A clock that eats time...

Yesterday I met up with one of my friends to go to the Viking exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland. We thought it was going to be quite a small exhibition but in fact it is quite detailed with a lot of interesting written information about the exhibits. There are also some good interactional exhibits which, of course, Stuart had to play with. It took me nearly ten minutes to get the Viking man dressed properly. By the end the digital guy on the screen looked as though he was shrugging his shoulders every time I actually got one right. The exhibition debunks a lot of strereotypical myths about the Vikings. For instance, that they were a war-mongering, plundering group of wild warriors. Yes, they did mix some plundering with trade and engaged in slave trade but the women were very much the keepers of the household who went around with the keys attached to their broaches. And among the gods it was the Valkieries who decided which warriors would be chosen to join Odin's feast in Valhalla. Also personal hygeine seemed to be important as most graves include a comb. As for those helmets with horns stuck either side, they were the invention of a nineteenth century wardrobe mistress who was staging Wagner's Ring Cycle and thought the horns found in graves should be attched to the helmets when in fact they were probably drinking horns. Their influence and trade routes extended from northern Scotland and as far down as Jarrow and across to Ireland. And, of course, our days of the week stem from their myths. Certainly worth a visit but you will have to hurry as the exhibition ends in mid-May.

On the way out of the exhibition we passed the chronophage that I have blipped which represents a grass-hopper like creature gobbling up time. It is also worth looking at large just to see the detail on the grasshopper creature. It was invented by Dr John C Taylor who is better known for inventing the safety switch that turns a kettle off when it boils. Go to this LINK to learn more.

Having fed our minds to bursting point we repaired to Mother India's Cafe for a wonderful curry lunch and then for desert visited the abstract art exhibition at the Talbot Rice Gallery across the road as my friend who is an amateur artist is receiving tuition from one of the contributers.