Vindolanda 2066

2016 was another fun season at Vindolanda.  Good digging, fun people.  In addition to the usual crew we had the pleasant company of a young lad named Will, Break Year slumming a bit before going off to a Big Name University.

He was a good sport about it all.

Will is the young and slightly puzzled fellow in the above photo.

I have gotten used to being twice the age of young adults and now have to face the reality of being, as in this case, three times their age.  But this does appeal to my odd sense of humor.

Will took to excavating readily.  Who knows, he may become a regular.  I imagine him on site fifty years hence regaling a generation yet unborn....

"Stop yer whinin' ya mewling cubs.  Why I started digging here long before we had HoverBarrows and back when your fancy Excavator's Spa and Therapy Centre was nothin' more 'an a hut with mud on the floor."

"Ah, we had some times back then, we did.  The Terrible Ancients still strode the land.  Their pint glasses held a gallon and every spade they threw filled a barrow.  Gone they are now, all over the edge of the spoil heap to wherever we all tumble"

"Except....except maybe The Old Badger.  They say that years ago - this would be after Her Ladyship passed of course - he was tricked into entering a Care Centre.  The day after his hundredth birthday party he opened his eyes and looked about slyly."

"He mumbled something about walking to Vindolanda, but of course none of the nursing staff paid him much mind.  That was their mistake because before they knew it he had tossed the blanket off his lap and jumped up wearing a pair of old hiking boots he had been hiding somewhere."

"He was out door before they knew it and hasn't been seen since."

"I've watched for him every May since then, but I'm getting a bit rusty myself and turn the task over to you now.  Oh, m' Lads, Lassies and Othertypes, you may think he'll never get here, but I wouldn't bet against him.  It's a long walk and the road is not straight.  But I never knew him to give up on a thing he set his mind to."

"Yes, he's overdue, but when he felt like walking he never would consider accepting a ride."