Monthly Archives: August 2012

Climate and the British Scene

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Francis Pryor

The weather is an integral part of the landscape. Just go for a stroll on a sunny day: everything is rosy. The hills in the distance are there, but slightly concealed by the summer haze. Overhead, fluffy fair weather clouds … Continue reading →

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Beer Today: Gone Tomorrow

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Francis Pryor

I love good beer. I’m not an English Nationalist: I do think that continental beers are good, especially German, Czech and Belgian. But ours are rather special and come from an essentially different brewing tradition. And it’s an ancient one. … Continue reading →

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Booze-less Mondays

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Francis Pryor

I used to think that Russell Brand was a bit of a prat. But last night we watched his documentary (Russell Brand: from Addiction to Recovery) about kicking drink and drug addiction on BBC Three and were both impressed. He … Continue reading →

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Day Lilies and Embellishing Reality

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Francis Pryor

Wow! What a horribly pretentious title. At face value, it’s the sort of verbose garbage that’s best confined to the CV of an aspiring academic art historian. Having said that, it does state what this post is going to be … Continue reading →

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Travel: a Cure for Olympic Flatulence

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Francis Pryor

If I had five pounds for every person I’ve met who’s been complaining about belches and farts caused by sitting in front of the television hour after hour watching the Olympics, I’d be a rich man.  Happily, while the rest … Continue reading →

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Time Team Series 20, My Sixth Episode: Afterthoughts

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Francis Pryor

As archaeologists we often tend to down-play finds. That’s because in our minds it’s their context, i.e. where they were found, that matters. That’s why we differ so fundamentally from metal-detectorists, who very often ignore such things. But on Roman … Continue reading →

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Time Team Series 20, My Sixth Episode: Day 3

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Francis Pryor

This has been a most extraordinary day. The fort’s secrets have been almost fully laid bare with a series of the most stunning geofizz surveys. The radar was outstanding, revealing every detail of buildings buried up to a metre below … Continue reading →

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Time Team Series 20, My Sixth Episode: Day 2

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Francis Pryor

This will probably go down as one of the best Time Teams, largely because there have been so many wonderful finds. Now there’s absolutely no point in me listing them, as they’ll all be shown in every splendid detail in … Continue reading →

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Time Team Series 20, My Sixth Episode: Day 1

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Francis Pryor

I have to confess, I don’t always find Roman archaeology very exciting. Maybe it’s because the Romans have had a poor press. They’re normally portrayed as the people who ‘gave’ Britain good modern roads, writing, mass-produced pottery and towns. And … Continue reading →

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Time Team, Series 20 my Fifth and Sixth Episodes: Afterthoughts and Prospects

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Francis Pryor

First, a word of apology: for the past few days I’ve been frantically busy on the farm and in the garden, hence the bloggy silence. Sometimes the rain even managed to stop and in those few dry moments I was … Continue reading →

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