GhostOfClayton

A thoroughly excellent book. They say that any society is only three meals away from anarchy, and I'm yet to have my lunch! Edgar Rice Burroughs like to use the phrase, "the thin veneer of civilisation" to describe mankind's condition in relation to his more fundamental savage makeup. That veneer is strting to get a little scratched and worn in places.

Looking back, this sort of thing has been rumbling unstoppably towards us with grim inevitability. Not only financial pressures,. but (more importantly) cuts in services and the social infrastructure have been gradually added, one following another for about a year, and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. Rightly or wrongly, the perception of the poorer segments of society is that they have had to bare the brunt, with the rich not really affected. Such pressures are always waiting for an outlet, or weak spot, to burst out, and the protest against the shooting of Mark Duggan turned out to be that weak spot. As ever, these events are then taken over by those wishing to spread anarchy and chaos, and fuelled by those seeing an opportunity for risk free aquisition of a big telly. Just as a fire needs heat, oxygen and fuel, a riot needs percieved social injustice (oxygen), elements in society who wish to spark the riot (heat), and those who see benefits once the riots are underway (fuel). I can't help thinking that the dismantling of the country's social infrastructure would have been more palatable if it didn't have a distinct permanence about it - it has gone forever, and I can't see it returning, even in the good times.

You're absolutely right - I'd forgotten all about that one.

I'm one, I was, and so I am.

Hi NWF, and welcome to UNRV. Hadrian's Wall is a topic very dear to my heart/job. Working in the tourist industry, I do believe that more could be done to attract tourist cash, especially from overseas vistors. What I've found is that people do love to see reconstructions, and there are so few of these along the wall line itself. Ironically the only reconstruction of a short stretch of the wall itself is not on the wall line, but at Vindolanda, and the best reconstructions are at Arbeia, which goes completely unknown to 99% of wall visitors. I always felt that Walltown Quarry was a much underused resource in this respect. On the wall line, but all archeology having been quarried away. What better place to put a reconstruction milecastle or similar? Also, how many wall visitors stray further than Housesteads or Vindolanda? Not many, I bet. I would readily be a 'Friend of Hadrian's Wall' by the way.

It's a fair question. I certainly won't comment on the religious views of the other contributors, but I'm not even religious enough to be an atheist. However, you can't help but be interested in the pantheon that were believed to exist by the Romans, and they all have very fascinating characteristics, so it's easy to have a favourite. To put it another way, you may say your favourite Fictional Detective was Sherlock Holmes or Columbo, but you know they're fictional. And the monotheism board is mainly aimed at discussiuon about montheism, rather than a place for Muslims/Jews/Christians et al to chat with one another.

Firstly, it seems an intelligently thought out piece of writing (especially for a nineteen year-old). Lodivicus echoed my first thoughts, which were to do with language. Another question struck me. Where does the Jewish faith sit in this universe? With the Christians gone, it would presumably be the principle montheistic religion. Consider communications seriously. I think it would be difficult to maintain an empire the other side of the Atlantic without reasonably efficient communications. How did the Brits go about it? By the way, the name for South America? How about North = Roma Nova Superior and South = Roma Nova Inferior? Lastly, battle tactics. Look carefully at the way single shot muskets changed the tactics/equipment/uniforms. Those bright red coats and tri-corner hats weren't just for decoration, they played a part on the new-look battlefield, though Roman-style tactics were adapted to the new technology rather than replaced. OK - so this is lastly. This whole 'lightning bolt from a ship' thing struck me. It sounds massively in advance of the technology you described. If you need to use it, make sure there is a sound scientific method behind it, consistent with the level of technology. But, I am impressed!

. . . and belated birthday wishes from me, Medusa. Did you get up to anything interesting by way of celebration?

Just to place this on the map for anyone curious. And here it is at a higher scale, showing the outlines of the fort.

Nice of you to respond, Melvadius. Since Clue 2 was "The artists Henri Matisse and Paul Chagal were dying to be there", and Cimiez is the final resting place of both those fine gentlemen, Cimiez is absolutely correct. The amphitheatre is small when compared to that in not-too-distant Arles, but is still a stone construction, and was being extensively renovated during my last visit. I'm hoping to wheedle my way into a job there next season to see how that worked out. Anyway, it is seperate from the museum itself, and publically accesible. The museum itself is OK, though I've seen much better. The excavations are extensive, and well worth a visit - about on a par with Corbridge. Budget cuts are taking their toll though - it is in need of significant reinvestment. Over to you, Melvadius.

Nice thought. To clarify - what's the actual date you're aiming for?

Off topic, but did you go to Tullie House? What did you think to the new Roman Gallery?

It is neither Ostia Antica, nor Paestum. You are on the right continent, but the wrong country. Sounds like you need to narrow it down. Clue 1: It's part of a nice place. Clue 2 to follow when you get a little more desperate.

If my numbers come up on Wednesday night, Crispina, there'll be a Limo taking you to the airport to pick up your business class ticket!

Country: UK Date: Sun 28 & Mon 29 Aug 2011 (bank holiday) Place: Wroxeter Roman City Event: "Gladiators". Link: English Heritage Events Website "Witness the thrill of a gladiator fight at Wroxeter Roman City this bank holiday weekend, as our Roman gladiators demonstrate techniques in a fight to the death." Also, a good excuse to get a look at the Roman villa you saw being 'constructed' in Rome Wasn't Built in a Day. I'm pretty sure I'll be going to this, so if you are too, let me know and we can maybe meet up.

Looks interesting! A definate purchase next time I'm up at Vindolanda (sadly, not until next season!)

You'll find it on this DVD

I have been away from the sleepy little village of Aquis-Of-The-Romans for a while, but I returned to find there had been shinanegans aplenty in my absence. It started one morning at about 3:00am, when many residents noticed a short ring from their phones. They awoke the following morning to find the phone lines dead. Investigation revealed that this was the case for every phone line in the village! One resident, (probably more than one) went through the lengthy and difficult procedure of reporting the fault to good old British Telecom, to be told that the fault would be fixed within 6 days. It came to light in the meantime that the fault was due to the audatious theft of the main 200-core copper phone cable that runs from the sleepy little village of Aquis-Of-The-Romans, to the exchange, several miles away. Copper is an increasingly expensive commodity these days. True to their word, Brtish Telecom replaced the cable and restored the service just in time to meet their 6 day deadline. The village had been telecommunicationally isolated for almost a week. Two days passed with no further interuption to the service. Unfortunately, upon waking up the morning after, the residents were to discover the newly laid cable had been stolen once again, and once again the village was plunged back into a pre-Alexander Graham Bell era. One resident had been vigilant this time. Fearing the rise of crime in the previously almost crime-free community, he had set up a video camera pointing down his drive. Knowing the time the crime occurred (some people had reported the mysterious single ring in the wee small hours), he trawld through the footage, and found two cars and a van travelling together, and passing in the direction of the incident about twenty minutes before. Suspicious, especially when the very small amount of traffic that uses the lane even during the day is considered. Like a good citizen, he contacted the police to offer them the footage. "Do you have any video of the crime actually being committed?" they asked. "No", he admitted. They were not interested. British Telecom were much quicker in replacing the cable this time. 3 days or thereabouts. Now the story just gets plain frustrating. Another 2 days passed, and we had a repeat performance! This time, the mysterious ring rang out at about 0300, and one lady, recognising it from the previous two times, immediately phoned the police on her mobile. Again, not interested. It would be easy to forgive the police and say, well, it's inconvenient to be without your phone, but it hardly rates as a high priority crime does it? No-one is getting beaten up or robbed at gunpoint, are they? True enough. But then, I found myself thinking back a few months to when OfClayton Snr. was living alone. A stroke had left him walking with difficulty, very unsteady, and mentally far from 100%. In order to give him some semblance of independence, we gave him a little wrist strap with a button that radioed a base station wired into his phone. If he got into difficulties, he could press the button, and an operator would (after trying to speak to him) call us out. In his latter stages in there, I was getting called out as much as every other day . . . and always for non-trivial reasons. he wasn't abusing the service, it was a genuine lifeline. I can't praise the service highly enough. And had some pikey ne'er-do-well relieved him of his phone line for an extended period, the consequences for him could have been very serious indeed. the sleepy little village of Aquis-of-the-Romans has a considerable elderly population that also relies on this service. And could they phone 999? No. Frankly, it's a miracle that tragedy didn't strike. Touch wood, the service hasn't dropped since, though if I was a scummy low-life, I'd proably think that three times was pushing my luck a little bit. I would probably wait a few weeks/months for the fuss to die down before I did it again, but it would be too easy a job for me not to have it on my to-do list. All the residents of Aquis-of-the-Romans can do is pray for the price of copper to drop considerably in the meantime.

I don't know who Alyssa is, but I know that I love her unconditionally. Anyone who is more of a grammar fascist than me has my heart forever. A great quote from a comedy show:

Apparently, the columns under the portico were shipped in from a remote Egyptian quarry. When they arrived, they were significantly shorter than ordered. That's why there's that odd looking line just above the pediment.

I know the one you mean. The 'basilica exercitatoria'. It is allegedly the only example found (so far) in any Auxilliary Roman fort in Britain. This leads one to believe that something similar has been identified in other forts. I know of none! This clearly is just speculation. It has the whiff of an off-the-cuff comment by some expert or other, that has been given too much emphasis because there are no other theories. Pinch of salt to be taken, but the building is certainly unique along the Hadrian's Wall forts.

Found a decent wifi signal, so here goes. Tricky one this time. . . . so you get 2 pictures:

I'd be quite interested to see the US version of Life On Mars.

Wie kann ich das vergessen? Es war sehr gut!

I seem to remember the stepping stones were also present in Herculaneum.