weaselett

At some point I will watch 'The Dig'

However fellow field archaeologist on my current site warned us all off for now - apparently there are a few things in common between our site and the things that happen in 'The Dig' and there's a risk of worsening our current trauma.

This is what we get for digging a wetland site in Northern England. We are all far too experienced in 'water management' at this point. And yes you can have weird nightmares about tarps.

o.o

Also, she confirmed that they have done one of the things I had worried about. Poor Peggy Piggott, like it isn't bad enough that most people only know her ex-husband, they done her wrong in the drama based on her own nephew's book. *face palm*

(When mentioned to dad a few weeks back he had a 'oh well, but there wasn't that many big name lady archaeologists then' and I just dead eye stared him. He then admitted he did know there was some, but Basil the non big name arch is the one remembered for Sutton Hoo. *sighs*)

I have been quiet - not hugely unusual for me these days, but still.

There's been a lot of stuff to deal with, financial and emotional and I have been tired in a whole load of ways. So, there's that.

Uni stuff, continues to be complicated. I have made the choice to wait to go back until prob January (they are still all for starting again in September - yesterday Preston (where Uni be) after lots of talk that it was coming for over a week, got added to the increased restrictions list.

And yesterday I got an email from the uni going on about final details. So, yeah. Not regretting that choice.

I...am worried about universities starting back up - a lot are going to do mostly online, but the students are all going back to the uni housing (have been speaking to a few second going into third year York students who are working with me at the mo - York is doing better for communication than UClan *heh*) There's the losing out on SO much of your uni chances (practical work, full use of libraries, the social nature of thing, all of the uni facilities.....). Uni costs sooo much these days, and they are not going to get value for that money.

AND the actual concerning thing, is the health side.

This is my third uni, third degree - freshers flu is ALWAYS a thing. September is ALWAYS uni plague month. And that's an unpleasant but passing illness. (I never got it, thankfully, but I did get the god awful flu that was going around my third year exam period - two months of feeling half dead and having no voice). Sickness spreads like crazy amongst uni students.

They're saying, here at least, that young people are the ones with the spiking infection rates and passing it on to each other more.

How in the heck has no one started to wonder if maybe, universities may be something to seriously consider. (People have been discussing it - and arguing that students should start anyhow, but it's rather short sighted in a lot of ways).

I know no one wants to be 'a year behind' or missing out on a year, people have queried what those students will do otherwise, but that just highlights more and more the way society here views people (in that the year must have a value). Online teaching, which has never been assessed to say if it's even fit for purpose, does not compare to what they would normally be getting, and there is a health risk.

(Open uni and the existing distance learning courses are different, because they are designed, and assessed as being delievered that way).

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In the meantime, I have gone back to my roots a bit.

I managed to finally get to working at the sorting office again in late June but it was at most 16 hours a week, normally 7, which just didn't work.

Then I spotted that the local commercial arch unit was recruiting for a project very close to home, and I applied. I just finished my first week, and it's taking some getting used to especially being out in the heat! (And social distancing is in force, which makes it interesting in some of the trenches).

It's nice to be doing archaeology again, but commercial archaeology does have it downsides. But, eh, 37 hours plus 7 hours overtime a week, not going to complain on the having work front.

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I hope you are all well.

I really do despair of some things/behavour at the moment

I mean, QUEUING TO GO UP SNOWDON??!!??

*sighs*

There's this weird thing were up to the point of closing the schools and pubs etc people were social distancing and complaining about more stuff not being done - but once they closed things, people have started treating it like a holiday (apart from the issues getting food).


I think the funniest thing is, I've been debating for a week, going to Leighton Moss (nature reserve near us) to get some sketches and photos of the red deer. I was debating because of the whole social distancing thing, because while it's close it's not walkable. And there might be a few other people.

The only reason I was even considering it was because I am expected to be getting on with work for uni despite the uni buildings and workshops being shut. (I want to do animals, British animals specifically and lecturer informed me this means they expect loads of sketches and observation and study...) Hell I still have to do an assessment in May despite being unable to make anything new.

I shall be staying in, apart from dog walks, because even that short trip seems a bad idea now. (I just need to figure out a way to make friends with the local magpies, as they are the other subject of choice)


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Scotland is going to ban people soon as well, and to be honest, I do not blame them. The areas people are going (Snowdownia, the Highlands, Skegness) do not have the capability to cover for extra people in this situation. They have small hospitals covering huge areas.

It is not fair to be putting so much extra onto them in this situation.

I mean, my nana is currently in one of the small hospitals that exist in the Highlands. She doesn't have corona, but she won't be coming back out. We're having to deal with that, and limited numbers of us being able to go, because you know, the situation outside of our family sucks too.

I just. Yeah.

I would have been unimpressed by people even without that.It just makes it that little bit harder to be understanding of the people being idiots.

Like they had people saying 'oh well they said it was fine to be outside and nothing else' when like actually John, the guidance is it's fine to go outside so long as you follow social distancing rules. It's like people read/listening to the first piece of each piece of guidance and ignored the second.


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All my best to all of you still - I hope you're all safe
Here's hoping some sanity starts to win through.

I started with the intention of blogging more post leaving old work and starting uni - but somehow I have managed to do the opposite?

Sorry about that.

To be fair, I think half of it is that I am also meant to be doing a MA Reflective Journal blog....which I have not done either (partly because they wanted us to use wix - and it turns out I strongly dislike and object to the formatting and set up of wix.....)

I will be trying to post more from now on.

For now, three films I've seen since I last posted, spoiler free:

Charlie's Angels - I enjoyed it, and am said it didn't do so well. It has a fun sense of humour, a variety of ladies, supporting each other in their own ways, and a romance wasn't the central theme/plot.

Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker - eh, it wans't great, it wasn't terrible. They clearly had notes from how Last Jedi was recieved and tried to make everyone happy (with typical terrible LGBT try from disney - they really need to just cut two versions of a movie, the plot works in both, but there are extra little moments with leads being LGBT that with a slight tweak can be edited to look platonic to fit that market disney always wants to please).

Birds of Prey - I enjoyed it, it's a little oddly paced, but it works - again lovely range of ladies, all different with different ways of supporting each other and no central romance!

And with that, I shall go back to sewing, as I have a market stall next weekend *eep*

well this year has been a RIDE - hopefully the last week or so will be less dramatic, but somehow doubt it *face palms*

(I make this post after having been randomly threatened by one of the village low lifes :/ because he thought ma filmed him doing something questionable....when she was checking her texts....)

So I had totally intended to start posting more, but have failed, for various reasons.

Our only elder boy cat passed on Friday after a long week of hoping he would improve - so we're down to five. One of our elder girl pups is sick, so we've been monitoring her all week.

The heat wave isn't really helping either.

There's a lot of moor fires (including on Winter Hill which has our TV aerial!) - it looks like we have some cloud, but it's actually all the smoke from the fires o.O

I know people love to mock us Brits when it gets hot and we overheat - but seriously, we don't generally have air conditioning, and we have a lot of moorland and grassland that burns easily when we get heat waves like this (not just because of arson, the parentals remember the 1970s and walking through parkland that was randomly setting fire....) - we also either get stupidly humid heat, or stupidly dry heat. (And not having air conditioning means places like the metal roofed building the boy works in get to be real ovens in this kind of heat)

I have seen Ocean's 8 - twas good. The pacing was a little weird near the end, but it was good, and nice to see mostly ladies on the screen for once ;)

Off down south tomorrow for a few days - when I return there will be a pictures post. Am going to do the Gromit Unleashed 2 trail with the pup. (Which with the heatwave is going to be trickier than originally planned, and even then it was tricky) Thankfully most of them seem to be outside!

It's February!

We did a family trip to see Early Man at the cinema (because Aardman) - it is def worth seeing, and totally has extra layers when you live in the North West (I also work with someone who has seen a whole bunch of Nick Park's dad's models, because Lancashire can occassionally be small). It was funny and I managed not to get past the fact that totally isn't vaguely prehistory ;)


Discovery. Urgh, Discovery ( spoilers behind here, mostly feelings about it and predictiony stuff )


Anddddd in other shows. The Librarians, season four. o.o (Amazon has it now! so I've paid for the season, because I always prefer to do that if I can....)

Spoilers again ( One episode left :s )

And I have a straight seven days of early mornings (work meeting on my day off, so...not so much a day off), so I am going to be utterly dead on my feet come friday night o.o

I spent half an hour trying and failing to change a brake light.

It sounded sooooo easy - unscrew two screws, pull off, twist and change - only it doesn't mention the two extra pins that apparently mean changing a brake light on my car is walking the fine line between REALLY breaking your brake light, and getting it to work again o.O

I really really hope the radio station boys weren't watching me, swearing and at one point, trying to beat up my car - I do not want to become the saga of girl whose car won *face palm*

That said, I suspect one of them would have come to help if they had spotted me, cos they can be a bit big man at times (I park in a car park that goes across the back of flats, a pub, the other museum and a radio station, which shares bits of the same building as the other museum - I am typically not at the radio end, but today o.O)

Otherwise.....ehhhhh - am hoping for less rain the rest of the week *crosses all things*

In a slightly strange place atm - mostly because I found two jobs to apply for, both with differing pros and cons, and both amazing opportunites.

I've finished the application for one - which is potentially long term, in a beautiful part of the country and an amazing opportunity - it's all submitted and closing date passed, so it's wait and see. I was interested, but doing the application and still dwelling on it now, has thrown me off *heh*

The other I have a week and a bit to go - not started yet, needing a rest after the last one! - it's a maternity cover, so would only be a short term, I don't have to move, but it'd give my CV a huge boast.

So yeah - tis weird. We will finally be getting a new boss at work (but all the lead in has made for an interesting atmosphere - they clearly wanted an external person, leaving all us internals all too aware that we have absolutely no progression opportunities, and as the single, childless work person, this queued me poking much more actively for new jobs. Which of course, me being single, need to be on the higher side paywise or I just can't afford to live (unless local, which leaves me with the same stuck in parents house situation :/)

The weather has been rather varied (with flash floods - I just made it home, but had to drive through white out torrential rain, work mate poked me to make sure I'd made it home and everything!)

I hope people who celebrate 4th July have had a good weekend/are having a good time

It's wimbledon time again and of course we have rain again Heh. Fingers crossed for the Murrays (like mainly Jamie, but Andy is cool too) and the GBR ladies. Also hoping that they show some of the wheelchair games on main channels again......

John Mcenroe has been a dick again, and I am never no frustrated whenever the debates of who is better at sport gender wise...and the fact there is the tendancy for them to always say men are better. Like to be honest, British sports? Most of our women's teams perform SO MUCH BETTER than our men. But almost no one talks about them.

( gendered sport commentary )

There's a lot of disturbing news around - the latest UK news, is about girls and body image again, and it's so close to FGM that it's all the more disturbing, and I have no idea what it says that between my age group and teenagers today this has become a thing. (And, surprise, the person defending it, and saying it helps girls self confidence, is a male plastic surgeon....)
Messed up.

Urgh.

On less meh front - the funny thing, after watching wonder woman, was the friend I went to see it with, didn't think Diana's armour could be practical in real life. Which actually, nope, it's practical. And I get to be a 'ancient history' geek (Ancient Warfare at Uni, heh, the fire pan helmet roman will never fade from my memory, crazy dude).

It's entirely based around the shield mind - because generally armour style was influenced by the shape of your shield, and the way that you tended to fight. Like the Roman turtle almost everyone knows.
Mid arm and mid leg armour was never really a thing, partly because it can impair movement, and partly because if you were using your shield right, you didn't need it.

Diana's armour is pretty much hoplite armour, without the stupid helmet. So yup practical and realistic. The lack of helmet, to be honest, isn't much of a downside, as it didn't really protect much (these were people who fought with a spear and a sword. A thrown spear that clips your helmet, helmet will mostly protect from injury, spear hits? Your helmet kills you....) and gave limited sight lines.

So yeah - that was the one major downside of the film my friend had - and actually it was because of modern POV on armour needing to be full body....