One of my reasons for deciding to go to Rome was because it was the first place that that Christopher and I went on holiday together, in 1990. We spent a week exploring the city and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves seeing many of the sights. So I felt that he would really approve of me scattering […]
Sorry for the break in transmission for the past week, but I’ve got a good excuse. I’ve been on holiday in Rome. I joined a group tour run by Christopher’s and my favourite holiday company, Andante. They are rather an unusual company, owned and run by archaeologists, who run very interesting trips which are a […]
On Saturday there was a Spring Gaudy at my Oxford College for my year and the two years above me. This is a once-every-ten-years black-tie dinner when we get invited back to Balliol to meet our contemporaries, and (of course) get asked for donations to support the College. It was the first really big formal […]
This isn’t a blog about my work, but it’s a major part of my life and regular readers may have detected a hint of work-related stress creeping into my posts over the last few weeks. What with long days, off-site meetings requiring 4-5 hours travelling, and milestones coming out of my ears, there’s a lot […]
I don’t often go out in the evenings at the moment, as I’m still getting far too tired. But there was a concert on at Malvern Theatres this evening that I particularly wanted to see, so I made a big effort. In fact, the recent snow made it a bigger effort than I had anticipated […]
The acronym for Time Off In Lieu is highly appropriate – one only manages to accrue it when one’s been toiling away. And, as Sam pointed out in a comment yesterday, I’ve certainly been building up a fair amount of extra hours throughout January. In fact, for the last two weeks I’ve done a full […]
Several friends have commented about how interesting they found the picture of the tree roots devouring the temple at Ta Prohm. So here are a few more pictures of that temple, and the neighbouring Banteay Kdei, both being assailed by jungle. You can see the damage that the tree roots are doing – the walls […]
One of the reasons for going to Cambodia was to scatter some of Christopher’s ashes at or near Angkor Wat – somewhere that had very firmly been on our list of places to visit. All through the holiday I kept thinking about how much Christopher would have loved it – he would have so enjoyed […]
I managed to see nine temples in the three days I was in Siem Reap – out of the thousand or so temples that are in the Angkor area. And, believe me, nine was enough – even I was getting all templed out by Boxing Day! They are all built on much the same plan, […]
On Christmas Day, I was one of the first guests down for breakfast. Most people were still sleeping off the Gala Dinner, but I had a full day of sightseeing planned and had agreed an early pick-up with my guide. So at about 07:30 I was finishing my third cup of tea, and just starting […]
