Monthly Archives: July 2012

Freshly ground coffee, wine gums, clear stratigraphy, cool sunlight and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc at the end of the day. Monday had it all!

Today’s highlights! Sunglasses abound as the reality of a late night/early morning of beer festival festivities sinks in. I can see that they are suffering, I really can…..but the show must go on. We are visited by participants in the … Continue reading →

The Opening Ceremony is behind us and as the Olympics kick-off, Silchester builds up to its final 2 weeks of the 2012 season. We were inundated by visitors: families, groups, dogwalkers, couples, interested onlookers. Helena and Charlie fielded the large … Continue reading →

Our days on site get busier as we pass the half way mark. Thursday is always a busy day as it is the day I lay on talks and demonstrations, so there is a constant traffic in and out of … Continue reading →

Today, Wednesday, was a glorious morning. As I arrived on site at 7.45am I took a series of photographs to capture the tranquility of a late July morning at the site. Early morning view as I head towards HQ  

Talk about the sublime to the ridiculous. And no wonder my blog revolves around the weather. The temperatures have risen slowly slowly since Sunday. Today they topped 30 degrees. And if I compare this to the same time last week…well, … Continue reading →

The sun shone! And we were visited. I arrived on site at 7.30am, and after a much-needed cup of coffee we spent an hour getting ready. I am always amazed at how quickly everything fits into place. We don’t have … Continue reading →

A better day today…..the morning sunshine lifted spirits and we had a good morning on site. The level of water within the trench is very high – and this created some difficulties when trowelling features: as soon as you began … Continue reading →

I have to be honest – these last 4 days have been some of the most challenging of my Silchester Insula IX career. And it is all weather related. We started the week with high hopes and over 40 newcomers. … Continue reading →

Ode to our tractor: “They’ll grow your groceries, haul a load. Pull you out then fix the road.” Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny – for all of 10 minutes. My day is not now complete without hauling at least … Continue reading →