MORE STUFF

Hello all I though I'd add just a little more on Colchesters History, the subject being Boudica, who looms large in the towns history.

Boudica

She is Boudica, or Boudicca, or Boadicea, and she was Queen of the Iceni tribe of Britian, whose center is near modernNorwich, at Caistor St. Edmunds, in Norfolk. To their south were the Trinovantes of Essex, another Celtic tribe. The time is 61 CE, Nero is Caesar in Rome, and Romans were in control in Britian. They levied heavy taxes and enslaved the Celtic peoples, after 14 years of rule. The new govenor of Britian was Gaius Suetonius Paulinus. Nero had appointed him to take an agressive stand with the Britians to bring them into submission. Nero had given him carte blanche. Suetonius' first action had been to burn the Sacred Groves, as he felt that the Britians were too barbarous. This was in direct opposition to usual Roman occupation methods. Usually they would leave the rulers in place and treat them like vassal-kings. They would usually leave the religions intact, inserting the ruling Caesar as the latest addition to the local list of Gods and Goddesses. The burning of the Sacred Groves was just one more intolerance by the Romans. We have a wonderful picture of Boudica painted for us by Dio Cassius, a historian who lived and wrote a century after the Queen died. He appears to have much written history and eye witness accounts to draw upon to give us this description of her: "Boudicca was tall, terrible to look on and gifted with a powerful voice. A flood of bright red hair ran down to her knees; she wore a golden necklet made up of ornate pieces, a multi-colored robe, and over it a thick cloak held together by a brooch. She took up a long spear to cause dread in all who set eyes on her." It is also noted that her two statuesque daughters stood to the left and right of her. Boudica's husband and king was Prasutagus , who had signed a treaty making Nero co-heir to his kingdom, with his two daughters. He then died, but having no male issue, the procurator Decianus Catus (who was the financial officer) refused to bestow the rule on his wife or daughters. Tacitus, the Roman historian, writes in his Annals: "His kingdom and household were plundered like prizes of war.... As a begining, his widow Boudicca was flogged and his daughters raped. The Icenian chiefs were deprived of their hereditary estates as if the Romans had been given the whole country. The King's own relatives were treated like slaves." This set the stage for the Icenian Revolt. They were joined by their neighbors (occasionally enemies but in this instance, they joined the revolt) in the south, the Trinovantes, and Boudica led a line that marched from Norwich, to Colchester, to St. Albans and then into London, burning the Romans and her own people who were collaborators, as she went. London suffered the worst, as she considered that place the Roman stronghold. Suetonius had been in Northern England, as had Petillius Cerialis, on campaigns of their own against various other Celtic tribes. Upon hearing what Boudica was doing, they marched upon London, with their legions. Though we dont know exactly where they met, Boudica met up with Suetonius' and Petillius' legions somewhere outside of or just inside London. Victory turned to defeat.  There were many legends of what was said and done. But in the end, the Iceni were defeated, and the Romans showed no mercy, destroying all. Boudica was familiar with what the Romans did with captive warlords, shipping them off to Rome to be dragged through the streets, put on public display, made slaves, and living the rest of their days in captivity and dishonour. She took poison rather than meet this end. Today she is the romantic symbol of revolt and victory in the face of adversity. There is a bronze stateue of her, with streaming hair and a defiant profile, which stand outside the House of Parliament.

Firstly I ave to mention the fantastic weather we've been having, it really puts a spring in your step.

I've been quite busy a work I ave just recruited a new team (again, never ending in my job) we have quite an international team English Italian Brazillian, French Nigerian, and three of the new staff have birthdays close together 16/21/22/ May two of them excactly one year and a day apart!! is that Karma?

Tommorrow we start our new summer drinks and food menu so we had a staff meeting yesterday to sample all the new food and drink we got some of the customers involved too, again everyting is geared to July 1st when the No -Smoking ban comes into place, as all reports have suggested that food will be really huge as people who previously did not visit pubs/bars will now incrase due to being non-smoking, so therfore we have increased our range of soft drinks wines (Rose) mainly and ciders, as usual we'll have Pimms which is big favourite.

The quiz nite went well as always and even better I don't have to be quiz master as one of my customers has taken ovrer that job, ther same goes for the pool competitions, the only thing left for me to organise is our Latin American Night, hence why we are taking Salsa classes but I need a catchier name than above it seems in London everyones Salsa mad that event will be on 2nd June.

I'm going into my 14th week of no smoking however this week it's £910 saved\o/ also the new diet seems to be kicking in I have'nt weighed myself but definately losing.

Ihad a night mare journey on the train on Thursday night got to Liverpoolstreet stn and both the last trains were cancelled, due to overhead power cables being down, so we had to get a train to Shenfield and the the bus all stasions to Colchester I got home at 2.45pm as you can imagine I was not a happy bunny, also had to get up early on Friday as was stil subject to more delays got on the train at 7am and arrived at work 9.50am again not a happy bunny espeacially as I've caught a cold hand have been a bit poor;y the last few days.

I have put a guest book on my side bar please sign (only if you want to lol) I'm now going into pub quiz to try my luck.

Take care all

 

Love Yasmin

 

JUST STUFF

Roman History. Colchester was founded on the River Colne in the county of Essex. If history had turned out differently, Colchester could have been the capital of England instead of London. Indeed, at the time of Queen Boudica in AD60, it was the capital, although its name then was Camulodunum. Boudica led a local tribal community called the Iceni and until recently she was often referred to as Boadicea. Much of what we know about this period comes from the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus. When the Roman Empire invaded Britain in AD43 they made the capture of Camulodunum one of their main priorities. They quickly subdued the local defenders and built a fortress at the settlement. By AD49 the Romans mistakenly thought they had nothing to fear from the local tribes and the fortress became a civilian settlement populated mainly by retired soldiers and their families. It was named Colonia Claudia in honour of the Emperor, the first capital of the Roman Province Britannia.
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	In AD54 Claudius died and the Romans built the Temple of Claudius to worship his memory. However they made the mistake of heavily taxing the local Britains and using many of them as slaves in order to build the monument. They also forced the locals to worship there. This made the temple an object of great hatred amongst the local people and a symbol of the hate they felt for Rome. In AD60 Prasutagus, the Iceni king, died without a son to succeed him. The Romans refused to recognise Boudica and his daughters as heirs and instead assaulted the women. This was to ignite a revolt which led to the destruction of the Roman town at Colchester, and also later those at St. Albans and London. Boudica and the Iceni formed an alliance with another tribe the Trinovantes and attacked the now civilian town of Colchester. The colonial residents took refuge in the last remaining large substantial building, unfortunately for them the despised Temple of Claudius. Here they met their doom and were violently tortured and slaughtered and the temple burnt to the ground. Boudica and her army moved on to destroy St. Albans and London before she became over-confident and was defeated. The Romans returned to Colchester and this time built a defensive wall around the town of which about two-thirds can still be seen today. The Roman rule of Colchester was to last for over 400 more years.

I've been walking around the town today and Colchester is the oldest recorded town in Britain. I just copied this from the web site though it may interest some, quite a few of our journalers seem to know East Anglier and the surrounding ares quite well.

Well as usual a long week although in reality only 4 days, work was very hetic i'm recruiting again and have managed to take on 3 new staff all starting this week Monday-Wednesday so 3 lots of induction whic takes about 2 hours, also I don't have an assistant at te moment so things will be doubly hetic this week,I'll aslo have to work on Saturday as I'm running a training session on the new Summer Menu food and drinks range plus we will ave to do a food cook off so my collegues will be sending their staff along.

The next couple of monts are important as on July 1st the No Smoking ban comes into place there is so much legislatin involved and unfortunatly my pub is in te Borough of Westminster which is the most awkward of councils. In a nutshell there will be no smoking inside public buildings, as we have no outside drinking area it will be a bit difficult for us in the beginning and having to police the ban inside, the upshot is we ask anyone who is smoking to desist if they refuse we ask them to leave as they are breaking the law we are also breaking the law if we do not ensure that they are not smoking  inside we then have to record the incident to show due dilligence, however if enforcement officer comes in and catches smokers I could then be fined £80 on the spot as could any of my staff, so there is a lot of trainig to do it is the same process with underage drinking.

The weather has been glorious this week it's just been so nice to get out and about over the weekend.also managed to get some reading done (Harlen Coben) he's very good.

13 weks no smoking=£910 which has paid for my trip to New York next month, the diet on the other hand is not going so well just can't seem to get going but I will need to lose at least a stone by the time I go on my holiday, just to make room for all te food I'm going to eat LOL.

I'm watching Foyles war as I do this, Tv  has been poor this weekend.

Thats it for now

Hugs

Yasmin

 

SHORT HOLIDAY

Well the Easter holidays are almost over, it's funny we wait so long for this four days and it's over in the blink of an eye.

I for one have spen t most of my time online when not doing that ive managed to go out for some nice walks as the weather has been glorious, i've had all the windows open spring is definately in the air.

It's been quiet in Colchester as we are very close to the coast I think a lot of people have spent the last couple of days at the beach.

I'm back at work tommorrow after being off for 10 days which includes Easter I don't relish the early morning commute, but looking forward to being back at work, also it's quiz night on Wednesday as well as Champions League football so I may not be so busy.

I booked my holiday to New York we go mid May for seven days, we got quite a good deal we managed to get a one bedroomed suite all for £792 each this includes flight taxes etc, not bad eh.

Had some help from pharmolo Northern trip for helping me add some stuff to my blog, if you look I now have a guest book which please sign if you want took me a couple of attempts but finally got it up and running (Thanks Guido) I've also set up a wesite which was quite easy I got all this from www.Bravenet.com most of all the stuff is free and like I said quite easy to navigate.

I've aslo managed to catch up on my reading Harlan Coben on the go at the moment, just waitng for the latest James Patterson to come into paperback.

Ok then I'm just off to have dinner well a takeaway (Chinese) and I'm going to watch Diamond Geezer (David Jason) other than that nothing else planned.

Have a Good Evening Everyone

Hugs

Yasmin

sorry is this going to go out twice?

12 weeks no smoking

I LOVE THIS

I actually never do these ~but as you can see ,today Idid !

1. Are you a child of the 70s, 80s, or 90s?

I was born in 1964 so the 1980's

2. Where were you born?

At St Marys Paddington London

3. What kind of home did you grow up in?

Council flat til the right to buy came in and mum bought our council house

4. Did you enjoy your childhood?

Yes, we were a one parent family and mum worked really hard we did'nt have a lot but on the whole things were pretty good. Our highlight was our annual Holiday to Broadstairs.

5. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A Singer
6. What do you want to be now?

Happy slim healthy a lottery winner(joke)
7. What was your first best friend's name?

Tina Bates

8. Is she still your friend?

Sadly we lost touch years ago I still think about her
9. Can you name all the schools you ever attended?

Keeble mixed infants Brentfield mixed infants/juniors Braintcroft mixed infants/juniors/ William Gladstone Secondary school (sadly no longer there)

.

10. Were you closer to your mom or dad as a kid?

As it was just my mum, she was mum and dad to us both

11. What was the first record, tape or CD you remember buying?

  The osmonds Crazy Horses

12. How old is a good age to have kids?

 No idea never had any, however when the time is right 

13. Are you scared of anything?

Spiders hands are already sweating lol

14. What was your favourite class in elementary school?

English Needle work

15. Did you buy school lunch or bring your own?

 Had school dinners

16. Broken any bones or had any freaky accidents as a kid?

 Fell over hit my chin asnd had one stitch, always twisting my ankles

17. Were you a mean kid?

No the usual i think 

18. Favourite board game of all time?

 Draughts ludo

19. Did you play house or pretend to be a super hero?

 Play house even had the mini tea set i was a real girlie

20. Seriously, are you still just a kid at heart?

 my alter ego seems to think so  

hugs Yasmin xx

 

 

INTROSPECTIVE

I was having a conversation yesterday with one of my online friends, we were chatting about this and that girlie stuff and the usual question came up Yasmin why are you still single??.

Firstly I don't mind being asked the question but why does it to some people define who I am, I very rarely ask people why they are married, because I see them on there own merits not there marital or single status.

The usual question I get is that your now 42 so if you did marry you will not be able to have children.

My reply to that is I've never been particulary maternal I know this means nothing in it's self however children have never been part of my lifes plan and I refuse to feel guilty about it. Nowadays you don't need to married to have children which judging by what I see is prooved a hundred times over.(More education in this area).

The other comment is that "you must be lonely"

Why must I be lonely, there is a  big difference between being alone and lonely and there have been times in my life when I have felt both those emotions and no doubt will feel that way a few more times. Everybody goes through it at some time.

Let me see :

I have a good job (essential for paying the bills) which I enjoy very much but is not my whole life.

I enjoy reasonably good health (giving up smoking will help that)

I'm definatly overweight (always fighting with that one) giving up the dreaded weed has added more pounds)

I'm friendly and interested in others, I think I'm kind and understanding,

I have my bad points like everyone else too numerous to list here LOL

I'm a great cook hence the weight love wine especially as i've got older

I read a lot at least 3 books per week (really)

Huge movie fan especially the old black and whites ( have a DVD collection of over 300 films)

Socialising Salsa Dancing Theatre Travel Adventures(as and when they happen)

Writing my Blog not always interesting but love doing it, enjoy reading other journals love hearing everybodyies views and having a snapshot into so many lives.

enjoy looking after my two cats but I thinks it's the other way round.LOL

My greatest Inspiration was my mother now there was a lady who lived by her own rules.I will do a seperate entry about her. However mum was very independant and taught me the value of an good education and always looking for the good in others and never letting our differencesget in the way of how we treat people, although I think secretly she would have like to have bounced granchildren on her knee she never chided me for not having children or being married her question was always "Are You Happy" cos if your not change something or do it differently.

So to answer the question why am I still single I really don't know but as I have got older it seems to matter less than it did 10 years ago! I have had opportunities but it never seemed to be the right time sadly. I like male company and they seem to like me maybe I'm just not the marrying kind. I do wish they would remove the word spinster from official forms makes me feel like Miss Haversham LOL

Will I find true love you never know it would be nice to have someone to share with, but I'm lucky in that I have very good friends to share those special moments with, although they still insist on me joing dating sites etc the next thing is speed dating I'll go cos it sounds like a laugh but with no real expectation LOL. but you never know whats around the corner, but I hope it's that I maintain and invest in my friendships, keep of the dreaded weed lose some weight enjoy good health and enjoy life to the full alone or with that special someone.

until then

Happily Single

 

Yasmin

ps sorry terrible picture taken with my webcam need to get more done

HELP

Hi all

 

Just some help I want to add pictures and graphics to my blog needs dressing up a little also want to create a visitors book you get the general idea, I'm useless at this kind of thing so can you help what sites to use etc

 

Hugs

 

Yasmin

IT'S BEEN AWHILE

Hello all

It's been a while since my last post, the best news first I've finished my 10 week course so I am now officially a non-smoker, now going into my 11th week \o/ it has been really difficult but worth it , I start the diet this week 16lbs to lose.

I'm currently on holiday from work and having a massive spring clean at home my neighbour and myself hired a skip just a small one, so much junk to get rid of you just do'nt realise still got tommorrow to go and all should be done.

My friend George and I have finally booked our hoilday to New York in May can't wait for that also were taking an excursion to Boston for the day so should be good fun.

Work was very hetic in the run up to my time of my assistant mgr was reinstated after his suspension, so far so good, quiz night are going great guns also were staring our pool compettitions by  mid May.

At work we are also preparing for the new smoking law so were having to find lots of activities for customers to stay in the pub when can no longer smoke indoors, so hence quiz pool nites music karaoke changes in the menus might now be doing breakfasts!!

My salsa classes start next week we found a place at Charing cross which sounds good they give you your lesson and then when the club opens you go downstairs and put it into practise this can be part of my get fit routine, especially before I go to NY as I will shop like mad for new clothes.

The weather the last couple of days have been glorious but cold and windy but it's nice to let the sun in I went for a walk early this morning very invigorating, at least spring is here and the evenings are lighter.

I'm going out for dinner tonight local chinese (my favourite) at least no cooking back to work on Wednesday but luckily have Easter off this year so timed just right.

thats it for now

Yasmin