Well it’s the National Archaeology Days this Saturday and Sunday, and Friday there are some VIPs and massed ranks of the press (so that’ll be the Swindon Evening Advertiser and the free paper, that comes through the door with all those glossy pizza, burger, kebab, double glazing, hairdressing and nail bar, lose weight, golf sale, pine warehouse leaflets, then) and we are cleaning up the site – not that it needs it. Pete has even borrowed my strimmer and got poor old Geoff (site management) , cutting back all that nasty grass 
I couldn’t believe the tool store when I saw it at lunchtime :eek , it was sparkling, Liz, one of the archaeologists, had performed a miracle and tidied it – with little labels telling you where to line up the mattocks, shovels, spades, buckets etc., in fact it was so different that I spent 10 minutes looking around for the old tool store. Well done Liz 
So in “deep room” we are still peeling back the soil to expose our two or three layers of plaster for the big wigs to admire. I can only keep my fingers crossed that we impress so much that next year funding is available to open up the site again.
West wall of “Deep Room”
showing 2 layers of plaster and plastered chamfered edge of door or niche with infill
Pilae and masonry
floor supports (the pilae have a tegula for a base!!)
Same
Hot air channel is visable behind stacks, to the left.
Another room
being cleaned
Post hole
and post pad and flue and everything!!!
So on the off chance of someone high up in English Heritage is reading this, here is an example of some letters that some 9 year old school children sent me about their “Archaeologist for a Day” experience last week.
Spelling mistakes theirs, explanatory parentheses mine.
Dear Chris (that’s me), Thankyou for teaching us to do the uppy downy game (earthwork surveying) that was one of my favourite things. I am going to ask my mum If we can go
there agian.