
Had a bit of a wobble with the internet in the sergeant’s Mess yesterday, as it refused to let me connect to it. Was solved today by restarting the router. I did indeed try switching it off and back on again. Don’t knock it. So, the post I put up earlier was yesterday, here’s today:
It’s Bonfire Night and I’m sat here in glorious sunshine in shorts and a t-shirt. That’s definitely a first. The world certainly looks a better place than it did this time yesterday, especially after a decent breakfast, a shower, and clean clothes.
We eventually landed two hours late and it was indeed dark. Diarmaid met me at the terminal and it was straight off to the Sergeant’s mess for food and an unspecified number of beers and collapse into bed. Large (500ml) bottles of Keo (the local Eurofizz) are one Euro. God bless the RAF.
We’re lodged in two five-bedroom officer’s houses. The tell-tale signs of archaeologists being present are already here: random clothing and boots scattered around the hall-way, banks of black-boxes with flashing red or green lights plugged into every available wall-socket, stray power leads scattered around the floor, and the fridge contains beer, a bottle of milk, more beer, a box of chocolate biscuits and beer. There’s also a cuddly dinosaur on the living-room table. He seems to be the responsible adult when Diarmaid isn’t around.
“Responsible Adult”
Today should consist of a tour of the sites, particularly the probably Roman and possibly Greek and maybe later and-an-outside-chance-of prehistoric harbour. The site is apparently carpeted with pottery, as is often the case with these things, so the first thing we’ve got to do is formulate some sort of sampling strategy as we simply won’t be able to deal with the sheer amount present, unless I can get 20 assistants and live to be 200. There’s a whole series of warehouses there, and apparently rock-cut tombs in the cliff-face, some of which may not be looted. Access is only possible to those if you’re part mountain goat, so I’m leaving that to the young ‘uns, which is everybody else, as it turns out I’m the oldest person on the crew. The epithet ‘Granddad’ is surely only a matter of time….
I’ve already looked at my first piece of pot, the handle of a somewhat under-fired red amphora. Apparently the beach at the site pretty much consists of this rather than sand. Have unpacked the digital microscope and magnifying glass. Pot monkey is go!
Later…..
Well, we didn’t get the tour of the sites due to a slight case of military paperwork. I needed to get my pass for the base, which is a high security area. To get the pass we had to leave the base and go to the issuing office. We got there, and I didn’t have my passport (duh…) which was back in my room. So then I had to get a temporary pass to get back in to the base to get my passport, which I got and we then returned to the pass office and I got my pass. By this time the sun was getting low, so we decided to head off to Limassol for a bit of a look around. We got there, and it was shut. Half-day closing. Ah well. Back to the Sergeant’s Mess for a Bonfire Night Barbie and a few more of those lovely 1 Euro bottles of Keo.
I’ve also acquired an assistant. His name is Igor. Well, it is now, anyway.
More tomorrow.
It’s Bonfire Night and I’m sat here in glorious sunshine in shorts and a t-shirt. That’s definitely a first. The world certainly looks a better place than it did this time yesterday, especially after a decent breakfast, a shower, and clean clothes.
We eventually landed two hours late and it was indeed dark. Diarmaid met me at the terminal and it was straight off to the Sergeant’s mess for food and an unspecified number of beers and collapse into bed. Large (500ml) bottles of Keo (the local Eurofizz) are one Euro. God bless the RAF.
We’re lodged in two five-bedroom officer’s houses. The tell-tale signs of archaeologists being present are already here: random clothing and boots scattered around the hall-way, banks of black-boxes with flashing red or green lights plugged into every available wall-socket, stray power leads scattered around the floor, and the fridge contains beer, a bottle of milk, more beer, a box of chocolate biscuits and beer. There’s also a cuddly dinosaur on the living-room table. He seems to be the responsible adult when Diarmaid isn’t around.
“Responsible Adult”
Today should consist of a tour of the sites, particularly the probably Roman and possibly Greek and maybe later and-an-outside-chance-of prehistoric harbour. The site is apparently carpeted with pottery, as is often the case with these things, so the first thing we’ve got to do is formulate some sort of sampling strategy as we simply won’t be able to deal with the sheer amount present, unless I can get 20 assistants and live to be 200. There’s a whole series of warehouses there, and apparently rock-cut tombs in the cliff-face, some of which may not be looted. Access is only possible to those if you’re part mountain goat, so I’m leaving that to the young ‘uns, which is everybody else, as it turns out I’m the oldest person on the crew. The epithet ‘Granddad’ is surely only a matter of time….
I’ve already looked at my first piece of pot, the handle of a somewhat under-fired red amphora. Apparently the beach at the site pretty much consists of this rather than sand. Have unpacked the digital microscope and magnifying glass. Pot monkey is go!
Later…..
Well, we didn’t get the tour of the sites due to a slight case of military paperwork. I needed to get my pass for the base, which is a high security area. To get the pass we had to leave the base and go to the issuing office. We got there, and I didn’t have my passport (duh…) which was back in my room. So then I had to get a temporary pass to get back in to the base to get my passport, which I got and we then returned to the pass office and I got my pass. By this time the sun was getting low, so we decided to head off to Limassol for a bit of a look around. We got there, and it was shut. Half-day closing. Ah well. Back to the Sergeant’s Mess for a Bonfire Night Barbie and a few more of those lovely 1 Euro bottles of Keo.
I’ve also acquired an assistant. His name is Igor. Well, it is now, anyway.
More tomorrow.