Piddington 96.

Area "E"

Area E at work Look mum real archaeology Look FEATURES in Area E! Oh a beaty to behold A good general always leads from the front No really it is a whole pot! Mel and Bill No sir, no foundations there Waist deep in no foundations Andy and Me in discussion Our well loved Ruth All hard at work
Who would have thought it? Real archaeology in Area "E"! Look at all the lovely features. The weather was just right too - not hot enought to bake the site to dust - so Mel and I had great fun digging proper features! Oh and as for the wall please notice the almost total lack of foundations... Keep an eye out for Northampton Steve. He may only be in the background but he's STILL posing.

The rest of the site

Planning Oooh look at those clouds Danger Deep Excavation Jason at work A Pot Roy Washing a pot Pot Washing Bill giving a talk Apsed Room No matter what he always attempts to look cool in photos En-Shoring Safety Unused Stoke Hole Liz Hale and Team If only he'd read the sign Oh Look! Lee and some foreign bird! Boring Mel
As you can see this was the year the well got serious (and ever so slightly phallic but that's another story). They even managed to pull a couple of whole pots out of the shaft (I thought I said that was another story) which got Roy excited enough (all right that's enough) to do a bit of pot washing. Lee managed to locate an unattached foreign bird to chat up and Mel was boring (not well boring just boring)

Tea Break

Any moment now... Everyone stops for tea Mmmmmmm No really I won't double cross you Silly Hat Diplomacy Tim
A most popular part of the day. Look there's Borgelin hovering by the tea tent, pretending to talk to some old codger but in actual fact it is a cunning ploy to drink Piddington dry of tea. Notice the casual way he holds that piece of styrofoam as if it means nothing to him, yet he is carefully timing his move back to the urn for that 56th cup. While others have better things to do like Tim, eying Olivia's Bourbons lustily or Jason scrutinising the playing field of Europe before planning his next crushing move in Diplomacy.

Behind the scenes

Marking Bagging Washing
Naturally we must not forget those boys and girls who work so hard off site (Huh?). If it weren't for these fellows all the lovely stuff we found would be useless. All that hard Washing, Marking and Bagging, not to mention the Banana measuring, Artifact puzzling and Tip-Ex sniffing.
Hmm Girth 4 inches Why have you brought me this? The rest of the afternoon just flew by
Oh and the all important Oyster measuring. No Andy really we believe you. Of course measuring 5,000 oysters can help us understand the Roman way of life. No please don't tell us any more, no please, no... Nooooo!!!!!
Andy and his Oysters

General Silliness

Steve Washing The Rolf Shrine Elves? Pixies? No just Mel!
Why Chris wanted to take a picture of Strange Steve washing I just don't know, nor do I want to know. This year saw the small beginning to our autograph hunting and star stalking. Rolf Harris may not be a huge celebrity to you but to us he was a god. See we even erected a shrine to him, including a tape of Two Little Boys and furry animals. Mel decided to tidy the tool tent (much to many's confusion) and we played

What's that in the Caravan window? Your mission Steve, should you choose to accept it... Silly Hats Day Why did Mel take this photo? Now you don't
Something wierd appeared if you can make it out in the reflection, Secret missions, silly hats and see through clothing all played their part.

Point and Clickety-Click

Naomi Naomi Naomi Naomi
Oh Mel where did it all go wrong?

The Pub

Chris and Lucy Jason, Chris, Mel and Tim Doc Rot Ruth, Andy and Me
Ah that haven of tranquility, home away from home and all round good place to get a pint of that favourite of beers Bombardier. Talking of pubs here's a bonus picture for you - The only Charles Wells Bomardier serving pub in Zone 1 - The Anchor and Hope. At last we have a place where Piddingtonians can feel at home in the big smoke, and get to sit down too (it's hardly the most happening place in the West End).
The Anchor and Hope
The Track
And after all is said and done there's still the track. There will always be the track. Wherever and whenever it may be it will always remain.