caldrail

Well well well... What do I hear on the radio today? The canal extension has received the go-ahead from the planners. Stand by for road works...

I've mentioned before about a scheme to build a canal through Swindon. There used to be one, the Wilts & Berks, and the last stretch of this water still exists on the outskirts of town. There is however a lobby for recreating it and they occupy the Old Collectibles Shop opposite the new permanent library currently under construction (Swindon had a temporary library for thirty or forty years). I spoke to one of their people the other day. The plan is to go under the road at Kingshill, follow the course of the main road past the GWR Park (The canal originally ran behind the houses, not in front) and divert northward to Swindons boundary. It means digging up one of the major through routes for motor vehicles, which I suppose in the anti-car regime we have in Britain today this is no obstacle at all. So who pays? I had images of horrendous council tax bills and to be honest so do other people, which is why the lobby set up shop. Apparently the European Union pays for it, because they like urban beautification schemes and the assumption is that the canal will bring in money. They want Swindon to be a place to visit. Come and see our canal! A place to visit? There's nothing here to attract visitors at all. We just don't have any tourist traps. Ok, sure, there's the railway museum, but its nothing like as impressive as York and a disappointment for those aware of Swindons railway history. The biggest problem with Swindon is the problem its always had. Its embarrased by its working class railway history. Swindon likes the future, its all about redevelopment and there's plenty of those bland new office blocks in evidence. Yet all those victorian pidgeon nests were what gave Swindon its character. So many of those edwardian brick shool houses are gone now. I remember the atmosphere of the places, the tangible sense of tradition, now replaced by modern schools that whilst being more efficient in terms of energy look horrible, become horrible in a few short years, and simply don't command the same respect. But what about Swindon College? That 60's edifice is about to be pulled down (the campus has moved to North Star) and whilst I studied engineering there for five years, to be honest I won't shed any tears. It was a horrible building. I remember Production Engineering B classes in the early afternoon on the south side, with the sun beating down through the windows. The whole class nodding their heads semi-comatosed by the heat. In its place is going to be a new shopping arcade, a cinema, a hotel etc. Its the sort of civic renewal that looks great on paper but looks undesirable after the natives have lived in it for a few years. There's been a thread on the forums about finding old photographs of your home town. Swindon is well blessed with those. A chap named Hooper went about in the 1900's photographing anything and of course with Swindon being the old railway town it was, there were always other people making records of life in Swindon. You know, the Great Western Railway did much to make life bearable for its employees. It built an entire housing estate for them (the 'Railway Village'), a park, a hospital (now closed), and of course the now derelict Mechanics Institute for social matters. The modern National health Service was inspired by the success of the health schemes set up by the GWR. You just don't see this sort of civic responsibility with employers now, and they probably couldn't afford it anyway. Swindon was once a quaint little isolated market town on the hill, changed forever by the arrival of the GWR works to the north. Now its changed forever again, its past demolished to make way for the future, like an old lady who dresses up in the latest fashions and nightclubbing to attract the young men. Its all a little sad. I've been leafing through those old photographs again. Occaisionally I see things I remember. The old canal warehouse on Milton Road. The market hall on Commercial Road. The greek style frontage of the chapel on Temple St. That old greenhouse in Queens Park. The Goddard Manor House at Lawns. The arched iron bridges crossing the canal behind the main roads. The huge stone and brick workshops of the GWR. The oddly rural railway station building, and those quiet farm fields in little pockets here and there now buried under housing estates. There's a part of me that wants the old Swindon back. It had style.

I remember finding an indian resteraunt in Rotorua, New Zealand. It looked all very plush and professional, inhabited by genuine asians, and the curries were lousy. Thing is, without the competition and expectation of the british, the standards are lower. I don't suppose the new zalanders knew any different. My cousin went to a takeaway in Auckland whilst I was staying there and asked the propietors for the hottest curry they could make. 7 out of 10.

If you want to say something go ahead. Its not going to bother me if you disagree with what I've said. I was fairly negative about the program but then it glossed over a great deal of the story, it romanticised Spartacus whilst trying to give itself historical credibility, and Crassus came across as a pantomime villain. Regarding the fate of Spartacus, there is a story from roman sources that on the final battlefield, he spotted Crassus on horseback at a distance and attempted to reach him in order to slay his nemesis. He was beaten down by sheer weight of numbers.

Aliens can't stand the food? Why do they keep coming back then? Anyway, if you regard an indian curry as unpalatable thats only because the americans haven't access to the the authentic article. Come to think of it we've got all your american stuff on our shelves too, and your burgers are tasteless plastic disasters. I suppose it gets difficult to cook good ones when you run out of buffalo!

I just knew this program was going to be awful. Promoted in the tv guides as a docu-drama made with the advice of historians (and she was credited at the start of the show), it portrayed the short career of Spartacus from the perspective of Oenemaus as he recalls his tale by voiceover as he hangs from a crucifix on the Appian Way. It simply didn't look roman. The great unwashed mass of plebs were indeed long haired and unwashed, looking more like apache indians in some scenes. A politician named Lentulus looked extremely uncomfortable in armour and horseback, and the guy who played Crassus simply played him as a hissing villain. As for Spartacus, he actor spent the whole hour looking bemused at being given a starring role. Historically the show gave a very abbreviated version of the rebellion. There was no mention of the pirates who Spartacus had contracted to carry him to safety and the camapign was shortened to a finale at the Wall of Crassus built across the toe of Italy. That said, the Wall of Crassus sequence was an interesting spectacle which actually looked reasonably authentic and something that hasn't featured in other versions of screen portrayals. What really spoilt it was Spartacus meeting Crassus for a parley before he breaks out over the wall. The script was woeful and neither actor had the gravitas to carry it off. So then, the major points of disagreement with this program... 1 - Spartacus is shown fighting in the arena. There's no record he advanced beyond training. 2 - The rebels are shown escaping at Spartacus's command from the school at Capua - He was one of a bunch of ringleaders. 3 - The rebels find weapons at the school - In reality they found gladiatorial weapons in a wagon outside the school after the escape. 4 - Gladiatorial equipment, particularly armour, was hoplessly incorrect. 5 - The betrayal by pirates is not depicted. 6 - Oenemaus, the commentator, broke away from Spartacus and was killed early in the campaign in real life. It was a little odd to hear his voiceover whilst he's shown dying on the crucifix. 7 - Guards are shown with leather lorica segmentata - erm... No. 8 - Spartacus and Crassus never met. Come back Kirk Douglas - all is forgiven.

Too busy with the delights of Vindaloo, pilau rice, and onion bahji (not to mention a healthy supply of poppadoms and lager). Seriously, GO, you americans have no idea what food is

Masada. Herod the Great built it as a retreat and the zealots later used it for the same purpose against roman retribution. Having arrived and built a circumvallation of stone, the romans alsobrought in ten thousand slaves to build an earth siege ramp to assault the place and the various camps in the dry terrain required four hundred donkey loads of supplies a day. Ballistas were placed on stone pillars built into the ramp to keep the enemies heads down. The defenders knew the romans were going to get in and built an inner wall from timber and rubble, and it was a fairly robust effort at that. Once the romans found it, they attempted to burn it and it was almost a disaster because the flames were in danger of setting fire to thier siege equipment! A change of wind prevented that from happening. Famously one roman centurion who led an assault through the walls slipped on the stone floor because of his hob-nailed boots and was killed. Eventually the romans penetrated the inner defenses only to discover the zealots had committed mass suicide, apart from one woman and her children who'd hidden in a sewer.

The testudo is a protective formation most often employed in sieges to approach relatively safe from missile fire. Popular opinion has the romans attacking slowly and relentlessly in testudo as if the formation was a 'tank', but this simply isn't so. The unit cannot effectively fight until it has de-testudo'd itself. There is suggestion that they used the testudo as an impromptu siege ramp - the formation parks itself against a wall, the rear ranks lower themselves, and allow masses of romans to clamber up over an obstacle. You might wonder how secure the foothold was but consideration for health & safety weren't foremost in a roman commanders mind! From the civil wars onward, yes they did. During the earlier phalanx style warfare this was a no-no, but later, when more flexible tactics were employed, the romans found that charging headlong was sometimes enough to frighten an enemy. There are mentions of such charges in the civil wars although I would agree that such tactics weren't the first choice.

Ahh GO, how mislead you are by internet conspiracy theory... Incidentially, the reality behind corn circles is a sophisticated attempt to communicate with aliens symbolically. Originally these messages said something like "Want a game of tiddlywinks?", but we've made progress in corn circlism and at least one recent circle said "Please do not transmit any more soap operas" Hey hang on - Whats wrong with our food? Get some fish'n'chips down yer boy. Mushy peas and drippin' for supper.

Its also formal wear, and then turning up to see a patron in a crumbled garment might not be too impressive Mind you, on the other end of the scale, I'm reminded of a story about a young woman from a wealthy family who runs off with a gladiator. In the text it mentions that she has forsaken her soft bed of swan down. Nice if you can afford such things.

Here's a collection of six golden oldies of Swindon before the automobile. This one is the street where I now live. The tram line is interesting because just before the first world war there was an accident with a tram whose brakes failed. Ten people were killed roughly were the photographer is. The canals were a feature of Swindon before the railways arrived, forming a junction between the Wilts & Berks and the North Wilts canals. Two views of Marlborough Road, one of the main thoroughfares into the Old Town on the hill. Some of these cottages are still standing. The Midland & South West Junction Railway (Swindons Other Railway) is behind the houses on the left. One of the major shopping areas in the new town built to service the needs of the Great Western Railway (Their main line is off to the left of the picture) Manchester Road has been infamous in recent times as Swindons Red Light District. Here it is looking more respectable.

I woke last night dimly aware that my bed was wobbling. Now usually the rattles and vibrations I experience at night are the result of heavy lorries thundering down the hill, or perhaps my neighbours stereo (or just my neighbours), but this felt different. Objects were rattling around, and the bed was still wobbling. Its an extraordinary sensation and one that left me wondering "Was that an earthquake?" Yes it was. Measuring 5.2 on the Richter Scale and centered in Lincolnshire, the earthquake struck Britain in the small hours, the biggest in twenty five years. Funny thing is I don't remember any earthquakes at all ever. What suprises me even more is that according to the Geological Survey we get two hundred earthquakes a year and no-one notices. Want a vacation? Come to Britain. Even our earthquakes are polite. Eurovision Song Contest Entry of the Week Ah yes. Once again the nations of Europe and Asia Minor are voting for their favourite entry to compete against each other in a televised final. God won it at least once by inventing Cliff Richard. Sweden won it by inventing Abba. Now everyone else wins it by exporting the worst performers they can find. Ireland has decided to send a tv puppet called Dustin this year. Can you believe people take this competition seriously? Null points....

It is, but you missed the point. At the end of WWII Britain and the US agreed to share technology, including that pertaining to high speed flight. We gave the US our research for the Miles M52 project but the US returned nothing, apparently using the research to perfect their own record breaker. Can you replicate evolution? Oh good grief man its been replicated EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!!!! Its going on in your back yard. Its happening - right now - all around you. Its part of life on earth. For crying out loud just throw that bible in the bin and start thinking for yourself. Look how easy it is to breed. Its not just ourselves, we can breed all sorts of animals and plants (hey, nature made that a breeze!). Notice also how easy we breed new species. Thats utilising mutation, the cornerstone of evolution, although in this case we enforce it rather than relying on random interaction. Mutation is built in, its part of natural diversity to ensure a strong gene pool, and since unsuitable species tend to die off if the enviroments don't suit them, only the suitable mutations will do. Thats evolution. Its an observation made about life on earth. I'm not a paleontologist nor do I have access to the relevant research. Please ask one for the required proof. The fact two species lived at the same time is irrelevant. Lots of species lived at the same time and funny enough still do today. Unless the americans are actually manufactured in detroit somewhere they're still flesh and blood like the rest of us. That means you arrived in this world because mummy and daddy bonked each other one night (perhaps in the back of a Detroit product?). Sex is part of the natural world and therefore since you are the result of such behaviour you also belong to the natural world. Human beings are animals. Thats all. We're not spritually superior beings in any way whatsoever, we're not seperated from the natural world except by our own mechanisation of the food supply, and our behaviour is nothing more than derived from the social animal we always were. As for primitive species, I see plenty of them on a saturday night in my local town - I suspect you have your own quota. Do these people evolve seperately? Unfortunately not.

Plenty of theories have been accepted with a great deal less evidence than that available for evolution. The problem with evolution is that it implies our origin is somewhat more humble than the handiwork of god, which to fundamentalist christian belief is contrary to biblical teaching. So in many ways the theory of evolution does not find universal acceptance because of human arrogance. The religious arguement I'm going to leave to one side for now - its bound to upset people because I don't like the way artificial stories are rigidly put forward in spite of commonsense - but if the fossil record and enviromental specialisation of current species isn't proof enough of the concept (its not a philosophy at all), could the americans please credit the british with breaking the sound barrier since there's no conclusive, solid proof they ever thought of it themselves. Would you like to reconsider an unpalatable scientific concept instead? We're all flesh and blood you know, us and our anthropoid cousins... We just have a little less body hair, thats all.

There must have been some variation in the manner spectacles were staged (variety was important to roman entertainment as well as tradition) and since it was expected that a wealthy man should be generous (something that survived in italian culture for a long time) the sort of event suggested isn't so suprising. There's no suggestion of venue that I can see and although I don't read latin, I see no mention of amphitheatre either. If the hunt of four leopards was all the public went to see why would Magerius need to stage it it at an amphitheatre? Any public space could be utilised and without the need to change props, house fighters, cage entire menageries of beasts as we might expect in a large event, it would be simpler and cheaper to let the Telegenii organise the show on his behalf. It might even be more convenient for the crowd who are saved the trouble of travelling to an arena. The roman ublic did demand entertainment and sometimes did so aggressively. In the reign of Tiberius, the family of a dead centurion whose body was on display in the marketplace were told they would not be allowed to bury his remains until funeral games had been staged at their expense. The townspeople were rounded up by legionaries as soon as Tiberius heard about it. Also, since we know troupes of entertainers such as gladiators went on tour out in the sticks performing to entertainment-starved locals, why is it so suprising that beast-hunters used the same entrepeneurial flair?

But the people willing to assassinate or mount coups are not inherently law abiding people, nor do law abiding people generally stop them since this people continually rise to power in spite of legal restrictions. Laws are all very well, but it also requires a population who are willing to stand by them. If the risk is too great, they don't, they duck and mind their own business whilst the new tyrant takes over.

The main difference with Crassus vs Parthia and Operation Barbarossa is of course territory. Its important to understand this. Modern armies seek to take objectives (which is essentially no different from roman methods) but they alsoneed to occupy their captured ground and suppress resistance behind the lines, somthing which generally didn't happen in ancient warfare, since most civilians were too hard pressed to feed themselves rather than attack foreign soldiers who would simply butcher them if caught. Also, I notice that the romans made a number of forays into Asia against the Parthians/Persians, and that although they achieved objectives and won battles these territorial gains were soon relinquished. The campaigns of Trajan are a case in point since he did actually reach the Caspian Sea and annexed large territories for Rome, soon to be discarded by Hadrian as of no value as provinces. During the Palmyran Revolt, troops marched back and forth across syria and mesopotamia in the same manner that armoured divisions would do in the western desert of 1941-43. Climatically however there is no comparison. The russian winter is infamous and both Napoloen and Hitler believed they could secure victory before the worst of it arrived, neglecting to appreciate the true scale of the land the were attempting to cover and that weather effects before the freeze sets in were no less difficult.

Oh no, no dream, it all happened five or six years ago. Afterward I took three months off working to just chill out and do my own thing. Did me the world of good but emptied my wallet somewhat.

Close... but no cigar. I still maintain I'm El Presidente of the Independent Peanut Republic of Rushey Platt. However, since you brought the subject up.... The Truth About Area 51 Its like this. When the Martians invaded Kent back in the 1890's or whenever it was they caught colds and died before we could we help the poor little blighters, but after at least two demolitions of the Whitehouse and innumerable attempted hostile takeovers of small towns in the american southwest, it really is time to open a dialogue with our alien visitors. Given the huge misunderstandings experienced between Americans and Aliens, Area 51 was set up to teach the tiddlywinks in an effort to provide some sort of common cultural ground. The truth About The Welsh No, I can't... Honestly....

All things considered I'm not sure that a formal succession would have made much difference to the fate of the roman empire. The essential problem is roman competitiveness. There were always men waiting behind the scenes waiting their chance to go for it and replace the current emperor whether he be good or bad. If a particular roman found that he could summon enough support to make it worth the risk, then he would have staged his coup regardless of laws to the contrary. Sejanus for instance worked tirelessly to take the reigns from Tiberius and basically rode roughshod over the law to ensure his power base increased. Granted, he came to a sticky end, but it didn't necessarily have to end that way. People willing to mount coups are rarely the sort who concern themselves with the rights and wrongs of it. Since they believe they have every right, they go ahead. The possibility of male descendants wasn't an obstacle to power struggles, since if these unfortunate persons happened to be be on the losing side, their survival is not guaranteed at all. As an example, this principle is what underlies Robert Graves I, Claudius as the heirs of Augustus are bumped off one by one to ensure Tiberius rules.

Bad colds or flu can be nasty. It creeps up on you and hits you like a brick wrapped in tinfoil. Coughing, sweating, dizzy, limbs aching, totally unable to sleep. We've all been there so I guess you know what I mean. Isn't it strange that medicinal products function in direct proportion to their taste? The palatable ones don't do anything for you at all. But those ghastly horrible noxious products that make you sweat with anticipation of its vile taste work like a charm. We have a product in Britain - I don't know what the rest of the world call it - but its advertised as a miracle cure for colds and flu. Of course is isn't, it just makes you feel better for a few hours, but I'm definitely feeling a lot more like your average Caldrail. Now.... Is that because the stuff really is a miracle cure, or is it because I can't bear the thought of another dose? However, there are some substances you shouldn't really touch. I'm not into drugs. Never was. Never saw the point. If you need a pill to enjoy yourself then you're not doing so. There was one instance in my past though when I encountered such things. I don't mean the offer of cannabis from some lowlife in a club. Its inevitable that having been involved in rock bands I was going to encounter it. Funny thing is, I was very rarely offered any. Maybe I looked spaced out already so they never bothered? No. Something more insidious happened. So lets explain the background. I used to work for a large retail chain, and my responsibilities were to manage the database overnight and download the picking data for the next day onto the scanning guns. It was a lonely sort of job that. The only human contact I had was a cleaner who popped in every two or three days to scatter my papers over the floor, and the good lady who worked in the office along the way. She was a tolerant sort luckily. Not so the workforce. Comprised of the usual layabouts and ner'do'wells, I'd become somewhat unpopular with them because I'd had some of their mates hauled across the coals for misdemeanours. It wasn't pleasant, and to this day I don't think the company really appreciated what a miserable place that was to work. This wasn't the first time I'd been feeling a bit odd. I'd been phoning and emailing radio stations, getting hyperactive and stressed out, going on long drives around the west country for no apparent reason. Then there was that final night. It wasn't like feeling drunk, I just felt oddly chirpy. Feeling fed up with any grievances I'd had at work, I decided to do something about it. I scrawled 'Goodbye and thanks for all the fish' on the board, and text'd somebody on my mobile that I was on my way. Don't know who it was, but I knew they'd understand. Somebody was cheering me on. From that point forward I was utterly convinced I was on some sort of quest to reach France. I was also convinced I was supposed to take people along and that they'd arranged to meet me in town. So I wandered around for an hour feeling a little disappointed at a no-show. Well, I can't wait, must reach France. So I drove out to the motorway to go east. Then it occured to me the police would be waiting to catch me. So... I'll go by the country road. That'll fox 'em... Huh? Was that a red light?... Wow, this is getting seriously foggy... Hey wait, I was supposed to pick someone up... Turn around.... Must get there quickly to pick them up... Awww I can't be doing with this, I'm going down the motorway... Eventually my car ground to a halt with some sort of breakdown, lights flashing on the dashboard all over the place... This was a freezing cold november morning and I phoned for recovery. I think the police telephonist got the gist of what I was rambling on about. The return to Rushey Platt was a sobering experience. I froze for an hour waiting for a tow. I froze for another two hours at railway station carpark waiting for a tow back in the right direction. I lost the job. You might not be entirely suprised at that. So I suppose the idiot who spiked my drinks at work with whatever substance that was felt pleased with his handiwork. It was a miracle I wasn't picked up for driving under the influence - I daresay that would have pleased him more. How would he have felt if I'd crashed? Killed? Disabled? Or would he have been satisified with death and injury on the roads if an innocent person or two had been unlucky enough?

You are also aware I take it that Glastonbury is the UFO capital of the world even today? Hate to break it to you, but thats in downtown west country england. Actually the problem with the druids is that they got abducted. Thats why the stonehenge rest stop went out of business. Also, we now know that Cardiff in Wales is alien central station for planet earth. Sorry, but if Will Smith wants to chase aliens in sharp suits, he needs to cross the Atlantic.

After his defeat in Greece Antiochus had retired to his main army in Asia Minor, where he set up an entrenched camp protecting the approach to Sardis and his fleet base at Ephesos. Wikpedia.com The morning was wet and foggy. King Antiochus

On the contrary. Score one for USN anti-satellite technology. By the way, thanks for the advice about treatment for flu. Suggest America puts some of the money spent on anti-satellite technology and diverts it to medecine!