3840 Things never change

[LEFT]As almost all members on this forum are travellers by default I thought the story below might interest you.:)

MODERN CITY TRAVEL TAKES AS MUCH TIME AS IN ANCIENT ROME
(ANSA) - LONDON, May 30 The time people spend on travelling accounts for some five percent of their day regardless of whether they live in 21st-century London or had lived in Rome under Emperor Adrian, a study by professor Andreas Schaefer of the British Cambridge University showed. The professor studied Ancient Rome regional transit data and found out that people then spent some 80 minutes a day in moving around the city. The distance traveled has, however, significantly changed since then. "Nearly all the travel Romans did was below three miles, allowing them one trip from the city boundary to the centre and back, prof. Schaefer said. "The cities were designed so that someone could get to the centre and back in about an hour - the five percent time budget that we continue to live by today,'' he added. The arrival of the tram extended the daily return journey to about ten kilometres, while the car extended this to around twenty. "Under average congested traffic conditions, a motor vehicle will allow you to travel to and from the city centre within 1.2 hours,'' prof. Schaefer said. High-speed transport has significantly extended the traveling perimetre of commuters. "If you look back 20 to 30 years, you are unlikely to have found people coming to London from much further than Peterborough, which is some 100 kilometres away,'' said a spokesman for British railway company GNER. "Now we have a handful coming in from York, which is 300 kilometres away, he added[/LEFT]

Category
Travel & Holiday Advice

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 04:11

....things have changed; I couldn't see an ancient Roman on his cell shouting [i]"I'm nearly home love, but stuck in traffic!"[/i]

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 04:33

[QUOTE=tuscanhills]....things have changed; I couldn't see an ancient Roman on his cell shouting [i]"I'm nearly home love, but stuck in traffic!"[/i][/QUOTE]

... adding "Put the kettle on, love!" ;)

Ahhh so glad that Romans had similar problems - apart from the car fumes that is!

What did they do for entertainment on their way into the city? No radio in those days....

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 04:50

[quote=Iona]... ..apart from the car fumes that is!...[/quote]

what about the horse, cow & other assorted poo! At least car fumes only leave you with black bogies, but the 'side-effects' of a big dollop are harder to deal with :)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 04:52

LOL David - we live next to a riding school/stables and have horse dung all around the house !! Don't even notice it anymore. Still think it's healthier than that black smoke coming out of exhausts... ;)

I take it the Roman road system was pretty good - did their roads have drains so people's feet wouldn't get too muddy?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 05:45

Trust Iona and TuscanHills to turn serious historical research into a discussion on the pros and cons of fumes Vs the effects of animal bowel movements :D

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 06:05

Like you said Ron.. things never change! :D

I'm not sure about drains, but they had "stepping stones" so you could cross the roads Iona, evenly spaced so the wheels of the chariots could charge through at rush hour. :)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 06:12

[QUOTE=Anastasia]Like you said Ron.. things never change! :D

I'm not sure about drains, but they had "stepping stones" so you could cross the roads Iona, evenly spaced so the wheels of the chariots could charge through at rush hour. :)[/QUOTE]

How cool... wish there were some Ancient Romans left to sort out the roads in Edinburgh ... ;)

How did they travel in those days? I guess the rich & famous took horses or were carried in litters while the poor had to walk?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 06:22

I'm not quite sure Iona..

I know I'm eleventy seven.. but I wasn't even a twinkle in my fathers eye back then.. hang on a moment and I'll ask him.. he might know. :D :D

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 06:23

I found the novels of [url=http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk]Lindsay Davis[/url] offered some wonderful insights into the everyday life of a Roman; patricial to plebian.

The novels are based around the investigations of (Falco, was it?) who enjoyed the darker side of Roman life & were also filled with some splendid glimses into every-day events & lives.........give 'em a look ;)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 06:25

Cheers, David. Have heard of these novels before but haven't read any yet. Will check them out on that wonderful online bookstore... ;)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 06:31

Have you read the 'rants' on this link? Wonderful.. especially about 'corn'!

Thanks Tusk! :D

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 06:39

[quote=Anastasia]Have you read the 'rants' on this link? Wonderful.. especially about 'corn'!

Thanks Tusk! :D[/quote]

Prego!

These rants only serve to increase my admiration for the author.

.....now, back to Ronald's point

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 06:46

Ronni has a point? Oh yes, I remember .. but don't you know there is a crisis out there? Seriously! :D

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 07:38

Though if [url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5031974.stm]this story [/url]is to be belived some of the queues in Ancient Rome pre-dated Rome itself!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 07:47

She must of been run over by a chariot while crossing the road! Poor thing got trapped in between the stepping stones! :D

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 08:32

Brilliant story, David.

It sounds amazing to read that her burial place predates Caesar's assassination by around 1,000 years!!! :eek:

There are lots of Bronze Age finds throughout Italy and I'm not surprised that they found some in Rome. All through the ages, people often tended to settle on the same grounds, even if villages had previously been abandoned.

I wonder if the Romans found traces of Bronze Age skeletons & what they did with them???

See Ronald - the historian in me is dying to come out!! ;)