![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/07DC54D6-8B46-47D3-9103-94D96792A508.jpeg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nA frantic start to the day, trying to get to Colchester in time for a walking tour we had booked. S went to get the hire car but then had to come back because Hertz wanted to see his passport. Ten minutes after he left again, he phoned to say he\u2019d taken my passport by mistake and could I come out and meet him with his. Then followed 90 minutes of racing across the countryside to get to our tour on time. I did point out to him that the circumstances of his mistake in taking the wrong passport exactly mirrored my drug error of earlier in the week but strangely he wasn\u2019t interested in pursuing this fruitful topic of conversation. Colchester was the first British Roman city, founded around AD40ish by Claudius.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We met this guy at the Colchester castle museum. Photo credits to S (but he hasn\u2019t done a great job TBH, both our smiles are a bit fixed after it took him a long time to take the picture – and what\u2019s the story with my hair?? I think it\u2019s the humidity). If he reminds you of Asterix and friends it\u2019s no surprise as he\u2019s a Briton that dates from around the same time. Also I\u2019d be a bit sheepish if I was him, as while he and his chums were living in their mud huts and eating off earthenware pottery, the Romans must have been enormously impressive with their giant temples, theatres, chariot racing, a civilized assortment of gods, central heating etcetera. In fact you\u2019d have to say nothing for the following two thousand years really matched up. I\u2019ve certainly lived in houses in NZ that direly needed some of that central heating technology. Of course, they needed quite a few slaves to keep up their lifestyle, which doesn\u2019t quite fit with our modern sensibilities, and it did lead to trouble with the locals a few years after they arrived when Boadicea (as I\u2019m sure it was spelled when I was at school but now apparently Boudicca, pronounced Boo-dika) decided to rebel. She\u2019s a bit of a local hero here in Britain even though she did slaughter thousands during the uprisings she led. Oh well, not enough strong female figures in history so we\u2019ll take what we can get. After the Romans left, a bunch of other people came and did some sequential invading and things went dark.<\/p>\n
Finally, the Normans arrived to save the day (along with an ancestor of mine, Pierre de Maule, a close bud of William\u2019s I\u2019m sure), and they built an enormous castle over the top of the ruined Roman temple.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2B84E5AD-6B86-40D8-AEE3-FEA53A30728F.jpeg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n
Here is some graffiti in the castle stairwell dating back to those times. There\u2019s a Knight with rather long arms, and another one on a horse.<\/p>\n
We\u2019d had enough of Colchester by then so decided to pop into Dedham as it was nearby. Dedham Vale is officially recognized as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is known as Constable country because the painter John Constable did much of his paintings here. He went to the local Grammar school apparently, but instead of going scrumping, playing marbles, or having conker fights, he was out there appreciating the natural beauty. He really should have become a policeman, because that would have had much more comic potential – but, alas, it was not to be. After all this build up, we were willing to be pleased with the surrounding countryside, but after milling around a giant cow paddock with dozens of others for half an hour or so, we gave up and went home. It\u2019s no wonder the Brits are so impressed with NZ.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/4E0217BA-79BF-4218-B711-82E3AFF07D42.jpeg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A frantic start to the day, trying to get to Colchester in time for a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-3i","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":200,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/15\/ozzie-ozzie-ozzie-no-no-no\/","url_meta":{"origin":204,"position":0},"title":"Ozzie ozzie ozzie – no no no!","author":"Interloper11","date":"August 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Craft beer pub in Colchester Ahahaha","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/5E6F2B6A-A32B-4FB4-8A12-E7DAD4BB09A6-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13228,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/28\/still-thursday-paris\/","url_meta":{"origin":204,"position":1},"title":"Still Thursday! Paris","author":"Interloper11","date":"August 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Got to the gate before Simon in the end, and there was some sort of unexplained delay in boarding, but we got underway without too much delay. An uneventful 11 hour flight, and arrived at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris at 9pm. An hour later, we were letting ourselves\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13342,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/13\/saturday-12-september-vienna\/","url_meta":{"origin":204,"position":2},"title":"Saturday 12 September Vienna","author":"Interloper11","date":"September 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"We flew into Vienna at the same time we left Sibiu, as Vienna is one time zone to the West, and the flight took an hour. We took a taxi from the airport into the centre of town to our accommodation, and it cost 65 euros, whereas the others took\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_7351-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9983,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/14\/old-scheduling-email-mid-march-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":204,"position":3},"title":"Old scheduling email mid March 2018","author":"Interloper11","date":"April 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"As long foretold, the legendary third part of the ancient roster related communications triumvirate. Subject: Je suis malade Hi All, Lots of lurgies around at the moment. 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I must say I couldn\u2019t understand why I had such a big following in China. \u2026\u2026 Still no news from Gavin - should I\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_7405-225x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13308,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/06\/saturday-5th-september-sibiu\/","url_meta":{"origin":204,"position":5},"title":"Saturday 5th September Sibiu","author":"Interloper11","date":"September 6, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Uneventful trip last night Basel - Vienna - Sibiu. We had less than an hour between flights in Vienna but they\u2019re very low key, like regional flights really. No baggage X-rays, no customs checks , no passport control, simple. 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