tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79287694559301639232023-11-15T06:36:02.154-08:00ED SMITH - CRIME & MYSTERY WRITERAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15459671422564355990noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7928769455930163923.post-59027030216234462852013-04-18T09:03:00.000-07:002013-04-19T17:30:32.795-07:00FACE - AN M A MAITLAND NOVEL first 250-ish<br />
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Giotto_face_restored.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Giotto_face_restored.jpg" width="276" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The
girl sensed the moment when their intentions changed. It was the tone of their
voices that made her increase her stride. But her need to not lose face made sure she
wouldn’t let the half-hearted excuses spew out. Of course, she could turn
back and head for the school building and see if anyone was still hanging
about. Some teacher. One of the cleaning team who should be knee-deep in the
toilets by now. Or, the single black eyes that filmed the corners where the
accidental injuries were most likely to happen. It wasn’t that she needed
protection. Just because, then someone would know who she’d been with
after school. She wouldn’t let her show fear. Common sense was weakness
when she had to do the daily walk to school with these boys. And, there was no
way out of it. They'd asked. She'd said Yes. And, one way or another, everyone was going to know what happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> She figured she could handle it.
They were three, so it wasn’t like she could fight it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> The playing field behind the old
building was edged with trees, the short thick ones with thorns that ripped liked
filed acrylics or light tap from a styling comb. The contractors had laid an orange plastic path to save their vans from sinking into the mud but the rain and the
heavy moving equipment had shown that right. It was cold, but not so cold the
rain had eased off. The dark grey clouds weren’t troubled by white and the rain
was persistent. It was the heavy rain that washed out any thoughts she’d
had about maybe legging it. Being labelled spineless, and worse. If all they
had was outdoors then whatever happened would be quick. She pulled up the collar
of her blazer, pushed her hands deep into the pockets, and rolled her hips as she walked. Then she followed the orange brick road to the mobile office the
building crew had dropped into the school field where they were digging foundations for the new building.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15459671422564355990noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7928769455930163923.post-8186334193308066642012-12-03T14:15:00.001-08:002012-12-03T14:53:10.862-08:00MILLET A MAITLAND: On Fleam Dyke <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/02/24/06/2240630_92ef481e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/02/24/06/2240630_92ef481e.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a dull bit - there's more drama,<br />
and more archaeology,<br />
in other places.<br />
photo: John Sutton CCL</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">MY
CREDENTIALS:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Born:
</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Millet
Arnold Maitland, England<b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Physical
Characteristics: </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">5’11’’, black hair, watery blue eyes,
glasses, wiry build<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Education:
</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">with
the aid of a scholarship, I attended Penville College, Cambridge University,
read for a Masters of Ancient History degree Forcibly removed after completing
studies, I joined every dig I could find until the money ran out. Later, I
pursued a teaching career teaching in a range of secondary schools<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Former
Occupation: </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">For two terms each year I worked as a
teacher: Middle and Secondary School experience <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the summer term, I threw myself into archaeological
digs: I excavated sites in various counties/</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;">countries </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">sometimes when political situations
could make an archaeologist look for danger money. The past – like a child -
has to be saved, it can’t save itself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Present
Occupation: </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Supply teacher – no school refused although
danger money is often demanded.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">SELECTING AN </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">ARCHAEOLOGICAL</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> DIG SITE FOR 2013 </span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">If I don't stick with my original plan to put a pin in the centre of my map
of the Roman Roads of Derbyshire and request permission to dig there, I'm
probably going to end up in Cambridgeshire. I'm not saying where.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I'm researching, and narrowing down my options.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">There's a high bank and ditched barrier running from Balsham to
Fulbourn. In the past, before all the wear and tear, it was massive. Fleam
Dyke. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The name Fleam may derive from the Old English for “flight” or
“fugitive”. This kind-of confuses me. Does anyone ever build a barrier to help people escape more easily? No. I
don't think I fall into the camp that thinks it's more about imprisoning them
either. Planning to run away? Let me stick out my fleam and trip you up. If you
build a ditch and a wall, the chances are you're planning to keep somebody out.
Obviously, if I was able to dig at the site and found stakes pointing inwards
instead of out, I'd change my mind and believe the defence <i>wasn't</i> built to keep
trouble out of the wuffing kingdom of Norfolk and Suffolk.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Today, Fleam Dyke is a footpath. Less visibly, it’s a parish boundary. I
would say the presence of Fleam Dyke makes the area monumentally important.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mutlow Hill, a Bronze Age round barrow, that butts along the edge of the
earthwork was important long before any Anglo-Saxon decided it would make a
better place for a wall rather than a meeting place.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As if 4,000 year old cremated burials weren’t enough, rare third century BC Greek coins were found
close to the burial mound.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unsurprisingly, those canny Romans planted a temple on Mutlow Hill. It
perched way up there, on the top of a hill, overlooking key junction of several
routeways including the Icknield Way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Historians have been studying this part of Cambridgeshire for a long
time - in short bursts -although slightly longer in duration than a Time Team
visit. The investigations in 1921-2 established that the construction was
post-Roman, that no causeway had been left for access along the Icknield Way,
and that an Anglo-Saxon estate charter of 974 mentions the Dyke as part of its
boundary. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Scientific techniques helped with the analysis. Fleam Dyke had more than
three distinct building phases. The shells of buried snails showed that the
defences had been built on gazed grassland and disturbed ground. And,
interestingly, a fourth century Roman coin was also found beneath the bank.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #373737; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Reference: Malim T<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><em style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">et
al</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"> </span></i></span>1997 ‘New Evidence
on the Cambridgeshire Dykes and Worsted Street Roman Road’.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">Proceedings
of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society</span></em>Vol. 85, pp. 27 – 122.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I FIND THAT MOST THINGS THAT ARE UNREASONABLY HIGH. OR IMPOSSIBLE LOW, ARE TOTALLY IRRESISTIBLE. WHAT DO YOU FIND IRRESISTIBLE?</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15459671422564355990noreply@blogger.com0