19th December 2006, 06:31 PM
A circular-shaped excavation in the shadow of Car Park No.3, in a former railway town in South Yorkshire, during the winter of 1993-1994.
07.30 to 09.00, remove snow that had fallen overnight
09.00 to 11.00, hack folornly at frozen clay
11.00 to 14.00, air temperature warms sufficiently for frozen clay to thaw into sticky slush which adheres to boots, mattocks and people. Frozen fingers grappling with chains to hook barrows to hoist, slipping and sliding on the planks.
14.00 to 16.30, clay gradually freezes again, starts snowing.
For which, as I recall, we experienced site assistants were on about £6,000 a year - or about £19 a day after tax.
OR
Somewhere 'near' Driffield, North Yorkshire, autumn 1992
In which excavation staff were billeted in tents on the top of the Wolds in October/November. My colleague's tent was blown away in the middle of the night and he was left huddling in a sleeping bag in the middle of the field.
Pay on this occasion was I think about £50 a week, cash.
You were lucky to have a cardboard box... etc.
07.30 to 09.00, remove snow that had fallen overnight
09.00 to 11.00, hack folornly at frozen clay
11.00 to 14.00, air temperature warms sufficiently for frozen clay to thaw into sticky slush which adheres to boots, mattocks and people. Frozen fingers grappling with chains to hook barrows to hoist, slipping and sliding on the planks.
14.00 to 16.30, clay gradually freezes again, starts snowing.
For which, as I recall, we experienced site assistants were on about £6,000 a year - or about £19 a day after tax.
OR
Somewhere 'near' Driffield, North Yorkshire, autumn 1992
In which excavation staff were billeted in tents on the top of the Wolds in October/November. My colleague's tent was blown away in the middle of the night and he was left huddling in a sleeping bag in the middle of the field.
Pay on this occasion was I think about £50 a week, cash.
You were lucky to have a cardboard box... etc.