The Dig At The NOB……1984…..An Antidote…..Or Two…..
by Bernie Bell - 11:16 on 18 August 2022
I’m still not sure how many, or few, folk read my blog – I haven’t worked out how to find out! Those who do will have noticed an accent on archaeology – the Ness of Brodgar – The Cairns – Swandro – Skaill Farm ( Rousay) etc. etc.
The dig season has well and truly drawn to a close now as the tarpaulins and tyres will go back on the Ness site over the next couple of days and that’s that – until next year. I could witter on about the dig this year but…Sigurd says it best…. https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/dig-diary-its-all-over-for-another-year/
....and Tim Winterburn took most excellent pics.... https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/a-summer-of-excavation-photographs-from-tim-winterburn/
I do wonder about the ‘blob’ on the ceramic from Trench T, and asked The Harray Potter (Andrew Appleby ) what he makes of it. I believe in asking them as knows and them as does things in actuality. And his answer was…..
“I really don’t know. But applying a bit of fired clay to already fired clay successfully is virtually impossible in the Neolithic.”
If he doesn’t know, who does? Apart from the potter that made the pot…way back then…..
Andrew and his chums have done a lot of work investigating how the ancient folk made their pottery, including where they got the clay from, and found workable deposits around Orkney. https://orkneypottery.co.uk/prehistoric-pottery/
*******************************************************************
1984
Following on from my tale of Customer Dis-service, I was thinking about George Orwell’s novel ‘1984’ and how near we are to heading down that road. Things simply don’t work as they should, and there’s not a lot we can do about it. It’s understood that many of the things we buy have built-in obsolescence – most large kitchen appliances are expected to last for about 5 years.
This situation has crept up on us over decades and many folk now accept that things won’t last - many folk don’t want them to - as there is a a concept, promoted by the manufacturers and advertisers, that we must replace things regularly and often - not mend them or only replace them when they wear out.
And now – we have a Cost of Everything Crisis in which people are finding it hard to buy basic essentials such as food and the energy to cook that food and to heat their homes – yet the big shiny box in the corner of the room presents them with tech. and holidays that they can’t possibly afford. I’m being a bit out-of-date there - the box is no longer in the corner of the room - in many rooms it just about fills a wall!
If you haven’t read ‘1984’ – I recommend that you do so as in that tale what the box in the room presents to them as what is so, and the reality of their lives – are two very different things. But what can they do about it? In ‘1984’, nothing.
In 2022 we can - we can still vote. Though - we need to watch the Fascist state developing in Britain or maybe we won’t be allowed to – photo I.D. required at the Polling Station? https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/voter-identification-at-polling-stations-and-the-new-voter-card
Photo ID is usually a Driver's Licence or Passport - not everyone has a Driver's Licence or Passport as not everyone can afford a car or to go abroad. Photo ID to be allowed to vote could disenfranchise the poorer members of society.
It is a citizen’s right to vote – it’s not a concession.
As it is, in Britain today some ‘animals’ are definitely more ‘equal’ than others and folk in some levels of society can get away with behaviour, including breaking the law, more easily than others can.
I’m writing this to ask people to pay attention – pay attention to what is happening around them in their world today and to do what they can about it – mainly VOTE!
Last word - in ‘1984’ the box in the room is watching the viewer as well as being watched. Cue Alexa…..
*******************************************************************
An Antidote….
A poem by Bartholomew Barker https://bartbarkerpoet.com/2022/08/17/the-grave-of-edna-st-vincent-millay/ about when he encountered Edna St. Vincent Millay………
Labyrinth for Vincent
“Ignore the No Trespassing sign,”
she beckoned from the other side.
“Come with me through the forest.
I’ll read my poetry as we travel
barefoot on the mossy path.”
Side-by-side we walked,
the sun enflamed her hair,
her voice like bird song
on the wind tickling the leaves.
And at the center—
gray and lichened
as a standing stone
felled by time—
her grave.
I asked why she hadn’t read
her famous First Fig
or my favorite Spring.
She just smiled,
kissed my cheek
and faded.
Leaving me
to remember my way
back to living.
*******************************************************************
Fuschia….Monbretia…Alchemilla…Autumn Approaches…..
*******************************************************************
Here’s one I made earlier….. https://theorkneynews.scot/2018/03/01/above-stromness/
Add your comment
