Ancient Verulamium

Our bedroom here sits on top of an ancient Roman burial ground. This morning the sun was shining and the sky was blue, and we were left to our own devices, so we travelled back in time. Both of us grew up having parks to walk across at those youthful and sensitive times of our lives, when you are love sick or close to it most of the time and prone to singing Yes songs to the trees. So we ambled off down the hill to the ancient Roman bit of St Albans, the theatre, past rabbits hopping around in dingily dell and indeed singing 'And You and I' as best we could, but not remembering the lyrics.

Apart from the group of five American tourists, intent on earnest archaeological chatter, the scene was quiet and beautiful, that is if for beautiful you substitute pleasantly eerie to the receptive. Easy to imagine those Romans in the circumstances. There was very pertinent signposting, one simply said 'More Excavations'. The rest seem to have uncovered mostly Roman carpentry shops and off licenses. We stopped to realize that the rabbits were probably winning the war of excavation, it might be rabbits 1, humans 0 in the fullness of time.

On pondering the Greek tragedies no doubt played out over this scene, a hawk appeared over head, very close in fact, you could see through it's gossamer wings.

'Christ! An omen!' I said

'Omen of what!' Julie said

'God knows'.