From Rupert Lee
Feedback’s story about Hilmar Lehmann and his Insects World exhibition reminds me of my first experience of Canada, when I went there as a postdoc back in the 1980s (13 September). I made the mistake of notifying their Ministry of Agriculture in advance that I would be bringing with me breeding colonies of some exotic, albeit harmless, species of fly.
They were in glass bottles in my hand baggage. I was met at the customs barrier at Toronto airport by a lady with a clipboard, who would not let me through until I had told her exactly how many flies I had in those bottles. I just thought of a number at random, doubled it, and told it to her with a perfectly straight face. She equally solemnly wrote it down on her clipboard. After which, I was allowed into Canada, where the flies thrived and multiplied.
Brookmans Park, Hertfordshire, UK
