St. Andrews Conference II

We woke up early on Saturday morning and prepared to show up for breakfast which was included in the booking, I got this very nice plate of bacon, eggs, tomato and hash brown and we could also choose from an assortment of cereals. I was truly impressed with their reception and how much they made us feel welcome almost into their own home. Abbeyview cottage gets ***** from me, cannot praise them enough. We finished getting dressed got our luggage together and paid for our room and off we went on to find where the conference was being held.
We made it into the town centre and made our way in the right direction from there. The problem with getting around St. Andrews is that it is soooo small everyone thinks you know where you are going! We were real tourists with maps pointing and hmmm-ing. We made it eventually to the place where the conference was but now the question was WHICH BUILDING, because there were a few around and non properly signposted. Well we found signposts in the end but they didn't indicate which direction you should go so that was a bright idea, but in the end we found it. It was held in the Purdie Building, North Haugh and when we came into the foyer most of the people were there already. We signed in and went browsing about the tables they had set up. They were offering books and booklets on sale, and I was incredibly lucky. I got my hands on ECMS (Early Christian Monuments of Scotland) for 20P, which is not bad considering this is very hard to get your hands on. It didn't take me a long time to decide to buy it. We also found Jo from the Music Department who was going to be so sweet to us and give us a lift back to Glasgow. Then Alex Wolf climbed up on a table to get our attention that the conference was starting and that we should start moving towards the lecture theatre.
The first lecture started at 10:45, speaker was Barbara Yorke from the University of Winchester ''Scottish Northumbria' as an Anglo-Saxon Province', which was about the Bernician dynasty around Bamburgh and Lindisfarne. Interesting but since I am not very up on history this late, I have no idea what she was talking about.
Then it was Dr. David N. Parsons from the Centre for Advanced Studies, University of Wales, 'Place-names of the Southwest revisited' which was very interesting and I enjoyed it very much listening to him. And then it was lunch. The buffet was very nice, although not very organised, so I had no idea what I was getting, also the problem was because you weren't really able to recognise what was on the sandwiches Catriona couldn't take a chance, so it appeared that the vegetarian choice was finished when we finally got there (if it ever was there). All she did get was a muffin and a bowl of fruit, I was lucky though, because I got a sandwich with ham and tomato (only one slice of tomato though), chicken, muffin and fruit.
After the break it was Alice Blackwell's turn from Museum of Scotland, she was talking about 'Reassessing the Anglo-Saxon material culture from Scotland', and I love hearing what she has to say. This is the second time I have attended a lecture with her and it's always fabulous. One of the highlights of the conference I must say. Following her talk was Dr. Nicky Toop, Field Archaeology Specialist from York, talking about 'Northumbrian Monuments in Southern Scotland: carving a Christian territory', and I must admit I was not impressed. She used so much out of date data for her talk and relied to much on what others had done it didn't give any clear focus on what she was really on about. It felt too much like she didn't know what she was doing there, not good at all. Then it was time for tea.
Tea was a lovely time, we got loads of cake and Catriona got tea so she was happy. I managed to wrangle a coke form a vending machine so I was happy too.
The conference was almost finished at this point but three speakers were still to left. So the opening act after coffee break was none other than Alex Wolf himself, speaking on 'The Sain'ts of Anlgo-Saxon Scotland'. It was a very brief talk, but fun. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing him recite a poem in Old English fluently, it was lovely, and his saints were fun too. Then we finally got an archeologists perspective on the Anglo-Saxon culture with Erlend Hindmarch from AOC (I have no idea what that is) who told us about 'New Discoveries from Auldhame', and I again enjoyed that talk immensely. He was telling us about an excavation of a graveyard dating from late 8th century until 15th century. It was amazing and great to hear of the work being carried out there. I don't know why but I always like listening to Archaeologists share their discoveries and listen to their lectures. Probably because they use a lot of photos!
Then it was time for our very own Professor Dauvit Brown to sum up the conference and give a closing speach. All in all the conference was a great success and I am so happy to have gone. I had also managed to get my hands on a couple of other booklets from previous conferences about Scandinavian studies in Scotland so I was mightly pleased.
After this there was nothing more to do than to take off home. Guto joined us as Jo had promised to give him a ride as well and when we were all there we headed for her car and she drove us all the way to Glasgow and home to our doorstep as well. She was so nice and it was a very nice journey to make all in all.