AP and Reuters, and your favourite new source have the story: a fire in Indonesia is killing orangutans. More than two hundred are already dead  - and it's entirely possible that, within the next few weeks, the entire orangutan population of Sumatra will be dead.

So I started copying and posting… Read full post »

 A while back (on a different blog), I made fun of how I research. Thing is - I'm doing it again.

Well. Let's be honest. Technically, at the moment, I'm NOT doing it again. Because I'm not researching. I'm procrastinating.

(Note: these can be adapted for interrupting a variety of… Read full post »

So, let’s say you’re a history buff.

And that museums are cool, and all, but you’re more of an outdoorsy person. You like to see the splendor and size and the reality of sites and you get shivers thinking about standing on a path where… Read full post »

If you're going backpacking for a few weeks or around the world on an open-ended trip, you don't need to lug around a Lonely Planet or a Frommer's. Two weeks into a seven month stint in South East Asia, I threw mine away - left them in… Read full post »

The snow has finally melted.

I hated the snow. I was complaining about it constantly for the last two weeks, moaning and making every possible excuse to stay indoors. But now that it’s melted, I already miss it.

I should have gotten a photograph. It… Read full post »

I was raised in downtown Los Angeles. I went to high school in an affluent suburb forty miles north. I'm white. I've spent time in Tanzania and Southeast Asia. I live in England.

I'm blonde and blue-eyed. I've been called a gringo, farang, ghost, mzungu.

 I've been called one, and I know that… Read full post »

Fossil-hunting at Runswick Beach, Yorkshire UK on holiday with my uncle and his family - yes, we went fossil-hunting on holiday. (Twice, actually, since the afternoon was high tide and we had to come back in the morning - my 9yr old cousin woke me up. Have I mentioned… Read full post »

Kinabatagan Borneo, Indonesia - trekking from Uncle Tan’s camp - 2008

[Click for high res/full size]

1. I’m actually looking at the camera. And smiling. This is rare. And, I’m the only one looking at the camera. This is incredibly rare! (I’m always the one… Read full post »

Librairie Epona

Archeologie et Histoire

7 Rue Jean du Bellay

My favourite bookstore.

There is an incredible place on the Ile Saint Louis in Paris and has the most amazing collection of books on ancient history, mythology, languages, archaeology, and palaeoanthropology.

I can barely aff… Read full post »

On top of Hadrian’s Wall with my cousin, who’s wearing my shawl (and laughing about it - she thought I was crazy, wrapping it around my head instead of using an umbrella).

Hadrian's Wall was built by the Romans in 122 AD, marking the border  between England and Scotlan… Read full post »

They dined on mince, and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

Confession: I have been stealing pictures…

On my mom’s birthday we ate at The Runcible Spoon in Stokes Croft. (The food was amazing!)

Left to right: (Uncle) Sam, (cousin) Quinn, (Aunt) Sarah, ((brot… Read full post »

This would be everyone. At my graduation!

This is what it looks like when (almost all of) your entire family comes to your graduation. From halfway across the world. (Because they’re just that amazing.)

And there went three years at the University of Bristol (which went by unbelievably… Read full post »

Stare at this and imagine wind. (A lot of wind.) And you’re there.

(The abbeys were the first time I’ve used the camera on my phone – and, other than the interesting colourinng – which is actually growing on me for the romantic feeling it lends – it’s not t… Read full post »

[CLICK FOR FULL-SIZE/HIGH-RES]

Melrose Abbey, Scotland.

I like ruined things.

(I’m not sure if this is because I’m an archaeologist – or if it might have been what drew me to archaeology in the first place. That said, give me a ruined ab… Read full post »

We got all dressed up for dinner – a dinner we were late for – at a place that wasn’t where we thought it was – that wasn’t where we were – that closed at a different time, anyway.

The only holiday picture with all four members of my family in… Read full post »

I know, I said I didn’t take any pcitures. That is, I didn’t take any except for the Catacombes. I totally got pictures of the Catacombes. 

(At least, as many as I could, while being forcibly hurried along by the impatient… Read full post »

(Photograph taken by Nicole Llyod. Borrowed because I'm in it.)

We tried - the few of us that remained seated - to restore some peace...

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Quite a week to be on twitter, isn't it?

Assembling these for an essay (twitter hashtag as piece of… Read full post »

 The pride of Picton St, on a normal day:

28th Apr, First Stokes Croft Riot: The sit-in that turned the tide.

Everyone’s asking why there were protests in Stokes Croft, and how they turned violent.

I think we have the questions backwards.

We need to be asking how we protested – because what we’ve been doing obviously isn’t working – and we need to know why it was violent.

---… Read full post »

I was at the protest-turned-riot-to-chaos in Stokes Croft last night with two friends. We managed to be the last three sitting in the middle of the road,  in our attempt to regain some semblance of a peaceful protest. (The two of them both happen to be wonderful writers.)… Read full post »

The people are rioting in the streets. And it's not about the Royal Wedding.*

Yes, I did say "riot", its not hyperbolic, and it's in my backyard. (Technically, my front street.)

I got home at 5am this morning. After having sat in the middle of a street full of broken glass, surrounded by… Read full post »

“Do you believe in God?” She was earnest and she wielded a clipboard.

A grin skipped up beside. “Ca va?” He sounded young. A green mask covered half his face but I remember him grinning. From my back, on a bed, in a hallway, I replied automatically. “Comme ci, comme… Read full post »

 I don't tend to go on feminist rants.

But too many things have just started pointing in the same direction, so I'm going to have this one out.

1. Post after post about the (reaction to) the rape in Texas and travesty that is

… Read full post »

I was there when the Berlin Wall fell. I toured with the Rolling Stones. And I was in a stroller at the time.

I have a piece of the Berlin Wall to prove it.

My parents  got it from the source – the wall itself. The wall had been built the year my… Read full post »