Double dig diary today as your humble diarist was called away on another matter so sadly failed to produce yesterday's diary entry in a timely manner. We spent yesterday mattocking to reveal yet more flags and swatting kleggs in equal numbers, although everyone managed to remain cheerful, or maybe it was just hysteria setting in:
We had had a bit of a klegg fest, or at least the rest of the team had, as I was over the other side of the wall with the strimmer, fully kitted out in PPE, helmet, face shield and ear defenders, cutting down the vegetation around the Norse longhouse from the earlier excavation which we're going to record next week. It took me a fair while to notice that everyone over the wall was jumping up and down and screaming at me to stop, as I was disturbing a massive klegg army who had apparently decided that they were no match for a strimmer but were going to go over the wall and eat everyone else. They made me stop and go back when they were all on their lunch break.
We then got everything in the new trench cleaned up quickly for a photo, as the rain looked like it was moving in, which is why there are both ranging rods out and people frantically getting the last bit of the site clean in this shot.
Steve had his drone up and got some nice aerial shots too, with our area of flagging below the byre now looking remarkably similar to some of the houses at Jarlshof in Shetland.
Today we were back for more of the same, uncovering a much larger area of flagging along with a whole new batch of kleggs, which are really getting beyond a joke - constant swatting and cries of 'Got you, you little ******' echoing across site. I think I hold the record for the most swatted at once - the little beggars waited for me to take off the strimming PPE then descended and I goy seven with one swat.
Finally the end of the day today was marked by the ceremony of the ritual cleansing of the boots, in order to try and not tread half the site across the floors on the boat and so make yourself unpopular with the crew who have to clean it up.
We've two whole days off now, back on site on Sunday, so I'm off to scratch my klegg bites for a bit.