I'm just about finished with my pint of Strongbow (cider) and have whipped out the laptop here in The Hole in the Wall pub to type this journal entry. It looks pretty much out of place, but what the hey.

Tonight England plays Switzerland in the Euro Cup match, so most of the other pubs are full of rowdy fans, but this one has a sign out front proclaiming it to be a football-free zone, complete with image of a football and a red circle and slash through it. Why a pub dinner tonight? I dunno. Felt like it, and wanted a cider. Brought my book The Ancient Roman City to read while eating.

No Panoscanning today, like hoped, because the weather has not cooperated, with intense showers, drizzle, and dry spots playing leapfrog through the day. With the continued threat of rain after work, I cannot take the gear out to shoot, so I tried to re-establish an e-mail connection through a war-dialed access point, but it didn't work this time like it did a couple days ago. They appear to have shut down their leak, so I must needs return to one of the for-fee cafes apparently.

Today at work they had me process small finds, which means taking (mostly mundane) washed items and bagging and cataloging them. By no means is this glorious work for the large part, however one gets to handle some very cool items in the process, sometimes. See the photo below for one that came in today: it's a Roman-period glass vessel, probably used to hold perfume, without so much as a crack. It's only about an inch and a half tall, but it may still have its cork in the top (although it doesn't appear to have anything inside).



Tiny Roman-period bottle (about 25mm tall), probably used for perfume. (Shown larger than life size.)


Aside from broken pottery, bits of copper-alloy metal, crucible fragments, pieces of tile, a spindle whorl, and corroded metal bits, some water-logged leather came through. This batch contained two medieval shoe soles, one of which was my size, more or less. One other looked like a knife scabbard, although not nearly as nice as the one found shortly before I arrived: it's about a foot long with a gorgeous incised dragon design on the top, and more abstract design with a funny face on the longer lower part.

My clothes supply had reached its end today, which worries me because the closest laundromat is about a mile away. Worse, it's not open in the evenings. I talked my hesitant landlady into doing a load for me, which she did, thankfully. I stopped at the tourist info point and they showed me an alternative laundromat that's open in the evening, they believe, but further away. I now have a few more days' reprieve to check it out. I think I'll buy a t-shirt or two this weekend to make the clean clothes supply last a little longer.

Oh yeah, something else I learned today. The National Armories have their main museum in Leeds now, rather than at the Tower of London where it used to be. Leeds is almost walking distance from here, so I'm planning to pop down there (via train) one of the weekend days or after the project in order to spend the day enjoying the medieval arms and armour on display there. Apparently they also have daily re-enactments, and have no charge for the museum, because it's funded by the national lottery! Oh, baby.

Well my cider glass is empty and I've not got another two pounds forty-six for a second pint on me, so I'm off to the B&B for more reading about Rome. I'm not sure when this entry will actually be posted. Cheers.