'lo from the end of Hadrian's Wall !

[PhilK]

Hi. Phil here. hailing from Wallsend, England, the end of Hadrians's wall (hence the name of the town, Wallsend. Roman name Segedunum. Original Celtic name ? Lost, sadly although it was said that the Romans tended to latinise names of people and places, so theres perhaps a clue there - Segedes maybe ?)
Always been a huge reader (not physically ! Average height and only slightly heavier in weight !) certainly into the hundreds of books over the years, and many more than once. Enjoying audiobooks for the last dozen years or so too.
Got the new Kindle 3 on order and looking forward to trying that out.
Love historical stuff, paticularly Roman history - no surprise there going by my introduction, eh ? - Enjoy Sci-Fi and the excellent Stephen King. Dean Koontz is hit and miss - someone once called him the poor mans Stephen King. I think he'd need to improve to get to that level. Never miss a Bill Bryson, although thought his latest "At Home" to be mediocre at best. His worst effort to date.
Sci fi - Poul Anderson, Harry Turtledove, isaac Asimiv, Robert Silverberg, Larry Niven (have any of you read his and Pournelle's wonderful updating of Dante's Inferno ? One of the best - if too short - books Ive ever read. The follow up came out recently and is up to the same standard. 30+ years later, though ! INFERNO, and ESCAPE FROM HELL)
Anyways. Enough of me. What'cher got yerselves ?

[GeoffC]

Welcome to mobileread .... from the 'heathen' north !!!!!

[happy_terd]

Hello and welcome to MR!

[Valmore Daniels]

welcome I use Kindle for PC and Adobe Digital Editions for a reader. Mostly into science fiction and fantasy with the occassional thriller thrown in.

[Sandra Edwards]

Welcome to MR! *love Asimov*

Sandy

[neilmarr]

Good to have your company, Phil. Wallsend is an old stomping ground of mine. Best wishes. Neil

[MickeyC]

Hi PhilK and welcome to MobileRead

[ImogenRose]

Hello and welcome to MR!

Imogen

[AnemicOak]

From one history lover to another, welcome.




Here's a little Hadrian action from my collection for you...

...not bad for something over 1,800 years old.

[Javed]

Hello Phil and welcome to MobileRead.

Originally Posted by PhilK

hailing from Wallsend, England, the end of Hadrians's wall

Multiple choice time:

1) Hadrian's wall is very short such that Wallsend wholly encompasses it
2) Wallsend is subject to quantum superposition such that it can be at both ends of Hadrian's wall
3) Hadrian's wall needs to be renamed Hadrian's circle

[Donnageddon]

Hi PhilK, any locality that could tell the ancient Romans "Here, but no further" is an OK place in my book.*

Donn

* No offense intended to any ancient Romans. Hail Caesar!

[PhilK]

Hi chaps ! And thanks. Some smashing answers, and one silly one.
Shall, makes no sense whatsoever, mate. try again.

And - AnemicOak and Donnagedon - actually, quite obsessed with Roman and Byzantine history !
We know theres a huge statue of Hadrian in the bottom mud of the Tyne (our river) about 100 yards south of my house, but it's never been found, sadly. Hundreds of ships built and launched and sailed over it over the centuries but never found. Supposed to be something like the one (or the head anyways) found in the Thames in the 1800's and treasured now.

Originally Posted by PhilK

Shall, makes no sense whatsoever, mate. try again.

The point was an observation that Wallsend is not the only end of the wall---117 kilometres or so east is another end. i.e. "Wallsend is the western most end (or one end) of Hadrian's wall" rather than "Wallsend is the end of Hadrian's wall".

It reminds me of when I lived in Victoria, British Columbia here in Canada. The old time locals would always point out that the foot of Dallas Road overlooking the Pacific Ocean was the true "Mile Zero" of the Trans-Canada Highway. St. John's, Newfoundland some 4,990 miles (8,030 kilometres) away claims to be "Mile One". Each one assumes that they are the start of the highway.

[PhilK]

Originally Posted by shall1028

The point was an observation that Wallsend is not the only end of the wall---117 kilometres or so east is another end. i.e. "Wallsend is the western most end (or one end) of Hadrian's wall" rather than "Wallsend is the end of Hadrian's wall".[/IMG]

But it ISN'T the western end of the wall. It IS the end of the wall. It was added when they extended the wall from Newcastle (my birthplace) a few miles down the road to Wallsend. The western end is either Barrow-in-Furness, or Carlisle. Take your choice. Situation is similar to Newcastle. It also extends in a lesser way down the west coast, less heralded that part.
Interesting story- they were dredging the edge of the Tyne (our river) to extend the ship building stocks when building a 250,000 tonner when they found the remains of a Roman Villa - it was 1969, so after allowing the archaeologists a VERY brief time to look at it, it was removed. (Ship building's gone now after centuries)
Probably 98% of Roman stuff has met a similar end in GB over the years. Only recently has there been a turn around. When I was a kid in the mid 70s I called on a mate in The Avenue, Wallsend and there was a 5 foot high 12 foot long part of the wall directly opposite, I at the time thought nothing about it, it wasn't protected or anything, it had always been there
The idiots in council removed it for a small car park in the 70s
The bloody car park isn't even used much !
Great country Canada, by the way. Lucky sod, living there !