… something for nothing, and that is that I’m not going to have one of those caffeine-filled energy drinks again.
Yes, never mind “last night” – I was still wide awake at 03:00 this morning and showing no sign whatever of going off to sleep? And that’s despite the early start that morning.
It wasn’t as if I was all that early going to bed either. By the time that I’d finished everything and gone to bed, it was round about 23:30. So seven hours sleep was the most that I could expect, but I ended up with much, much less than that.
However, it wasn’t all wasted. As I usually do when I’m having difficulty sleeping, I set myself an imaginary problem. Using techniques that I’ve learned about the building of prehistoric and Roman defensive sites, I redesigned the fort that Colonel Carrington built in the Black Hills of Dakota that was abandoned after the Fetterman Disaster. I made quite a few changes and additions too that would have made the fort so much stronger.
At some point though, I must have gone off to sleep because the alarm awoke me at 06:29. And then it was a desperate struggle to force myself to leave the bed. It’s becoming harder and harder to leave the bed these days.
After I’d had a good wash and brush-up, I went into the kitchen for my hot drink and medication, and then I came back in here to listen to the dictaphone.
Actually, that particular driver had been part of the conversation that I’d had with my cleaner earlier yesterday. It wasn’t about this subject, though. And I could understand why a girl would feel jealous or left out of things under these circumstances.
But maybe, if I’d bought meals for a couple of other girls in the past when they had been feeling left out of things, my life wouldn’t seem to be as disastrous as it appears
This dream, despite it being so long, seems to relate to nothing at all – except that when I was in Brussels and my boss was on holiday for a couple of weeks, I drove the Finnish general who had come to discuss the possibility of a European Army, something that only seems to be happening today, twenty-five years later.
Isabelle the Nurse was early today. She told me a few stories of Carnaval but she says that she’ll show me the photos at the weekend. One thing that she did confirm was that the town is in total and absolute chaos after the parade yesterday.
After she left, I could make breakfast and read some more of MAIDEN CASTLE EXCAVATIONS AND FIELD SURVEY 1985-6 by Niall Sharples.
And I must admit to having had a laugh at one of the comments in his book, even though I know that I shouldn’t. Freudian slips are not the subject of history at all – they really do happen, especially as in where he writes "There is also a very similar situation at South Street in north Wiltshire (Ashbee et al 1979), where Late Neolithic activity with Peterborough pottery occurred in secondary woodland." and then goes on to ask "What sort of activity went on in these woodlands and why did it have no effect on the vegetation?"
Judging by the considerable evidence of the presence of numerous children at the site, I have a pretty good idea of what went on in the woodland, and it had probably been going on for so long that the vegetation had seen it all before and so was immune to the shock factor.
But to be serious … "for once" – ed … we’ve gone past molluscs and are now onto plants. Judging by the types of seeds in the different layers of soil, his team’s opinion of the timeline of the land-use as judged by mollusc remains is pretty much correct
However, interestingly, in the earliest layers, round about the period of the early Neolithic, remains of nuts, seeds, grains and fruits seem to be indicative of the remains of a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Although there was a great variety of different remains, the edible remains were few, indicating that it was still very much a precarious hand-to-mouth existence.
By the time that we reach the Iron Age, though, the diet seems to be much more monotonous, with a predominance of grain, leguminous plants and arable weeds. This seems to point to a people who abandoned the hunter-gatherer lifestyle a good way back and are now practising sedentary agriculture – large-scale arable farming necessitating a totally different lifestyle involving cooperation and coordination.
Even more interestingly, the amount of crop “waste” recovered that relates to this latter period is described as "copious". It was clearly anything but a hand-to-mouth existence, and this bears out something that I heard when I went to a lecture at the university in Brussels years ago, that agricultural production per capita in the Iron Age was sufficient to support a much larger population than existed at the time, hence there would be little reason for warfare amongst the different tribes and groups of people.
Back in here, I had several things that I needed to do, and then I attacked the radio programme. All of the music is now paired and segued, and all of the notes have been written, ready for the next early start, whenever that might be.
As well as that, I’ve had a couple of online chats with a few people, including my niece in Canada and also with a friend, who wished me “happy birthday”, which is nice of him, even if he is a little early with his best wishes.
When I’d finished, I had a play around with a few artificial intelligence story writers, and I was astonished at the results from two of them. As I have said before … "and on many occasions too" – ed … this Artificial Intelligence is going to lead to total chaos and a whole lot of trouble before too long, if it hasn’t already. In the past, I’ve already been swapping heads and backgrounds around from one image to another with startling results.
With what time was left, I began to edit a rock concert to use for the next radio programme, only to find that it’s the wrong date, so I’ll have to look for another way of filling up that broadcast.
Tea tonight was pasta and something out of the freezer. It should have been an aubergine and kidney bean whatsit dating back to November 2023 (there is stuff far older than that in there) but it wasn’t. I have no idea what it was, or why it was in the wrong packet, but I identified peanuts in it.
Pudding was a peach half with vegan sorbet. My imagination is rather lacking right now. But when I’ve finished this tin of peaches, I might go for a pear upside-down cake, just to be different. Rosemary reckons that instead of sugar, you can use a mix of desiccated coconut and ground almonds. That should be fun to try.
But not now, because I’m off to bed, ready for dialysis tomorrow … "I don’t think" – ed …
But before I go, seeing as we have been talking about swimming baths just now … "well, one of us has" – ed … the Municipal Swimming Baths in Crewe closed down a few years ago, and they now have somewhere much more modern – and privatised.
They put up a big sign above the door to advertise the place. It said "PSWIMMING BATHS".
And so I went along and asked them "do you know that you have made a spelling mistake?"
"Not at all" the receptionist said. "In these swimming baths, the ‘P’ is silent."
