Deva 2.

Today, like last November, Thud and I took a quick drive over to Chester.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so after we had done some of the usual things that we have always done when we visit Chester - have a coffee, visit my favourite wine shop, walk on some of the Roman wall - we stopped in the Roman Garden for a sit in the sun.  The garden is really a mishmash of  broken columns, pieces of  stonework and a reconstructed hypocaust that were all relocated from various other parts of the city centre.
There are always classes of school children on field-trips in the garden, and other places around town, learning about the Roman way of life.  At the back of this photograph you can see one such school group being put through their paces by a young legionary who is wielding a rather large sword.  I have to say the costumes the actors wear look rather good, albeit to my untrained eye.  However, when we were walking back along the river to the car another legionary passed us and he was holding a metal-capped, wooden staff in his hand.  "Wrong," Thud said, "he should be carrying a vitis."  Indeed, a vine-stick would have been more authentic.  Sin, sin, sin, dex, sin...