Bodhi Bum

So the week is over and another weekend has come around. Busy week at work, but the weekly report back to the client went well. My little progress spreadsheet had a lot more green lines on it than red, which basically means that I struck off a whole lot of controls this week, much more than the client was expecting. So I make the boss look good since he can do his weekly status report to his boss and show some stats that make him look like a great manager. So with the week done and the weekend here, I got up early Saturday morning and caught the early train to Chester. Chester is the capital of Cheshire, and a really old city with a lot of history. I passed through a few weeks back but didn't have batteries in my camera and didn't stop for long. This time I charged me camera and left the whole day open. The ride down was interesting, mostly since it turns out that there was a Chester V Stockton football match going on that day and the train was pretty much full of 16 year old football Hooligans. They were drinking the whole way and since there was only a few seats on the train I ended up having to sit right in the middle of them. As soon as they heard my accent I ended the focus of a little unwanted attention. I had to play the Canadian card, then next thing I know I'm doing football chants. I learned one new one that they plan on doing at the next World Cup in Germany. "Two World Wars and One World Cup, Doo Dah, Doo Dah". Not sure how that will go down with the Germans, but guess we'll see.
So the City of Chester is one of the little English cities which has a whole ton of history and a whole lot of blood in it's past. Chester is called the Gateway to Wales, since it's right on the Welsh border, and is the city where way back in the 16th century the English launched the all out assault on Wales to bring it into the big British empire. The city is originally an old Roman city, and the Romans built a big wall around it to protect it from the barbarian Welsh across the River Dee. It was an outpost back then, and it stayed that way far a long time for about 1600 years. And then the English had the bright idea that they wanted Wales too. So they used Chester to launch an assault into Welsh territory.
There's a whole lot history around Wales, and it's the only city in the UK that has a complete Roman Wall around it which still stands. Actually, the original Roman Wall was a lot smaller, but the Saxons in Medieval times extended it to wrap around the city right down to the River Dee.
The city itself was rebuilt up in Victorian times in the style of the Medieval architecture, with the white and black timber buildings. It's pretty noticeable around the town as it looks like an old Medieval city. But it ain't Medieval no more, since it's now a big old tourist city. This town where once the war against the Monarchy had the city bombarded with cannonballs, and thousands of people died. Now it's a big old tourist city with packs of Chinese tourists wander around snapping pictures.
So the big thing to do in Chester is to check out the Roman/Medieval Wall and take a walk around it. Which means walking around the entire city. So I figured that since I there, I may as well get a little exercise and walk the wall. turns out I wasn't alone. Seems to be a big weekend thing with the tourists and the locals.
It was a great day out and a whole lot of walking, but I got to see the city and get a bit of history in. Plus there's nothing better than finishing a good afternoon walk off with catching the England V Italy match. I only got the first half, then just made the end of the game back in Knutsford just off the train.
So it was a good Saturday afternoon. And now it's Sunday evening and the weekends pretty much over. Back to work again tomorrow, but ain't that just the way. The weekend comes, and next thing you know it's time to go back to work again. Oh well. That's life."