This time the excuses are multiple. I’ve been on two short trips, one to Newport Beach Nautical Museum to give a lecture, the second to talk about ancient emergencies to a hospital group in San Francisco. Both audiences were enthusiastic and pleasant, which makes all the difference. Then I caught a short but nasty cold, which has laid me out for a week.

Fortunately, I’ve recovered just in time to fly to the UK for Current Archaeology’s Archaeology Festival in Cardiff. They asked me to go last year, but I couldn’t make it owing to a conflict, so it’s Cardiff instead of the British Museum. I’m going over a little early to adjust to jet lag, see colleagues in Durham, and, if the weather allows, take a walk on Hadrian’s Wall. I haven’t been there in a decade and certainly not in mid-winter. The forecast is for rain and snow, so we will see.

It’ll be a relief not to be writing for a change. I’ve just delivered the advanced draft of my latest book to my publisher for their detailed editorial comment, so the pressure’s off until they send me their comments for the final version. It’s a book on the Cro-Magnons, a subject that’s fascinated me since I was an undergraduate and was able to see some of the cave paintings by acetylene lamp—a memorable experience. I also visited the original Lascaux, although the replica is absolutely superb. The book is not about art—everyone writes about that—but about the Cro-Magnons as people. Of course the art factors into the story, but there is no much more than cave paintings and artifacts. I guess the book will appear either late this year or early next. Much depends on what the editor says and how long it will take me to revise it. The book was a fascinating and arduous project, involving not only extensive traveling but also a prolonged journey through some of the most intricate and obscure literature I have ever read. Anything will be much easier after this project, but I learned a huge amount.

And now for the legendary hospitality of United Airlines….