Jenga

Before I set out for my normal weekend jaunt, I instructed my dutiful workforce to get stuck in to painting the kerbstones throughout Benghazi. I don't want the place looking tatty on September 1st. So, as you can see, they set out the cones in accordance with the new Health and Safety instructions I have instituted, and got stuck in. By the time I returned to my flat in the afternoon, they had done both sides of this road, so Benghazi as a whole shouldn't be impossible in the timescale:

I drove out past Tocra to find somewhere to walk, and initially went off down a gravel lane towards this monument, but, having cut through one or two gates, and eventually got to a large building guarded by people with serious faces, and guns slung around their shoulders, I was advised that this route wasn't open to the public. So I drove a little further down the coast, went back off road, and parked on the beach by some construction machinery. Undefeated by my earlier meeting, I walked back along the coast to the monument - I've no idea what it commemorates or signifies, although it's reminiscent of the closing scene of Planet of the Apes, as Charlton Heston sees the fallen Satue of Liberty rising out of the sand, and says something memorable, which I can't remember offhand.

The sand was pristine, soft, warm, and welcoming. There was hardly anyone on the beach on this, a beautiful, sunny, Friday at the height of the summer holidays. The water was cool and clear, the wind was gentle, it was gorgeous.

I was about twenty miles from Tocra, and five miles from Tolmeitha, so not terribly close to either of the old cities, but evidence of previous occupation is all around you here. This bit of wall had been exposed by the gently lapping sea where I was walking - who knows, perhaps I am the first Brit to have seen it. This country is an archaeologist's paradise.

Driving in to Tolmeitha for a bite to eat, I decided to stay off road, so wound through the tracks and lanes by the coast. On the outskirts of Tolmeitha I came across this interesting site - a necropolis being used as farmyard:

I gave my class a test on Thursday, and felt rather discomfited by the results. It was obvious that some of the students were not doing any work outside of class, apart from the bare minimum. One student only managed 4 out of 48 in the vocab/definition part of the exercise, yet he's capable of so much better. Fortunately this was only a test for my benefit; tomorrow, they have their mid-term test, and that affects whether they are put forward for the BEC next term. Hopefully Thursday's showing will focus their minds.