On my travels I’ve certainly seen some different parts of the world and this past Christmas, Paulette and I were in a place that neither of us had ever spent a festive season in before. If I was to tell you that in that particular part of the world you can walk down the street cast your eye to one side and see a very non-descript parking lot with a sign affixed to a broken down brick wall which says ‘parking lot available for film hire’ with a phone contact number, I guess you could probably figure out what part of the world we were in. Yes, only in LA.

We had a good time and we happened to be there at a rather interesting time because the end of the world was supposed to be happening according to some people given the complete
misunderstanding of the Mayan calendar which a number of people had

I had a very pleasant opportunity while I was there to kick
back with Albert Einstein, unfortunately he was only there in brass form but
nevertheless a memorable meeting. We then went on to a very extraordinary part
of the world, the La Brea tar pits which are quite remarkable. They are pits which
are in the land close to the Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art and they have an
amazing number of animal specimens, about three and a half million in fact at
the last count and there are far more than that now. They are the result of
fossil fuels that have become liquefied and bubbled up because of the
extraordinary environment that is part of the fault in LA, faults that are in the
earth. They were absolute death traps for animals who got stuck in them rather
like you would in tar and have produced amazing fossil remains that go back 10
to 30 thousand years. You can actually see the excavation taking place, all of
this with traffic going by on the highway nearby. So, a very interesting experience
and they also have some animals that you can be photographed with if you wish.
A different kind of Christmas which was absolutely in order.
I recommend it , getting away and being somewhere different in another world.
We had a great time but I am now back and looking forward to a different kind
of year as we are moving in to new opportunities. We are celebrating the 25th
anniversary of ITS by preparing for new ventures some of which we will be
talking about very soon on the celebration day. You will hear about them I’m
sure, if you’re interested, because the world of neuroscience beckons making it
something approachable, useable and understandable in a practical way. That’s
where we’re going next, tell you all about that soon. Until the next time.
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