I am back after a long three weeks in the UK. I can definitely
say I prefer Luxor although it was fantastic to meet old friends like Steve
Simpson and his very hospitable wife and part of the family. I drove from
Heathrow to their place and it was good to get behind the wheel of a car again.
Thanks to the eldest daughter for letting me have her room in Poole, Dorset. After
all the comments about safety in Luxor the news of three deaths including 2
murders in Dorset in my first two days put thing in perspective. Luxor is definitely
the safest place I have ever lived in.
Colette Mason made my graduation special being my own
personal Sherpa and photographer. Helping me get to Manchester on the train
after my own personal nightmare of going from Heathrow where I dropped the car
to Euston with a heavy suitcase and limited mobility. We got to meet with Andy Humphreys
from PCG days, yes Colette; Andy Humphreys is Andrew Peter Humphreys. Next day
we went to the museum for a special tour by Campbell Price. I took a quick video of one bit http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151093540241072&set=vb.528791071&type=2&theater
Graduation was special, I found out when I arrived I had
been awarded the Year 4 Best Dissertation; the grin on my face says it all. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151094583396072&set=a.10151092756246072.486140.528791071&type=3&theater
I also got to see my daughter for the first time for 3 years, although she did
confuse a lot of people by arriving with a small child in tow (she was babysitting
ok, and does not have anything she needs to tell me). You can catch the
graduation ceremony here http://www.egyptologyonline.ls.manchester.ac.uk/newsandevents/
It was really special. One of the students is a long lost cousin and I got to meet
her and her mum for the first time. Also all the great and good in Manchester
Egyptology. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151094586936072&set=a.10151092756246072.486140.528791071&type=3&permPage=1
Colette and I had a fantastic meal at this Japanese
restaurant http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151094577746072&set=vb.528791071&type=2&permPage=1
I then moved to University Halls in Liverpool, the food was
fantastic but the beds were awful. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151095753246072&set=vb.528791071&type=2&theater
On the Sunday I went to the Gurob Harem Conference you can
view their website for an update. It was good to get presentations by the
people involved instead of just reading the website http://www.gurob.org.uk/
Monday was the start of summer school, I especially liked
the presentations from some of the PhD students as every single thing was brand
new to me. Sadly I missed my tutor Joyce Tyldesleys talk and the cheap beds at
halls got the better of me and I ended up in hospital Monday night is appalling
pain. The ‘happy’ pills I was given in triage were wonderful but I didn’t see a
doctor until the early hours so had to sleep.
Bob Connolly’s lecture was the highlight of the conference for me
although others were excellent. It was funny how many I knew from Facebook,
Twitter and the blog.
I met up with a few friends during the week and on Thursday
we had a conference meal at this fab place called the Quarter near the Uni.
Friday it fish and chips at the Marine Bar. The weekend was equally busy
meeting friends and ravelling to Leeds to spend the night with my daughter. She
told me that we were going to have sea bass for dinner and smoked salmon and
scrambled eggs for breakfast but when I got there she didn’t feel like cooking
and I was dying for a Chinese and she had eaten the smoked salmon but she made
up for it by cooking this fantastic Sunday lunch complete with apple sauce
which she dashed to the shop to get.
Then it was back to Liverpool by coach and halls, they had
replaced my mattress and done their very very best but I was really looking
forward to getting back to a firm mattress. So there I was sleep deprived and
it was hieroglyphic week which I was not looking forward to at all. In fact I
was dreading it. Glynn Godenho who taught my online course started us off. He
was fantastic and if you have struggled with glyphs get on a course with him.
He demystified it, gave me confidence and I finally cracked it, loads of light
bulb moments also Roland Enmarch was massively supportive and made things make
sense. We also had two PhD students assisting at the practical sessions Haley
Meloy and Dan Potter who were massively helpful. Most of the students left at Friday lunch
time but me and one other stuck it out to the end and rewarded by cake from
Haley.
On my last night at halls I had a visit from relatives, 15
of them!!!!! My uncle 3 out of 4 cousins and their partners, some of their
children and even one of their partners. We had a little party in the reception
area and the lovely catering staff were doing a buffet upstairs and brought us
all the left over’s. We had loads of food and talked over old times. They all
remember my parents and of course my wonderful grandmother who first got me
interested in Egyptology http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151124650556072&set=a.10151092756246072.486140.528791071&type=3&permPage=1
Saturday was another challenging day for one of limited
mobility as I had to get from Liverpool to Brighton which I did by coach. My
friend picked me up from the coach stop and we had a huge Indian meal which was
another thing I really craved. Finally some shopping on Sunday for Eid clothes and
then on Monday, at last back at Heathrow for my flight home.
It is so good to be back home, with my nice firm mattress, I
can tell you I slept well last night. And the fairies had been while I was away
leaving me lots of goodies from the UK which I hadn’t had time to buy.
4 comments:
Hi Jane,
I read your post just now with interest. I am happy to come across someone who attended the Liverpool Summer School because much as I wanted to go myself I got stuck up with kids and family and couldn`t move.
I`m sorry to hear that you fell ill just then and hope you`re better.
You say you attended Bob Connolly`s lecture and that`s what I am much interested in because I feel he is one of few left who want to find out the truth and are not driven by some sort of agenda.
Could you possibly just talk about the main points of his lecture?
I understand that recently he was trying to hunt down some old x-rays too to find out if Tut`s foot really shows deformities on them.
Did he say anything about that?
Thanks for any reply and wish you all the best, Monika
I understand that he has published so I would check Jstore
Did he say he published the lecture?
I found nothing on Jstor :(.
He did not say that but when I commented to someone else they said he had published sometime ago. Sorry that is all I know
Post a Comment