Callington

One of our more out of the ordinary recent themes was "Fossil Hunting". Read on in amazement at the bizarre depths which can be plumbed from the depths of the Scribblers mind.

So we began with a chap whose lifetime interest was in fossils and he was Chair of a Committee. He began to behave very oddly and was not where he said he was.  His wife became very suspicious as a particular person, who had recently joined the committee, was younger and, she considered, more attractive than her.  Certainly more interested in fossils. Neighbours often spotted her husband and the young woman in the same locations. He went to Bristol a lot, so did the young woman. All was revealed at her 50th birthday party when the husband announced he had been taking a course to help him get over his fear of flying - something the young woman had recommended, having had the same trouble, for a problem he had never admitted before. He presented his wife with tickets to Kenya - a place she had always wanted to go. Phew - a happy ending!

A School teacher was trying to interest her class in a day trip to the Jurassic Coast to go fossil hunting but all they could talk about was dinosaurs.  She tried hard to get them excited about ammonites and the small creatures that lived so long ago but, no, they wanted dinosaurs.  So, she cancelled the trip and took them to the Natural History Museum in London instead.  Everyone was in awe of the big skeletons and, indeed, the building itself and as they exited via the gift shop, they all took home even more dinosaur souvenirs.  However, one young lad went to his teacher and asked her if she could re-arrange the original trip. He explained how he found that much more interesting. The teacher encouraged him to keep learning about them. Hurrah - one little chap after my own heart!

Then, high drama, undercover agents sent to Greece to find some rare Dinosaur Feathers, captured in Amber, which were stolen from the British Museum by the Mexican Mafia - hoping to sell them to fund illegal activities.   We went on planes, big ferries (killing a spy on the way) small boats and swam to a tiny island where, thank goodness, the work was already done for them. The bad guys had already been killed by different bad guys and it was clear from the walls that pictures had been taken and possibly other pieces of art - except - there on the mantlepiece were the feathers. Returned safely to the British Museum in due course and sparking my interest in researching such things - they do exist apparently.  Every day's a school day with U3A!

Some friends with a small mysterious speaking dog and a camper van go off to Charmouth to look for Sea Lily stars - parts of the stems of the lily which when broken by the sea resemble small star shapes.  None were found directly but, a discovery of a diamond ring lost on the beach and fortunately returned to it's owner, resulted in a reward of 7 small stars being sent from the husband of the owner of the ring. He was a distinguished fossil hunter with a large collection and I had to wonder if he was in fact the chap with a fear of flying with which we began. It all seems a long time ago!

Finally, the other meaning of 'fossil' appeared.  Two young boys, looking for adventures, hide behind the bushes of the pub in which one of them lives.  They have a den and like to listen to the conversations around them without being seen.  One day they overhear two strangers talking quietly - one of them says - 'right then, let's go fossil hunting'. They laugh, but the boys follow and see them get in a car.  They take the registration number,  Later, they ask the cook at the pub what a fossil is.  She says she is one - when they look worried, she tells them it can be used to describe an old person.  The next day there is commotion in the village and the police are outside Professor Foshill's house - he has been murdered.  The boys put two and two together and, finally gaining the attention of the constable, relate their tale.  The villains are caught and the boys congratulated.