Tyrannosaurus Reg

When you are lying in the dewy grass looking through a macro lens as Reg advances menacingly towards you, then you have an inkling what it might be like to come face to face with a dinosaur. Of course, unless you count Raquel Welch in 'One Million Years BC', no human ever did come face to face with a dinosaur, as they were wiped from the planet at the end of the Cretaceous 66 million years ago in a massive extinction event when perhaps 75% of all species vanished. This was long, long before humans evolved.

Anyway, looking at Reg, you could believe that his relatives in the Cretaceous would have looked rather like him (perhaps even more heavily armoured in case of being trodden on by a Brontosaurus). The group of shelled reptiles to which he belongs originated in the Permian, 250-300 million years ago. He has an ancient, earthy energy about him. And while he is now about 12 years old, he should be alive long after Wifie and I have left this world. Indeed, we need to give careful thought to whom we should leave him to in our wills.

This is the second Sunday in a row that Reg has been the pin-up boy in Arnside and Beyond. He does have a few fans out there, so we thought he should come out of his shell a bit more often.