Hello Hope

In December, the NHM staff gathered for a final set of photos with Dippy the Diplodocus, before he was taken down for his tour around the country. Since then, Hinze Hall has been closed for refurbishment. It finally opened again just a couple of weeks ago, with a new star attraction hanging from the ceiling: a blue whale named Hope (or nearly, rumour has it, 'Drippy'). She'd been in the whale hall for decades but is now in much finer form, having undergone some serious conservation work and fitted to a brand new frame, in a much more lifelike pose.

To welcome her in, the staff gathered once more:

I like her a lot. Dippy is lovely, but she reminds us of our responsibility to the world. We aren't just spectators.



I've been posting a lot over the past couple of days, catching up on things. This is because I've had a lot of downtime while waiting for endless computer processes to run. They might all have been done by now, but I keep making mistakes, so everything iterates. I'm starting to worry about time. The end is near.