(no subject)

The Richard III announcement is making me very happy right now. I love that the team talked about the issues of identification and the issues with historical record and genetic record as part of the press conference and didn't just present an "Aren't we clever: yes, it's him."

I'll watch for the next few months and see if this changes local awareness of history and archaeology. As the person who teaches Medieval Studies to the wider world in my local community, I'm nicely placed.

Also, my forthcoming short story contains battered bones. For the record, yes, I was influenced by the account of the battering Richard received after death. I was hoping that he had actually been treated with respect, but the story was too good and so I was influenced by it. It's really sad that the story was too good to resist for those handling his body.

(no subject)

I've had an exciting morning, but haven't got a lot of work done.

My next door neighbour called "Gillian! Gillian!" until I came out. It appeared that we had Plumbers. It also appears that we have a major blockage. Tree roots have interfered with drainage bigtime.

The plumbers are leaving now (having borrowed power from me) and say that they haven't solved the problem, but that they've cleared out a lot of stuff. They said they might not be able to sort it. I said that there could be a wider problem if they didn't, and pointed out where in the valley we were and told them the history of drainage in this area. "We'll have to do something, then" they said. "We'll probably be back later on. See you then."

This is partly related to my sink problems of a few weeks ago. I still had sink problems (and they're now sorted) but there are roots interfering with drainage right across the block of flats. Once they're cleared, things'll be fine for about 16 years.

No, this isn't the first time this has happened. However did you guess?

courses

courses
I'm getting in a reminder while people are still thinking - wow! Richard! It feels all kinds of wrong to do this, but people are due a reminder anyhow, so...

My history courses at the ANU for this semester include:

Medieval places, which can include carparks in Leicester and their contents (and actually does include the shape and function of a town that size, so it will be quite obvious why Richard entered where he entered and left where he left and slept where he slept the last night of his life): http://www.anu.edu.au/cce/cecourses/outlines/history/Medievalplaces.pdf

and

The taste of history. Since I put a whole section on the food of Richard's coronation in the Conflux cookbook (because I could, to be honest - it wasn't actually relevant), I'm pretty sure I can talk about that and also the food around in his day. Only if the class wants it, of course: http://www.anu.edu.au/cce/cecourses/outlines/history/Thetasteofhistory.pdf

Also, the masterclass I'm giving in Queensland in March will be all about the relationship between history and fiction from the writer's point of view. http://www.qwc.asn.au/courses-and-events/courses/weekend-workshops/masterclasses/making-fiction-history-using-the-past-to-build-your-world/

I'm also teaching punctuation and grammar (Act Writers' Centre) and novel writing (ANU) but they're nothing to do with Richard.