Lining up the ducks

There’s this turn of phrase I’ve heard in the past, when all the pieces of a task start coming together to form their hopefully gratifying endgame. It was called lining up your ducks, or getting all your ducks in a row. Quite why this is meant to be a metaphor for getting all the detail correct on a project is anyone’s guess, but it shall serve me nonetheless to describe what has happened over the past few days.

The reality is that I’m going to be leaving the country soon to see things I have only previously seen in books, on television and in the occasional dream brought on by eating half a bag of cheese rings before going to bed. Today, for instance, both my airline tickets (courtesy of the wonderful Michele at Peninsula Travel) and my London rail card (courtesy of the less wonderful folk at a nameless Australian reseller) arrived. I got to actually look at my itinerary for the trip, which I knew before, but now it’s all on a document that I didn’t print myself, so it sort of makes it that much more real. There’s some very useful info on the UK itself, the price comparisons, road rules, and what to do when confronted by an angry Liverpool soccer fan whose car you’ve just urinated on.

“I just enameled the hubcaps, you bastard!”

A few nights ago, the documentation from Exeter University arrived, with information on the exact location of the dig (which I can’t divulge as it is on private property and is also guarded by the undead). There’s all sorts of things in this document regarding the history of the town of Ipplepen and it’s surrounds, and I’m astounded by sort of things that have been found in previous digs at the site. People who know me well, know that I don’t often get excited about things, or at least I don’t outwardly show any sign of it. However, I am actually moderately looking forward to this, deep, deep down. Right down deep past the outer crust of scruffy indifference, the mantle of sad resignation at the amazing stupidity of the human race, and the glowing hot core of anger mainly directed at Windows Updates that keep prompting me to restart, lies a real human who appreciates the stories of people and the things they created.

So as it is, I’m gearing up to this. I’ve got everything I believe that I need for a trip – a lot of which has come from the Archaeology group on Facebook. I was brave enough to ask these people, who collectively have a few thousand years of experience on the subject, to think back to their first experiences and what they felt about them. I was inundated with a dizzying set of responses, ranging from recommendations of equipment and clothing (including what sort of frocks to wear), through tales of food and explosive diarrhea and the recommendations on why it’s not good to sleep with site supervisors.

But I’ve got myself a pair of trowels, a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, wet weather gear, knee pads and other jiggery-pokery that’s the hallmark of a novice field archaeologist. I’m going to be surrounded by students, locals and a few paying volunteers like me. I’ll also be learning from some of the most learned folk in the industry, which is something to look forward to as well. If I only come back with a mote of what they know, it will have been worth every single penny I embezzled I saved up.  There’s going to be so much see and experience – geosurveying, landscape archaeology, strata, natural vs non-natural, osteoarchaeology. All stuff of which I am certain makes you say “What the hell is he talking about?”

Pretty damned sure he knew exactly what Willis was talking about.

So I say to you all, stay tuned. I might just be talking crap for a while until I’m actually off into the wild blue yonder, however you never know what sort of nuggets you’ll find therein. However, I might remind everyone, I’m not JUST going to be in a horse paddock, staring at the ground and trying to make out the difference between this brown patch of dirt, and that other brown patch of dirt which is a clear sign of a pre-historic roundhouse/karaoke bar. I’m touring England as well, see all sorts of cool things. Next blog, I might mention a few, if only to make the unfortunate mediocrity of your existence that much more unbearable.

Love to all.