Tuesday, December 18, 2001
Just got a call from Angela, who is assessing my Mother’s abilities at the hospital. The prognosis is not good.
Angela has diagnosed apraxia, which essentially means that Mom’s voluntary movements are significantly impaired and confused. In addition Mom is continually disoriented, and no longer seems to know where she is, or when it is.
Apparently my mother also now thinks that I am dead, killed by a flock of geese. I mentioned to Angela where this likely came from: I had told Mom when she was lucid last Wednesday that I was heading to a friend’s funeral, and that along the way we were stopping by Jenny’s place, who has a bunch of ducks and geese which Vanessa loves to see. Sad to see how this has all become muddled in my Mother’s mind.
Her condition is definitely not improving, and seems only to have gotten worse, possibly much worse. When she is released – which will not likely be before the holidays – it looks like assisted nursing in her own home is no longer an option. Not surprising, but the hope was there...
Book Review: Conquest: The Roman Invasion of BritainI haven’t quite finished this book, but I think I’ve read enough of this book to be able to review it.
I bought this book on a whim while visiting Lullingstone Villa in Kent back in May. I have always been interested in the subject, and years ago I read both Caesar’s account of his invasion attempts as well the mentions of it in Suetonius' account of The Twelve Caesars. This book has been on my shelf for a while now, and last week I finally decided to sit down and pour over it.
On the whole I find it a confused, poorly organized. The author manages to tease a surprising amount of info from the brief accounts of the invasion by contemporary Roman writer like Cassius Dio, Tacitus and Suetonius, and piece together a convincing thread of events and the places they most-likely happened. But the book jumps about from subject, talking about an impending battle, then discussing events which led much later to the Boudiccan revolt, then talking about how the courses of various rivers have changed since the 1st century AD. All very interesting, but the leaps from subject to subject and different timeframes makes it hard to piece together a coherent narrative of events.
Other than the maps of battle, the illustrations in the book appear willy-nilly, with a lot of pictures of men in re-enactments of Roman dress. For example, a section devoted to talking about the topography of Colchester is accompanied by a picture of "a detachment of XX Legion", where a survey map of Colchester would have been more pertinent.
The book does contain a number of interesting bits of information. One is the logistics of the invasion almost certainly means that extensive preparations must have been made during the reign of Claudius predecessor, Gaius Caligula. The author also goes to great pains to talk about the extensive preparations necessary in order to feed and provision the invading Roman army, delving into pre-WWI military texts for figures on how much feed was necessary per mule while on campaign. I also hadn’t realized how different and specialized the various legions of the Roman army could be, including the apparently decisive Batavian legion who surprised their British tribal foes by unexpectedly swimming across the Thames in full battle gear. Peddie also makes what I think is a convincing case for the events that must have unfolded in the 6-week period when Emperor Claudius was called from Rome to officiate the final battle for Camulodunum (modern Colchester), including the likely capitulation of the Trinovantes and the few remaining options left open for the increasingly besieged Caratacus.
Still, I would have preferred a more orderly construction of all of this information. While drawing upon the very latest knowledge from archaeological digs and some very educated guesses as to military deployment (the author is an ex-soldier), the end result is muddled. A good editor could have greatly improved this book.
If you care for another opinion, here's a more positive review of the book.
Erika Goes to See Harry Potter
When I got home last night, I found out that poor little Annie had finally succumbed to the chest cold that Erika and I have both had in turn. Vanessa had also been challenging her Mother’s authority over the course of the day, and it was obvious that both of them were pretty sick of the other. ;-) Monday nights are usually when Erika heads out to band practice, but the final practice of the year happened the previous weekend, so I offered to look after both kids while Erika went out to see a movie: perhaps Harry Potter?
After another minor skirmish with Vanessa, Erika decided to take me up on the offer, and she headed out for a 7:30pm showing of Harry Potter at the local theatre. Vanessa stayed up to watch some Xmas specials on the Family Channel and on YTV, and I let her stay up a little bit latter than usual as a treat – and because I was busy dealing with a tired but fussy Annie. Once Annie had fallen asleep in my arms after drinking about a quarter of a bottle of formula, I put her to bed, then I put Vanessa to bed. I vegged out in the living room in order to keep an ear out for a wakeful Annie, though I need not have bothered as it turned out.
Erika got back sometime after 10pm. She was exhausted, and said that truthfully she had been too tired to enjoy the film much. Erika enjoyed the film, but agreed with me that the director played thing very conservatively, and that there are no real surprises. Her favourite scene turns out to be when Harry chooses his wand. It was exactly as she pictured it would look like, with just the right touch of magic from the protagonist and from John Hurt who hit just the right note in his role as shopkeeper.
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