Last Sunday 4th August 2013 I gave a talk and
reading from my first novel at Letocetum Roman Museum, Wall, near Lichfield,
Staffordshire. This site saves itself from you until the last moment, as you
climb the steps and enter between tall hedgerows; you are deceived very briefly
as your eyes scan a green field and then you see it; sunken in the ground, the
low ruins of a ‘mansio’, bathhouse and inn. You can imagine these
buildings in their hey-day, nestled into the ground atop this hill, with
uninterrupted views of the surrounding Staffordshire countryside. I wondered
about travellers arriving down Watling Street, wind-beaten and weary and glad
of a bath, a drink and a night’s comfortable sleep.
