| Entry: | Jez Taylor. Tues. 11/05/1999. Space 164. Building 7.
On Sunday, we finally finished drawing the south-facing elevation. So far this has been numbered as follows: Main wall - F.448, (4370) - plaster face to F.448, floor layer remnants (4371), plaster behind (4371) - (4379). We also completed excavation of the upper wall F.406. This had been delayed, to avoid damage to our plaster face, and so Nurcan could complete the west-facing elevation, without risk of being hit by falling brick and mortar. Doing the drawings was a pretty fraught experience, with irritation levels turned up to max. at times. Main problems being - inability to see distinctions clearly for much of the day in the bright sunlight, intense heat, and a self-perpetuating cock-up caused by sagging string. However, we persevered, and last night I did a final tarting-up of the drawings, before handing them over to Craig, who probably wondered if he was ever going to see them. It was a sorry saga, but in the end, we did a beautiful job. Today and yesterday we have been on the digging and zembil-carrying teams, as excavation of Mellart's backfill has started in Space 165, and continued in Space 164 - including a vast hole, which presumably is the legendary Deep Sounding. Very impressive progress was made today, partly due to the efforts of specialists: Andy, Sheelagh, Kent, and John, who came up to muck-in for the day. We worked extremely hard, and should all be feeling proud of ourselves. However, the same cannot be said of the workmen. After an initial frenzy, probably stirred-up by the addition of Sheelagh and Shahina to the digging/mattocking team, they soon returned to their normal feeble pace, and their complete lack of shame/embarrassment, in front of people really putting their backs into the work.At one point during our trips back and forth up Zembil Hill to the spoil heap, our two-man zembil team lapped them 20 times!! I hav'nt got the time to get into the full-on rant that's been brewing up throughout the day. Some compensation, is that we all had quite a laugh, even with the workmen, and as usual, the zembil carrying produced many bizarre conversations, and quite a few outbreaks of mirth. For sheer physical effort, this was far and away the hardest day so far.Entered By: Jez Taylor |
