BRP take 2

So a fair bit has happened since I last posted a blog entry. For starters I did not leave the UK on the 28th. It took me three days and a lot of running around both in person and over the phone to change my flights to the start of August. Thanks to my parents for paying my car rego and making it possible for me to stay on at BRP for the rest of the season.

I'm going to do a very quick recap of the last two weeks.

Monday June 25th. I cleaned all my clothes and my camping gear at Steve and Jen's place in preparation for flying home on Thursday. At the same time I was trying to find out how much it would cost me to stay on in the county for an extra month. I was also eagerly awaiting a skype interview for a job in sydney.

Tuesday June 26th. I had my skype interview which was a bit different. Basically he said if I wanted to stay on for a month in the UK then I should do whatever is best for me as a job isn't garenteed and the start date would be in the future anyway. So I started really trying to work out if BRP had space for me and if I could afford it. 

Wednesday June 27th. I found out at 2am in the morning that it would only cost $150 in fees to change my flight so I was staying in the country for another month Woo! I went shopping at some outdoors shops in London trying to replace my broken steel caps in preparation for my return up north. I saw Henry V at the Globe theatre, it was awesome I loved every minute of it even though I came out a little deaf from standing right up against the front of the stage, looking up at the actors. See the below photos. That is how close I was!

After I came back to Steve and Jen's place I went to fighter practice with Steve. I was teaching a noob that had been there for three months how to teach his noob friend who had come along for the first time. I learnt a little about playing with pole axes then just watched Steve and another knight smack each other around. A suspended pell is a very odd thing to play with. Fighting in a hall is also very loud. I was feeling the hearing damage the next day after the play and fighter practice.

Thursday 28th of June. Today I collected my hiking boots from a store that was on 50% sale. I had tried on some very nice boots at the first place I went to the day before but I wasn't willing to spend 150pounds on boots I'm going to be walking around in mud in for four weeks and may ditch if I ruin. I wandered around the Covent Garden markets which is a very cool bunch of indoor markets then I went to the Museum of London which I really enjoyed. The most interesting thing I saw was archaeological examples of horse teeth. I had been cleaning and sorting those sorts of teeth at BRP in the first 3 weeks so it was very cool to find out what they are :)

Friday 29th June. Today I did something very unlike me, I walked 3 miles to the local massive shopping complex. I spent 5 hours wandering around the Westfield and the smaller older mall across the road. I spent most of my time at the new very shinny westfields full of designer shops and the Lego Store! I only got lunch and some body butter (from the body shop on half price special). Then spent very little at the pound shop and the 99p shop in the older shopping centre and some dirt cheap well fitted dresses for pub night :) Apprently I had too much for my bag which broke just a few streets from Steve and Jen's place oh well gaff tape fixed it :)

Saturday 30th June. Today Steve, Jen and I went to the British Library Treasures room. Saddly the magna carter is currently off display oh well saw many other really old manuscripts and books. Afterwards we made it through only the Medieval sections of the Victoria and Albert museum. There was sooo much dress porn, so many pretty dresses I'd like to recreate.

Sunday 1st July. I boarded a train back up north, arriving late afternoon. I was greeted with many hugs and welcomes back :)

Monday 2nd July. First day back at the castle and I was finds washing with the noobs. It was nice being back at the castle and the weather wasn't so bad.

Tuesday 3rd July. Today started off rather wet so we went to the castle for more finds washing in the morning then went into the Kaims after morning tea. We continued to dig Trench 42.

Wednesday 4th of July. Today Ben and I started the planning for Trench 42. After Lunch I started the detailed planing around the suspected Cist (the big stone in the middle of the trench). I was using a planing grid made up of 20cm squares in a 1metre square frame. Below is the end result for the day. 

Thursday 5th July. I was a victim of my own success. I was originally asked to do one more square south of the main stone. I did such a good job and so quickly that I was asked to plan the rest of the Trench. That's what I would be doing for two more days. Below is the end of day two.

 Friday 29th June. Today I finished off the main part of the planning and started the leveling. Which means using a dumpy level to measure the level/height in relation to sea level. We ran out of time to complete it. 

Above is sheet 1 of Trench 42. It is 20.30m long and ranges between 2.55m and 220m wide.

 Sheet 2 of Trench 42

 A closer up photo of the plan to show the detail around the main store with context numbers added. The circular objects are all randomly places and randomly shaped stones some of which appear to have been fractured by heat (broken buy being heated in a fire then had water poured over them to rapidly cool them causing them to fracture). The supervisors and the director of the community project all think I could have a career in planning. Apparently I'm talented. I guess I've found what I excel in in archaeology. I have the patients and the eye for detail to plan a trench that everyone else thought would be a nightmare and they only planned on doing a few metres as a representative sample. Along with photographs my plan will be the recording of the Trench as it was before the stones are lifted/excavated. 

Saturday 7th July. Today was my day off. I went for a drive with Jackie into Kelso in Scotland. We saw some very pretty country side and cute little  villages. We had a lovely lunch which included Haggis and Pork belly for me which were both new and very tasty experiences for me. In the centre of the village there is a very old cemetery and the ruins of a very impressive Abbey that was destroyed by Henry VIII.