Looking 2000 years into the past and 40 into the Future

Writing things in advance poses a challenge.  This applies particularly when you are jumping time zones and anticipating events yet to come.  Presumably at time of posting in the Western Lands I'll  be awake and starting my walk up the hill to Vindolanda for the first day of excavating.  I assume the effects of Jet Lag Drinks Hour will be shaken off by plenty of black coffee and sheer determination.  

I never know exactly who will be on hand for the digging crew.  Oh, the core group of The Anaerobes have been accounted for.  Some will be there.  Others are dealing with publishers, with nappies that need changing, with life in LA.  Who knows, perhaps our young friend Will might turn up.  He excavated for one year back in 2016, at which time I imagined his return to the site.....in 2066.  So how are my predictions holding up at the ten year mark?  Here's what I imagined him saying:

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 "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." (1) 

"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." (2)

"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." (3)

"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, (4) 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."

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Our young friend Will went to Cambridge and has gone on to a career in comedy.  He's toured the US, he's been to fringe fests.  He's hard to find on social media, but actually did - here I'm being serious for once - win the 2025 UK Pun Competition.  I think he'd approve of this future version of himself.

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 1. Nailed this one.  A couple years later they built a very swanky, futuristic excavation centre.  This is my third "hut", and I like it the least.

2. My father in law made it to 103, both my parents to mid 90's.  So who knows.  And of course my Badger Trowelsworthy alter ego did strike that strange bargain with the Old Gypsy Woman...

3. Easy enough to pull off.  I still retire a pair of boots every three years or so and could start stashing them strategically any old time.

4. Was I prescient ten years ago anticipating the explosion of pronouns?