Difficult to get this one right, 1 stop overexposed Kodachrome 64 slidefilm shot.

 

Minolta 7000AF - 100-200/3.5 - Kodachrome 64 slidefilm. June 15,, 1986

 

W/O August 26th, 1987.

 

Ex-US Navy F-4J Phantom BuNo 155510. Delivered 13/12/1984. Written off 26/8/1987: Flew into a slight ridge at Pant-y-Gwair, ten miles SE of Aberystwyth, Dyfed during low level intercept practice with two other Phantoms. Both crew - Pilot Flight Lieutenant Euan Holm MURDOCH and Navigator Flying Officer Jeremy Lindsey OGG - were killed. This incident was the only F-4J(UK) Phantom of 74 Squadron to be lost in operational service.

 

Source : aviation-safety.net

 

During these challenging and difficult times, show some love for our emergency services; out there doing their best to help and protect us. From fairies at the bottom of your garden to 'the borrowers' we are obsessed with the fantasy of little people in a

full-sized world. My 'downsizing' project, using model railway figures, food and everyday objects, is merely an

extension of those thoughts.

 

Buy this image here: AlanOrgan.redbubble.com

difficult to descibe...harder to explain

Difficult to move in the garden at the moment without tripping over a baby bird of some type. These siblings were enjoying a little sunbathing on my patio while I kept watch for the local Sparrowhawks.

Difficult to get across to many here. The food value- negative number. But people are distracted by other issues.

It is difficult to be exactly sure where this was taken. The position was a few hundred yards west of Bath Spa Station, but no road seems to correspond with this position on either a modern A-Z or a 1970ish Geographia Street by Street. There has been some demolition ...or is it simply dereliction... in the left foreground. Most of the cars are getting to the old banger stage. The Humber Sceptre, Ford Cortina Mk I Estate, Ford Anglia and VW camper van would all be well into the second halves of their lives. The mustard-coloured affair on the far side of the road would be newer, but unfortunately I have never been able to identify cars later than the 1960s. Would the lorry be one of those melodious Commers with the two-stroke engines? The slow-moving "Western" is hauling a train of Foster-Yeoman wagons, probably empties bound for Merehead Quarry, near Frome. The date was Friday 18th July 1975.

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Difficult Run Stream Valley Trail, Potomac River

 

Georgetown Pike, Fairfax County, Northern Virginia

following the snowplow - seguendo lo spazzaneve

 

SS. 309 Romea - Venezia

Hadrian's Wall (Latin: Vallum Hadriani, also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or Vallum Aelium in Latin), is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.[1] Running from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west of what is now northern England, it was a stone wall with large ditches in front of it and behind it that crossed the whole width of the island. Soldiers were garrisoned along the line of the wall in large forts, smaller milecastles, and intervening turrets. In addition to the wall's defensive military role, its gates may have been customs posts.

 

Hadrian's Wall Path generally runs very close to the wall. Almost all of the standing masonry of the wall was removed in early modern times and used for local roads and farmhouses. None of it stands to its original height, but modern work has exposed much of the footings, and some segments display a few courses of modern masonry reconstruction. Many of the excavated forts on or near the wall are open to the public, and various nearby museums present its history. The largest Roman archaeological feature in Britain, it runs a total of 73 miles (117.5 kilometres) in northern England. Regarded as a British cultural icon, Hadrian's Wall is one of Britain's major ancient tourist attractions. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The turf-built Antonine Wall in what is now central Scotland, which briefly superseded Hadrian's Wall before being abandoned, was declared a World Heritage Site in 2008.

 

Hadrian's Wall marked the boundary between Roman Britannia and unconquered Caledonia to the north. The wall lies entirely within England and has never formed the Anglo-Scottish border, though it is sometimes loosely or colloquially described as being such.

 

Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of Britannia after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410.

 

Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC as part of his Gallic Wars. According to Caesar, the Britons had been overrun or culturally assimilated by the Belgae during the British Iron Age and had been aiding Caesar's enemies. The Belgae were the only Celtic tribe to cross the sea into Britain, for to all other Celtic tribes this land was unknown. He received tribute, installed the friendly king Mandubracius over the Trinovantes, and returned to Gaul. Planned invasions under Augustus were called off in 34, 27, and 25 BC. In 40 AD, Caligula assembled 200,000 men at the Channel on the continent, only to have them gather seashells (musculi) according to Suetonius, perhaps as a symbolic gesture to proclaim Caligula's victory over the sea. Three years later, Claudius directed four legions to invade Britain and restore the exiled king Verica over the Atrebates. The Romans defeated the Catuvellauni, and then organized their conquests as the province of Britain. By 47 AD, the Romans held the lands southeast of the Fosse Way. Control over Wales was delayed by reverses and the effects of Boudica's uprising, but the Romans expanded steadily northward.

 

The conquest of Britain continued under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola (77–84), who expanded the Roman Empire as far as Caledonia. In mid-84 AD, Agricola faced the armies of the Caledonians, led by Calgacus, at the Battle of Mons Graupius. Battle casualties were estimated by Tacitus to be upwards of 10,000 on the Caledonian side and about 360 on the Roman side. The bloodbath at Mons Graupius concluded the forty-year conquest of Britain, a period that possibly saw between 100,000 and 250,000 Britons killed. In the context of pre-industrial warfare and of a total population of Britain of c. 2 million, these are very high figures.

 

Under the 2nd-century emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, two walls were built to defend the Roman province from the Caledonians, whose realms in the Scottish Highlands were never controlled. Around 197 AD, the Severan Reforms divided Britain into two provinces: Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. During the Diocletian Reforms, at the end of the 3rd century, Britannia was divided into four provinces under the direction of a vicarius, who administered the Diocese of the Britains. A fifth province, Valentia, is attested in the later 4th century. For much of the later period of the Roman occupation, Britannia was subject to barbarian invasions and often came under the control of imperial usurpers and imperial pretenders. The final Roman withdrawal from Britain occurred around 410; the native kingdoms are considered to have formed Sub-Roman Britain after that.

 

Following the conquest of the Britons, a distinctive Romano-British culture emerged as the Romans introduced improved agriculture, urban planning, industrial production, and architecture. The Roman goddess Britannia became the female personification of Britain. After the initial invasions, Roman historians generally only mention Britain in passing. Thus, most present knowledge derives from archaeological investigations and occasional epigraphic evidence lauding the Britannic achievements of an emperor. Roman citizens settled in Britain from many parts of the Empire.

 

History

Britain was known to the Classical world. The Greeks, the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians traded for Cornish tin in the 4th century BC. The Greeks referred to the Cassiterides, or "tin islands", and placed them near the west coast of Europe. The Carthaginian sailor Himilco is said to have visited the island in the 6th or 5th century BC and the Greek explorer Pytheas in the 4th. It was regarded as a place of mystery, with some writers refusing to believe it existed.

 

The first direct Roman contact was when Julius Caesar undertook two expeditions in 55 and 54 BC, as part of his conquest of Gaul, believing the Britons were helping the Gallic resistance. The first expedition was more a reconnaissance than a full invasion and gained a foothold on the coast of Kent but was unable to advance further because of storm damage to the ships and a lack of cavalry. Despite the military failure, it was a political success, with the Roman Senate declaring a 20-day public holiday in Rome to honour the unprecedented achievement of obtaining hostages from Britain and defeating Belgic tribes on returning to the continent.

 

The second invasion involved a substantially larger force and Caesar coerced or invited many of the native Celtic tribes to pay tribute and give hostages in return for peace. A friendly local king, Mandubracius, was installed, and his rival, Cassivellaunus, was brought to terms. Hostages were taken, but historians disagree over whether any tribute was paid after Caesar returned to Gaul.

 

Caesar conquered no territory and left no troops behind, but he established clients and brought Britain into Rome's sphere of influence. Augustus planned invasions in 34, 27 and 25 BC, but circumstances were never favourable, and the relationship between Britain and Rome settled into one of diplomacy and trade. Strabo, writing late in Augustus's reign, claimed that taxes on trade brought in more annual revenue than any conquest could. Archaeology shows that there was an increase in imported luxury goods in southeastern Britain. Strabo also mentions British kings who sent embassies to Augustus, and Augustus's own Res Gestae refers to two British kings he received as refugees. When some of Tiberius's ships were carried to Britain in a storm during his campaigns in Germany in 16 AD, they came back with tales of monsters.

 

Rome appears to have encouraged a balance of power in southern Britain, supporting two powerful kingdoms: the Catuvellauni, ruled by the descendants of Tasciovanus, and the Atrebates, ruled by the descendants of Commius. This policy was followed until 39 or 40 AD, when Caligula received an exiled member of the Catuvellaunian dynasty and planned an invasion of Britain that collapsed in farcical circumstances before it left Gaul. When Claudius successfully invaded in 43 AD, it was in aid of another fugitive British ruler, Verica of the Atrebates.

 

Roman invasion

The invasion force in 43 AD was led by Aulus Plautius,[26] but it is unclear how many legions were sent. The Legio II Augusta, commanded by future emperor Vespasian, was the only one directly attested to have taken part. The Legio IX Hispana, the XIV Gemina (later styled Martia Victrix) and the XX (later styled Valeria Victrix) are known to have served during the Boudican Revolt of 60/61, and were probably there since the initial invasion. This is not certain because the Roman army was flexible, with units being moved around whenever necessary. The IX Hispana may have been permanently stationed, with records showing it at Eboracum (York) in 71 and on a building inscription there dated 108, before being destroyed in the east of the Empire, possibly during the Bar Kokhba revolt.

 

The invasion was delayed by a troop mutiny until an imperial freedman persuaded them to overcome their fear of crossing the Ocean and campaigning beyond the limits of the known world. They sailed in three divisions, and probably landed at Richborough in Kent; at least part of the force may have landed near Fishbourne, West Sussex.

 

The Catuvellauni and their allies were defeated in two battles: the first, assuming a Richborough landing, on the river Medway, the second on the river Thames. One of their leaders, Togodumnus, was killed, but his brother Caratacus survived to continue resistance elsewhere. Plautius halted at the Thames and sent for Claudius, who arrived with reinforcements, including artillery and elephants, for the final march to the Catuvellaunian capital, Camulodunum (Colchester). Vespasian subdued the southwest, Cogidubnus was set up as a friendly king of several territories, and treaties were made with tribes outside direct Roman control.

 

Establishment of Roman rule

After capturing the south of the island, the Romans turned their attention to what is now Wales. The Silures, Ordovices and Deceangli remained implacably opposed to the invaders and for the first few decades were the focus of Roman military attention, despite occasional minor revolts among Roman allies like the Brigantes and the Iceni. The Silures were led by Caratacus, and he carried out an effective guerrilla campaign against Governor Publius Ostorius Scapula. Finally, in 51, Ostorius lured Caratacus into a set-piece battle and defeated him. The British leader sought refuge among the Brigantes, but their queen, Cartimandua, proved her loyalty by surrendering him to the Romans. He was brought as a captive to Rome, where a dignified speech he made during Claudius's triumph persuaded the emperor to spare his life. The Silures were still not pacified, and Cartimandua's ex-husband Venutius replaced Caratacus as the most prominent leader of British resistance.

 

On Nero's accession, Roman Britain extended as far north as Lindum. Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, the conqueror of Mauretania (modern day Algeria and Morocco), then became governor of Britain, and in 60 and 61 he moved against Mona (Anglesey) to settle accounts with Druidism once and for all. Paulinus led his army across the Menai Strait and massacred the Druids and burnt their sacred groves.

 

While Paulinus was campaigning in Mona, the southeast of Britain rose in revolt under the leadership of Boudica. She was the widow of the recently deceased king of the Iceni, Prasutagus. The Roman historian Tacitus reports that Prasutagus had left a will leaving half his kingdom to Nero in the hope that the remainder would be left untouched. He was wrong. When his will was enforced, Rome[clarification needed] responded by violently seizing the tribe's lands in full. Boudica protested. In consequence, Rome[clarification needed] punished her and her daughters by flogging and rape. In response, the Iceni, joined by the Trinovantes, destroyed the Roman colony at Camulodunum (Colchester) and routed the part of the IXth Legion that was sent to relieve it. Paulinus rode to London (then called Londinium), the rebels' next target, but concluded it could not be defended. Abandoned, it was destroyed, as was Verulamium (St. Albans). Between seventy and eighty thousand people are said to have been killed in the three cities. But Paulinus regrouped with two of the three legions still available to him, chose a battlefield, and, despite being outnumbered by more than twenty to one, defeated the rebels in the Battle of Watling Street. Boudica died not long afterwards, by self-administered poison or by illness. During this time, the Emperor Nero considered withdrawing Roman forces from Britain altogether.

 

There was further turmoil in 69, the "Year of the Four Emperors". As civil war raged in Rome, weak governors were unable to control the legions in Britain, and Venutius of the Brigantes seized his chance. The Romans had previously defended Cartimandua against him, but this time were unable to do so. Cartimandua was evacuated, and Venutius was left in control of the north of the country. After Vespasian secured the empire, his first two appointments as governor, Quintus Petillius Cerialis and Sextus Julius Frontinus, took on the task of subduing the Brigantes and Silures respectively.[38] Frontinus extended Roman rule to all of South Wales, and initiated exploitation of the mineral resources, such as the gold mines at Dolaucothi.

 

In the following years, the Romans conquered more of the island, increasing the size of Roman Britain. Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola, father-in-law to the historian Tacitus, conquered the Ordovices in 78. With the XX Valeria Victrix legion, Agricola defeated the Caledonians in 84 at the Battle of Mons Graupius, in north-east Scotland. This was the high-water mark of Roman territory in Britain: shortly after his victory, Agricola was recalled from Britain back to Rome, and the Romans initially retired to a more defensible line along the Forth–Clyde isthmus, freeing soldiers badly needed along other frontiers.

 

For much of the history of Roman Britain, a large number of soldiers were garrisoned on the island. This required that the emperor station a trusted senior man as governor of the province. As a result, many future emperors served as governors or legates in this province, including Vespasian, Pertinax, and Gordian I.

 

Roman military organisation in the north

In 84 AD

In 84 AD

 

In 155 AD

In 155 AD

 

Hadrian's Wall, and Antonine Wall

There is no historical source describing the decades that followed Agricola's recall. Even the name of his replacement is unknown. Archaeology has shown that some Roman forts south of the Forth–Clyde isthmus were rebuilt and enlarged; others appear to have been abandoned. By 87 the frontier had been consolidated on the Stanegate. Roman coins and pottery have been found circulating at native settlement sites in the Scottish Lowlands in the years before 100, indicating growing Romanisation. Some of the most important sources for this era are the writing tablets from the fort at Vindolanda in Northumberland, mostly dating to 90–110. These tablets provide evidence for the operation of a Roman fort at the edge of the Roman Empire, where officers' wives maintained polite society while merchants, hauliers and military personnel kept the fort operational and supplied.

 

Around 105 there appears to have been a serious setback at the hands of the tribes of the Picts: several Roman forts were destroyed by fire, with human remains and damaged armour at Trimontium (at modern Newstead, in SE Scotland) indicating hostilities at least at that site.[citation needed] There is also circumstantial evidence that auxiliary reinforcements were sent from Germany, and an unnamed British war of the period is mentioned on the gravestone of a tribune of Cyrene. Trajan's Dacian Wars may have led to troop reductions in the area or even total withdrawal followed by slighting of the forts by the Picts rather than an unrecorded military defeat. The Romans were also in the habit of destroying their own forts during an orderly withdrawal, in order to deny resources to an enemy. In either case, the frontier probably moved south to the line of the Stanegate at the Solway–Tyne isthmus around this time.

 

A new crisis occurred at the beginning of Hadrian's reign): a rising in the north which was suppressed by Quintus Pompeius Falco. When Hadrian reached Britannia on his famous tour of the Roman provinces around 120, he directed an extensive defensive wall, known to posterity as Hadrian's Wall, to be built close to the line of the Stanegate frontier. Hadrian appointed Aulus Platorius Nepos as governor to undertake this work who brought the Legio VI Victrix legion with him from Germania Inferior. This replaced the famous Legio IX Hispana, whose disappearance has been much discussed. Archaeology indicates considerable political instability in Scotland during the first half of the 2nd century, and the shifting frontier at this time should be seen in this context.

 

In the reign of Antoninus Pius (138–161) the Hadrianic border was briefly extended north to the Forth–Clyde isthmus, where the Antonine Wall was built around 142 following the military reoccupation of the Scottish lowlands by a new governor, Quintus Lollius Urbicus.

 

The first Antonine occupation of Scotland ended as a result of a further crisis in 155–157, when the Brigantes revolted. With limited options to despatch reinforcements, the Romans moved their troops south, and this rising was suppressed by Governor Gnaeus Julius Verus. Within a year the Antonine Wall was recaptured, but by 163 or 164 it was abandoned. The second occupation was probably connected with Antoninus's undertakings to protect the Votadini or his pride in enlarging the empire, since the retreat to the Hadrianic frontier occurred not long after his death when a more objective strategic assessment of the benefits of the Antonine Wall could be made. The Romans did not entirely withdraw from Scotland at this time: the large fort at Newstead was maintained along with seven smaller outposts until at least 180.

 

During the twenty-year period following the reversion of the frontier to Hadrian's Wall in 163/4, Rome was concerned with continental issues, primarily problems in the Danubian provinces. Increasing numbers of hoards of buried coins in Britain at this time indicate that peace was not entirely achieved. Sufficient Roman silver has been found in Scotland to suggest more than ordinary trade, and it is likely that the Romans were reinforcing treaty agreements by paying tribute to their implacable enemies, the Picts.

 

In 175, a large force of Sarmatian cavalry, consisting of 5,500 men, arrived in Britannia, probably to reinforce troops fighting unrecorded uprisings. In 180, Hadrian's Wall was breached by the Picts and the commanding officer or governor was killed there in what Cassius Dio described as the most serious war of the reign of Commodus. Ulpius Marcellus was sent as replacement governor and by 184 he had won a new peace, only to be faced with a mutiny from his own troops. Unhappy with Marcellus's strictness, they tried to elect a legate named Priscus as usurper governor; he refused, but Marcellus was lucky to leave the province alive. The Roman army in Britannia continued its insubordination: they sent a delegation of 1,500 to Rome to demand the execution of Tigidius Perennis, a Praetorian prefect who they felt had earlier wronged them by posting lowly equites to legate ranks in Britannia. Commodus met the party outside Rome and agreed to have Perennis killed, but this only made them feel more secure in their mutiny.

 

The future emperor Pertinax (lived 126–193) was sent to Britannia to quell the mutiny and was initially successful in regaining control, but a riot broke out among the troops. Pertinax was attacked and left for dead, and asked to be recalled to Rome, where he briefly succeeded Commodus as emperor in 192.

 

3rd century

The death of Commodus put into motion a series of events which eventually led to civil war. Following the short reign of Pertinax, several rivals for the emperorship emerged, including Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus. The latter was the new governor of Britannia, and had seemingly won the natives over after their earlier rebellions; he also controlled three legions, making him a potentially significant claimant. His sometime rival Severus promised him the title of Caesar in return for Albinus's support against Pescennius Niger in the east. Once Niger was neutralised, Severus turned on his ally in Britannia; it is likely that Albinus saw he would be the next target and was already preparing for war.

 

Albinus crossed to Gaul in 195, where the provinces were also sympathetic to him, and set up at Lugdunum. Severus arrived in February 196, and the ensuing battle was decisive. Albinus came close to victory, but Severus's reinforcements won the day, and the British governor committed suicide. Severus soon purged Albinus's sympathisers and perhaps confiscated large tracts of land in Britain as punishment. Albinus had demonstrated the major problem posed by Roman Britain. In order to maintain security, the province required the presence of three legions, but command of these forces provided an ideal power base for ambitious rivals. Deploying those legions elsewhere would strip the island of its garrison, leaving the province defenceless against uprisings by the native Celtic tribes and against invasion by the Picts and Scots.

 

The traditional view is that northern Britain descended into anarchy during Albinus's absence. Cassius Dio records that the new Governor, Virius Lupus, was obliged to buy peace from a fractious northern tribe known as the Maeatae. The succession of militarily distinguished governors who were subsequently appointed suggests that enemies of Rome were posing a difficult challenge, and Lucius Alfenus Senecio's report to Rome in 207 describes barbarians "rebelling, over-running the land, taking loot and creating destruction". In order to rebel, of course, one must be a subject – the Maeatae clearly did not consider themselves such. Senecio requested either reinforcements or an Imperial expedition, and Severus chose the latter, despite being 62 years old. Archaeological evidence shows that Senecio had been rebuilding the defences of Hadrian's Wall and the forts beyond it, and Severus's arrival in Britain prompted the enemy tribes to sue for peace immediately. The emperor had not come all that way to leave without a victory, and it is likely that he wished to provide his teenage sons Caracalla and Geta with first-hand experience of controlling a hostile barbarian land.

 

Northern campaigns, 208–211

An invasion of Caledonia led by Severus and probably numbering around 20,000 troops moved north in 208 or 209, crossing the Wall and passing through eastern Scotland on a route similar to that used by Agricola. Harried by punishing guerrilla raids by the northern tribes and slowed by an unforgiving terrain, Severus was unable to meet the Caledonians on a battlefield. The emperor's forces pushed north as far as the River Tay, but little appears to have been achieved by the invasion, as peace treaties were signed with the Caledonians. By 210 Severus had returned to York, and the frontier had once again become Hadrian's Wall. He assumed the title Britannicus but the title meant little with regard to the unconquered north, which clearly remained outside the authority of the Empire. Almost immediately, another northern tribe, the Maeatae, went to war. Caracalla left with a punitive expedition, but by the following year his ailing father had died and he and his brother left the province to press their claim to the throne.

 

As one of his last acts, Severus tried to solve the problem of powerful and rebellious governors in Britain by dividing the province into Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. This kept the potential for rebellion in check for almost a century. Historical sources provide little information on the following decades, a period known as the Long Peace. Even so, the number of buried hoards found from this period rises, suggesting continuing unrest. A string of forts were built along the coast of southern Britain to control piracy; and over the following hundred years they increased in number, becoming the Saxon Shore Forts.

 

During the middle of the 3rd century, the Roman Empire was convulsed by barbarian invasions, rebellions and new imperial pretenders. Britannia apparently avoided these troubles, but increasing inflation had its economic effect. In 259 a so-called Gallic Empire was established when Postumus rebelled against Gallienus. Britannia was part of this until 274 when Aurelian reunited the empire.

 

Around the year 280, a half-British officer named Bonosus was in command of the Roman's Rhenish fleet when the Germans managed to burn it at anchor. To avoid punishment, he proclaimed himself emperor at Colonia Agrippina (Cologne) but was crushed by Marcus Aurelius Probus. Soon afterwards, an unnamed governor of one of the British provinces also attempted an uprising. Probus put it down by sending irregular troops of Vandals and Burgundians across the Channel.

 

The Carausian Revolt led to a short-lived Britannic Empire from 286 to 296. Carausius was a Menapian naval commander of the Britannic fleet; he revolted upon learning of a death sentence ordered by the emperor Maximian on charges of having abetted Frankish and Saxon pirates and having embezzled recovered treasure. He consolidated control over all the provinces of Britain and some of northern Gaul while Maximian dealt with other uprisings. An invasion in 288 failed to unseat him and an uneasy peace ensued, with Carausius issuing coins and inviting official recognition. In 293, the junior emperor Constantius Chlorus launched a second offensive, besieging the rebel port of Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer) by land and sea. After it fell, Constantius attacked Carausius's other Gallic holdings and Frankish allies and Carausius was usurped by his treasurer, Allectus. Julius Asclepiodotus landed an invasion fleet near Southampton and defeated Allectus in a land battle.

 

Diocletian's reforms

As part of Diocletian's reforms, the provinces of Roman Britain were organized as a diocese governed by a vicarius under a praetorian prefect who, from 318 to 331, was Junius Bassus who was based at Augusta Treverorum (Trier).

 

The vicarius was based at Londinium as the principal city of the diocese. Londinium and Eboracum continued as provincial capitals and the territory was divided up into smaller provinces for administrative efficiency.

 

Civilian and military authority of a province was no longer exercised by one official and the governor was stripped of military command which was handed over to the Dux Britanniarum by 314. The governor of a province assumed more financial duties (the procurators of the Treasury ministry were slowly phased out in the first three decades of the 4th century). The Dux was commander of the troops of the Northern Region, primarily along Hadrian's Wall and his responsibilities included protection of the frontier. He had significant autonomy due in part to the distance from his superiors.

 

The tasks of the vicarius were to control and coordinate the activities of governors; monitor but not interfere with the daily functioning of the Treasury and Crown Estates, which had their own administrative infrastructure; and act as the regional quartermaster-general of the armed forces. In short, as the sole civilian official with superior authority, he had general oversight of the administration, as well as direct control, while not absolute, over governors who were part of the prefecture; the other two fiscal departments were not.

 

The early-4th-century Verona List, the late-4th-century work of Sextus Rufus, and the early-5th-century List of Offices and work of Polemius Silvius all list four provinces by some variation of the names Britannia I, Britannia II, Maxima Caesariensis, and Flavia Caesariensis; all of these seem to have initially been directed by a governor (praeses) of equestrian rank. The 5th-century sources list a fifth province named Valentia and give its governor and Maxima's a consular rank. Ammianus mentions Valentia as well, describing its creation by Count Theodosius in 369 after the quelling of the Great Conspiracy. Ammianus considered it a re-creation of a formerly lost province, leading some to think there had been an earlier fifth province under another name (may be the enigmatic "Vespasiana"), and leading others to place Valentia beyond Hadrian's Wall, in the territory abandoned south of the Antonine Wall.

 

Reconstructions of the provinces and provincial capitals during this period partially rely on ecclesiastical records. On the assumption that the early bishoprics mimicked the imperial hierarchy, scholars use the list of bishops for the 314 Council of Arles. The list is patently corrupt: the British delegation is given as including a Bishop "Eborius" of Eboracum and two bishops "from Londinium" (one de civitate Londinensi and the other de civitate colonia Londinensium). The error is variously emended: Bishop Ussher proposed Colonia, Selden Col. or Colon. Camalodun., and Spelman Colonia Cameloduni (all various names of Colchester); Gale and Bingham offered colonia Lindi and Henry Colonia Lindum (both Lincoln); and Bishop Stillingfleet and Francis Thackeray read it as a scribal error of Civ. Col. Londin. for an original Civ. Col. Leg. II (Caerleon). On the basis of the Verona List, the priest and deacon who accompanied the bishops in some manuscripts are ascribed to the fourth province.

 

In the 12th century, Gerald of Wales described the supposedly metropolitan sees of the early British church established by the legendary SS Fagan and "Duvian". He placed Britannia Prima in Wales and western England with its capital at "Urbs Legionum" (Caerleon); Britannia Secunda in Kent and southern England with its capital at "Dorobernia" (Canterbury); Flavia in Mercia and central England with its capital at "Lundonia" (London); "Maximia" in northern England with its capital at Eboracum (York); and Valentia in "Albania which is now Scotland" with its capital at St Andrews. Modern scholars generally dispute the last: some place Valentia at or beyond Hadrian's Wall but St Andrews is beyond even the Antonine Wall and Gerald seems to have simply been supporting the antiquity of its church for political reasons.

 

A common modern reconstruction places the consular province of Maxima at Londinium, on the basis of its status as the seat of the diocesan vicarius; places Prima in the west according to Gerald's traditional account but moves its capital to Corinium of the Dobunni (Cirencester) on the basis of an artifact recovered there referring to Lucius Septimius, a provincial rector; places Flavia north of Maxima, with its capital placed at Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to match one emendation of the bishops list from Arles;[d] and places Secunda in the north with its capital at Eboracum (York). Valentia is placed variously in northern Wales around Deva (Chester); beside Hadrian's Wall around Luguvalium (Carlisle); and between the walls along Dere Street.

 

4th century

Emperor Constantius returned to Britain in 306, despite his poor health, with an army aiming to invade northern Britain, the provincial defences having been rebuilt in the preceding years. Little is known of his campaigns with scant archaeological evidence, but fragmentary historical sources suggest he reached the far north of Britain and won a major battle in early summer before returning south. His son Constantine (later Constantine the Great) spent a year in northern Britain at his father's side, campaigning against the Picts beyond Hadrian's Wall in the summer and autumn. Constantius died in York in July 306 with his son at his side. Constantine then successfully used Britain as the starting point of his march to the imperial throne, unlike the earlier usurper, Albinus.

 

In the middle of the century, the province was loyal for a few years to the usurper Magnentius, who succeeded Constans following the latter's death. After the defeat and death of Magnentius in the Battle of Mons Seleucus in 353, Constantius II dispatched his chief imperial notary Paulus Catena to Britain to hunt down Magnentius's supporters. The investigation deteriorated into a witch-hunt, which forced the vicarius Flavius Martinus to intervene. When Paulus retaliated by accusing Martinus of treason, the vicarius attacked Paulus with a sword, with the aim of assassinating him, but in the end he committed suicide.

 

As the 4th century progressed, there were increasing attacks from the Saxons in the east and the Scoti (Irish) in the west. A series of forts had been built, starting around 280, to defend the coasts, but these preparations were not enough when, in 367, a general assault of Saxons, Picts, Scoti and Attacotti, combined with apparent dissension in the garrison on Hadrian's Wall, left Roman Britain prostrate. The invaders overwhelmed the entire western and northern regions of Britannia and the cities were sacked. This crisis, sometimes called the Barbarian Conspiracy or the Great Conspiracy, was settled by Count Theodosius from 368 with a string of military and civil reforms. Theodosius crossed from Bononia (Boulogne-sur-Mer) and marched on Londinium where he began to deal with the invaders and made his base.[ An amnesty was promised to deserters which enabled Theodosius to regarrison abandoned forts. By the end of the year Hadrian's Wall was retaken and order returned. Considerable reorganization was undertaken in Britain, including the creation of a new province named Valentia, probably to better address the state of the far north. A new Dux Britanniarum was appointed, Dulcitius, with Civilis to head a new civilian administration.

 

Another imperial usurper, Magnus Maximus, raised the standard of revolt at Segontium (Caernarfon) in north Wales in 383, and crossed the English Channel. Maximus held much of the western empire, and fought a successful campaign against the Picts and Scots around 384. His continental exploits required troops from Britain, and it appears that forts at Chester and elsewhere were abandoned in this period, triggering raids and settlement in north Wales by the Irish. His rule was ended in 388, but not all the British troops may have returned: the Empire's military resources were stretched to the limit along the Rhine and Danube. Around 396 there were more barbarian incursions into Britain. Stilicho led a punitive expedition. It seems peace was restored by 399, and it is likely that no further garrisoning was ordered; by 401 more troops were withdrawn, to assist in the war against Alaric I.

 

End of Roman rule

The traditional view of historians, informed by the work of Michael Rostovtzeff, was of a widespread economic decline at the beginning of the 5th century. Consistent archaeological evidence has told another story, and the accepted view is undergoing re-evaluation. Some features are agreed: more opulent but fewer urban houses, an end to new public building and some abandonment of existing ones, with the exception of defensive structures, and the widespread formation of "dark earth" deposits indicating increased horticulture within urban precincts. Turning over the basilica at Silchester to industrial uses in the late 3rd century, doubtless officially condoned, marks an early stage in the de-urbanisation of Roman Britain.

 

The abandonment of some sites is now believed to be later than had been thought. Many buildings changed use but were not destroyed. There was a growing number of barbarian attacks, but these targeted vulnerable rural settlements rather than towns. Some villas such as Chedworth, Great Casterton in Rutland and Hucclecote in Gloucestershire had new mosaic floors laid around this time, suggesting that economic problems may have been limited and patchy. Many suffered some decay before being abandoned in the 5th century; the story of Saint Patrick indicates that villas were still occupied until at least 430. Exceptionally, new buildings were still going up in this period in Verulamium and Cirencester. Some urban centres, for example Canterbury, Cirencester, Wroxeter, Winchester and Gloucester, remained active during the 5th and 6th centuries, surrounded by large farming estates.

 

Urban life had generally grown less intense by the fourth quarter of the 4th century, and coins minted between 378 and 388 are very rare, indicating a likely combination of economic decline, diminishing numbers of troops, problems with the payment of soldiers and officials or with unstable conditions during the usurpation of Magnus Maximus 383–87. Coinage circulation increased during the 390s, but never attained the levels of earlier decades. Copper coins are very rare after 402, though minted silver and gold coins from hoards indicate they were still present in the province even if they were not being spent. By 407 there were very few new Roman coins going into circulation, and by 430 it is likely that coinage as a medium of exchange had been abandoned. Mass-produced wheel thrown pottery ended at approximately the same time; the rich continued to use metal and glass vessels, while the poor made do with humble "grey ware" or resorted to leather or wooden containers.

 

Sub-Roman Britain

Towards the end of the 4th century Roman rule in Britain came under increasing pressure from barbarian attacks. Apparently, there were not enough troops to mount an effective defence. After elevating two disappointing usurpers, the army chose a soldier, Constantine III, to become emperor in 407. He crossed to Gaul but was defeated by Honorius; it is unclear how many troops remained or ever returned, or whether a commander-in-chief in Britain was ever reappointed. A Saxon incursion in 408 was apparently repelled by the Britons, and in 409 Zosimus records that the natives expelled the Roman civilian administration. Zosimus may be referring to the Bacaudic rebellion of the Breton inhabitants of Armorica since he describes how, in the aftermath of the revolt, all of Armorica and the rest of Gaul followed the example of the Brettaniai. A letter from Emperor Honorius in 410 has traditionally been seen as rejecting a British appeal for help, but it may have been addressed to Bruttium or Bologna. With the imperial layers of the military and civil government gone, administration and justice fell to municipal authorities, and local warlords gradually emerged all over Britain, still utilizing Romano-British ideals and conventions. Historian Stuart Laycock has investigated this process and emphasised elements of continuity from the British tribes in the pre-Roman and Roman periods, through to the native post-Roman kingdoms.

 

In British tradition, pagan Saxons were invited by Vortigern to assist in fighting the Picts, Scoti, and Déisi. (Germanic migration into Roman Britannia may have begun much earlier. There is recorded evidence, for example, of Germanic auxiliaries supporting the legions in Britain in the 1st and 2nd centuries.) The new arrivals rebelled, plunging the country into a series of wars that eventually led to the Saxon occupation of Lowland Britain by 600. Around this time, many Britons fled to Brittany (hence its name), Galicia and probably Ireland. A significant date in sub-Roman Britain is the Groans of the Britons, an unanswered appeal to Aetius, leading general of the western Empire, for assistance against Saxon invasion in 446. Another is the Battle of Deorham in 577, after which the significant cities of Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester fell and the Saxons reached the western sea.

 

Historians generally reject the historicity of King Arthur, who is supposed to have resisted the Anglo-Saxon conquest according to later medieval legends.

 

Trade

During the Roman period Britain's continental trade was principally directed across the Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel, focusing on the narrow Strait of Dover, with more limited links via the Atlantic seaways. The most important British ports were London and Richborough, whilst the continental ports most heavily engaged in trade with Britain were Boulogne and the sites of Domburg and Colijnsplaat at the mouth of the river Scheldt. During the Late Roman period it is likely that the shore forts played some role in continental trade alongside their defensive functions.

 

Exports to Britain included: coin; pottery, particularly red-gloss terra sigillata (samian ware) from southern, central and eastern Gaul, as well as various other wares from Gaul and the Rhine provinces; olive oil from southern Spain in amphorae; wine from Gaul in amphorae and barrels; salted fish products from the western Mediterranean and Brittany in barrels and amphorae; preserved olives from southern Spain in amphorae; lava quern-stones from Mayen on the middle Rhine; glass; and some agricultural products. Britain's exports are harder to detect archaeologically, but will have included metals, such as silver and gold and some lead, iron and copper. Other exports probably included agricultural products, oysters and salt, whilst large quantities of coin would have been re-exported back to the continent as well.

 

These products moved as a result of private trade and also through payments and contracts established by the Roman state to support its military forces and officials on the island, as well as through state taxation and extraction of resources. Up until the mid-3rd century, the Roman state's payments appear to have been unbalanced, with far more products sent to Britain, to support its large military force (which had reached c. 53,000 by the mid-2nd century), than were extracted from the island.

 

It has been argued that Roman Britain's continental trade peaked in the late 1st century AD and thereafter declined as a result of an increasing reliance on local products by the population of Britain, caused by economic development on the island and by the Roman state's desire to save money by shifting away from expensive long-distance imports. Evidence has been outlined that suggests that the principal decline in Roman Britain's continental trade may have occurred in the late 2nd century AD, from c. 165 AD onwards. This has been linked to the economic impact of contemporary Empire-wide crises: the Antonine Plague and the Marcomannic Wars.

 

From the mid-3rd century onwards, Britain no longer received such a wide range and extensive quantity of foreign imports as it did during the earlier part of the Roman period; vast quantities of coin from continental mints reached the island, whilst there is historical evidence for the export of large amounts of British grain to the continent during the mid-4th century. During the latter part of the Roman period British agricultural products, paid for by both the Roman state and by private consumers, clearly played an important role in supporting the military garrisons and urban centres of the northwestern continental Empire. This came about as a result of the rapid decline in the size of the British garrison from the mid-3rd century onwards (thus freeing up more goods for export), and because of 'Germanic' incursions across the Rhine, which appear to have reduced rural settlement and agricultural output in northern Gaul.

 

Economy

Mineral extraction sites such as the Dolaucothi gold mine were probably first worked by the Roman army from c. 75, and at some later stage passed to civilian operators. The mine developed as a series of opencast workings, mainly by the use of hydraulic mining methods. They are described by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History in great detail. Essentially, water supplied by aqueducts was used to prospect for ore veins by stripping away soil to reveal the bedrock. If veins were present, they were attacked using fire-setting and the ore removed for comminution. The dust was washed in a small stream of water and the heavy gold dust and gold nuggets collected in riffles. The diagram at right shows how Dolaucothi developed from c. 75 through to the 1st century. When opencast work was no longer feasible, tunnels were driven to follow the veins. The evidence from the site shows advanced technology probably under the control of army engineers.

 

The Wealden ironworking zone, the lead and silver mines of the Mendip Hills and the tin mines of Cornwall seem to have been private enterprises leased from the government for a fee. Mining had long been practised in Britain (see Grimes Graves), but the Romans introduced new technical knowledge and large-scale industrial production to revolutionise the industry. It included hydraulic mining to prospect for ore by removing overburden as well as work alluvial deposits. The water needed for such large-scale operations was supplied by one or more aqueducts, those surviving at Dolaucothi being especially impressive. Many prospecting areas were in dangerous, upland country, and, although mineral exploitation was presumably one of the main reasons for the Roman invasion, it had to wait until these areas were subdued.

 

By the 3rd and 4th centuries, small towns could often be found near villas. In these towns, villa owners and small-scale farmers could obtain specialist tools. Lowland Britain in the 4th century was agriculturally prosperous enough to export grain to the continent. This prosperity lay behind the blossoming of villa building and decoration that occurred between AD 300 and 350.

 

Britain's cities also consumed Roman-style pottery and other goods, and were centres through which goods could be distributed elsewhere. At Wroxeter in Shropshire, stock smashed into a gutter during a 2nd-century fire reveals that Gaulish samian ware was being sold alongside mixing bowls from the Mancetter-Hartshill industry of the West Midlands. Roman designs were most popular, but rural craftsmen still produced items derived from the Iron Age La Tène artistic traditions. Britain was home to much gold, which attracted Roman invaders. By the 3rd century, Britain's economy was diverse and well established, with commerce extending into the non-Romanised north.

 

Government

Further information: Governors of Roman Britain, Roman client kingdoms in Britain, and Roman auxiliaries in Britain

Under the Roman Empire, administration of peaceful provinces was ultimately the remit of the Senate, but those, like Britain, that required permanent garrisons, were placed under the Emperor's control. In practice imperial provinces were run by resident governors who were members of the Senate and had held the consulship. These men were carefully selected, often having strong records of military success and administrative ability. In Britain, a governor's role was primarily military, but numerous other tasks were also his responsibility, such as maintaining diplomatic relations with local client kings, building roads, ensuring the public courier system functioned, supervising the civitates and acting as a judge in important legal cases. When not campaigning, he would travel the province hearing complaints and recruiting new troops.

 

To assist him in legal matters he had an adviser, the legatus juridicus, and those in Britain appear to have been distinguished lawyers perhaps because of the challenge of incorporating tribes into the imperial system and devising a workable method of taxing them. Financial administration was dealt with by a procurator with junior posts for each tax-raising power. Each legion in Britain had a commander who answered to the governor and, in time of war, probably directly ruled troublesome districts. Each of these commands carried a tour of duty of two to three years in different provinces. Below these posts was a network of administrative managers covering intelligence gathering, sending reports to Rome, organising military supplies and dealing with prisoners. A staff of seconded soldiers provided clerical services.

 

Colchester was probably the earliest capital of Roman Britain, but it was soon eclipsed by London with its strong mercantile connections. The different forms of municipal organisation in Britannia were known as civitas (which were subdivided, amongst other forms, into colonies such as York, Colchester, Gloucester and Lincoln and municipalities such as Verulamium), and were each governed by a senate of local landowners, whether Brythonic or Roman, who elected magistrates concerning judicial and civic affairs. The various civitates sent representatives to a yearly provincial council in order to profess loyalty to the Roman state, to send direct petitions to the Emperor in times of extraordinary need, and to worship the imperial cult.

 

Demographics

Roman Britain had an estimated population between 2.8 million and 3 million people at the end of the second century. At the end of the fourth century, it had an estimated population of 3.6 million people, of whom 125,000 consisted of the Roman army and their families and dependents.[80] The urban population of Roman Britain was about 240,000 people at the end of the fourth century. The capital city of Londinium is estimated to have had a population of about 60,000 people. Londinium was an ethnically diverse city with inhabitants from the Roman Empire, including natives of Britannia, continental Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. There was also cultural diversity in other Roman-British towns, which were sustained by considerable migration, from Britannia and other Roman territories, including continental Europe, Roman Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. In a study conducted in 2012, around 45 percent of sites investigated dating from the Roman period had at least one individual of North African origin.

 

Town and country

During their occupation of Britain the Romans founded a number of important settlements, many of which survive. The towns suffered attrition in the later 4th century, when public building ceased and some were abandoned to private uses. Place names survived the deurbanised Sub-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods, and historiography has been at pains to signal the expected survivals, but archaeology shows that a bare handful of Roman towns were continuously occupied. According to S.T. Loseby, the very idea of a town as a centre of power and administration was reintroduced to England by the Roman Christianising mission to Canterbury, and its urban revival was delayed to the 10th century.

 

Roman towns can be broadly grouped in two categories. Civitates, "public towns" were formally laid out on a grid plan, and their role in imperial administration occasioned the construction of public buildings. The much more numerous category of vici, "small towns" grew on informal plans, often round a camp or at a ford or crossroads; some were not small, others were scarcely urban, some not even defended by a wall, the characteristic feature of a place of any importance.

 

Cities and towns which have Roman origins, or were extensively developed by them are listed with their Latin names in brackets; civitates are marked C

 

Alcester (Alauna)

Alchester

Aldborough, North Yorkshire (Isurium Brigantum) C

Bath (Aquae Sulis) C

Brough (Petuaria) C

Buxton (Aquae Arnemetiae)

Caerleon (Isca Augusta) C

Caernarfon (Segontium) C

Caerwent (Venta Silurum) C

Caister-on-Sea C

Canterbury (Durovernum Cantiacorum) C

Carlisle (Luguvalium) C

Carmarthen (Moridunum) C

Chelmsford (Caesaromagus)

Chester (Deva Victrix) C

Chester-le-Street (Concangis)

Chichester (Noviomagus Reginorum) C

Cirencester (Corinium) C

Colchester (Camulodunum) C

Corbridge (Coria) C

Dorchester (Durnovaria) C

Dover (Portus Dubris)

Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum) C

Gloucester (Glevum) C

Great Chesterford (the name of this vicus is unknown)

Ilchester (Lindinis) C

Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum) C

Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) C

London (Londinium) C

Manchester (Mamucium) C

Newcastle upon Tyne (Pons Aelius)

Northwich (Condate)

St Albans (Verulamium) C

Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) C

Towcester (Lactodurum)

Whitchurch (Mediolanum) C

Winchester (Venta Belgarum) C

Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum) C

York (Eboracum) C

 

Religion

The druids, the Celtic priestly caste who were believed to originate in Britain, were outlawed by Claudius, and in 61 they vainly defended their sacred groves from destruction by the Romans on the island of Mona (Anglesey). Under Roman rule the Britons continued to worship native Celtic deities, such as Ancasta, but often conflated with their Roman equivalents, like Mars Rigonemetos at Nettleham.

 

The degree to which earlier native beliefs survived is difficult to gauge precisely. Certain European ritual traits such as the significance of the number 3, the importance of the head and of water sources such as springs remain in the archaeological record, but the differences in the votive offerings made at the baths at Bath, Somerset, before and after the Roman conquest suggest that continuity was only partial. Worship of the Roman emperor is widely recorded, especially at military sites. The founding of a Roman temple to Claudius at Camulodunum was one of the impositions that led to the revolt of Boudica. By the 3rd century, Pagans Hill Roman Temple in Somerset was able to exist peaceably and it did so into the 5th century.

 

Pagan religious practices were supported by priests, represented in Britain by votive deposits of priestly regalia such as chain crowns from West Stow and Willingham Fen.

 

Eastern cults such as Mithraism also grew in popularity towards the end of the occupation. The London Mithraeum is one example of the popularity of mystery religions among the soldiery. Temples to Mithras also exist in military contexts at Vindobala on Hadrian's Wall (the Rudchester Mithraeum) and at Segontium in Roman Wales (the Caernarfon Mithraeum).

 

Christianity

It is not clear when or how Christianity came to Britain. A 2nd-century "word square" has been discovered in Mamucium, the Roman settlement of Manchester. It consists of an anagram of PATER NOSTER carved on a piece of amphora. There has been discussion by academics whether the "word square" is a Christian artefact, but if it is, it is one of the earliest examples of early Christianity in Britain. The earliest confirmed written evidence for Christianity in Britain is a statement by Tertullian, c. 200 AD, in which he described "all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons, inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ". Archaeological evidence for Christian communities begins to appear in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Small timber churches are suggested at Lincoln and Silchester and baptismal fonts have been found at Icklingham and the Saxon Shore Fort at Richborough. The Icklingham font is made of lead, and visible in the British Museum. A Roman Christian graveyard exists at the same site in Icklingham. A possible Roman 4th-century church and associated burial ground was also discovered at Butt Road on the south-west outskirts of Colchester during the construction of the new police station there, overlying an earlier pagan cemetery. The Water Newton Treasure is a hoard of Christian silver church plate from the early 4th century and the Roman villas at Lullingstone and Hinton St Mary contained Christian wall paintings and mosaics respectively. A large 4th-century cemetery at Poundbury with its east–west oriented burials and lack of grave goods has been interpreted as an early Christian burial ground, although such burial rites were also becoming increasingly common in pagan contexts during the period.

 

The Church in Britain seems to have developed the customary diocesan system, as evidenced from the records of the Council of Arles in Gaul in 314: represented at the council were bishops from thirty-five sees from Europe and North Africa, including three bishops from Britain, Eborius of York, Restitutus of London, and Adelphius, possibly a bishop of Lincoln. No other early sees are documented, and the material remains of early church structures are far to seek. The existence of a church in the forum courtyard of Lincoln and the martyrium of Saint Alban on the outskirts of Roman Verulamium are exceptional. Alban, the first British Christian martyr and by far the most prominent, is believed to have died in the early 4th century (some date him in the middle 3rd century), followed by Saints Julius and Aaron of Isca Augusta. Christianity was legalised in the Roman Empire by Constantine I in 313. Theodosius I made Christianity the state religion of the empire in 391, and by the 5th century it was well established. One belief labelled a heresy by the church authorities — Pelagianism — was originated by a British monk teaching in Rome: Pelagius lived c. 354 to c. 420/440.

 

A letter found on a lead tablet in Bath, Somerset, datable to c. 363, had been widely publicised as documentary evidence regarding the state of Christianity in Britain during Roman times. According to its first translator, it was written in Wroxeter by a Christian man called Vinisius to a Christian woman called Nigra, and was claimed as the first epigraphic record of Christianity in Britain. This translation of the letter was apparently based on grave paleographical errors, and the text has nothing to do with Christianity, and in fact relates to pagan rituals.

 

Environmental changes

The Romans introduced a number of species to Britain, including possibly the now-rare Roman nettle (Urtica pilulifera), said to have been used by soldiers to warm their arms and legs, and the edible snail Helix pomatia. There is also some evidence they may have introduced rabbits, but of the smaller southern mediterranean type. The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) prevalent in modern Britain is assumed to have been introduced from the continent after the Norman invasion of 1066. Box (Buxus sempervirens) is rarely recorded before the Roman period, but becomes a common find in towns and villas

 

Legacy

During their occupation of Britain the Romans built an extensive network of roads which continued to be used in later centuries and many are still followed today. The Romans also built water supply, sanitation and wastewater systems. Many of Britain's major cities, such as London (Londinium), Manchester (Mamucium) and York (Eboracum), were founded by the Romans, but the original Roman settlements were abandoned not long after the Romans left.

 

Unlike many other areas of the Western Roman Empire, the current majority language is not a Romance language, or a language descended from the pre-Roman inhabitants. The British language at the time of the invasion was Common Brittonic, and remained so after the Romans withdrew. It later split into regional languages, notably Cumbric, Cornish, Breton and Welsh. Examination of these languages suggests some 800 Latin words were incorporated into Common Brittonic (see Brittonic languages). The current majority language, English, is based on the languages of the Germanic tribes who migrated to the island from continental Europe

As difficult as it is for me to get older, it's also hard to see my good friends getting older too. This is my friend Kay and her granddaughter Ambry. They were up skiing at Snow Basin and called to ask me out to lunch. I can no longer keep up with them on the ski slopes as Kay is an excellent skier. I don't like black diamonds and prefer the Bunny Hill. I've done a few black diamonds but freak out if they get too difficult. It's probably because I'm very afraid of heights. One time I was climbing the Grand Teton in Wyoming with my husband and his brother Robert.

We were almost to the top (at the upper saddle) but stopped to camp for the night. I was so happy when a ranger turned everyone away the next morning because of bad weather. I was becoming sick with anxiety about the last stretch of the climb. If you want to see how difficult it is, google to see the exposed overhangs. From the upper saddle it's still a 6 to 8 hour climb to advance two miles and 2700 feet in elevation to reach the summit. The Grand Teton is 13,776 ft. tall (4,178 m.)

 

Roughly 100 km north of the polar circle in southwest Greenland lies the Arctic Circle Trail. This long distance trail stretches for 170 km from the international airport of Greenland in Kangerlussuaq to Greenland’s second largest city Sisimiut. During the summer months from June to September, the trail is free of snow and offers a spectacular hike from the inland to Greenland’s coast. Except for a few cabins and one bridge over the biggest river the trail offers no luxuries, not even cell phone reception. The landscape along the path is very diverse, changing with each kilometre one comes closer to the coast.

 

The international airport at Kangerlussuaq enjoys around 300 clear-sky days per year, so the weather should be good, and the trail starts by following an easy tarmac and dirt road. Beyond the research station at Kellyville, the trail is simply a narrow path across empty tundra dotted with lakes. If you plan to walk from hut to hut, then the route will take maybe nine days, unless stages are doubled-up. Using a tent offers greater flexibility, and some trekkers complete the route in as little as a week. Huts are located at Hundesø, Katiffik, The Canoe Centre, Ikkattook, Eqalugaarniarfik, Innajuattok, Nerumaq and Kangerluarsuk Tulleq. Youth hostels and hotels are located at the terminal points of Kangerlussuaq and Sisimiut.

 

There is the option to use a free kayak to paddle all day along the large lake of Amitsorsuaq, rather than walk along its shore. There are only a handful of kayaks, and if they are all moored at the ‘wrong’ end of the lake, then walking is the only option.

 

The trail is often low-lying, below 500ft (150m), but climbs on occasions over 1300ft (400m), notably around Ikkattook, Iluliumanersuup Portornga and Qerrortusuk Majoriaa. There are a handful of river crossings whose difficulty depends on melt-water and rainfall. These are difficult early in the season, but much easier to ford later. The largest river, in Ole’s Lakseelv valley, has a footbridge if required.

 

The end of the trail is the colourful coastal town of Sisimiut, the second largest town in Greenland, with a population of only 5500. Weather at this end of the trail is basically a 50/50 lottery between wet and dry days. There are flights back to Kangerlussuaq, though very rarely, trekkers have been known to walk back.

 

(Martin Krämer & Paddy Dillon)

 

-----

 

I returned to the deep north once more in August, this time to hike and enjoy the Arctic Circle Trail, most likely the most well-known long-distance path in Greenland.

 

We started in Kangerlussuaq and found ourselves in Sisimiut after nine days, having hiked 180km in total. The weather was perfect except a rainy second day, which we luckily solved by staying in a caravan-like hut at the Hundesø lake.

 

Although the trail itself may not be as scenic as Icelandic Laugavegurinn or Hornstrandir area, or mountainous areas in northern Sweden, the isolation, freedom and sense of free space are incomparable - one meets fellow trekkers only occasionally, and some of those encounters may be surprising meetings with local hunters.

 

It was indeed a special and rewarding time – so much to see!

 

This is a shot taken during our 7th day on the trail - we started to hike from the Innajuattoq lake and camped in a beautiful valley close to the Nerumaq hill and hut.

ADOREI fazer o palhaco!!Traze-lo inteiro para Viena é que foi pior!!!

 

I LOVED to do the clown.The difficult part was to bring it in one piece to Vienna !!

Lately, it's been really difficult to get Barney to come on walks with me, during the day. He sees me getting ready in the afternoon & skulks off to his bed, curling up & absolutely refusing to get up again - it doesn't matter if I try to jolly him along, bribe him with treats, or simply command him to move, nothing works... The old boy just lies there & goes totally floppy like a toddler having a tantrum if I try to put the lead on! I'd put it down to old age & simply not wanting the exercise but by the evening, he's bouncing about raring to go, barking & whining every time I get up, desperate for a run around!!

 

I've been a tiny bit worried in case this seeming change in Barney's "body clock" could be attributed to doggie dementia (he's 12 & a bit yrs old)... but he still seems otherwise normal - I've not seen any other behavioural changes, or signs of confusion - he's bright & alert, so I'm hoping it's more a case of bad habits! His arthritis is always worse during damp winter weather & his anxiety levels are currently high, due to the noisy pheasant shooting going on all around where we live... I'm hoping Barn's sudden aversion to daytime activity & his evening noisiness is temporary & he'll be more keen about going out for normal walks, once spring arrives & the weather improves & most of the shooting stops.

 

After what felt like weeks of fairly mild but damp & dull grey days, we woke up to bright sunshine & a dusting of snow the other day. I decided Barney was going to go stretch his legs that morning - even if I had to pick him up & carry him! Luckily, I didn't need to haul him outside because Barney apparently decided he liked the change in weather, (ha, or he saw the steely glint in my eye as I approached, lead in hand!) & he got up without much encouragement & went to stand by the door, eager to be off :) He had a nice trot about in the woods & fields & returned home a tired, happy boy... still barked at me all evening though!

The National Cycle Route 647 on the disused Chesterfield and Lincoln Direct Railway, in between the former Clifton-on-Trent railway station and Doddington and Harby railway station, in Nottinghamshire.

 

Like most new railways of the time its purpose was the carriage of coal. The project's leading light was William Arkwright, a descendant of Richard Arkwright who had made the family's fortune by mechanising the spinning of cotton. William Arkwright had settled at Sutton Scarsdale Hall near Chesterfield and with the land came extensive deposits of coal.

 

The rail network in the vicinity provided by the Midland Railway and the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway was still in its infancy and would not meet his requirements. In 1887 the Chesterfield and Lincoln Direct Railway was proposed independently to join with Midland lines at each end. It would cross his land but received insufficient support.

 

Arkwright decided to promote an independent line to provide through roads to opposite coasts of the country. In time it became known as "The East to West". It would be sufficiently large to maintain itself in the face of competition from other railways. There were a number of lines already approved but not carried forward which could be incorporated. With the Newark and Ollerton there was the Macclesfield and Warrington Railway and the Lincoln and East Coast Railway. A number of other lines had been considered but not formally proposed and these, together with plans for dock works at Sutton on Sea which had been approved in 1884, gave Arkwright his route and support from the various landowners involved. The Lancashire Derbyshire and East Coast Railway Company was formed at 27 George St in Westminster and published its plans in 1890.

 

There was initially a deal of opposition from landowners and other railway companies but, in the end, the main opponent was the MS&LR because the line would bypass its own line from Sheffield to Retford and thence to London. The Great Eastern Railway turned from opponent to supporteer, realising that the line could give it an entree to the Midlands coalfields. The Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway Act authorising building the line was given Royal Assent on 5 August 1891.

 

Due to lack of investment, only the portion from Chesterfield to Lincoln was built. To have continued west of Chesterfield would have required some extremely expensive and difficult engineering works. It was an ambitious undertaking, with some extremely expensive engineering works, crossing the Peak District which had always been a major headache for railway builders. Even to the east it crossed lines of hills running north and south. In addition it would conflict with the lines of a number of other railway companies.

 

From Lincoln the line would continue eastward over the Lincolnshire Wolds, with a junction near Stainfield as it crossed the GNR Louth to Bardney line. Proceeding well to the north of Horncastle it would cross the East Lincolnshire Railway to the southwest of Alford passing to the south. It would then join that line's loop (at that time known as the Willoughby Railway) near Thurlby turning north east to Sutton on Sea, where the North Sea port would be built.

 

Passenger services over the line to Lincoln finished in September 1955.

 

Difficult decision: original look, or comfortable ride?

 

Leaving these old grips on the bars or change it into more comfortable bartape with a nice shellack-finish?

In my fafourite position behind the hoods there´s nothing than pure steel.

Cold, no grip with gloves,and slippy in the rain.

 

Auschwitz concentration camp

Atop the Wonder Wheel. It was a difficult shot. I was in a contorted position and shooting through the screened-in cage.

 

Rides at Coney:

 

Today, the amusement area contains various rides, games such as skeeball, ball tossing, and a sideshow; games of shooting and throwing and tossing skills.

 

The rides and other amusements at Coney Island are owned and managed by several different companies, and operate independently of each other. It is not possible to purchase season tickets to the attractions in the area.

 

Three of the rides at Coney Island are protected as designated NYC landmarks and recognized by the National Register of Historic Places.

 

* Wonder Wheel. Built in 1918 and opened in 1920, this steel Ferris wheel has both stationary cars and rocking cars that slide along a track. It holds 144 riders, stands 150 feet (46 m) tall, and weighs over 2,000 tons. At night the Wonder Wheel's steel frame is outlined and illuminated by neon tubes. It is part of Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park.[21]

 

* The Cyclone roller coaster, built in 1927, is one of the nation's oldest wooden coasters still in operation. A favorite of some coaster aficionados, the Cyclone includes an 85-foot (26 m), 60 degree drop. It is owned by the City, and was operated by Astroland, under a franchise agreement. It is located across the street from Astroland.

 

* The Parachute Jump, originally the Life Savers Parachute Jump at the 1939 New York World's Fair, was the first ride of its kind. Patrons were hoisted 190 feet (58 m) in the air before being allowed to drop using guy-wired parachutes. Although the ride has been closed since 1968, it remains a Coney Island landmark and is sometimes referred to as "Brooklyn's Eiffel Tower." Between 2002 and 2004, the Jump was completely dismantled, cleaned, painted and restored, but remains inactive. After an official lighting ceremony in July 2006, the Parachute Jump was slated to be lit year round using different color motifs to represent the seasons. However, this idea was scrapped when New York City started conserving electricity in the summer months. It has not been lit regularly since.

 

Other notable attractions include:

 

* The B&B Carousell (that was how the frame's builder, William F. Mangels, spelled it). In addition to its unusual spelling, it is Coney Island's last traditional carousel, now surrounded by furniture stores, near the old entrance to Luna Park. The carousel is an especially fast one, with a traditional roll-operated band organ. When the long-term operator died unexpectedly, the carousel was put up for auction, and it was feared the ride would leave Coney Island or, worse, that it would be broken up for sale to collectors, being one of the last intact traditional carousels in the U.S. still in private hands. In an act of brinksmanship with the owners, the City of New York bought the B&B Carousell a few days before the auction. It has been dismantled and will operate in Coney Island; the specific location is still to be determined. All the other carousels on Coney Island are kiddie park-style.

 

* Bumper cars. There are three separate bumper car rides in Coney Island, located in Astroland, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, and Eldorado's Arcade on Surf Avenue.

* Haunted houses. Three traditional dark ride haunted houses operate at Coney Island: Dante's Inferno (Astroland), Spook-a-Rama (Deno's) and the Ghost Hole (independent).

 

source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coney_Island

  

Well dear Flickr friends I have something difficult to say.

My breast cancer from 2 years ago has gone to my brain. 20 small nodules we are fighting with radiation....

Thankfully I have been able have time to say goodbye.

Chemo doesn't reach the brain well. I had the most aggressive least treatable breast cancer. It is called triple negative.

 

I am at peace. The Lord is my shepherd.

God lives! The Holy Spirit guides.

 

My life in heaven awaits me...

 

I look forward to seeing you all again on the other side.

I took this picture last night at Santa Monica Pier. The tide was rising, made it difficult to get a clean reflection. Also the waves came in quite strongly, not sure if that had anything to do with tsunami from recent earthquakes in Samoa, Indonesia, and offcoast California or not. This was my first time attempting the shot at this location, I have mixed feelings about it. I'd like to get your opinions, please. I did get two shoes full of salty ocean water, not a pleasant feeling to drive an hour with.

 

This is not a combined multi-exposure HDR. I had to do it the hard way - single exposure.

 

Ed: Thanks so much for your thoughtful comment. It has certainly made my day. I will surely go back and try to do better. Andy.

Salmon Arm, British Columbia

It's difficult to see on the small picture, but on the upper-right side there's a very common sight on Iguassu Falls: the "Andorinhão-da-cascata" (Great Dusky Swift) bird, and they are very brave as they make their nest behind the falls, and it's amazing to see little birds such as this one flying through the falling water of Salto Bossetti so naturally...

This beautiful Tiger Swallowtail is having a difficult time tearing himself away from the white penta today.

2019 one photo each day

This photograph was more difficult to capture than it looks. That is because I wanted the entire flower and butterfly to be in focus, but I did not want the background grassland to look cluttered. I used a Nikon 105mm macro f2.8 on a Nikon D810 full frame body with an aperture of f18, but I moved in quite close so this has very little cropping. I discovered recently that Chalkhill Blues (Polyommatus coridon) have disappeared from many of their downland localities. They need short-grazed turf with lots of their larval foodplant Horsehoe Vetch. But they also need the right kind of ants which thrive in short turf. Their relationship with ants is truly mutually beneficial as the ants protect them from predators and parasites, and in return the caterpillar exudes fluid with sugar and amino acids which the ants drink. The UK population declined by about a third (34%) between 1995 and 2004. Declines are probably attributed to loss of short turf when vegetation grows tall. This can be lack of agricultural grazing, or more likely rabbits, which suffer population crashes due to periodic outbreaks of myxomatosis. I photographed this male near the north of its British range in Cambridgeshire, although its foodplant Horseshoe Vetch (Hippocrepis comosa) also occurs on limestone in the north of England.

Desesperados #13. Una decisión difícil

Another exploding tree ornament, black background proved to be way more difficult than the translucent background I started with. Less light, because the source had to be further away, the black also absorbed way more than I thought it would. Timing proved to be a bit more tricky too. There is something cathartic about this type of photography with repetitiveness of the motions and the problem solving involved to get to the point that I have what I wanted in the first place with the BB clearly visible.

Fuji GFX50s/GX680 Hybrid, 65mm Fujinon GX, ProFoto B10 strobe set to freeze and 1.2 power. ISO 1600, f/11 at 1.5 second, 1/25,000 sec flash duration.

Popeye even joined in the Portneuf River Polar Float,

The Fire & Ice Festival Lava Hot Springs Id

I got there way before the event stated to stake out a good plce to shoot. First I had to ENDURE the music they were playing over the pa.

Of course people got in front of me making it difficult to shoot.

IMG_0628_pe

www.flickr.com/photos/33714681@N06/show/

--------- street photography ---------

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bimNa6VemjA

Historic Istanbul City Ferries.

It is difficult to see the ferries together during daytime as they carry passengers.

Due to a storm, these four ferries were docked in the harbor for security. I was in another ferry and I had the opportunity to capture the historic four ferries together. It made me happy.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/feridun_f_alkaya/albums/72157632672...

  

M/S NURETTİN ALPTOĞAN (Ex : Bayraklı)

 

IMO : 7922910

Built Year : 1985

Shipyard : Haliç Tersanesi / İstanbul

Gross Tons / Net Tons : 456,01 / 208,04

Length : 55,93 mt

Width : 10,6 mt

Depth : 2,92 mt

Free Board : 1259

Machine Type : 6 AL 20/24 Pendik Sulzer

Horsepower : 2 X 750

Rpm / Min : 900

Fuel Consumption : 100 kg/h

Speed : 14 mile

Passengers (Sum/Win) : 1450 / 1340

  

M/S ALAEDDİN YAVAŞCA (Ex: KALAMIŞ )

  

IMO : 8113267

Built Year : 1987

Shipyard : Haliç Tersanesi / İstanbul

Gross Tons / Net Tons : 456,01 / 208,04

Length : 55,93 mt

Width : 10,6 mt

Depth : 2,92 mt

Free Board : 1259

Machine Type : 6 AL 20/24 Pendik Sulzer

Horsepower : 2 X 750

Rpm / Min : 900

Fuel Consumption : 100 kg/h

Speed : 14 mile

Passengers (Sum/Win) : 1512 / 1259

  

M/S ŞEHİT İLKER KARTER

  

IMO : 7389950

Built Year : 1980

Shipyard : Haliç Tersanesi / İstanbul

Gross Tons / Net Tons : 456,01 / 208,04

Length : 55,93 mt

Width : 10,6 mt

Depth : 2,92 mt

Free Board : 1259

Machine Type : 6 MDXC A.B.C.

Horsepower : 2 X 750

Rpm / Min : 750

Fuel Consumption : 100 kg/h

Speed : 14 mile

Passengers (Sum/Win) :

1450 / 1340

M/S BEŞİKTAŞ I (Capacity:1500 passenger)

 

IMO : 8113231

Built Year : 1986

Shipyard : Haliç Tersanesi / İstanbul

Gross Tons / Net Tons : 456,01 / 208,04

Length : 55,93 mt

Width : 10,6 mt

Depth : 2,92 mt

Free Board : 1259

Machine Type : 6 AL 20/24 Pendik Sulzer

Horsepower : 2 X 750

Rpm / Min : 900

Fuel Consumption : 100 kg/h

Speed : 14 mile

Passengers (Sum/Win) : 1450 / 1340

  

THE EXPERIENCE OF OVER ONE AND A HALF CENTURIES: ŞEHİR HATLARI

 

Şehir Hatları Administration represents the experience of 165 years, starting from the middle of the 19th Century. We can say that this experience has accumulated from three different enterprises until the middle 1940’s. This is because independent enterprises used to conduct passenger transportation by ferries in the Bosporus, the Marmara Sea and the Golden Horn from the middle of the 19th century until the mid-1940’s.

 

If we want to learn about the histories of these enterprises; briefly the foundations of the Marmara Sea line were laid in 1844 starting to operate ferries between Sirkeci in Istanbul and the Prince Islands, between Sirkeci and Pendik and between Sirkeci and Yeşilköy, and the ferry quays in Istanbul, İzmit, Gemlik and Tekirdağ under the Ministry of Maritime Affairs as the ‘Hazine-i Hassa Vapurları İdaresi’ (Administration of Ferries of the Private Treasury of the Ottoman Sultan).

 

The name of this administration was changed in 1862 to ‘Fevaid-i Osmaniye İdaresi’, to ‘İdare-i Aziziye İdaresi’ in 1871 and to ‘Osmanlı Seyr-i Sefain İdaresi’’ in 1910. In 1933 the AKAY administration was established under the umbrella of this enterprise operating in the Prince Islands, the quays on the Anatolian side and the Yalova line, namely the Marmara lines. And this administration later transformed into the Şehir Hatları Administration under the umbrella of the General Directorate of the Turkish State Maritime Lines established in 1937.

The ferry operations were gathered under a single roof in Istanbul after the Golden Horn Ferries Company, which had operated on the Golden Horn lines since 1858, was nationalized in 1941, and the ‘Şirket-i Hayriye’, which was established in 1851 to operate ferries on the Bosporus lines, was nationalized in 1945, with all their rights being transferred to the Şehir Hatları Administration.

 

In 2005 the Şehir Hatları Administration, which was under the umbrella of the Turkey Maritime Organization, was transferred to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality by a decision of the High Board of Privatization and was been the beginning of a new period in the Şehir Hatları Administration. Five new passenger ferries, the design of which were selected by a ballot by Istanbul residents, the new generation modern car ferries and three new Golden Horn ferries with large windows have been built and taken to service. At the same time the old generation passenger ferries and historical quays have been renovated and some quays have been re-built.

 

İstanbul Şehir Hatları Turizm San. Tic. A.Ş. was founded by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in 2010 in order to contribute maritime transportation in Istanbul and to find a solution to the traffic problems of the city. The company is also providing supplementary services related with transportation as well as the public transportation to the Bosporus, the Prince Islands and the Golden Horn.

 

Şehir Hatları is a modern enterprise in urban maritime transportation in Istanbul, with a strong brand value and a great corporate reputation, offering an alternative in transportation by providing public maritime transportation services, protecting the ferries, the shipyards and the quays that are symbols of our cultural heritage and it is the favored leader enterprise in urban maritime transportation.

 

en.sehirhatlari.istanbul/en/kurumsal/history-6492.html

Difficult lighting but was lucky enough to coincide with the pair swapping over incubation duties.

White Fences, Loxahatchee, Palm Beach Co., FL

Which one should I take for my ride today?

Same location as "Difficult Run - Film", one week later.

 

Leica Monochrom (m246), 90mm Summicron, 4 stop ND filter

ISO 320, f/22 at 1/2 second

It’s difficult to envisage any scenario whereby the former Blue Pullman units could have survived long enough in mainline service to receive any of the sectorisation-era liveries. Once the pinnacle of quality, despite a reputation for rough-riding, they were soon displaced from their top-link duties when new air-conditioned MkII coaches came on-stream. No doubt some element of re-engineering was considered but the economics more likely favoured new build stock. I can’t say that they would have suited this or any of the other sectorisation-era liveries particularly well (16-Mar-25).

 

Not to be posted on Facebook under any circumstances but you are welcome to post a link. Not to be posted elsewhere without prior written permission. Follow the link below for additional information about my Flickr images, including an explanation of the terms 'fiction', 'digital representation' and 'digitally-coloured':

www.flickr.com/photos/northernblue109/6046035749/in/set-7...

Nikon Af 50mm f/1.8 D, extension tubes.

Even before the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump refused to agree to abide by the results, but only if he lost. As the pandemic made it more difficult for people to vote and mail-in voting was encouraged, he suggested the possibility of mass fraud should people be allowed to vote by mail. And when he lost the election by almost 8 million votes and 74 Electoral College votes, he refused to concede. In fact, he broadcasted loud and clear, the election was stolen from him. He and his legal team filed 63 lawsuits in 5 battleground states. Courts dismissed or rejected all of them. And, when that didn’t produce the results he wanted, he unsuccessfully pressured the Georgia Secretary of State, Republican Brad Raffensperger, of find 11,780 votes (one more than Joe Biden’s victory) to overturn the state’s election results. In Trump’s mind, the only thing left was to lean on the Senate and the House and on Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certified Electoral College votes in his favor. The Congressional counting of the votes, which, in the past had been a pro forma event signifying the peaceful transfer of power, became a lightning rod for conspiracy theorists who vowed to protest this January 6, 2021 ceremony.

 

Earlier that day, Donald Trump gave an impassioned speech, filled with lies, to thousands of supporters. Riled up by his words, they walked down Pennsylvania Avenue to the US Capitol yelling “Take back the steal!” Hundreds went further and broke into the Capitol building, breaking glass windows, yelling and screaming, while Congress had counted the Electoral votes. They broke into the Senate and House Chambers as the Capitol police spirited away legislators. And four civilians and one Capitol police officer died in the violence.

 

We must hold Donald Trump accountable for inciting this insurrection. He was not alone. His son, Donald Jr., Rudy Giuliani, and Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks also stoked discontent at that rally. They, too, are responsible, as are legislators like Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley.

 

Characteristically, Trump refused to take any responsibility for his actions. He stated, “If you analyze my speech…everyone said it was totally appropriate.” He reiterated his claim that attempts to impeach him (now, for the second time) is “the greatest and most vicious witch hunt in American history.”

 

For some Republican legislators, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Outgoing Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, made it clear his disdain for the president’s actions and stated that he would allow any Senator in the Republican caucus to vote as they saw fit on an impeachment vote. The third-ranking Republican in the House, Lynne Cheney (R-WY) announced she would vote for impeachment stating, “The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flames of this attack. … None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”

 

Donald Trump is now losing the support of his Republican Party. If GOP leaders in Congress want to rid the party of Trump’s influence and the autocratic effects of his rule and rhetoric, now’s the time to do it. If they refuse to convict him for impeachable offenses, he will continue to define the Republican Party and steer it towards the extreme edge. This will give white supremacists a toe-hold on American politics for years to come. Donald Trump has trampled America's democracy, and he has taken part in sedition and encouraging insurrection. This time, his actions are clear.

  

Feel free to pass this poster on. It's free to download here (click on the down arrow just to the lower right of the image).

 

See the rest of the posters from the Chamomile Tea Party! Digital high res downloads are free here (click the down arrow on the lower right side of the image). Other options are available. And join our Facebook group.

 

Follow the history of our country's political intransigence from 2010-2020 through a seven-part exhibit of these posters on Google Arts & Culture.

In the extremely difficult and stressful time that we are all in now, please do remember to be patient and to be kind and thankful to everyone who still has to work, especially Health Care workers - my daughter is one of them, and she said that she is overly stressed and exhausted, partly because of families and visitors who lose their temper over restrictions that have been put in place in the hospital.

 

About a week ago, I finally made a trip to a couple of stores, that I really didn't want to do. I knew that if there were a lot of people, I would instead turn around and go home. I needed food and I did buy an extra one of various items - but no hoarding. The cashier at the food store told me that one of the younger cashiers had been in tears because of being yelled at by some customers. At the drug store, the young woman cashier told me that she was so stressed out, again partly because of angry, yelling customers, that she was about to burst into tears. We had a talk, as there was no one waiting behind me in line, and I made sure to thank her for meticulously sanitizing the work space at the till. A few kind words can make all the difference, people! There were no line-ups at either store, for which I was extremely thankful. I know I do need to be very careful myself - I have 3 of the risk factors; age, high blood pressure, and the most concerning being a chronic cough that I have had for maybe 10 or so years, which sometimes turns into a coughing fit where I can't breath. Went through all sorts of tests but no one could find a cause. So, here I am, still coughing! The last thing I would want is the Coronavirus cough on top of it! Stay safe and well, everyone!!

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE, 16 March 2020: 74 confirmed cases in Alberta, 342 in Canada. 4 deaths in Canada - so far, all have been in British Columbia.

 

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE, 17 March 2020: 97 confirmed cases in Alberta, 447 cases in Canada. 70 confirmed cases in the Calgary Zone. 7 deaths in Canada.

 

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE, 18 March 2020: 119 confirmed cases in Alberta, 83 confirmed cases in Calgary Zone, 591 in Canada. 8 deaths in Canada.

 

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE, 19 March 2020: 146 confirmed cases in Alberta, 101 confirmed cases in Calgary Zone, 736 in Canada. 9 deaths in Canada, 1 death in Alberta.

 

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE, 20 March 2020: 195 (up from 146!) confirmed cases in Alberta, 101 confirmed cases in Calgary Zone, 846 in Canada. 10 deaths in Canada, 1 death in Alberta.

 

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE, 22 March 2020: 259 (up from 226) confirmed cases in Alberta, 1,302 (up from 1,048) in Canada. 19 deaths in Canada, 1 death in Alberta.

 

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE, 23 March 2020: 301 (up from 259) confirmed cases in Alberta, 1,432 (up from 1,302) in Canada. 20 deaths in Canada, 1 death in Alberta.

 

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE, 27 March 2020: 486 (up from 419) confirmed cases in Alberta, 4,018 (up from 3,452) in Canada. 300 in the Calgary Zone (1 death). 39 deaths in Canada, 2 deaths in Alberta. Completed tests (as of March 25) in Alberta 35,089 - 419 positive.

 

www.alberta.ca/coronavirus-info-for-albertans.aspx

 

24 March 2020: "14 people sick at Calgary care centre (the McKenzie Towne Continuing Care Centre) where woman died of COVID-19."

 

calgary.ctvnews.ca/14-people-sick-at-calgary-care-centre-...

 

National Parks in Canada have now been shut down.

 

Olympics 2020 in Japan has been postponed to 2021.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Friday, 27 March 2020: our temperature just after noon is +8C (windchill +5C). Sunrise is at 7:21 am, and sunset is at 8:02 pm. Sunny today.

 

The 9 photos posted today were all taken on Day 11 of our 13-day birding trip to South Texas, in March 2019. They are almost the last few photos taken that day, Only a few photos to post from the next day, Day 12, and I will be done!

 

The first place we went to was the Birding and Nature Centre, on South Padre Island. The afternoon before, we had spent two hours there, but our "proper" visit was for three hours in the morning of Day 11. Such a great place!

 

www.spibirding.com/

 

Simply amazing artist! "The South Padre Island Convention Center boasts one of only 100 Wyland Whaling Wall murals. The mural titled "Orcas of the Gulf of Mexico," depicts life-sized killer whales and is number 53 of Wyland's Whaling Walls series."

 

This is a list of Whaling Walls, which are large outdoor murals by the artist Robert Wyland, featuring images of life-size gray whales, breaching humpback whales, blue whales, and other sea life. Whaling Walls (a pun on the Wailing Wall) are created by invitation of the communities, institutions, and building owners of the structures on which they are painted. The one hundredth and possibly final Whaling Wall was painted in Beijing in 2008" From Wikipedia.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Whaling_Walls

 

Someone told us about a different location, and a short drive south from the Centre took us to around W Sheepshead St and Laguna Blvd, where we saw a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Monarch butterflies, and a Green Anole (lizard).

 

We had our picnic lunch at the nearby Convention Centre, which is near the Birding and Nature Centre, and then looked for a Yellow-throated Warbler from the rear patio at the Centre. Amazingly, we did see it, along with a Black-and-white Warbler and a Wilson's Warbler. Not easy trying to photograph these fast-moving little birds that get hidden among the branches.

 

Driving north again, we called in at a beach that was part of the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, where we could enjoy seeing the ocean waves and Laughing Gulls. This was our last stop before returning to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Brownsville.

 

The next day, 30 March 2019, we had to drive from Brownsville to Houston, where we stayed for one night at La Quinta Inn & Suites Houston. The following day, we flew from Bush Intl Airport back to Calgary. What a fantastic holiday we had!

That which cannot be conceived by something else must be conceived by itself.

  

Finding original can be difficult and once found quite expensive.

  

“ Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot, lucre, moolah, readies, the where-withal: call it what you like, money matters. To Christians, the love of it is the root of all evil. To generals, it is the sinews of war; …” Niall Ferguson

A Financial History of the World 2008

The Penguin Press

New York

 

youtu.be/oq8FJYFC0CE

  

20 centavos

youtu.be/I2_lE1rxiHg

 

The Aleph

youtu.be/E1i7cxmr0L4

 

-

Emma Shapplin

 

youtu.be/_rOJVcHJtKo

  

55.55

youtu.be/Y8zyK3DtXxQ

 

Other coin

www.goldenstatemint.com/1-oz-Bitcoin-Silver-Bullion-Round...

  

Пруст

« Time Regained »

www.rogerebert.com/reviews/time-regained-2000

  

Отягощенные злом

 

m.knigavuhe.org/book/strugackie-arkadijj-i-boris-otjagosh...

  

123. youtu.be/FyxUwaq00Rc

  

мелодрама. youtu.be/fLXAheLJoe0

  

Kisin’s view. youtu.be/j1C8awu_d6Y

  

Скот’ view. youtu.be/-fNrnWxXhP0

 

youtu.be/-fNrnWxXhP0

  

youtu.be/jQSTHvD2z1c

  

394 041922

796 2080 860

298 3

419 042422

435 050122

453 050322.

  

Ода болезни алзхеймера:

 

youtu.be/y0TRNTFDg7I

 

multiversum:

 

youtu.be/GYVg50_w1UAщ

  

Джейн Остин.

  

youtube.com/watch?v=r5cqa9V0mUo&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE

  

youtube.com/watch?v=LZ1DKaE8zas&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE

  

Форс-мажор

 

youtu.be/AJxSkYbbRa8

  

13.8 billion turtles

 

youtu.be/_IkaetPoBZM

  

Aleph with google

 

I hurriedly went to the door, I was already sick of his chatter. The basement, slightly wider than the stairs, looked more like a well. I looked in vain for the chest that Carlos Argentino had spoken of. One corner was cluttered with boxes of bottles and canvas bags. Carlos took the bag, rolled it up and placed it on the floor, apparently in a comfortable place.

“The pillow is unenviable,” he explained, “but if I make it even one centimeter higher, you won’t see a damn thing, you’ll only get upset and embarrassed.” Well, go to bed, relax well and count down nineteen steps.

I complied with his strange demands, he finally left and carefully lowered the lid - the darkness, despite the narrow gap that I later noticed, seemed absolute to me. Suddenly the danger of my situation became clear to me - I allowed myself to be locked in the basement by a madman after drinking poison. In Carlos's bravado there is a secret fear that I cannot see the miracle; To justify his nonsense, so as not to hear that he is crazy, Carlos must kill me. I thought some kind of faintness and tried to explain it as my immobility, and not the drug. I closed my eyes, then opened them. And then I saw Aleph.

Now I come to the untold point of my narrative and confess my impotence as a writer. All language consists of alphabetical symbols containing inclusions that are not shared with the past interlocutor. But how to describe another Aleph, whose infinity is incomprehensible even for my timid mind? Mystics use emblems on all occasions: the Persian, to mark the deity, speaks of birds, which somehow eat all the birds at once; Alanus de Insulis - a sphere whose center is everywhere, its circumference anywhere; Ezekiel is about an angel with private faces who constantly addresses the East and the West, the North and the South. (It’s not for nothing that I cite these obscure analogies; they have something to do with Aleph.) Perhaps the gods do not show mercy to me, and someday I will find an equivalent image, but until then a touch of literaryism and falsehood is inevitable in my writing . In addition, the main problem is insoluble: enumeration, even incomplete, infinite distribution. In that grand moment I saw millions of particles, pleasing to the eye and terrifying, none of them surprised me more than the fact that they all moved in one place, without overlapping one another or being bright. What my eyes saw happened simultaneously, but in my description it will appear in accordance with the sequence - such is the law of language. I will still name something.

On the lower surface of the step, on the right side, I saw a small, rainbow-sparkling ball of dazzling visibility. At first it seemed to me that it was rotating, then I realized that the illusion of movement was caused by the bright, mind-blowing scenes contained in it. Aleph had a diameter of two or three centimeters, but was in it throughout the entire space of the universe, and not at all reduced. Each object (for example, a glass mirror) was an infinite number of objects, because I saw it clearly with all points of the universe. I saw a densely populated sea, sunrise and sunset, I saw a crowd of visitors to America, I saw a silvery web inside the third pyramid, I saw a ruined labyrinth (it was), I saw an infinite number of eyes next to me that looked at me, as in London, I saw all the mirrors of our planet, and none of them reflected me, we saw in the backyard on Soleru Street the same stone slabs that we saw thirty years ago in the hallway of a house on Fry Benton Street, we saw vines, snow, tobacco, ore veins, water evaporation , saw the rounded equatorial deserts and every grain of sand, saw a woman in Verness whom I will never forget, saw her Indian hair, proud body, saw a cancer on her chest, saw a circle of lush dry earth on the sidewalk where there used to be a tree, saw a country house in Adroge, for example, the first English translation of Pliny, made by Filemon in Holland, saw simultaneously every letter on every page (as a boy, I wondered why the letters in a book, when it was closed, did not change at night and did not require), saw night and then day , saw the sunset in Keregaro, in which the color of one Bengal rose seemed to be reflected, saw my empty bedroom, saw one in a scientific office in Alkmaar a globe between two mirrors, endlessly reflected, saw horses with flowing manes on the shore of the Caspian Sea at dawn, saw an elegant skeleton Down, saw survivors of the victory sending postcards, saw a Spanish deck of cards in the window of Mirsapur, saw slanting shadows of ferns in the winter garden, saw tigers, blood clots, bison, sea storms and an army, saw all the ants there are on earth, the Persian astrolabe, in a desk display(the handwriting made me shiver)

the obscene, unthinkable, murderously precise letters of Beatriz addressed to Carlos Argentino, saw the sacred monument in Chacarita, saw the terrible remains of what was the rapturous Beatriz Viterbo, saw the circulation of my dark blood, saw the fusion of love and the changes brought about by death, saw the Aleph, saw from all points in Aleph the globe, and in the globe again Aleph, and in Aleph the globe, saw my face and my insides, saw your face; then my head began to spin, and I began to cry, because my eyes saw this mysterious, supposed something, whose name people have taken possession of, although not a single person has seen it: the incomprehensible universe.

I felt endless admiration, endless pity.

“You’ll be completely stunned if you stick your nose where people don’t ask for so long,” said the hateful, cheerful voice. “No matter how much you rack your brains, you will never repay me for such a miracle.” Stunning observatory, don't you agree, Borges?

Carlos Argentino's shoes were on the very top step. Suddenly it became a little lighter, and I stood up with difficulty and muttered:

- Yes, yes, amazing, amazing.

The indifferent sound of my voice surprised me.

Carlos Argentino asked anxiously:

— Did you see everything well? In color?

In a single moment, I made a plan for revenge. Good-naturedly, with undisguised pity, as if nervous and evasive, I thanked Carlos Argentino for the shelter in his basement and persistently advised me to take advantage of the demolition of the house to leave the harmful air of the capital, which no one - believe me, no one! - does not spare. Gently but adamantly, I refused to talk about Aleph, hugged Kärlos Argentino goodbye and repeated that rural life and peace are two wonderful doctors.

  

Reality of words

 

youtu.be/uF5miK73RCY?si=0bs3krPgoBUYMdS1

Rockwood, ON

Bernard's Landing, Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia - at night, obviously.

 

This one is tricky. It was difficult to deal with the dock which was overlit by nearby parking lot lights. Those lights also cast my shadow, and the camera shadow on either side of the dock (did you notice?)

 

This is a three-shot vertorama. See the "settings" for details.

 

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I vividly remember my first true encounter with dark skies... it was near here returning from a late afternoon of water skiing and swimming. Darkness had fallen and as we traveled back to our "home dock" I saw a sky so full of stars I almost couldn't imagine it. I was raised in a suburb of Washington, DC where the darkest sky I saw would NEVER have revealed the Milky Way.

 

The rest of that boating story is amusing... We ran aground on a sandy little island and were rescued by other boaters sailing under the beautiful night sky. My father was bestowed with the nickname "Captain Beach'em" as a result. That was an homage to one of the other local skippers who had earned the name "Captain Crunch" after running his boat into pilings.

 

The surrounding area has blossomed, and there are houses and light pollution nearly every where around the lake... but you can STILL see the Milky Way from a dark spot.

 

I know the arc of my life would have been quite different if not for the starry skies of Smith Mountain Lake. I wonder with sadness how many childhood dreams go unlaunched because they've never seen the wonder of the night sky.

 

Some Rights Reserved: 2018  Steven Christenson

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[N606579-81st]

Bologna street...and??? Leica M3 ss german RF-Leitz Summicron 90 (big old) mm f 2,0-Kodak

Difficult shot with the telephoto thankyou Nikon for the MUP and quiet shutter on the D810.

It´s difficult to believe that in this precise moment we have everything we need to be satisfied with our lives but I am learning that it can be possible.

 

To be honest, being in agreement with what is, has never been the strongest point of my personality. On the contrary, I always want more, I always want to achieve better things, improve myself and mend my life but even so (or maybe because this has been a heavy burden on me), I am starting to realize that regardless of what happens there is nothing that prevent me from feeling joy if I want to.

 

In fact, I have the power to accept and feel they joy. (...)

 

read more on my blog: myhealingmoments.blogspot.com.es/2013/11/day-365126.html