Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Tripping over stones.

Us, in Pompeii.
Us, in Pompeii.,
originally uploaded by scp2695.
The Missus and I in Pompeii. We had planned to do a big trip for our tenth wedding anniversary in 2007. Linda and the medicos discovered she had breast cancer, again; that put the kibosh to that. She had the operation and chemo. Barbaric, but it works , I hope. She had a different type in 1984 before we were married, when I was at Fort Knox. This trip was a celebration.

Fascinating place, Pompeii. Yes, a tourist trap; to me an interesting one.I have had a lifelong interest in ancient history, and had not been to Pompeii when I was in Italy in 1973. This day we were on a two hour tour, not enough. Andiamo, andiamo! Architecture, especially old or ancient architecture, fascinates me. I wanted to be an architect when I was young; that was before my dis-interested adolescent brain encountered geometry. Now I like to look at buildings.

The box hanging around my neck is a clever device. It was new to me: obviously, I do not get out enough. It is a radio receiver through which one can hear one's guide over a limited range. Saves wear and tear on the guide's voice.Worked quite nicely. One cannot read a guide book while sauntering through the ruins--too many stones to trip the unwary.

Stones trip us at all stages of life. The trick is to be wary.

3 comments:

The Crow said...

"Stones trip us at all stages of life. The trick is to be wary."

Wise words.

:)

Roderick Robinson said...

You're so profligate with stuff. There are sufficient allusions in this post to kick off half a dozen other ones for a beady-eyed ex-professional like me.

The box as a receiver is excellent. What is more dubious is the box containing the recorded message. At Waterloo (a battle before it became a London rail station) they have such recorded summaries of what took place. I remember a BBC TV reporter playing back the French recording for viewers. When it was over he said, "Your French may not be all that good but you may have spotted a significant omission - not a single mention of the Duke of Wellington."

Relucent Reader said...

Crow, thank you for the comment.We will see how well I adhere to the words...

BB That is so French....Wellington who? I have a Life magazine from the 150th anniversary of the battle, and I remember they had 'then' paintings and 'now' photos: I'll have to dig it out.I wonder how much of the focal points (Quatre Bras, etc.) are still recognizable.