What If?..

[MARCVS PETRONIVS MAIVS]

Good grief Jo! - Move house mate!

Or just walk around brandishing your spatha. I generally find that works to discourage the ''local wildlife'' from manifesting themselves

If the police ask just say you are practicing drill manoeuvres for your next re-enactment event lol 8)

[Libitina]

Come to South Wiltshire Joanne. We just tree hug and feed ducks all day... if you ignore the inbreeding and Deliverance country that is.

[Memmia]

Good grief Jo! - Move house mate!

Or just walk around brandishing your spatha. I generally find that works to discourage the ''local wildlife'' from manifesting themselves

If the police ask just say you are practicing drill manoeuvres for your next re-enactment event lol 8)

The shooting and dog theft incidents didn't happen where I'm living now, but where I grew up. I'm glad to say the area has been cleaned up and many parts rebuilt since then and standards of living have improved, but it's a slow process. There are still some areas near here which are seen as no-go areas and crime, prostitution, drugs and gangs are part of everyday life for some people .I suppose it's the same with all inner cities though.
A little cottage in the countryside would be nice though! Even if everyone has no chin and eleven toes :wink:

Anyhow, this is going OT :oops:

[Libitina]

Anyhow, this is going OT :oops:

It wouldn't be right if a thread in Off Topic stayed On Topic

*goes off to count her toes*

[Memmia]

Anyhow, this is going OT :oops:

It wouldn't be right if a thread in Off Topic stayed On Topic

*goes off to count her toes*

One of my neighbours has three nipples.

[Libitina]

Anyhow, this is going OT :oops:

It wouldn't be right if a thread in Off Topic stayed On Topic

*goes off to count her toes*

One of my neighbours has three nipples.

I can't out-do that :lol: Although it is apparently quite common.

[Sean Manning]

Ugh. There are times I'm very glad I don't live in some parts of the US or the UK. That said ...

No, today we just have:

Kids gunned down over petty matters, a friend of mine was gunned down years ago over owing someone a pittance, I'll never accept that as long as I live. We all know of many other tragic incidents on the news. Where we see how cheap life can be.
A severe drug and drink problem- kids as young as 6 in casualty through intoxication. Thousands unable to work due to drink or drug related illness.
Up to 70% of kids on estates with a very bleak future, many destined to end up in jail, become prostitutes or end up dead.
Kids aged as young as 5 years old committing suicide or being anorexic due to low self esteem.
Pets stolen as bait for dog fighters- bloodsport is still alive and well- (we got the *******who stole our dog though).
Single mothers aged 13 or even younger.
Scores of people, and more recently newborn babies dying of superbugs in hospital.
AIDS
Mass genocide of civilians with the help of sophisticated weapons- in Europe too, not just Third World countries.
Scores of young girls in Europe forced into prostitution.
Obesity and heart disease on a mass scale- malnutrition on the flip side.
As for barbarians, well apart from those within who make it so that most of us in the UK are too scared to leave our homes at night, for very real reasons, not just moral panic, there are also the threats and incidents of terrorism.
I could go on.....

Again, sounds like most preindustrial cities.

Mass killing was an accepted part of Roman warfare, AIDS and superbugs are only worth noticing because we can cure most diseases, and drinking started young and became heavy in the past. And the only reason obesity and heart disease are a real problem is that most of us live past fifty ... Living in the slums of Rome, say, was not fun.

[Robert Vermaat]

Hi Joanne,

Look, I'm not saying your neighbourhood wasn't rough but trut me, growing up on a Roman estate would have been harder for the bottom of society. I did not mention the frequent plagues, did I? :?

a friend of mine was gunned down years ago over owing someone a pittance, I'll never accept that as long as I live.

Which exactly sums up the difference - while violence for no reason seems to be of all times, your attitude would not have been common back then.

[Memmia]

Hi Robert, the point I was trying to make is that yes, they had plagues in ancient times, unbelievable poverty and hardship to an appalling degree. Most cases though, they could do nothing to prevent it.
However, in modern times, we have the technology, scientific advancement and knowledge to ensure that everyone is well fed, clothed, educated and everyone should have enough. Yet we still see people even though they have access to free education, housing and health care willing to throw their lives away on drugs and alcohol, kill others over petty matters, enslave others to make a profit, or kill themselves- this is what I witnessed growing up and will never understand or accept. The disgustingly large divide between rich and poor, the soft laws regarding feral children, utter anarchy and haves and have nots. A child killing another over a pair of designer trainers, scores of babies dying in some countries, yet we have stockpiles of medicines and the transport to ensure they got it. Food mountains yet many are still starving.

This is what I think an ancient Roman would find abhorrant and hard to take about modern times- we have no excuse now except our own politics, low self esteem, selfishness and pig headedness- utterly, utterly senseless.

We should look back and label these times as the 'Dumb Ages" :wink:


Although, if the Romans had cures for poverty and disease, I wonder how they would have used them- have we really changed ? :?

[Robert Vermaat]

We should look back and label these times as the 'Dumb Ages" :wink:

I bet our descendants will do that for us! :twisted:

What you said about the Roman's reaction when they would see us - I bet they would be fascinated and yet horrified.

Yet it makes me wonder what will happen in future - did you notice that, when given a time machine, most people go back in time? :wink:

[Memmia]

Yet it makes me wonder what will happen in future - did you notice that, when given a time machine, most people go back in time? :wink:

Yes, I think we are all maybe too afraid to see a future that we have helped to create and are all ultimately responsible for.

Although, I think if we took some film footage of events that happen today and even the near future, and travelled back just forty years, people would probably still be more interested in playstations, today's cars and other advancements in gadgetry rather than the devolution of human morality and wellbeing in some sections of society. :roll:

[Decius]

that's how it goes.

[Memmia]

that's how it goes.

..and that's that!

[Decius]

yay!


( I should work on my english)

[Memmia]

yay!


( I should work on my english)

I was quoting a line out of 'Goodfellas'.

Your English is absolutely perfect. Ihre Englisch ist besser als mein Deutsch :wink: :lol: .