Pre - x-mas update

I am keeping busy as ever. Cannot wait for x-mas, going home to Peine on the 23rd, flying to Hannover, where - hopefully - someone will come and pick me up!
Need some rest, proper food, some time for me and some time to get some more work done! Beforehand I shall be presenting my research at a work-in-progress seminar on Thursday which I find rather scary as I have never really spoken about it. Presentation's almost done, though, so could be worse. Once that's done I will have to prepare another presentation for the following Thursday, the essay for which I will have to write over x-mas. The topic for that one is 'Bubastis until the end of the Middle Kingdom' which I find rather nice, as I have visited the site before, in 2003, when I was working at Qantir, also in the north-eastern Delta.
The topic for my presentation this Thursday is "Mass-Production in New Kingdom Egypt - Capital Cities of the New Kingdom and their industries", and I shall introduce my research, which is still in its youth, talk about my intentions and then focus on the larger industries at Amarna and Piramesse, trying to find some conclusions in how far mass-production can be identified and how these related to the city and then contributed to its development and status. Check out The Amarna Project website for some more information.

I was working all day yesterday, sitting at my desk at home. When I first looked out of my window I had a nice surprise: There's an empty site opposite my (third) house, which had been cleared recently - for a new building, I thought, and some strange metal frames had been set up - Turn out they're using it to see x-mas trees! :-)
Enjoy the view I had yesterday: The busy Smithdown Road can be seen in the background.






This morning, whilst waiting for and on the bus, I had a good laugh - loads and loads of Santas were driving, walking through the city. On the bus I realised that they were all on their way to a charity event, running through Liverpool!
...the best picture I could get - sneakily shot from the back of the bus!

The Liverpool Museum's New Egyptian Gallery has opened!

My department has a christmas tree in its lobby - reminds me that it's not actually that long to go and I should better stop writing and get some more work done!


All the best!