Wednesday, July 7

I awake to my alarm this morning. It is the first time I have slept thru the night in over a week. I am finally feeling normal again.
The same group as yesterday begins work in the same place. We Mattocks down another layer (about an inch and a half) and begin again. The larger stones are getting harder to find. There is a lot of tightly packed small stuff, which appears to be infill to produce a new layer on top of the older Roman layer. We are told to leave this in place for now and clean around it. After a while this gets really tedious. When you are working on a small space doing fine work you develop tunnel vision and lose sight of the larger picture. Matt keeps an eye on us, always offering encouragement. I like Matt, he relates to the workers much better than Natalie, who is also keeping an eye on us. Fortunately, my photography offers me an excuse to take more breaks and helps to keep me fresh.

Once back at the house I make a third trip to the camping store. This time I need something to put my damn room key on. I find one of those things you run a rope thru while climbing. It has a key ring on it and I attach it to a belt buckle. Hopefully, this will solve the problem.

I go to the office in search of another blanket. It seems very cold in my room and the heat has been turned off for the summer. The man at the desk comes with me back to #1 to help search for more blankets. We have a pleasant chat on our walk and an idea occurs to me. While waiting to talk to him I have observed that new mattress are being delivered. I tell him about the sorry state of the one in my room and ask if there is anyway that one of the new ones could find its way to my room. He thinks about this for a moment and says to come back and see him in the morning. He finds another blanket and hands it over. Well, some progress anyway.
After dinner, there is a lecture about the Romans in Britain by Dr. David Mason, the County archeologist who gave us our introductory talk on Monday. As I have just completed a 10-week course on this subject back at Stanford, I decide to skip it so I can watch the second World Cup semifinal. Spain beats Germany and advances to meet the Dutch for the title. Shortly before the game ends some of the group arrives in the pub from the just completed lecture. They save me from the unwanted attention of a man who has been making goo-goo eyes at me all evening. My weirdo magnet is fully functional.
About half way to morning I wake up, still cold despite my additional blanket. I decide the reason is I have the air mattress on the floor and not on top of the broken mattress. As I am on the ground floor the actual ground seems to be sucking the warmth out of my body. I put the air mattress back on the bed and sleep better for the rest of the night.

About the images:
1. The view of the countryside from the site.
2. Awaiting the return of the workers.
3. Tools of the trade.