At last, a suitable header for the blog!
The address bar may read cowgatehead, but that’s not the actual name…
And, if I decide to spend ages more tinkering, I might even centre the title under the ducks!
Archive for February, 2008
Not another lecture!
February 8, 20082nd Thursday of the month?
Winter?
Must be time for another RSGS talk!
Last night’s was probably the last of the season for us, as March’s doesn’t sound very appealing. We had heard the guy before, talking about his journey retracing the Silk Road (which was pretty good) but tonight he chose a different, even harsher place to visit.
The Sahara! Or more precisely, the Western Sahara (Mali) north of Timbuktu, investigating the ancient salt mining and trade that still supplies a lot of West Africa with salt… He trekked north and eventually found the mines and followed the trade route back south on foot with some camel caravan merchants back to the Niger and proper trees!
The slides were excellent, it illustrated a little piece of forgotten trade and a corner of the world little thought of and I think I own at least one of the pieces of music he played to accompany some of the slides!
The bad news is that the hall rental is doubling next season, so the talks are unlikely to be quite so easily got to – they’re on my way home just now! A lecture hall down at the Botanics is the likely place for them next year – that probably means I’ll miss my pre-talk pint! And getting home will take a bit longer, although a pint at the old Northern – is it The Orchard now? – after the talk might be nice!
