Today I’ve been reading up about a bronze chicken dating from the Roman period found as part of grave goods in a child’s grave in Cirencester.Speculation it was buried as a pyschopomp to take child’s soul to underworld.I need more of this sort of thing in my life and less Cicero.

Apparently it’s Negroni week. In my house, that’s every week. www.negroniweek.com

Prepping for Dr Mike’s bar to open. Tonight it’s Negronis (of course), Weissbier and Barolo, and a chance to catch up on Alien:Earth, which is the best thing I have seen on TV for quite a while.

Saturday afternoon in a large supermarket and I've seen various people wandering around in pyjamas.

It’s Saturday morning, so once again I’ll be teaching. This morning it’s Alexander the Great: hero or villain?

The joys of the Friday commute. Train cancelled this morning. Replacement taxi for 60 mile journey (one six-person taxi for the whole train: we had to fight for a space).There was actually a train for the return journey but jam packed and there was a drunken fight (not me).

For the next two days I’ll be doing nearly four hours of teaching on one artefact: the Prima Porta Augustus, one of my favourite ancient statues. They’ll be horrified by polychromy, hopefully intrigued by dating issues and ready to debate the iconography (and challenge my views).

At the doctor's surgery, waiting for follow-up tests for a hopefully non life threatening (or indeed life ending) condition.

Annoying person on train scrolling through endless videos on phone at full volume with no headphones concedes defeat after my countermove of the Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde.

My major achievement today has been collating a bibliography on Roman toilets for a project I’m working on.

Nightmarish four hour commute home after a succession of train cancellations, delays and finally, a train that travelled at the pace of an arthritic slug.

Saint Jerome in Meditation https://www.wikiart.org/en/caravaggio/saint-jerome-in-meditation

I think that is enough marking for now. Negroni time.

The start of the academic year brings the essay marking: this weekend a 50/50 split between Antigone and Second Triumvirate. Will power through until Dr Mike’s bar opens.

Very nice. bluecrowmedia.com/products/bru...

Tonight's commute film is John Carpenter's underrated 1994 film In the Mouth of Madness.

Dr Mike’s bar is most definitely open.

I remember doing quite a lot of research on this way back in 2005. It made for less than half a page in the thesis. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Once again, my research has led me to Roman sacred chickens.

‘May’ doing a lot of heavy lifting here. www.artnews.com/art-news/new...

Rare Intact Etruscan Tomb in Italy Discovered by International Baylor-led Archaeological Research Team. Just look at all that intact ancient pottery... not been seen for 1000s of years! news.web.baylor.edu/news/story/2...

End of the week commute is a folk horror film double bill: Midsommar & Blood on Satan's Claw. It's apt,I think,given it's trip through rural areas where I suspect they still follow 'the old ways'.

Morning!

Translating sections of Lysias’ On the Murder of Erastosthenes for the next round of GCSE Greek texts. Soundtrack is Spotify, which has made me both a Folk Horror mix (rather too much prog rock) and an Italian Giallo mix (odd electronica).

I want to stay in this hotel.

Morning!

Incredibly, this morning's train has working WiFi. Now, they just have to sort out speed,punctuality, reliability, and passenger capacity.

The slide into decrepitude continues as I gradual transform into Gandalf.

Sunday morning OU teaching session (although last one for a while): 90 minutes on protest and dissent against apartheid in South Africa. I don’t just do dead languages,broken storage jars and holes in the ground.

OU marking finished (at last!), although I have a 90 min online session to deliver on Sunday morning (music and protest in South Africa).But now, time to start on Latin textbook work.

Final evening in Cyprus.Tsunami of work and OU marking and teaching when I get back. It's been a nice but brief respite.

The temporary relocation of Dr Mike’s bar to Cyprus has involved the inclusion of the Brandy Sour on the menu. Definitely recommended but certainly not a breakfast beverage.

Unfortunately,still too warm for tweed, although temperature has dropped to a postively wintery 29 degrees.

Alas, Cypriot heatwave has involved difficult sartorial decisions and the necessary abandonment of usual forms of attire.

Off duty Classicist considering whether to visit an archaeological site or not.