Augustus Caesar

Just a quick reference to this issue... as a techie I have seen this a few times and experienced it myself. It may be one of a couple things... depending upon individual systems. It can be your browser security settings that are not set properly whether IE (any version) or Firefox. More often it is an issue with the 'installer'. Check the bar at the top of your browser and ensure it asks you to INSTALL the add-on and not just run it. The latter will require the same response every time you visit a different site or restart your browser or PC/laptop. If you can go direct to Adobe sites and download and install the code directly then do so. For some reason you may also be asked to allow an Active-X control to be run on your systems not once but twice during the same install. It affects several browsers so don't feel left out if you use just one! Remember too that you should install this add-on for EACH browser you use and not just hope that installing it to IE, for example, will get it to work in, say, Opera!

Once again it has to be Hadrian's Wall for me. I absolutely love this monument no matter how small the volume of Wall is visible or how great. It was a magnificent piece of engineering taking just six years to 'complete' - imagine doing that these days? Not a chance!! The last fort I visited with my good lady wife was Cilurnum (Chesters) although previously on the same day we visited Housesteads. They are both magnificent sites in their own right but one thing that disappointed me at both was the overgrown grass in the middle of each fort. It was deliberately allowed to grow and had 'walkways' through it to certain parts of fort. When I asked one of the staff at Housesteads the answer was one of an official stance in that it was to allow the wildlife back into the forts in terms of nesting birds and small rodents. What?!?!?!? My stock answer to that was that there is a large open space around the whole Wall where this already happens so why inside a national treasure? The last repponse was 'that this is experimental'. Noooo waaayyyyy I wanted to say in a low dulcet tone but I held back... so my response was to say that money was being saved or that the grass cutter had broken down. On a serious note this does nothing to bring the visitor in and only spoils what many visitors have been used to or been told to expect. The sooner it gets back to its normal look the better. Apart from that oddity I say go visit at your earliest - you will not be disappointed.

After a while 'off' I have come back to read through the replies etc to this topic. Some good site suggestions have arisen. The last one at Chester is a very good one - my wife and I were about to go there a couple of years back but had to cancel for family reasons. There is plenty to see and do apparently. Other sites, of course, are well worth looking at but travel is important as stated before. Logistics, if sorted out, can mean a very healthily orgnised meet so keep the suggestions coming. Financially some might struggle (as we are unfortunately) but suggestions may even be carried to 2011 so keep 'em coming. NN - I'll be sending a PM so keep your eyes peeled.

That sounds good WW. It means if they are willing to transport folk from site to site if need be then that removes a lot of hassle. Good idea about getting Andrew and even his good lady wife along if we can and, of course, Pertinax who has been busy elsewhere. If we did the south though would you be able to come up with an itinerary and times allocated for 'talks'? What is the feeling about Lincoln everyone? Whichever venue it is the later in the year is better for us - around July or September. That does not mean the dates are fixed... it is for you all to agree where maximum attendance can occur. Keep the ideas coming....

And what bus would that be Caldrail? Er..... oh yeah... that one!!!! Great fun though... and I remember you lapping up the view from a Sweeney style chasing cab!! Excellent site suggestions... keep 'em coming...

Aha... it's good to see you back WW. Hope all is well and the study takes off for you... OK... it seems Lincoln is still a good shout but whether an Easter trip is good for us financially is another thing. We will do our best. Of course, trying to get two trips in one year may not be easy for any overseas members wanting to come over. Anyway, I am sure we will work something out. London? Well, there is a fair few things around the southern region that can be visited and I know you, WW, mentioned Fishbourne Palace when we were all in York. Would that be a possibility? I do not remember if you said you had been before so there's a question for you... have you? Lincoln - up north? Certainly not. Ghost you are correct. Even Manchester is not 'up north' as the Londoners tend to think. (My mother was a Londoner before some have a dig at me!!). You need to be nearer Hartlepool to class anything from there as 'up north'. Us Geordies are fiercely proud of being northerners but a true Geordie is from Newcastle and nowhere else. Anyway, I have nothing against other regions - far from it - I like to hear different dialects and meet folk from different regions. Our local 'enemy' if you like are those called the mackems. Work that one out!! Come back with some thoughts WW on a southern venue and we'll see if one or both (Lincoln or south) are taken up.

I must admit I do agree with you on this NN so my vote is for Lincoln.... I've been there twice since the [utterly fantastic] Hadrian Exhibition, and still I forget to mention it! I think my memory isn't what it was. I'll tell you something else as well . . my memory isn't what it was. Ahhh..... the Hadrian Exhibition... absolutely awesome!! Doubt we'll see that again in our lifetime but I hope so... I'd go back tomorrow!!

London has a few more bits dotted about but it takes a fair walk between each one. However, there are other bits where the public are not allowed to enter but which could be opened up for a small party I hear. Just how true that is I do not know. One suspects that this may be for paid private viewing or TV/documentary filming etc. I have tried to visit as much of Roman London as I could but it isn't easy to find info on these places. So help from anothe member may be useful here. If memory serves me correctly there is a part of a wall with medieval wall built on top near the London Gaol museum which is near to the Golden Hind??? There is only a small section to see but you know it is Roman because of its structure as opposed to the later medieval. The London Museum has a very good Roman collection but is smaller than that of the British Museum which has a lot of the marble heads on show for example as well as plenty other items. The Vindolanda Tablets are there too but with a lottery bid that has just been won the Tablets will return to Vindolanda within two years from now. The former museum has a section of wall to see outside and also a Roman head of a woman which was reconstructed from a skull for a TV documentary a few years back. It has a wooden bucket system for the collection of water from a well and a few decent models etc showing Londinium as it may have been in Roman times. This museum is also being updated with new sections from last year and with more Roman stuff being put on display by next year I believe. The good things about London are the transport, food and drink and places to stay. You will find something you will be satisfied with without a doubt. Whether or not members would choose this as a place to visit though is up to them. We shall wait and see what they come up with...

Hi Ghost We got to Houseteads and Vindolanda as well as Corbridge plus one or two sites local to the eastern end of the Wall. It was a tight itinerary but it worked extremely well. I would have to consider the terrain when looking at places to visit as some members may not be up to the hill walking and steepish clims at some areas. I tested my wife, Hadriana (cool name huh?), at The Wall and she just about managed it although she found it tough. The Augusta apparently found Housestead a little tough too so we definately have to be careful. Timings would be kept quite tight too depending on our mode of travel along the Wall and our starting points. All that assumes a Meet on the Wall though which is by no means certain as members may wish to do Lincoln or even another area. I won't mind which. I merely state I am prepared to do another Wall trip if the majority wish it. The Antonine Wall is virtually all gone except for areas of mounds where the Wall once stood. It was built of turf and tmbe originally and apparently some of the best areas are around Falkirk way or at least close to it. I cannot vouch too strongly for that having not been up there but I hve it from locals and my brother who did visit that this was the case. Take a look in Hadrian's Wall by Brian Dobson and David Breeze to see what still stands. It is a very detailed book as you know but it has a full section dedicated to that Wall. Come on everyone... where's your ideas?

Rome would be a great idea but it depends upon finances for me as it would for others undoubtedly. If you wish to organise that as a seperate meeting to that of the UK ones then do go ahead. I think it is important to keep the UK trips alive for at least the forseable future and if they prove successful they should be an annual event as was agreed on our first meeting. So, yes, if folk wish to go to Rome then go for it but please do not confuse it with the original UK Meets.

OK everyone... here goes... Because the Meet for 2009 did not go ahead due to lack of numbers and illness as wll as the credit crunch I have decided to open up this new topic for 2010. The venue chosen for 2009 was Lincoln and a set itinerary was almost in place and this can easily be finalised. However, we need to decide upon dates and whether we should attend in April or any month through to September. We should allow for dates that would maximise attendance and give everyone a good chance of getting there. If anyone has a different idea as opposed to Lincoln feel free to drop that in here but do bare in mind we are looking for places that are affordable, easy to get to and they should have minimal travelling to the sites chosen. So, now it is over to you once again. Maybe with the crunch seemingly getting out of the way a tad it may help us all a bit more. Fire away.....

Hi NN We are both sorry to hear about your mum and hope she is fine now. It seems you have had a torrid time of it lately and again we hope all is OK. As for the Meet we are gutted that it didn't finally go ahead. For the last Meet we had five of us but it still went very well and was fun packed. OK... so Lincoln is still a good bet for the Meet when it does go ahead but it may be better now to leave it until maybe April at the earliest to give people a chance to sort out finances and plans maybe. At least if this IS the chosen venue we can begin to plan that bit earlier too. I think it may be better if I should open a thread for 2010 so we can leave this one closed. I will leave the closing to you NN as you can do that with being a superior Roman and all that!!! Of course it goes without saying that thanks must go to you for all your efforts with this Meet. Thanks mate!!

There is one particular episope that strikes me as being particularly nasty... and that is one in which the Emperor Caligula plays one of his most wicked cards in his short tenure as Emperor. He took his armies to the shores in great anticipation of a huge invasion of foreign lands only to play his matercard and turn all his might and anger toward Neptune. To take on this awesome task and to defeat him was an amazing feat and showed just what a brilliant leader of his troops Claigula was. To rub it in even further upon Neptune's defeat Caligula got his armies to collect thousands of Neptune's 'soldiers' (sea-shells for the uninitiated) and present them to the Senate upon his return thus creating a militarial masterstroke. Now, I know I poke fun at Caligula here, but to him this was real. So does it count as particularly evil? I mean, really, in regard to his troops and generals who faithfully followed him and no doubt were as sick as pigs when he set them home with all his 'booty'.....

It's now a good few days since this Meet would have ended. However, I am unsure as to whether it actually happened. I do hope it did go ahead but, if not, then maybe not enough members committed. However, if the meeting actaully found fruition with five or six who confirmed, or whatever number, will we see some reporting of said meeting here? Please let us know....

Information for all concerned with the UK Meet for 2009 in Lincoln.... My wife and I will be unable to get to Lincoln after all for this year's meet. This is a devastating blow to us as we obviously look forward to these things each year. After I was made redundant because of this credit crunch (?!?) we had the added indignity of the tax office messing up our working tax credit claim and overpaying us. They want it back as soon as which has stumped us. However, with the train fares costing around