is very much appreciated.

    Here is my weblog ... Cheap Louis Vuitton Bags

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous24 April 2013 at 17:03

    This page really has all of the information and facts I wanted
    concerning this subject and didn't know who to ask.

    Feel free to surf to my web site: NFL Jerseys Cheap

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous24 April 2013 at 19:19

    What a stuff of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious knowledge regarding unpredicted
    emotions.

    My website - Nike Air Max

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous22 June 2022 at 02:15

    helpful resources about his straight from the source Dolabuy Dior site news

    ReplyDelete
  18. retheys30 June 2022 at 17:17

    look at more info replica bags china Resources buy replica bags learn the facts here now replica designer backpacks

    ReplyDelete
  19. meathen1 July 2022 at 00:31

    internet louis vuitton replica Get the facts Chrome-Hearts Dolabuy look at this web-site Louis Vuitton replica Bags

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Daily Mail Columnists Should Wear Burkas

Daily Mail columnist Liz Jones has provoked the ire of Twitter with by declaring that mummy bloggers are blinkered dimwits whose lives are spiced by Napisan. I'm afraid I have to sympathise with her, for all of her prejudices echo my own: Writing about my life has pretty much ruined it. Supper last night was an elderly carrot glued to the fridge shelf by a pool of brown mucus and the floor was flooded when I left the bath taps running because Blogger has diverted me from domestic essentials. I've had to shut the children in front of the television when a new post has assailed me and some family members no longer speak to me because Twitter interactions leave me no time to reach the telephone. But there is a big part of me that thinks writing should be hard: you should cringe whenever you press that 'publish' button. Artists – and I'm sorry, I do consider myself an artist – have to wrench the dirtiest, most disgusting part of their inner soul and show it t...
Read more

The Various Uses of Rubber

I have ordered a new pair of wellies from Amazon for the daily walk to school. My current hardly-at-all-old pair has developed a fissure along one toe. I only noticed this when I was wading along the stream that flows brownly past bobbing Argos bags en route to the afternoon pick up, and I was not pleased. They are a glamorous pair with pink spots and white swirls, bought to ease my daughter's pain in ackowledging a wellie-wearing, stream-paddling mother in public. I now distrust wellies with spots and swirls, so order a safe-looking green pair. Better to be waterproof than glamorous. Royal Mail gets them as far as my door, thrusts through a 'Sorry you were out' card, and promptly loses them. Amazon is sympathetic and dispatches a replacement pair. This also makes it to my door and again a card is left. This time I decide to pick them up in person from the Royal Mail depot. The man behind the glass screen makes off with my delivery card and probably has a cup of tea and...
Read more

A DIY Guide to the Middle-Classes

I wonder sometimes what I am. I have lived the last decade on an inner city council estate, amid Oxford academia, in a remote country town and in London suburbia. In the first we were, with our relentless consonants and sagging bookshelves, regarded as aristocrats. In the second, as the 'squeezed middle'. In the third, as city sophisticates and now, sometimes, isolated in my tweed amid the Ralph Lauren and the hoodies, I feel myself a bumpkin. Class should no longer matter. Nowadays, for most of us, it's more a question of perception than birth. But the perception matters. My daughter battles to adjust speech, habits and dress to blend in with each new environment; the political parties compete to woo the amorphous throng they deem Middle England and Melvyn Bragg has started a television series on class and culture. The British, he decides, no longer define themselves by class, but by the music they listen to, the books they read. I listen to Dolly Parton and Beethoven....
Read more