A hippo and a rant

This is the very large skull of a hippopotamus. It's hard to imagine today, but 400,000 years ago hippos, woolly mammoths, hyaenas, bears, wolves, lions, horses and elephants all roamed freely throughout what is now London. The fossil remains discovered in the London clay include:

- Hippopotamus and elephant beneath Trafalgar Square
- Woolly mammoth down The Strand
- Reindeer at South Kensington station
- Woolly rhinoceros under Battersea Power Station

I might have added thieving hyaenas under the City, but that would be a cheap jibe. However, thanks to to the bankers, I can't really afford an expensive one.

If I may rant on for a second more - this morning I discovered that when I reach 80, if I'm spared that is, my state pension will rise by 25p per week. What in God's name do they expect us to do with 25p? Still, as we know, we are all in it together, aren't we?