From cell to civilisation

Ottawacker Jr. was up rather early this morning, runny nose, slight cough, etc. – but no fever – and to my highly untrained eye it looked like allergies. I too was sniffling, so it seemed reasonable to believe that his raking of leaves in the garden yesterday had dislodged the mold spores under the carpet of leaves and had set something off. There was a brief discussion when he told me he was not well enough to go to school and I told him he was most definitely going to school – and then he went to school. Mrs. Ottawacker went to a “red dress event” to honour missing and murdered indigenous women, and I stayed at home looking for things to do.
 
In the evening, Mitch called round to pick up the boy and me. Ottawacker Jr. was no worse following his day at school, and so, after stopping off at the Chances R restaurant for an early bite to eat, we were free to go to and see an Alice Roberts talk at Nepean’s Centrepointe Theatre. Now, I’ve watched quite a few Alice Roberts programmes in my time – and am usually as fascinated by what colour her hair will be as I am by what she is saying – so was interested to see if she would be as engaging in the flesh as she is on screen. It’s hard when you are alone up there – there are no researchers to fill in the gaps; if you are lost, you are lost.
 
She wasn’t lost. What I had anticipated would be a 60-90 minute “fluff” show, very high level, aimed at the less capable among us, i.e., me, turned out to be a 140-minute accompaniment through the history of the world. She was excellent: engaging and witty, and managed to pitch everything at just the right level. I wasn’t so much impressed, as floored. Sometimes, just sometimes, people are even better than you think they will be. So, if you have the chance to go and watch her “From cell to civilisation” tour, I can wholeheartedly recommend it. Warning: not for creationists. Ottawacker Jr. seemed to enjoy it – whether or not he got anything from it is another matter.
 
When I got back, I was just in time to catch Mrs. Ottawacker on the evening news: she didn’t say much, but the look she was giving the camera spoke volumes. She’d be great on an Alice Roberts tour.