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My second talk – ‘ After Akhenaten’ – sold out three sessions and was attended by around 700 in total. The audiences I could reach online were generally much bigger than any I would normally speak to in person. It quickly took over my life in fact, and it was very exciting. However, lecturing online suddenly became something which I, and lots of others like me, could do to keep ourselves occupied when so many other things weren’t possible, and for which there was suddenly a substantial and enthusiastic audience. Opening slide from my very first talk online – seems a long time ago now! Any lectures I was due to give in various places around the UK and beyond were also postponed indefinitely. By the time of my first piece, I had had one trip to Egypt postponed and it seemed fairly clear that any others that were on the cards weren’t going to happen (they didn’t).

It’s almost two years since it became clear that COVID was going to be a blight on our lives. Me – with mask on! – inside the tomb of Ramose (TT 55) in Luxor last week (Feb 2022). So, the piece I wrote in April 2020 certainly needs updating, and now that I have finally been able to resume this aspect of my work, along with most others, now seems a good moment to reflect. We’re still not out of the woods but as I write this I have just finished my first visit to Egypt with a group of tourists since the pandemic began and life seems to be returning to something like normal.

It seems a very long time now since I first wrote something about how the pandemic had affected my situation as a freelancer (see below).

Pharaoh cleopatra game statue lined roads access