Nadir

Environmental Specialists in the desert - 1, Days in the desert - 40, Beers in the desert - got battered last night and nicked a Stella glass, Kebabs consumed in the desert - ate some more when I was battered last night, fruit juices in the desert - continues to experience a hiatus, kilometres walked across the desert - the distance and speed continue to grow, dead goats/dead camels - the body count has ceased, Cars Killed - 1.

Nadir is not my new bloke.

The start of the week was a bit rough, Oskar and I were out on survey on Sunday, with temperatures hitting the mid 40's centigrade this has turned into a bit of killer. We did quite a bit of walking but it started to thunder and lighting so we decided to continue the survey in the car as we were just about the tallest things in a flat landscape... To cut a long story short, we had a bit of really, really bad luck and ran over quite a large rock, the suspension was high enough to have cleared it but for whatever freakish reason, it caught the transmission box and holed it. The hole was probably about 5-7cm across, we lost the transmission fluid and were stranded in the desert. I was, and continue to be very upset about this. I consider myself to be a careful driver in the desert, they are reg deserts so it is very rocky and, unless on sandy or silty tracks, you cannot drive quickly. I had also gone 5 weeks without a puncture and I was quite proud of this, well its true that pride comes before a fall... and boy what a fall... Anyway, the vehicle was recovered by the car rental company and has gone to be fixed. On the positive side, we didn't loose any work time on any of the 3 days we were effected by not having a car. Oskar and I continued to survey, lithics continued to be picked up.

I should add, the car wasn't even my beloved 402810, it was Oskar's car... This made me feel even worse...

We headed down to Doha on Tuesday for some data processing and a night on the pop with Howell and Richard as we thought that this would be the last time they got to see each other as Richard should have been heading to the UK for a wedding. Ultimately, Richards flight was cancelled due to the Icelandic volcano and he couldn't go. He had to leave the country cos of his visa so has gone to Abu Dhabi to see Mark Beech and go to Womad. He needs the break, a bit of time away will do him good!

I have spent the last couple of days writing up my report on the environmental material from site 141 at Wadi Debaiaan. The sequence is extremely interesting from a number of perspectives. Environmental evidence has been preserved but in terms of insect and plant remains, I think that we are out of luck. What the samples do have is an excellent sedimentological record and for this reason, we are reopening the pit so I can do some proper geoarchaeology/geomorphology on it. We have got Faslan and a group of Sri Lankans over on Monday to reopen the original hole and I will swing by to have a look on Tuesday as I will be Aerospace City on a Qatari commercial excavation from Sunday onwards.

The Aerospace City job is happening in the North, at a place just south of Al Khor, there appears to be a fishing settlement, a load of burial cairns which contain human remains and some possible agricultural features. This is the work I have been asked to stay the extra time to consult on, which is really cool.

To be honest, it looks as though very little of my last two weeks will be spent in Shamal, perhaps a couple of days this week and next. We loose no. 10 the day before I leave so it will be sad to see it shut up. It does feel like things are now coming to an end, Howell leaves on Thursday, Team Llanbed leave the following Monday and I leave 2 weeks tomorrow. It is now time to make the most of it!!!

We are in Doha for the weekend and went out and had a few too many beers last night and a couple of kebabs on the way home. Oskar has persuded us to visit Iceland with pictures of his Marmalade coloured bunny... We have also been talking about the next season, which is kind of cool. I shan't discuss this now as it makes me feel kind of sad.

Today, we are off to see some sand dunes and then head to the Souq Waqif for some ice cream. We are heading down there tomorrow as well for some tat shopping... Tonight we are possibly out for further drinks.

Despite the difficulties at the beginning of the week - the Craic remains mighty...