Yes, friends, have YOU ever wished you were an ornithologist? It's most people's dream, isn't it - to be able to spend your life filming TV documentaries or travelling the world visiting other ornithologists - it's a life-style that's hard to beat, that's for sure!
However, if you happened to read this story in today's local Onion News for East Hampshire, you'll maybe think again !!!!!
But yes, oh to be a bird, flying so effortlessly through the grey Hampshire skies!
And today, my light-to-moderate wife Lois and I are certainly wishing we were birds, as we "trudge" our way round the ruins of the Roman town of Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) with some of Lois's fellow church-members, to put it mildly!
flashback to earlier this morning: my light-to-moderate wife Lois and I
drive the 32 miles from our home in rural, semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire
to the ruins of the old Roman town of Silchester (Roman name: Calleva Atrebatum)
And as our group views the ruins, above our heads a pair of birds from the once-endangered red kite species seems to be following us around, screaming to each other as they fly effortlessly over the ruins, appearing to laugh at our painfully slow progress (!).
Ruddy red kites !!!!! [no pun intended!!!!]
(left) our little group "trudges" its way round the ruins of Roman Silchester today, as red kites,
once an endangered species, fly above us, laughing at our painfully slow progress (!)
Grahame, a church member and noted archaeology lecturer
here showcasing a bit of old Roman wall, which is nice!
Grahame, himself also one of Lois's fellow church members, has hobnobbed with all the famous TV archaeologists, and can tell us some of the details of their sordid lives (!). One of his "beefs" is that the BBC wouldn't pay for some expensive dental treatment he had to have done, although they apparently paid for some similar work when it came to rival archaeologist Prof Alice Roberts.
What madness !!!!
Poor Grahame !!!!
archaeologist Grahame (2nd from left), who's 75, leads us on a 90-minute walking tour
A highlight of the tour is the sight of the town amphitheatre, just outside the walls, where gladiators and other performers once delighted the 7000-strong Roman audience with highlights of their gratuitous violence (!).
(left) our guide today Grahame, one of Lois's fellow church members: the BBC refused
to pay for Grahame's dental treatment although they paid for rival archaeologist Prof Alice Roberts'
dental work - see her lovely smile-to-camera, as she digs up a Roman villa at Kettering (right)
And Grahame certainly keeps our little group entertained today, as he walks us round the ruins. He tells us he once had the privilege of speaking to our late Queen Elizabeth on the phone. She wanted to thank Grahame after he had written an obituary of Princess Margaret's private secretary, who was an amateur archaeologist in his spare time.
What a crazy world we live in !!!!
(left) Princess Margaret: Grahame, our guide around Roman Silchester today
once wrote an obituary about the Princess's private secretary, and received
a thank-you call later from Margaret's sister, Queen Elizabeth (right)
At one point Grahame asks me how old I think he is - always a loaded question! I carry out my usual policy of thinking of an age and then subtracting 5 years from it, and it works perfectly. I say "I'd guess you were about 70, Grahame", and bingo!
Yes, I can today exclusively reveal that Grahame is 75, but he's quite fit and he leads our group on the 90-minute tour of the ruins without much in the way of obvious signs of discomfort, which is nice!
of Roman Silchester, without any obvious signs of discomfort, which is nice!
Here, Grahame showcases for us a gap in the original Roman town wall
To our credit, I think Lois and I must be "fairly fit" to "fittish" ourselves, at the grand old age of 79, would you believe! - because we turn out to be the last two members of the group to be keeping up with Grahame: all the rest having "dropped out" along the way, either to have a cup of tea and a piece of cake at the nearby parish church, or to care for the sick, or the dying, among our fellow group-members (!).
Before the tour, Grahame has already given us a preliminary talk at James and Hazel's house and provided each of us with a detailed map of the Roman town. It's a nice idea, but the maps are a bit too large, and prove to be a nuisance on the actual tour, and are swiftly abandoned, although they'll make a nice souvenir of this pleasant day, if we can find somewhere to "stash them" (!).
(left) Grahame gives us a pre-walk talk at friends James and Hazel's house, and
gives us all a huge map of the town - nice idea but (centre, right) the maps prove
to be too large to be practical on the walk itself and get swiftly abandoned,
which is a pity!
(left) Grahame details the points of interest as he shows us Silchester's
old Roman amphitheatre, and (right) Grahame stands in the middle
and yells to us, to demonstrate the arena's excellent acoustics
Lois and I visited Silchester once before, on our own, almost exactly 20 years ago, just before we retired. We never thought we would come here again.
See these pictures! And yes, if you're wondering, I'm wearing the same flat cap today as I was wearing that day in 2005, would you believe!
[I've got no problem believing that about you, Colin! - Ed]
flashback to 2005: Lois and I visit Silchester's amphitheatre, as fresh-faced
59-year-olds (!) just a few months before we retired in March 2006
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!!!
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