Introducing...(new obsession)

A while back I wrote a post for this blog introducing my new interest or rather my new obsession. I didn’t post it, because it became a bit too personal. Instead the introduction happened in the previous post, in my list of utter nonsense. It feels a little unfair, because not only did I fumble it away in a list no-one wants to read, this interest feels more legitimate and intellectually sound than a lot of my other interests and obsessions. I’m really cutting corners here, because I have tackled history and art in this blog. Another reason it feels unfair is, I’ve written extensively about my other obsessions, and I dedicated whole introduction posts. So, I decided to write it now.

 

I’ve always had an interest in history. I’ve watched dozens of history documentaries and I always made sure to dive into the history of any city I visited (by myself). I was also already familiar with Time Team, because when I went visiting Owen (friend) he often had Time Team playing when I walked in the door. As a matter of fact, he made me watch several episodes and specials he loves.

 

Last spring, just before the Corona lockdown, I was in need of new material to watch, that I hadn’t seen a thousand times already. So I decided to watch random episodes of Time Team, anything Youtube suggested. Slowly, bit by bit, as I started to recognize people, I was drawn in deeper and deeper. After a while I decided to start at the start and together with Owen I watched Time Signs, Time Team’s predecessor and then I moved on to the very first episode of Time Team and on and on. It took me about 1 month to watch all regular episodes intermixed with quite a few of the specials. I still haven’t watched all the specials, but I think I can say I watched most of them by now.

 

I learned so much during that month. By now I’m on repeat viewing, usually one season at a time, or whatever Youtube suggests or whatever Tim Taylor (TT’s producer) uploads. It’s a amazing how, after having watched all episodes, I’m still learning on repeat viewing. The episodes are so full of information, it’s impossible to soak it all in at once. (In my previous post I was inordinately proud of the line “History! Archaeology! Continuation! Stratigraphy!!!” It all applies to that series of lists though.)

 

Now for the real reason why my interest grew into an obsession.

 

He’s ginger, skinny (was, not so much anymore), cantankerous, but sweet and funny. He’s the Geophys Wiz, the techy of the lot. He’s the king of gloat and incredibly proud of what his Geophys can do. Also, my pc is rather charmed by Geophys, because it insists you write Geophys with a capital G. I’m sure Mr. G would approve.

 

What Mr. G probably wouldn’t approve of is my interest in one Mr. A. I love what he does, how he does it and how good he is at it. He shares many interests with me, in landscapes and how people used them and maps. I also approve of his uncompromising way of doing his job, without embarrassment, but with passion and unrelenting focus.

But Mr. G knows his place, though I think he would argue it’s not below Mr. A.

 

Not to worry, Mr. G., you are ranking high in my list, with Mr. A a close second. Now there’s something you can gloat about (though I wouldn’t, because I’m still only one person).