Yesterday I picked up my research visa for the forthcoming project in Turkey. That trip, and the previous trip to the Turkish embassy represented a rare opportunity for me to visit London without a meeting taking place, This meant that I could take the opportunity to have a wander around the British museum and British Library, places that cant be visited too many times.

Today with visas sorted I have been finishing off a revised costing, an assessment report and taking the opportunity to type in some data from the early era of pottery quantification into what I hope will be my overarching UK pottery database

Everyone decided that yesterday was a good day to email me, whilst I was in a nice cosy meting. Have just about caught up with things - negotiating the deadlines for the  proceedings I want to get published, based on the IfA conference session I organised in Oxford; Finalizing the documentation I need to get my research visa and a minor change for my thesis publication, before it is dispatched for the final editors preview, and who knows soon published?
I must now sort out my checklists for Turkey and check what equipment I need to restock.

And today off to Birmingham for an IFA PDP meeting today - so catching up on my reading on the train journey

well work continues to pick up after a really rubbish 2011 -Although having the time to update my databases was useful

The maps have been updated again, and with a bit more explanation. If I think of some new ones I'll be playing with them. I am trying to update the tile kiln one to include some fabric shots, although I only have one fabric shot I can directly ascribe to a tile kiln (Heckington fen) there are a few probable ones I'm sure I could add.

Today has been mostly batteling with the internet which apparently has had treacle poured into it. This has not been useful as I have been editing some rather large files for a collabrative project which are held at an FTP site, so I have had to be downloading and uploading very slowly all day. Irritating. I have also noted that most if not all of the grey literature on APS has been uploaded to OASIS, so I can get some ancillary data for my earlier CBM reports, which should help with my taphonomic charecterisation

One of the maps seems to be behaving itself. The others re fine if you click on for the larger image. will have to investigate - its all about seeing what works at this stage

Todays addition to the website has been this location map of the Roman pottery.
It is useful for me to see where a site is, and if I have done any work nearby. Of probable more interest is this map of CBM kilns in Roman Britain, based on data I researched in 2005.

This is something of an experiment as well as trying to kill several birds with a single stone. I have been very lax about giving my business a web presence, so here it is (!). But given the tools available here I think having a discussion forum focusing of archaeological finds is worth a shot, and of course a blog to remind me what I'm meant to be doing, and to act as an introduction to the strange world of this finds specialist.