I really wish I could have been in Melbourne to see the Margaret Preston exhibition at the NGV.
I’ll just have to make do with the exhibitions available in London instead and this education kit instead. The same page also lists some resources for one of my other favourite Australian artists, Grace Cossington Smith.

“It sounds like the stuff of nightmares

Even a bit of art is good for you.

Virtual tour of Africa’s heritage
“Africans will soon be able to take an online tour of the continent’s major world heritage sites like Great Zimbabwe, the rock-hewn St Giyorgis church at Lalibella in Ethiopia and the great mosque of Djenne in Mali.”

“The British Council is making its entire art collection available to view on the internet.” BBC article and the collection itself.

Do you think any of these are the ‘Greatest Painting in Britain’?

Ancient Egyptian gossip discovered.

“Plans are under way to excavate the wreckage of a Chinese ship that sunk in the Indian Ocean, off Siyu Island, about six centuries ago.
…
“A lot has been said about the ship that is believed to have been in the fleet of the legendary Chinese mariner Zheng He, but it is still not clear where exactly it sunk and what other relevant information is buried with it” (AllAfrica.com)

Renegade museum audio guides – very cool idea.

What a panic – I checked the itinerary the travel agent sent me for my flight to Turkey tomorrow, and the times were different to those discussed! Instead of flying out at 2130 tomorrow night, I’m flying at 10am, with no time to come into the office in the morning. Still, hopefully I’ve got everything now, and can go home and pack, and it’s really my fault for not checking the tickets when I got them.
So, I’ll be here for the next two weeks (ok, not here, but just down the hill):

I’m not particularly looking forward to living in a tent for the next two weeks, but it’ll give me more privacy than sleeping in a tiny dorm with five others and I’ll probably be very glad of that at the end of a long day. If the politics and game-playing aren’t too bad, the whole thing will be quite enjoyable – hard work, but really challenging. I don’t know why archaeologists are so nice but some specialists can be so difficult.
The weather’s looking good – up to mid 30s, and dry, of course. I bought an absolutely fantastic present for myself – a travel pack of Trivial Pursuit. I’m stupidly excited by this, even though it’s basically just a set of question cards and a dice, cos I can take it on lots of holidays, like Eastnor and Wales. Whether I can find people to play me is another question.