caldrail

Where's Britain? Catalina Island?

Cleopatra was an absolute gift to Octavian. Marc Antony had sullied his image irretrievably with his association with her. In one respect because he was following in Caesars footsteps and thus potentially attempting to be 'king' of Rome (& Egypt - it was still an independent nation then), but also because it meant an oriental monarch was to be a partner in power. Unacceptable to many Romans on both principles. I do read that she got to see Octavian shortly before she ended it all, and one wonders if wasn't piling on the charm with him in a last ditch effort to save her skin. If so, then Octavian saw straight through it.

Aw Doc.. Surely you're not misunderestimated too? I sympathise, because I have been a victim of multisegregational misassessment and outright omni-oppressive mis-selectation for years. Its a tough world.

There were also moneylenders, and personal hoards, which were sometimes buried for one reason or another thus the money was lost. The trouble with trying to estimate the size of the Roman economy is that most asssume it worked the same as todays, with some degree of central planning. It didn't. Money was minted for all sorts of reasons, the accession of a new emperor for instance. Money was also leaving the Roman economy for foreign lands due the the empire's need for luxuries or entertainment. There was also a large degree of local investment by the wealthy in their community. I think you have to move away from a centrel planned economy such as we see today and look at the Roman economy as a network of smaller ones all paying tax - it was therefore, a 'feudal' economy.

Apparently farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa will benefit from detailed digital maps of soil nutrient quality. At last they'll know why their farms are not doing well. Isn't technology useful? Perhaps not, considering the Skycar, a para-sailing dune buggy, currently setting out on a three thousand mile journey across Africa. These skycars are ridiculous. They proved it was a daft idea back in the fifties. Can you imagine the telephone calls from frustrated motorists? "You have reached Traffic Control Helpline. If you wish to reserve a parking slot, press 1. If you're hopelessly lost over southern England, press 2. If you want to declare mayday, press 3. If you want to speak to a Controller, press 4..." Press 4.... Aha, the tone is ringing. "Yes Sir." Ah Right. This is Mr Caldrail of 22 Acacia Avenue requesting clearance for local flight to Jones Industries routing via the Primary School, over. "Roger that Mr Caldrail. Taxi to main road and hold short, weather is 23 degrees and light rain expected, please be aware traffic is heavy and currently you are number thirteen at the roundabout." Thank you Control. Roger and out.... Now kids, stop messing around back there and buckle up your parachutes.... Johnny! Stop hitting your brother with your oxygen mask.... No, we're not there yet.... Its Your Fault... No Its You... The squabble between Russia and the Ukraine concerning gas supply goes on. Someone didn't pay, someone didn't supply, someone cut the supply again, someone sent gas through the wrong pipes... Meanwhile, people in Europe are freezing. Having suffered some low temperatures this January, I have every sympathy for those without heating at this time of year. The problem with the Russians is that they have a reputation for pulling wool over peoples eyes thats well deserved. It seems the Ukraine has learned that lesson, but you can't help feeling this is a squabble over cash. Not so much whether people get paid, more about who gets paid. For the moment it still goes on with accusations flying back and forth. Are we there yet? Wagging Fingers A statistical study has suggested a link between the link of a man's finger and his success in the financial center of London. Good grief, did someone get paid to research that? Seems to me that Pinnochio has already proven that financial success is more dependent on the length of your nose. Slogan of the Week I shall take George Bush's advice and not misunderestimate Hilary Clinton. She gets Slogan of the Week for telling America that their foreign policy should employ Smart Power. What a fantastic piece of politics that is. When you look at what she's suggesting, it means they're going to do exactly the same as before but now they have a plan.

We're a little spoilt for Top Gear. The program, or its 'Best Of' repeats, goes out on Sunday nights on the beeb whilst every single possible past episode is shown back to back on cable. (gibber)

You just have to love the Goths. Whatever their faults as a people, on balance the accounts left by Romans (and some of it is very biased in the Goths favour) suggest a decent people bar one or two bad apples such as you get in every society. Rambuctuous for sure, but there's more than a hint of a spirited and lively culture for all its rudeness.

The extent of Roman activity in Germania is hinted at throughout accounts of the period, so whilst there's definitely room for archaeological research and a refinement of our ideas, rewriting the history books? Not yet.

Mondays are the curse of modern civilisation. In times of yore, men of Englands Green and Pleasant Land woke from their slumber and stirred when they felt like it. Then along comes the hated miller and with the Industrial Revolution behind him, invented working hours and the tyranny of the clock began. Now you might say that as an unemployed person I don't suffer from Monday-itis, but you'd be wrong. Required by the state to earn my paltry handouts by looking for work, I must also observe the movement of people that is Monday morning. Or at least I would had I not injured my back. Nothing dramatic I'm afraid, just simple strain and a careless reach. Getting around was a trial because the injury was sending spasms of pain down my spine. Very uncomfortable, and had it not been necessary for me to go about my business, I would have stayed at home, no doubt further persuaded by the fact that the British weather is changing and warming up, bringing with it incessant rain again. Pain and rain. I'll have to chalk up another victory to Monday morning. Legislation of the Week It seems that the government of Papua New Guinea (they have one?) is to create new legislation to outlaw sorcery based murders. This is a nation that has an official in every village whose title is 'Rambo'. I kid you not. They may not have left the primitive world behind, but they sure have embraced Hollywood.

Mr Palmer, the leader of East Lindsey District Council, is unhappy. Strange lights have been seen in the Midlands sky for a while now, and now a turbine blade from a wind generator tower has been ripped off near his turkey farm. He wants the authorities to look into the recent UFO activity and in particular the damage they caused to one of our turbines. The Ministry of Defence however has shown absolutely no interest in the goings-on, telling us that they won't investigate unless they perceive a threat to our nation. You can see the logic - the turbine isn't dangerous to anyone any more. Now you can speculate about space aliens deciding to experiment on the wind generators in order to discover their breeding habits. I wish they'd tell us, because these things just keep on appearing overnight. Or perhaps they are telling us? Maybe they've realised that all those corn circles haven't got the message across, and are now resorting to direct action to save the Earth from destroying itself with renewable energy? Hmmm... Lets see.... No, I don't think it's down to alien activity. I hardly think enlightened alien creatures are going to travel hundreds of light years just to visit the Midlands. So what caused the damage? Well, experts have suggested the blade spontaneously disconnected - insurers claim it happens five or six times a year - so you'd think someone would fix it properly. But the dodgy repair work still doesn't explain the initial damage. I think I have the answer. Mr Palmer need look no further than his very own turkey coup. I suggest to him that his turkeys are escaping on a regular basis, and that one wasn't very good at flying. There. Problem solved. Except... Who taught the turkeys to fly? (Cue theme tune from X-Files) Justice of the Week The kidnappers of that oil supertanker hijacked off the Kenyan coast demanded a colossal ransom for it. Eventually, they were whittled down to

One of the less desirable features of humanity is their tendency toward organised violence, which is really only an extension of our social animal instincts. One facet of this is in every age, despite all the knowledge and wisdom gathered and educated, young men still want military glory and blind themselves to whatever reality they may have heard of. No matter what happens in the future, mothers will still weep as they wave goodbye to their sons. The problem being of course, if you don't defend your freedoms, someone eventually takes them away, hence the need to fight. And so the cycle continues. We do laud courage in battle nonetheless. Those who have sacrificied their lives in defending their country are respected and sometimes remembered. The Romans were of course no different, but then their society developed from tribal raiding and they were that much keener on status derived from military service. During republican times, it wasn't unknown for irate senators to open their togas and display war wounds to the assembly, declaring that they had fought for Rome - it gave them credibility as individuals. Their society was very tolerant of violence. It was expected that young men, even of good birth, would wander the streets in gangs at night and waylaw passers-by. Boxing was a sport where you pummelled your opponent in brutal and bloody fashion. The pancration, an imported greek style of wrestling, was no holds barred fighting apart from biting and gouging of eyes (and even that took place). The fights that took place in the arenas are of course well documented and the Romans remain the only culture I know of that used lethal violence for public entertainment. We often read of Roman military capability but the word 'professional' as applied to post-marian legions is a little misleading. It means professional in terms of career or service as a vocation. What it shouldn't mean is that the Roman soldiers had a professional attitude similar to armies in the modern west. The average Roman soldier, despite the harsh disciplinary regime he had entered into, wasn't always as obedient as modern soldiers. Whilst the patriotic sentiment we associate with modern armies did exist in Roman legions up to a point, he was loyal to his commander, not the state. Vegetius wrote a manual in the late 4th century which is often quoted from, describing the various training methods used by legions and we do see parallels with the modern world we are so familiar with. However, these descriptions are an amalgam of what happened in prior times, and Vegetius collated that collection of activities to write a manual of what he thought the legions should be doing. The conclusion is the Roman soldiery weren't as well trained in the 4th century as they had been, and that training wasn't as formalised nor as all-encompassing before that. Roman recruitment required that recruits were of a minimum height, of good health, and of a background considered physically and mentally capable of soldiering. They didn't take just anyone (although it istn't clear how choosey they were in times of emergency) and they got a sort pyschological superiority from that. One feature of the ancient world that remains different to our own, at least those of us in the law-abding modern west, is the ever-present danger of life. Three fifths of Romans died by the age of twenty through various causes (violence being one of them) and they were as civilised as it got in ancient times. It was a brutal age for everyone and whilst we look askance at the Romans for their tolerance of it, we need to understand that violence and warfare was never far away in those times. It was part of their lives. They accepted it, they accepted the risk, and even then, Roman soldiers of hard-bitten mindset trained to fight and kill on order would nonetheless feel the same fear and nervousness that we do today, and just occaisionally, you read in descriptions by ancient sources something a little more human than the glorification of military success. It seems the Romans were human after all.

Every fort had a vicus, a civilian settlement next door that serviced their needs. Evidently ciilians had a worthwhile relationship with the military supplying goods and services, and like any modern garrison town, a fair degree of trouble. Evidence from Vindolanda suggests that the pace of life for mid-empire legions in peacetime was somewhat lazy. Although the harsh discipline existed, much depended on the commanders charactr and the centurions who administered punishment and kept order. Never forget the legions were corrupt. Bribes were commonplace, and this must have affected how they did business outside the fort. Sources also suggest that legionaries were not above 'requisitioning' goods when they felt like it. A soldier usually needed only to brandish a sword to persuade the outraged citizen that compliance was a good idea. Typically, the soldiers stuck together like glue when accused of crime and the officers were none too keen to have their men punished at the whim of civilians, and its also suggested that civilians who did complain often got a right beating for their trouble. We have therefore have men in a world apart with close knit groups trained for violence and physical labour, with a potential threat of severe punishments for infractions. Without doubt this gave them a different mindset from their civilian neighbours, but remember also that thesemen were chosen for service by virtue of their fathers profession, and those from physical and 'manly' occupations were preferred. The men would very likely be from a different part of the world, foreigners in Roman service, with a different cultural background and more than once the Romans recruited amongst warrior tribes for the same physical and psychological military values. I think civilians would cower if they had reason to fear soldiers, most however would simply give them a wide berth.

Roman superiority at sea in the first punic war wasn't due to better crews or ships. The vessels were merely copies of carthaginian ones, and therefore as good as or no better. The crews had little experience of seamanship - the Romans were never great mariners - and were only recently trained. One real advantage the Romans did have was the corvus, a gangplank on the prow of the ship, which dropped when the Roman galley rammed its opponent and provided a way for the Romans to use their infantry to fight a 'land battle' at sea. The corvus did however tend to make a ship unwieldy at sea so the idea was dropped later on, the Romans having gathered enough experience of battles at sea to fight as other nations did.

I'll bet you wouldn't! Reads this - Its by Ammianus Marcellinus, an experienced soldier, who wrote about events surrounding the Roman defeat at Adrianople in ad378 But when the barbarians, rushing on with their enormous host, beat down our horses and men, and left no spot to which our ranks could fall back to deploy, while they were so closely packed that it was impossible to escape by forcing a way through them, our men at last began to despise death, and again took to their swords and slew all they encountered, while with mutual blows of battle-axes, helmets and breastplates were dashed in pieces. Then, you might see the barbarian towering in his fierceness, hissing or shouting, fall with his legs pierced through, or his right hand cut off, sword and all, or his side transfixed, and still, in the last gasp of life, casting round him defiant glances. The plain was covered with carcases, strewing the mutual ruin of the combatants; while the groans of the dying, or of men fearfully wounded, were intense, and caused great dismay all around. Amidst all this great tumult and confusion our infantry were exhausted by toil and danger, till at last they had neither strength left to fight, nor spirits to plan anything; their spears were broken by the frequent collisions, so that they were forced to content themselves with their drawn swords, which they thrust into the dense battalions of the enemy, disregarding their own safety, and seeing that every possibility of escape was cut off from them. The ground, covered with streams of blood, made their feet slip, so that all that they endeavoured to do was to sell their lives as dearly as possible; and with such vehemence did they resist their enemies who pressed on them, that some were even killed by their own weapons. At last one black pool of blood disfigured everything, and wherever the eye turned, it could see nothing but piled-up heaps of dead, and lifeless corpses trampled on without mercy. Roman History Book 31 - Ammianus Marcellinus The battlefield isn't a pleasant place to be is it?

And of course Hamas is only too pleased to get Israel into trouble, which was the entire reason for firing rockets. Using the population of Gaza as human shields is a tactic arabic nations have been using for some time for no better reason than the propaganda victory it creates when the other side unwittingly kills civilians dropping bombs on a military target. Israel though knows full well the civilians are there, but since Israel regards them as harbouring Hamas activists, it feels justified in collateral damage to ensure the safety of its own populace.

A hint about the manners in polite society perhaps? I think Claudius was being nothing more than open-minded and making allowances for unfortunate lapses, and whereas some emperors may well have used it as an excuse to demand strict behaviour, Claudius was more congenial. Regarding Suetonius, its difficult to say whether he was trying to criticise. Suetonius had a 'warts and all' approach and included all sorts of eyebrow-raising anecdotes. Certainly he was writing to please an audience that enjoyed such imperial gossip - the same phenomenon goes on today in the tabloid press - but to me it seems thats all it is, and that Suetonius isn't trying to besmirch their name for any personal grudge or dislike, but rather because it made his history more entertaining, and notice that while he writes this, his tone remains (or tries to remain) impartial.

There are people who think I do nothing but sit at home playing on my computer. Don't let them upset you Computer, they don't understand.. Ahem... Well, anyway from to time I drag myself away The great outdoors has an appeal for many of us and I'm no different, so occaisionally the urge to see over the next hill takes hold. I decided to get up early and hopefully catch some evocative sunrises or whatever. To my disappointment the weather was dull and cloudy as I left home at six in the morning. Pretty cold despite the lack of frost, but lets persevere. As I turned a corner onto the deserted High Street in Old Town, I suprised a pair of urban foxes. One hid behind a car and scarpered. The other ran away and darted down the same alleyway to the car park I intended to pass through. As I got closer, it glanced around the corner, then pulled back. A moment later it did the same thing. Sorry, Mr Fox, but I really am going that way. It ran off. There was plenty of snow around but not too slippery. I followed a country path across the valley and on toward Chiseldon. It gets pretty spooky walking through the countryside in pitch dark with only the snow on the ground to stop you wandering into a frozen lake. Once past Chiseldon and out into the Marlborough Downs, the first dim light was making itself apparent. So was the weather as it began to snow. Funny - I thought the weather forecast was cloudy sunshine? Don't you just love British weather? Another funny thing is how wildlife seems to know when human beings are locked up safe in their warm brick caves. Out there amongst the hedgerows and fields, foxes, hares, rabbits, all manner of birds gaped in suprise at this idiot out walking on a very cold morning. I did see some deer tracks but the animal was too wiley to get seen by me. The climb to Castle Farm Hill was pretty tough though. A cold wind, a deeply rutted track, frozen ground and fresh snow made going hard. I was puffing like an old man when I got up on the ridge. No comments please. Pics of Yesterdays Expedition The pictures make the Downs look like an isolated and rugged landscape. It is. Not as much as it once was. Over the forty years I've visited the area, I've seen it farmed more intensively and yet it still seems empty, almost wild in places. Thriving communities lived there in ancient and prehistoric times, and only wooded bumps and eroded earth banks are all thats left. They were certainly fitter than me. Helpful Comment of the Week This dubious accolade goes to the security guard at the library yesterday after I got back, cold and tired from my travels. Ok, I was still in my hiking gear and didn't exactly look like I'd escaped from a fashion magazine, but the young idiot made a reference to my appearance as a reason for my single status. I wonder who I'm supposed to impress? An eighteen year old security guard who's life experience amounts to dealing with acne? Who exactly am I supposed to meet out on the downs in the grip of winter? Probably that young lady learning to be a truck driver who walked past me at a petrol station. Tight jeans and leather boots. I kid you not. I guess my olive green military surplus doesn't cut it with the fairer sex now World War Two is over. Perhaps you need the american accent as well?

Sounds unlikely. Israel is belligerent by nature and fed up with missile attacks. Although some people think Israel is a US puppet, I really can't see it, they're too bullish, though they do listen to the americans. If they have politcal concerns over their actions, its focused at home or the surrounding middle east, not who sits in the White House. I understand Lebanon has got itself embroiled in this affair now, probably by Hamas or sympathisers operating on their territory.

It all seems doom and gloom right now doesn't it? Gaza is being demolished, Russia is sulking over gas supply, high street stores are closing, businesses laying off workers, predictions of three million unemployed by next year. Even my blog is draped in despair these days. Well, I won't have it. So, in order to lighten the mood, for the first time in blog history I will now... *click* ... Huh?.... Who turned out the lights? Oh no, my PC is dying. All I've got left is a small blue dot on my monitor fading away to nothingness... yes, it's another electricity cut. The second in a week. Now somewhere in this house is a torch. Ok, I know I left my dinnerplate on the floor, so I don't want to step on that.... Something just fell on the carpet... Ah, my headphones. Negotiate the living room obstacles... Ouch. That was the coffee table.... At last, I've found the door. Now along the hallway, find the bedroom door and... *bump*... Found it. Somewhere in this stygian mess I call my bedroom is a torch... Aha! Got it!. Now downstairs and try the trip switches to avail. Back uopstairs and find my mobile phone... There it is... Now find a telephone number for the electricity company... I feel like James Bond, searching through paperwork in a filing cabinet by torchlight.... Number... Where's the number?.... Got it. "This number will be charged at your normal rate" Says a female computer. No kidding. And I thought phones were free. Come to think of it, why are automated reply services always female? "Please wait to speak to an operator." She said. I waited, and within ten seconds a human operator answered "Hello?" Hi. I've got a power outage. "I see sir. What registration is your car?" Pardon? Car registration? What do you need my car registration for? "You've called Fixit Rescue Service Sir." Groan. Wrong number. Sorry.... Try again Caldrail.... Heart Warming Interlude An eight year old boy with an artifical leg has just been given custom made gloves to enable him to play football as a goalkeeper. Custom made by an international supplier of sportswear no less. It's a heartwarming story but unless the lad is given some thermal undies, I suspect he'll freeze to death waiting for his mates to kick the ball his way. Back to Rushey Platt Tell you what, lets try this number before my torch goes dead.... Hooray.... Mr Electricity was very polite and concerned that I wasn't going to freeze in the next hour whilst the repairman sped to my rescue. Is he kidding? I've been freezing to death for a week now. Diplomacy of the Week President Sarkozy, the secret identity of superhero Captain France, is telling us that a deal to end Israel's gaza offensive is not far away as he persuades Syria to pressure Hamas to stop goading Israel. Obviously he's got more rockets than Hamas.

It was one of those job interviews you just know is going to be a disaster before you start. The office where it took place is literally down the road from I live, an upstairs premises with only a single door on the street to mark its presence and a source of confusion as you wander back and forth expected something more impressive. Having found the door (I always have trouble with doors - Douglas Adams fans please note) I noticed the gloomy staircase with a carpet left unwashed since the middle ages. There was no reception desk on the first floor. Instead, a dingy set of rooms off an undecorated hallway, toilets in view, and coffee-making equipment left with copious signs of use. Sigh. Well I'm here, so lets get on with it. The man sat behind the first desk in the only room showing signs of human habitation blinked as I entered. I hope thats because he was impressed. "Here," He said, handing me a great pile of paper and a pen, "Fill these in, you can sit over there." Right you are then. I hate forms. You never have the information you need to complete them and they always ask for information in a random order with boxes ridiculously small for the task. No matter how careful you are you never fill them in 'correctly'. I don't the intention is that they actually read or use this stuff, rather its some strange intelligence test. Perhaps the point is to throw the paper back at the guy and say "Sir - these forms are a travesty of incompetence and poor layout, compounded by aesthetically challenged conception, made even worse by the hideous quality of paper upon which they are printed" Ok, maybe not. Then I notice the waiver for the European 48 hours-a-week working limit. I'm not signing that! Plus the man was most insistent on seeing my passport, and he kindly told me I can come back at a later time with it. Why do I get the feeling I'm going to get into an old pick-up truck filled with silent mexicans every morning as I head out to the melon farm? Pic of the Day Not a great pic but it captures the coldness we're suffering right now. Cold Snap of the Week It appears Britain isn't the only country suffering cold temperatures. Fifty five people in India have died as temperatures plummetted. Apparently this is the worst cold snap in thirteen years. What next? Predictions of Global Freezing? Well, for the next few days anyway.

The interview? Mutual dissapointment I'm afraid. They weren't overly impressed with me and I wasn't about to sign a waiver against the 48 hours-a-week limit. They're looking for slaves. I base my case on the Universal Charter of Human Rights of 1948 which includes paragraphs to the effect that no-one should be enslaved and everyone should have access to free time. There's going to be a lot of that in the future. With so many unemployed, so many losing jobs, that remaining employers are tempted to pick and choose those who accept conditions that really do amount to exploitation. Weather is still cold yet remains quite bright.

I woke this morning earlier than I wanted - another job interview today. As usual, the bedroom is mildly cold but probably warmer than the front room! Anyhow, I threw back the duvet, shudderred in the loss of warm air, and tip toed to the curtains for a look outside. Snow! It snowed last night. Not a huge blizzard by any means, more of a thin coat of that fine wet snow that quickly clogs and becomes frighteningly icy. We don't usually get any snow in January. These days, we tend to get a light dusting around early March or April. Does this mean we're in for more? Luckily, the smiling presenter on the weather report last night (and I didn't hear him mention any risk of the white stuff) says no, at least not for the next week, as we move from cold sunny weather to the usual British claggy fog. Outside of course the traffic was moving slowly as you'd expect, sensible given the roads are ice rinks in places. Right then, down to the library to log on before I attend the interview... steady.... Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn't fall over. That will come tomorrow when the ground freezes again. Investigation of the Week It seems there's been an accident or crime on the side street opposite where I live, the street blocked off by orange and white bollards. My guess? Someone reached the left turn at the end of the slope and carried straight on. Couldn't see anything, but your roving reporter for the Rushey Platt Almost Daily will be reporting as events unfold.

Who the first inhabitants of Britain were, whether natives or immigrants,is open to question; one must remember we are dealing with barbarians. But their physical characteristics vary, and the variation is suggestive. The reddish hair and large limbs of the Caledonians proclaim a Germanic origin; the swarthy faces of the Silures, the tendency of their hair to curl, and the fact that Spain lies opposite, all lead one to believe that the Spaniards crossed in ancient times and occupied that part of the country. The people nearest to the Gauls resemble them... ...History tells us that the Gauls too had their hour of military glory; but since that a life of ease has made them unwarlike; their valour perished with their freedom.The same has happened to those Britons who were conquered early; the rest are still what the Gauls once were.... Agricola - Tacitus The British, as the 1st Century Romans saw them. Of course, Tacitus was relating this description largely second-hand, and recent discoveries at Vindolanda uncovered the term Brittunculi ("Little Britons") which is perhaps amusing at first until one realises the scorn that lies behind it. These were the views of important men in the farthest province of the Empire, who saw their populace there not as Roman, but as barbarians under Roman rule. Strabo, a greek geographer of the 1st Century, wrote... The whole race, which is now called Celtic or Galatic, is madly fond of war, high spirited, and quick to battle, but otherwise straightforward and not of evil character. And so when they are stirred up the they assemble in their bands for battle, quite openly and without forethought; so that they are easily handled by those who desire to outwit them. For at any time or place, and on whatever pretext you stir them up, you will have them ready to face danger, even if they have nothing on their side but their own strength and courage... ....To the frankness and high-spiritedness of their temperament must be added the traits of childish boastfulness and love of decoration..." We therefore know about the Celts from our classical sources. The Celts however left no description of themselves. A great is made of the concept of 'Romanisation', almost as if they assimilated populations under their control and somehow brainwashed them into becoming Roman. This is not true. The Romans weren't interested in the lives of their subject peoples provided they obeyed laws and paid taxes. The Britons did not necessarily see themselves as 'Roman' at any time, rather they thought of themselves as Britons under Roman rule. The senior members of Roman communities were initially the same men who had ruled the tribal hill-forts, and later, their children or those who had risen to emulate them. That in itself does not make them Roman - it means they accepted Roman culture and lived in a manner that pleased their masters on the continent. It was conformity within the 'establishment'. No doubt some of these men adopted a haughty attitude toward their former lives or countrymen, others would have remained 'Britons in Togas'. Those we would class as rural peasants lived a life not far removed from the pre-Roman times. There was certainly enough of them. Estinates put rural poor as something like eighty percent of a total of two million inhabitants of Roman Britain at its densest population. The presence of villas made a new distribution of land use and commercial activity, yet it must be said that Roman civilisation was primarily urban and the villa system connected to it. Roman villas were distributed unevenly with the majority, perhaps not suprisingly, in the southeast. There were wide tracts of land - at least to our current knowledge - that were sparsely inhabited by the villa system. Those British settlements that had survived their initial encounters with Roman soldiers pretty much remained where they were, and although their produce had become part of the Roman economy, it was so on a peripheral nature and the lure of Roman towns must have been powerful. Indeed, Tacitus notes with some element of scorn that the British had been seduced by "porticoes, baths, and sumptuous banquests". Can we assume that Britons who indulged themselves were completely Roman, or that they had merely indulged themselves because of the luxurious nature of these things the Romans made available? Roman roads are famous and their paths can be seen in the networks of roads across Britain. These were created anew for their own purposes, to facilitate the military occupation and the administration of the province, and in doing so the Romans ignored for the most part the existing trackways that connected tribal sites. These trackways were nonetheless still in place, and whilst the ppublic weren't banned from using Roman roads, that wasn't their purpose and certainly the rural Celts had little use for them unless they needed to travel to Roman towns. Once the post-Roman collapse made itself felt, the carefully prepared Roman road did not entirely fall into disuse, since remnant populations were often found in those towns described by Germanic settlers as having been 'made by giants'. Rather than supplant the trackways of old, in the aftermath of Roman withdrawal, the roads became linked and part of the Celts own network, to become for at least a short while an extension of those cultural ties that existed since the Iron Age and in many cases much earlier. There's another interesting aspect to the retention of Celtic identity. In Roman times people were intensely superstitious. The Romans themselves did not push aside local gods for fear of divine retribution, but instead connected them with their own mythos as if the local god was an avatar of established Roman ones. Most importantly of all, the religious life of local people was retained albeit reorganised in a Roman fashion. Temples often had kiosks to sell religious paraphenalia essential to proper worship in the same way as continental practice though precious little evidence exists for this. The local gentry, themselves Celts who had become part of the Roman establishment, would support this religion by the sponsorship of temples built to honour the local god. These temples were built for local people. The value of water is essential to understanding the religious significance of local gods. Water was a barrier between the world of the living and that of the dead. A river was an obstacle, a place where approval of the god that ruled that river was essential to avoid a watery fate. This is why springs are often associated with Romano-British religious life, and interestingly enough, local gods that pre-dated Roman culture had similar leanings as we see in the sacrifice of swords into waterways. This was something the Romans could relate to. For all its earthy celebration and solitary communion with their gods, the Roman religious system nonetheless lost out in the long run to christian beliefs in the late empire. Whereas the pagan religions were romanised versions of older beliefs, Christianity was a matter of social worship and one demanding regular attendances rather than ad hoc visits and annual festivals. Given that Christianity was inherently more political, and a major landowner in its own right, their success in becoming the state religion isn't suprising. They had done so in the face of opposition from pagan gods, Mithraism, Arianism, and other sects. It was in effect a triumph of oriental religion in colonising Roman religious life. Yet the connection with the supporting state was also important, and with the withdrawal of Roman legions, and governmental authority with it, the Christian church in Britain began to suffer setbacks. Firstly, the immigrant european tribes brought their own gods with them. Secondly, since Roman culture was essentially urban, the support of communities was focused on larger settlements. After the initial prosperity of taxation free-Brtain, the economic disaster that followed reduced the importance of Christian churches and indeed, with disease becoming rife in Romano-Celtic towns and with declining infrastructure to support the previously large populations, the Christian god must have seemed to have 'failed' the Romano-Celts. Gildas, a sixth century monk, wrote a work condemning the rise of tyrants in the post-Roman Britain, and describes the 'Proud Tyrant' (thought to be Vortigern) as 'attempting to return to the old pagan ways'. That he would attempt to do so implies he knew of such things. It's easy to read too much into that. Christianity wasn't overly popular in dark age Britain. Gildas mentions the spread of Arianism and other heresies, and the arrival of Augustine on British shores marked the church's response to falling congregations. In an important twist, there were Saxon tribes who interpreted Augustines teachings in the light of their religious beliefs, much as the Celts had done with Roman religion, and this presented a Germanic heresy as they frequently worshipped on different days to the mainstream Christians in Britain of the 5th and 6th centuries. The Saxons were therefore 'a race hateful to God' as one contemporary monk described them. A connection with cultural roots for Celts even during the Pax Romana weathered the changes wrought in commerce, agriculture, industry, religion, and lifestyles. However there was an efficiency and comfort that the Romans brought to Britain and one readily accepted in a land that Tacitus described as having 'A wretched climate'. The Roman method of governing a province was not to create and enforce a new government, but to turn the existing social hierarchy to their needs. That is the extent of romanisation. People remained what they were unless they chose to adopt Roman ways and further their careers, and the predatory commercial sphere no doubt proved an important influence. Underneath this trend toward Roman behaviour and fashion, the delimitation of land was no different to the pre-Roman era. The old demarcations were in use as boundaries throughout, and in rural populations, some elements of the old tribal divisions would still be found. In fact, it has been argued that the Romans deliberately reinforced the old tribal divisions as a means of providing stable government, especially in turbulent northern England which never accepted Roman culture as readily as the southeast. In fact, the kings of Strathclyde and Manau Gododdin, both in northern Britain, retained latin titles into the 5th Century. They were in effect using Roman titles as a manifestation of Roman authority, something the Celts must have keenly felt in the wake of Roman occupation, and whilst this seems an abandonment of their own cultural roots, it must be pointed out that these noblemen were carrying on a tradition established in Roman times yet doing business in Celtic terms. Although one can argue the extent of romanisation in Britain, it was essentially a condition that existed where the Celts lived and dealt with Romans on a daily business. Since the Romans were the masters and landowners, the Celts took enough of Latin culture that enabled them to do whatever business they required, but still at heart a native Celtic society. Whereas the Romans had impinged themselves upon the existing Celtic social order and adapted it to enable a relatively smooth transition to Roman rule, the immigrant warriors of the Dark Ages weren't interested. They had arrived to find new land to farm and weren't particularly interested in who owned it when they got there. In one sense, the defence of England by the Romano-Celts, and the inspiration behind Arthurian mythos, was a desperate attempt to keep what little Roman life was left to them. In another sense, it was the re-emergence of Celtic values including that of martial prowess, and although the natives ultimately found themselves marginalised and pushed into remote areas of the British Isles, they fought for their cause valiantly. Iron Age hillforts, many abandoned during the Roman period or used at a much lower level than the protected centers of settlement they had once been, began to be re-used as the urban nature of Romano-British society atrophied from the 4th Cenury. Especially in times of uncertainty, the defensive nature of these places was a bonus and a return to settlements used by their Celtic forebears for centuries made a lot of sense to people seeing Roman towns lying derelict and barely inhabited. In fact, the arrival of Saxon tribes particularly in the campaign to conquer the area now known as Wessex proved their value - the Saxons would not assault these forts lacking the wherewithall to conduct such warfare. Where these places failed is that although the Saxons chose not to attack, they effectively blockaded them. It's no coincidence that battles between Celts and Saxons occured in the nearby area rather than at the location itself. In at least one case, that of Barbury in Wiltshire, the fort was used by its Saxon victors as a cemetary, a somewhat ironic fate. In this severing of the Celtic identity with the land, the Saxons achieved a significant victory beyond their understanding, one that reverberates down to this day in modern regional relations which must more than anything else, point to the strength of Celtic identity even after nearly two thousand years. Agricola - Tacitus An Imperial Possession, Britain in the Roman Empire - David Mattingly Decline and Fall of Roman Britain - Neil Faulkner Roman Britain - Peter Salway Roman Britain and Early England - Peter Hunter Blair

In a blaze of media exposure - and no shortage of publicity by BBC News - we finally know who is to be David Tennants replacement as Dr Who. For those who don't know its... ah.... Who? They chose an actor who despite having leading roles in the past is pretty well unknown. A non-entity? Well, personally, I'm hugely miffed the BBC didn't demand and beg me to play the role. I am after all fully qualified. I turn up, I pull rabbits out of hats, then fade into nonethingness as someone else gets promoted instead. I am the Dr Who of Warehousing. So where's my buxom assistant then? I'm waiting..... Cavalry Bugle of the Week Our much-despised prime minister, Gordon Brown, has announced he's going to create 100,000 new jobs. Brilliant. Except who's going to pay the wages? The economy is on the brink of collapse, people haven't got the money to buy anything, and he's going to wave a magic wand when he plans to increase taxes even further and foist an expensive olympics upon us. It's lunacy. The only way to support these jobs is more taxes. Boy does he love spending other peoples money. If we had any.