Is there a bar in the site hut? Or can this be it?

[Wax]

Toooo much coffeeeee time for a slug of something more relaxing make mine a pint of shandy (a terrible crime I know but what the.....)

[RedEarth]

Most sad.. Sometimes it sits well to kick back as well as be serious. Many new posters are coming, and are able to both have a laugh (there's little of that around in the real world of archaeology just now) and discuss serious topics.. such as the university thread, the stonehenge thread dealing with heritage management in general, the interest in training and the new benchmarking on salary levels ... even talked to someone yesterday who is going to join and post on a worry about the devaluation of archaeology with charge out rates plummeting... or worse, ... people setting themselves up as sole traders (some with some without the required insurance) and charging out at 100 a day... which makes our profession look like a cowboy trade, After years of not wanting to join, they will because they feel comfortable now... the human side is revealed, rather than the bite yer head off, po facedness,

Is BAJR a crusading organisation... well I guess it still is... is it open and friendly... I certainly hope so.

Sorry you feel that way. so will raise a virtual glass to you... and pass round the peanuts

Sorry to be a misery guts but I'm a little with Oz on this one. This thread has started to sound like a load of jolly backslapping about the good old days in the bar of a ship that is merrily sinking. What happened! The Bajr forum has seriously lost its way, I was partly put off by the whole community archaeology discussion, which became an attack on anyone who didn't think it was the best thing since sliced bread (it's great, but it ain't going to keep several thousand archaeologists employed). Now I see mention of someone wanting to bring up 'charge out rates plummeting... or worse, ... people setting themselves up as sole traders (some with some without the required insurance) and charging out at 100 a day'. I mentioned this before and had my head bitten off by numerous sole traders, Bajr included, for daring to suggest that some of them might be anything other than honest salt of the earth types, rather than the real reason it is so difficult to make a living. Are we just expected to work for the fun of it? That seems to be the current consensus on here - no wonder so many people get out of it as soon as they can.

Anyhoo, pointless talking shop? Forget it.

[BAJR]

sadly i do remember when we were able to have a laugh, put up jokes music vids etc talk about normal life and also discuss serious topics. red earth.. your perception of things may be slightlyv askew... i cant find the bit about you complaining about undercharging no insurance etc... neither can i find real evidence for love community archaeology or else.

bajr forum is what you make it. you dont like silly icebreaking threads... fair enough thats ok by me. just pass on by... dont read it... and lets keep it going.

bah humbug

[BAJR]

perhaps we should set up a thread that deals with depression, calvanism and misery. certainly seems to be a need for it

i may as well give up skills passports and unionisation as well.. in fact what has been the point of fighting for payscales over the last ten years... sod it... pass me some absinthe

[mpoole]

perhaps we should set up a thread that deals with depression, calvanism and misery. certainly seems to be a need for it

i may as well give up skills passports and unionisation as well.. in fact what has been the point of fighting for payscales over the last ten years... sod it... pass me some absinthe

Absinthe, the deadly sort or ... duh, of course. It's the Way of the Past and it's the Right Thing.

I'd set up a thread to do with depression et al, but frankly I can't be bothered.

Light that sugar cube? Ready?

*hastily puts out flaming tablecloth*

[destroyingangel]

Speaking as someone who is (a) probably about to join the dole queue, (b) in a financial mess, and © seeing a counsellor who thinks I am pretty well depressed (I try to deny this fact... keep telling myself it's just a passing phase or just a sign of the times)... I for one really need a bit of levity . Maybe it is a burying-head-in-sand or even 'elephant in the room' mentality and, yes, there are very important things to discuss and a real need to sort them out. The conversations on this thread may seem a bit frivolous to some, but at the moment any sort of escape from the doom-n-gloom helps.

I still dream of the heady day that I (personally) and archaeology as a whole finally gets out of the mess... where I actually have a steady job, a roof over my head, enough food in the cupboard and, hey, enough get to buy a decent bottle of malt (now and again). In the mean time, I try to stay positive (not easy when you've apparently got depression... see, still in denial) and get by with a good pint now and again. BAJR hosty... don't give up on the fight to make things better. Somebody needs to do something. As for this thread... Remember, depression is not a laughing matter... but laughing is a way of beating depression.

[Wax]

Well said Destroyingangel:face-approve:

And keep up the good work BAJR, it is much appreciated! (Do stay off the absinthe though)xx(
.

Times are b………. awful at the moment and surprising enough just the knowledge that there is someone else out there staring into the bottom of an empty glass with the same problems is a real help.

So what’s this week’s awful archaeology joke? Or is archaeology an awful joke?

[Misty]

I second Destroying Angel and Wax. During my unemployment last year and now my achingly boring (non-archaeological) present job I read BAJR to a) stay sane b) keep in touch with archaeology c) read interesting/provocative/mad/bad/good posts and d) have a laugh now and then. Keep the faith, Mr. BAJR.

[BAJR]

well said all... good god if we can't smile in the face of doom... we may as well give up. i certainly wont... ever. in fact i have just managed to sneak a beer into my room... so cheers.. this was after being mistaken for a morrocan shoe shine boy... and offered around 50p to clean a mans shoes... shurely i don't look that bad that i am only one step up from beggar.. tell you what though... i was tempted

so raise a glass to us all... sod it... a whole crate... virtual of course

[deadlylampshade]

Hello, hello everyone! Glad to see the bar hasn't been closed in my temporary absence and really quite mortified that so many people are having a bad time. But if you don't laugh you'll cry and actually it is just as many calories to cry and the wrinkles are the same...if not worse than smiling.

I may have returned to archaeology with my rose tinted glasses on but the vibes I am getting from this site and one or two other places where I have been re-establishing links is pretty depressing...but my local archaeology team have put up four new jobs in the last week. I have applied for one but doubt I'll even get an interview becasue the application form made you put your previous salary on and they'll probably think I am joking...or delusional...or both. Heigh ho...if you don;t ask, you don;t get.

God, I am sounding like polly-bloody-anna don;t I. I'm not, really...

So sorry to those who are depressed...havent got any good archaeology jokes but I did get this from a friend of mine who is a helo pilot (who does not want to work for BP!!!)

1. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

2. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.

3. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

4. Those who live by the sword, get shot by those who don't.

5. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.

6. The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.

7. If you lined up all the cars in the world end to end, someone would be stupid enough to try to pass them, five or six at a time, on a hill, in the fog.

8. If the shoe fits, get another one just like it.

9. The things that come to those who wait will be the things left by those who got there first.

10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day, drinking beer.

11. Flashlight: A metal tube used to store dead batteries.

12. The shin bone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room.

13. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.

14. When you go to Court, you are putting yourself in the hands of 12 people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty.

So...nice cool Kronenbourg from the fridge, pistachios at my right elbow...a cracking evening in sunny England...:face-approve: