You Old Fossil

Well, it was a nice weekend, so I decided to take my daughter fossil hunting along the Jurassic Coast, which is basically most of the South Coast of England, but the best places to go are the South West Coast. Anyway, I took her to a small coastal village called Charmouth, which is in Dorset...not too far from the Devon/Dorset Boarder. It took just over 2 hours to get there, which was not bad because checking with Google maps, the AA and my phone Sat. Nav, I was told it would take about 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Has you can see the coast line is fairly rocky and the cliffs, are actually very dangerous and are always collapsing and being broken down by the waves, especially during strong storms. You can actually pull the rock away from the cliffs with your hands and among the rocks it is very possible you will come across a fossil.
Anyway, we kept to looking among the rocks and stones on the beach. The coast was amazing when the tide went out, you could actually see the difference in rock and age. The bed rock is 200 million years old. Further up the coast, it seems more volcanic and the rocks under the sea are very strange, and clearly formed by lava. It is the oldest part of the coast at Charmouth, the bed rock is about 200 million years old, and the most dangerous. It is advised not to go into the sea at that part because there are sheer drops which you cannot see. But being volcanic the rock and sand was very black and we found lots of black glass, which is formed naturally and also rocks with lots of holes, which make them light to carry. We also found some interest crystals. I found a couple of crystallised Ammonites fossils, which were pretty, and possibly suggest a more full fossil in the stone.

The other side of the beach (the nearest in the above photo), even though was rocky, when the tide went out it was more sandy and a safer place to go into the sea from. The cliffs were still very dangerous, but you could see the difference in layers and age, and it is in fact younger, about 190 million years old. It was here we were finding lots of fossils, mostly of Ammonites and Belemnites.

Above you can see Ammonites, these are the creatures in the spiral shell, and also a Belemnite, which is the squid like creature.
Yes, has you may have guessed, this part of the world was once all under a vast ocean. Also at this time, what is now Britain would have been nearer to the equator, if not on the equator and the seas would have been a lot warmer.

We spent all day there, we had a picnic and had a play in the sea and enjoyed looking for fossils. My daughter really enjoyed herself, and she wants to go back. I think we will, I enjoyed it a lot more that, say Bournemouth, which is all sand and sea, but crowded and there some idiots there, where has Charmouth was a village the beach was quiet with only families, couples and the odd geologist, here and there. And to top it all, we came back with a back full of crystals, volcanic black glass and...of course...fossils.

The Very Informal Way to Say 'Don't'

Well, it has been a long time since I posted anything here. I have had 2 weeks off work. I did not do much just relaxed and chilled out. I took my daughter out a few times, swimming, for a bike ride and I took her to the Tower of London. I also brought a new road bike and a new laptop. But really nothing of any real interest has happened, so I thought a quick Japanese lesson would be fun.
I thought maybe I could teach a way of saying 'don't' but the kind of 'don't' you will often read in manga or hear in anime, even in films and on the street among close friends. Anyway, the way of saying this informal 'don't' is taking the verb in it's dictionary form and then adding 'na' at the end, so for example.

食べる　＋　な　=　食べるな = (taberuna) Don't eat!
行く　+　な　=　行くな　=　(ikuna) Don't go!

So take any verb, in it's dictionary form and add 'na' at the end makes it a very informal way to say 'don't.'

So for example, you are cooking a meal and some of the food you have cooked is on the table ready and your friend say's something like '美味しそう'　(Oishisou = that looks delicious) and then goes to taste the food you have cooked you could say '食べるな' (don't eat)

Please be aware this is very informal, and so therefore, is actually a little impolite. This is something you would only use with good friends.