After an epic five hour train journey from London – with a three hour lay-over in the middle of nowhere, i.e. Retford – I have made it to the inside of York’s fine, fine city walls. This place is truly stunning – equally as magical as I remember as a kid. For someone who gets giddy knowing that half the buildings in Penryn are older than the contact history of my country, just imagine what the shambles of York are doing to my endorphins…

I’m all set to go for tomorrow’s interview with JoAnn Fletcher – and hopefully i won’t suffer the same technical woes I did at the BM. I have the time and the place, I’m armed with questions (and have stacks more unrelated questions about her fascinating work which I’ll be sure to fit in somehow!) and a well-thumbed copy of her somewhat controversial book, The Search for Nefertiti (well, what else do you do in Retford but read…).

I’ve also have a bit more luck on the email front. I think i’m beginning to break down the hard nuts at the BM who might – might – talk to me between now and my eightieth birthday. Really I just want to talk to Dr Parkinson about that Stone… good lord, it’s like nailing jelly to a wall, pulling teeth from a chicken and, in a way I imagine an over-excited journo at The Sun might put it, drawing blood from a (Rosetta) Stone. (Yes, Carrie, that one was for you).

I also had word from Benjamin Ward – the talkative young chappie from Brunswick Arts Consulting (the PR group building a media fortress for the Hadrian exhibition). He nicely emailed me a list of the journalists invited on the press trips to Tivoli – Hadrian’s top notch holiday villa in the Italian province of Lazio…and still quite a nice holiday spot for the 21st century… I must make a point of seeking out their press coverage of the Hadrian exhibition – commonalities maybe? Positive reviews? Not that I could be drawn on anything even if ALL their reports are glowing – the exhibition is quite spectacular in itself. But still, it will be interesting to see if they do, as Ben put it, “get a better feel for Hadrian” after having also experienced his favourite holiday spot.

Well, that’s it until tomorrow. Just as an aside – and in continuation of Amy’s Hostel Review of Britain – York International Youth Hostel is even better than the place in London. It’s set in a massive Victorian-era mansion just up the Ouse… And I’ll even let the 35 minute hike from the train station be offset by the history of it all. Excited just thinking about it… xx