We went walking yesterday around the remains of the Roman town Calleva Atrebatum in Silchester, Hampshire. This was an large, bustling town at the focal point of England’s road network in Roman times. It appears to have been the distribution hub for Roman Britain, just like the modern purpose-built town of Milton Keynes.
It declined when the Romans left, and was finally killed off in the 13th century by the Black Death. A great deal of the enormous town wall remains standing, enclosing otherwise almost empty farm land.
Seems the fairground is now a London fixture. Walking back across Waterloo Bridge at the end of our last holiday break of the summer, we saw that the London Eye has been joined by a sort of “London Needle” that provides a high-level thrill-ride on flying swing-seats over London. We didn’t have time to try it out but it looks exciting!
Have you ever attended an open source conference? In my article for ComputerWorldUK today, I briefly review four good choices that you can attend over the next few months.
One enjoyable perk of being a speaker at OSCON and a new author at O’Reilly Media was an invitation to their “Friends” reception at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland. It featured a tour of the decommissioned US Navy submarine USS Blueback, which you can see here.
It’s not just Heathrow – Eurostar is a mess too. I had a meeting in Paris on Monday and was transiting London so took Eurostar instead of flying from Southampton. The outbound journey was no trouble at all, with barely a glimpse at my passport by the French border staff. But the return journey today was another matter.
I queued for the entire hour prior to the train departure, and boarded the train at the time it was supposed to depart (it was 12 minutes late, presumably because of delayed passengers). There was absolutely no reason for the queue, except for the passport check by the UK Border Force.
Their process it slow at the best of times – every passport has to be scanned and electronically checked, presumably the visual check all other European border staff use isn’t enough. But it was especially slow for two reasons. First, there weren’t enough staff on duty – only one of the three cubicles I could see was occupied. Second, the extra checks on people with non-EU passports were done in a way that blocked the lines of EU-passport-holders. The French border guy told me this had all started 4 or 5 days ago – what’s the betting staff from Eurostar have been drafted in to Heathrow to paper over the cracks?
Of course, the reason this is happening is because of political grandstanding by the UK government. None of them has to put up with any of this inconvenience as they have their own rich-and-special lanes, so they are happy to leave the public to be hugely inconvenienced while their political infighting over staffing levels, accountability and “being tough on immigration” plays out.
You may have thought it was just Heathrow that was messed up, but Eurostar in Paris and Brussels is just as bad. I took this video while I was waiting today to help you see the mess Theresa May is overseeing:
By the way, if you’re a TV editor looking for content, go right ahead and use this, it’s CC-BY licensed so you don’t need to ask me.
The architect who designed this church in Venice (Chiesa di San Vidal) tried to hide the building behind it, but ordinary life goes on behind the façade. There’s an ice cream shop doing brisk business, and the apartments above the shop seem to have no relation to the huge church window on the façade.
So it is everywhere. Religious or secular, business or personal, male or female, gay or straight. No matter how impressive the façade, real life goes on behind it if you look. It has to.
RT @FreedomofPress: If asking sources for secret information was a crime, every Pulitzer Prize winning reporter alive would be in prison. h… ✍ 11 hours ago
All views expressed on this blog are those of Simon Phipps and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other entity, including clients and former employers. See my full disclosure of interests.
