That mark on my middle finger? That’s a bruise.
A couple of weeks ago (yes, I am very behind with the blog!) I was helping out at the Cole Museum again. We’ve sorted out most of the smaller specimens, but a few of the larger ones needed moving, so we moved them. The last thing we had to do was move the jawbone of an elephant into the Bone Cupboard. After playing an extended game of Tetris with an assortment of large animal skulls (“if I move this antelope over here, we can probably squeeze that horse into this gap…”) we finally had a space large enough for the elephant.
We lifted the jawbone off the trolley, making sure to mind our backs. Elephant bones are heavy. We put it down carefully on the floor, making sure not to bash it into the wall, or into the shelf above. And when we came to let go, I realised that my finger was trapped.
My finger wasn’t broken – just a bit squished. The bruise came up extremely quickly and was gone again by the next day. Very strange indeed.
I suspect I failed my Large Object Handling Skills Mission right there. Not to mention health & safety.
But at least I didn’t damage the elephant bone…