text:
of Rome, June 455]
The highway
east of the Alban hills was largely deserted. The villages
became sparser and smaller, yellow-brown villages of mud
brick, apparently maintained for the benefit of crows and
pigs. The people stared after Adriana with grave eyes:
rustic folk, singers of dismal songs, earnestly devoted to
pig-keeping. The air took on a highland crispness. Adriana
dozed briefly under a chestnut tree; a passing herd of
pigs woke her, and she hurried away, leaving a dust-cloud
and several crushed lizards in her path.
She drove
into the walled yard of a decaying villa when the mules
needed rest again. With luck, the place would have a
working fountain, or at least rainwater in the peristyle
garden. The South had great forlorn villas wherever vines
and wheat had once been grown. Many were empty now; some
were inhabited by people who dried their infrequent wash
on the statues, people who threw slops off the balconies,
herded pigs in the ornamental pools, piled manure in the
porticoes, stabled donkeys in the dining-rooms.
She watered
the mules at the stableyard fountain, rubbed them down,
and let them rest in a patch of shade. By the sun she
judged that it was late in the day; she had already begun
to lose track of time. It was Tuesday, she assured
herself. On Saturday her servants had begun assembling
travel gear, the elaborate decoy that still cluttered her
stableyard in Rome. On Monday the pope's two nuns,
Adriana's intended companions, had been sent out of town
by the Via Latina with only a vague idea of their mission,
and driven to Anagnia in a wide circle, spending two
nights on the road. Later on Monday, the trusty Bassus and
a companion had left for Capua by the Appian gate with
Adriana's gold and her essential gear, driving their
mules at top speed southeastward through the swampy
lowland along the seacoast.
Now, on
Tuesday, Adriana herself had slipped away. She had done
her best to leave contradictory trails everywhere.
Faustinus's face would have been pleasant to see, like
the face of a dog that had bitten into a wooden leg, when
his clumsy informants came back knowing less than when
they had left.
Still she
had to deal with the pope's women, waiting at Anagnia.
She knew nothing of either Sister Blanda or Sister Probina,
except that Probina's father had been a mysteriously
influential presence in the Subura, reputedly a
professional assassin.
The sun's
rays were long; in the distant mountains, blue smoke
curled up from the camps of charcoal burners. Adriana
chose to spend the night rather than press on to the
roadside inns near Vitellia. The villa and its grounds had
attracted no other wayfarers; the ruined stables would be
comfortable enough. She ate the last of her hard-boiled
eggs and drank a little wine to make herself sleepy. At
nightfall she wrapped herself in her cloak and slept
soundly in a drift of hay, in a clean corner of the
roofless building, trusting the animals to wake her in an
harnessed the mules at the crack of dawn and whipped them
up into a brisk trot on the deserted highway. She felt
safer, less exposed, now that she was within galloping
distance of the mountains. Country roads, snaking over the
river-plain, furnished avenues of escape. One could
perhaps disappear into the olive groves that grew in smoky
ranks along the highway, or into the deserted farmsteads
that lay in the shadow of the heights.
At last
Anagnia appeared on its hill a mile north of the highway,
a collection of red roofs enclosed by decayed walls. A
chaste brown cisium from the pope's stables
waited in the shadow of a villa wall near the road. The
pope's driver whisked flies away from his mules; his two
passengers, unmarried women loosely attached to the
Lateran convent, sat on either side of him, whisking flies
away from themselves.
By reflex,
Adriana scouted the neighborhood to be sure that her
enemies were not waiting in ambush. Satisfied, she reined
up her carriage in the shade. The pope's driver made a
sitting bow; the women ignored her until she introduced
"I am
Marcella Adriana."
be with you," they said crisply in unison.
also with you," Adriana said.
The women
wore identical deep-blue tunics and mantles, and sat in
identical postures under identical parasols. Adriana
disliked and mistrusted Sister Probina instantly. The
woman had a carefully managed childlike air about her, as
if she could be made to believe that the Dog Days came in
January. In unguarded moments, however, she had the
expression of a libertine and a habitual liar, given
emphasis by the enormous mole on her left cheek. Sister
Blanda was much the larger woman. She had imperfectly dyed
hair above a moon-face with a mustache, and a pair of
large breasts that appeared to have been borrowed from
another sort of person altogether. Her voice was sermonic,
hoarse from complaint. It frequently trailed away into
small coughing that had only a rhetorical connection with
the dust of the day.
enlisted Decimus, the pope's boy, in attending to her
mules, rubbing them down, cleaning their feet, feeding
them a crude mash moistened with spring water. The beasts
ate eagerly. She set them out on a long tether to pick
away at the grass. Her favorite of the two, a black
saddle-mule with a lively gallop, put his nose in her
hand. She rubbed his long ears gently; the animal bent
down his head, pressed against her, and stretched his neck
with satisfaction.
carriage of yours," Sister Blanda spoke up, still
seated in the pope's rig, "appears to be something
of an heirloom."
of the moment," Adriana replied sweetly. "The
one I use ordinarily has much more snob appeal."
have not taken the Via Appia," Sister Blanda said in
a voice of injury, her mustache twitching discontentedly.
"My assumption was that we would take the Via Appia
through Formiae."
was a possibility," Adriana said. "It is still a
possibility. Do you have a fondness for the Via Appia?"
"It is
not important," Sister Blanda said, in a tone that
suggested it was very important indeed.
down and have a biscuit," Adriana said consolingly.
"It's pleasant country, isn't it?" She
gestured at the majestic hills and the fertile
river-plain, highly cultivated, dotted with serfs laboring
in the harvest-time heat.
In the
shade of the villa wall, Adriana passed out biscuits.
Sister Blanda left no doubt as to the heat of the day. She
fanned herself with one hand and manipulated her parasol
with the other, and complained that the radiation from the
highway pricked her cheekbones and eyeballs like needles.
Years of whining had crippled her voice. It buckled and
dragged like a beggar's leg under the weight of her
offered her a wineskin.
you," Sister Blanda said, with the air of one
receiving her due, and swallowed half the contents. She
raised her eyes and her mustache to heaven.
"It is
an affliction, simply an affliction," she whispered,
apparently to the angels. "Never again will I leave
Rome, except to go to the mountains if I suffer too much
in the summer. Of course the city is so unsafe that one
expects to be murdered in one's bed. Not that it matters
much to me. My life isn't so pleasant that I'd cling
to it like a pagan. No, this life is largely a penance for
one's sins."
Your Piety can have no sins," Adriana said
yes," Sister Blanda said, "and many more when I
was young." She glared accusingly at Adriana.
"Yes," she continued, "I'm glad the Lord
made me unattractive to men. If he hadn't done so, I'd
be in hell today."
The wine
and biscuits disappeared. When Blanda had secured
everyone's attention by getting a crumb stuck in her
throat, she began to gather up remnants of biscuit from
the trampled grass.
must not despise these fragments of heaven's
mercy," she droned, popping them into her mouth,
"or we'll have to pick them all up with our
eyelashes in hell. I'll ride with you, madam, to
distribute the burden equally among our mules, poor
carriages rolled out of the shade into the highway, and
eastward through the sunny river-plain of the Trerus. The
scenery was a pleasant diversion from Sister Blanda's
conversation: a succession of tidy olive-groves and villas
bowered in cypress.
you quite certain this is the road to Formiae?"
Sister Blanda demanded. "I've been told that the
Via Appia passes through lowlands and swamps, and that one
can see the sea. I have not seen the sea since we left
Rome. Nor have I seen a swamp."
are many roads south, Sister," Adriana said quietly.
"We choose our path according to our
She whipped
up the mules so the wind would carry away Blanda's nasal
you have children?" Sister Blanda shouted with an
indescribable expression.
boys. They died."
yes. Bitter, bitter, is the pleasure of children, born in
pain and reared in sorrow. In this, as in so much else, we
women are the devil's gateway, unsealers of the
Forbidden Tree, each one of us an Eve, bearing Cains to
slaughter Abel. Eh! This is not the road to Formiae!"
glared accusingly.
brought the mules to a walk. The measured rhythm of their
hoofs gave point to her words.
once knew a jackass," she said evenly, "who
argued with his master. One day the ass was carrying a
load of hay down a very narrow street. He turned to his
master and said, 'I don't want to go this way.' He
tried to turn around, and got stuck between two tenements.
His master was so angry that he broke the jackass's head
and had him dragged away. So he went down the narrow
street after all. Do I make myself clear?"
Blanda opened her mouth and snapped it shut like the lid
of a box. They rode in silence the rest of the way to
As the
brown walls of the little city came into view, Adriana
cheered herself with the hope of a decent meal. She had
been in Frusino as a child, in October, making the rounds
of her maternal relatives' estates in the valleys of the
Trerus and the Liris. Her mother had been delighted to
find green figs, a dozen for a copper piece, and peaches
and melons almost without charge. In every working villa
in the neighborhood, brown boys, singing wildly, had been
treading the juice out of the grape-harvest. She thought
of the season with a rush of nostalgia: the dry cool
nights and mellow days, with their great golden distances
that melted into the highest hills, and the hills into the
sky, and the sky, as she thought then, into heaven itself.
Frusino stood for her bright childhood.
She drove
up to the inn through lengthening olive-shadows. It was
rickety but clean, with a roadside balcony that seemed
about to fall on the heads of the old men who leaned
against the wall below, drinking wine from a skin and
spitting into the highway. The stableyard was a congenial
shambles. Mules were champing barley with much noise;
naked children splashed in the fountain; dogs scratched;
weary travelers leaned against the wheels of lumbering rhedae
and scratched in rhythm with the dogs; a nervous horse
snuffed at each traveler in turn, as if looking for one
that was edible.
innkeeper himself greeted Adriana and directed the
stabling of the mules and carriages, with grand flourishes
and bellowed commands.
but it's filthy!" Sister Blanda exclaimed, her red
eyes traveling over the innyard.
of it as highly spiced," Adriana suggested.
the role of freedwoman, she made arrangements for the
night. The pope's boy would sleep in the stables. Blanda
insisted on a room of her own, in which to do penitential
rituals. Adriana took separate rooms for Probina and
herself as well.
it be impertinent to inquire," Blanda asked when the
arrangements were concluded, "when one may expect to
arrive in Formiae?"
not going to Formiae, Sister," Adriana answered with
icy sweetness. "We're going to Capua."
Blanda upper lip went white under her mustache.
to Formiae?"
To Capua. To the Mercury Inn, exactly."
The nun's
expression changed dramatically. Blanda shivered and
dabbed at her brow, though it was dry.
believe I have a touch of fever, madam," she said,
coughing weakly.
sorry to hear it, Sister," Adriana said.
With a
piteous wag of the head, Blanda speculated that she was
becoming ill—yes, ill, Lord be thanked for his
disciplinary mercies.
meal and a night's sleep will do wonders for your
health, Sister," Adriana said gently.
innkeeper's daughter, followed by three identical maids,
led the women to their three identical rooms, simple,
whitewashed, with a view of the mountains north of town.
After a brief tour of the baths, Adriana put on a clean
tunic and went to the stables to assure herself that the
mules were well cared for. All four stood in beds of soft
straw, champing grain. She returned to the inn, preparing
to listen to Blanda's complaints over supper.
our stomachs are going to be tried and tested,"
Sister Blanda said in a voice weakened by illness,
"like gold in the furnace. It has pleased God to give
me bad digestion."
The three
women and the pope's driver sat down to do battle with
the flies, dust, and noise. The innkeeper waited on the
table himself. Ah, the dear people of Rome, how can one
love them enough? his grin seemed to say. He swooped
down with soup, a roasted pig's liver flavored with
myrtle smoke, and the hearty dark wine of the countryside.
He bustled about with dishes and bottles. He attacked the
children and old crones who whined for coppers at the
inn-windows, and chased two dogs, a cat, and a hen that
wandered through the dining-room inspecting the floor for
The house
wine was none too tasty but full of spirit. It thickened
Adriana's head, for which she was grateful, because it
took the edge off Sister Blanda's mournful conversation.
Sister Probina ate very little. She sat silently fingering
her winecup, watching the door, taking no part in the
conversation. Her white face was twisted with
apprehension, for reasons Adriana was too tired to
In a
severely depleted voice, Sister Blanda expressed her
dissatisfaction with the meal. The liver had the texture
of boiled harness. The soup had been made from dead cats.
The wine set her wheezing. The noise in the innyard made
her skin prickle. One could cough for months and not do
justice to the smoke from the kitchen. The whole meal
reminded her of the Day of Doom, with brimstone.
"It is
a chastisement, sent from the Throne for our
improvement," Sister Blanda said weakly, with a face
of apocalyptic woe.
Her health
declined toward disaster. Her voice was almost gone. She
tested it from time to time with a careful little cough.
Her bowels were weak; the jostling had done them no good;
she was afraid of embarrassing herself. Her nerves were on
edge. She was, in fact, violently ill—yes, ill, as the
Lord would have it, away from her own little room in Rome.
felt Sister Probina's eyes on her. She turned to the
pale, silent woman, who quickly turned away. Was the
reality of Blanda's illness open to question? She was
unwilling to argue.
she said to the pope's boy, "in the morning you
must drive Sister Blanda back to the city."
In the glow
of a hand-lamp Adriana climbed a wooden staircase to her
room. Her bed was clean, uninfested, delicately scented
with lavender. She sank into it, aching pleasantly, and
watched a family of swallows dart to their nest under the
eaves that overhung her window. Waiting for her mind to
quiet itself into a doze, she heard the small clatter of a
night-traveler's preparations in the innyard, followed
by the landlord's sleepy "Heaven be with you,"
and the rhythm of hoofs and wheels fading westward on the
road to Rome.
She fell
asleep at last, saying her prayers: For good soup, and
sweet air from the hills, and a bed without fleas, and a
night away from the voice of Sister Blanda, Good Lord be
At dawn
Adriana was wide awake, pleasantly starved. She dressed
and went to the stables. A few guests were already mounted
for the road, half asleep, bloat-faced and red-eyed,
leaning to and fro in their saddles. She picked her way
through a jumble of bales and asses' ears, looking for
her rig and the pope's. Her own was where the
stable-boys had put it. Her mules saw her and nodded with
A close
presence was behind her, like a wet dog. She turned and
looked into the milky face of Sister Probina, with its
disconcerting mole.
be with you," Probina intoned.
Your Piety have any idea," Adriana asked, "what
could have happened to the pope's boy, the pope's
carriage, and Sister Blanda?"
returned to Rome last night," Probina said gravely,
as if she were announcing a Mystery of the Church.
"She was so ill. 'I must return to
Rome,' she said. 'I will not be sick away from
my own little bed.'"
rather be sick on the highway than in a strange bed?"
Adriana puzzled.
in Probina's attitude suggested the whorehouse rather
than the cloister. Was it her simper, or her settled
indifference to ideas, or the gaudy ring she wore on her
right forefinger and twisted incessantly?
The innyard
was filling with flesh and noise. Dogs barked; mules
jingled their bells. Drivers bawled for the right of way;
asses brayed them down.
and I are to continue together, then?" Adriana asked,
hoping for a refusal.
Your Charity is willing."
sooner we leave, the better," Adriana said, irritated
by Blanda's wordless departure, glad that she was gone,
irritated that Probina had not gone with her.
She ate
boiled eggs, settled her account with the innkeeper,
tucked her meager effects into the cart, and harnessed the
mules herself. Probina was behind her at every step,
clinging, with her unctuous smile.
The road
would be doubly dangerous, now that the party was halved.
Adriana's stiletto was at hand, in a fold of her
underwear. As an afterthought, she excavated a larger
knife from her bundle and strapped it to her waist.
you use that?" Sister Probina wondered.
Sister, we have to do our own police work."
carriage moved out through shafts of early sunlight onto
the spacious river-plain. The long valley beyond Frusino
was warm with childhood associations for Adriana: her
mother's people had villas in the wooded foothills of
the mountains that rose north of the highway. All along
the road she was tempted to seek the comfort of her
relatives' hospitality, but she had made up her mind not
to drag them into her difficulties.
The scenery
was consoling; the weather was perfect; the ride was
tedious. Sister Probina, it seemed, neither read Scripture
nor understood theology. Her answers to Adriana's polite
questions were inane. She seemed to approach her calling
with the confident stupidity of a tame rabbit, its tiny
brain filled to the lid with a small amount of
foolishness. Adriana speculated that she nibbled carrots
in the privacy of her cell at Rome. The best that could be
said of Probina was that her conversation, most of it
carried away by the wind, was an improvement on Sister
Blanda's obsessive droning about her numerous weighty
crosses and her unworthiness to bear them.
Probina had crosses of her own, however. As soon as the
carriage left the innyard, she had begun murmuring about
the speed of the trip. The list of her anxieties and
disabilities grew by the hour, afflictions that had not
been apparent a day earlier. Her digestion was fouled by
the jarring of the cart; she could hardly breathe in the
rush of air; her eyeballs stung, her mouth was dry, her
buttocks were pulp. She had to urinate at every bend in
the highway.
terrible pace gives me a headache," Sister Probina
said mildly, ten miles out of Frusino, looking back as if
she had dropped something irreplaceable on the roadstones.
we must be in Aquinum by nightfall," Adriana answered
patiently. "Neither of us is prepared to sleep in a
ditch. We can stop for biscuits after noon, if you like.
There's a clean spring of water in a mile or two, as I
The spring
appeared in a bower of roadside greenery. Adriana watered
the mules, tethered them, and spread a lunch. Probina
wolfed down biscuits and wine with astounding immodesty.
The woman's manner was all wrong somehow. The pious air
was as studied and unbelievable as Blanda's; the large
brown eyes had no more expression than the mole that
mocked them.
"I am
grateful," Probina said, cleaning her fingers with a
long pink tongue that had certain properties in common
with a monkey's tail.
must hurry, Sister," Adriana said. She glanced at the
sun and brushed crumbs from her lap. "There'll be
plenty to eat when we get to Aquinum, eh? Grapes, figs,
walnuts, fried beans, little round cheeses—anything you
Within five
miles of Aquinum, Sister Probina, for the fiftieth time,
seemed to be numbering the hairs on Adriana's head.
something troubling you, Sister," Adriana asked,
raising her voice above the breeze and the clatter of
me," Sister Probina said. "I must. . . ."
Angrily she
reined up the mules. The cart stood exposed at the crest
of a long rise in the road. Chestnut scrub framed the
highway on both sides. The rocky slopes dropped away
abruptly into a plain scarred by dry creek-beds. Sister
Probina's deep-blue tunic floated away among the
roadside bushes. She did not return.
The mules
stamped; dust rose in little puffs under their hoofs. The
sun was sinking in earnest. Its long rays glorified the
land, which was familiar to Adriana from childhood: the
view would have been more realistic at noon. The youngest
of her mother's aunts lived in a small villa on the
heights north of the river-plain. Perhaps it would be
prudent to seek shelter at Aunt Laelia's house, rather
than press on to Aquinum. Still, the loss of time. . . .
A confused,
battering rhythm, the sound of many horses moving at a
brisk canter, seemed to impress itself on Adriana's mind
rather than her ear. Her heart began to pound
unreasonably, so she could hardly listen. A rising wind,
sweeping across the plain, bore the faint sound away.
she said aloud to herself. "It's an odd hour for a
caravan to be moving toward Capua at half a gallop."
She cocked
her head, trying to trace Probina's movements by the
crackle of dead matter in the roadside scrub. In a rush of
annoyance she braked the cart, coiled her whip, and
plunged into the woods, calling Probina's name. When she
had clawed her way back to the road in despair, Sister
Probina was sitting primly in the cart.
felt luminous with rage, like a tree struck by lightning.
She was tempted to rake the end of her whip across the
woman's face. As she opened her mouth to berate the nun,
an extraordinary look of triumph pinched Sister
Probina's lips and dilated her eyes, and the shifting
wind brought the staccato drumming of many hoofs on
The meaning
of Sister Blanda's night-long gallop back to Rome was
clear as the first sound of mounted arms reached Adriana.
Glancing west, she could see the crimson mantles of
perhaps a dozen imperial guardsmen, the level sun gleaming
like fire on the tips of their spears. Sister Blanda had
timed her illness well.
with Sister Probina's hateful eyes on her, Adriana
unharnessed the black saddle-mule, her favorite of the
two. Collecting her whip in her right hand, she stood
ready to mount with a standing jump. She raised her eyes
to meet Probina's, which were lit with the fires of
aristocrats," the mole-face hissed, "so high in
your own esteem. . . ."
Adriana interrupted with a dark smile, "may your
master in hell receive you."
With a rush
of strength she slashed the whip across the harnessed
mule's haunches. The animal threw up its forelegs and
plunged ahead in a frantic lopsided gallop, kicking like a
donkey, dragging the carriage from one side of the highway
to the other. Adriana jumped on the black mule's back.
In the space of an eye-blink she saw a wheel fly off the
runaway covinnus, and the carriage dive over the
road's edge. Probina's mortal shriek and the
splintering crash of wood against rock were drowned in the
sudden clatter of the black mule's hoofs.
The animal
threw himself down the slope away from the road, in an
avalanche of loose rock. The surge of mule-flesh beneath
Adriana swept away her anger, sharpening the edge of her
concentration. Her travel-cloak flared out like a banner
against the sky. She yanked the clasp loose and let the
garment float away. Lighter now, she lay low against the
mule's neck as he rattled down a sheep-run, leaping over
boulders and dead trees nearly as well as a horse. She
urged him with her heels and knees. Once only she looked
back, and was nearly raked off his back by a bough.
For a
precious moment Adriana's uniformed hunters had followed
the runaway cart, expecting to find her in the wreckage.
She pounded along the sheep-run toward the sanctuary of
the northern hills, where the estate-houses were turning
deep orange in the fading sunlight. Clusters of trees and
boulders parted on either side of her, seeming to stare at
her like pedestrians at a runaway chariot. Stone walls and
patches of woods loomed ominously indistinct.
In a sudden
panic to reach the safety of her aunt's villa, she
struck out cross-country. She knew well that a concealed
root or a badger-hole could martyr her in the pope's
cause. The black mule was tireless, his ears laid back,
his body flat, as he skimmed the rough ground. He gathered
himself to leap a wall that rose suddenly out of a long
She flew
against the wind, weightless, unconscious of the mule,
surprised that she did not fall. Then she fell, over and
down, pounded, bruised, twisted like a rope, as the dark
earth and the dusky sky whirled against her. She was on
fire; balls of flame danced before her eyes and turned to
faces grinning out of a blood-red mist. The mule's
scream reached her as a faint nightmare-sound.
She lay
still on her belly for a moment, grunting in pain,
mentally exploring her ribs for a possible break. Her arms
ached as if they would never move again. She moved them,
nevertheless, rising on her tortured elbows and rolling
herself up into a sitting position. Her hands were
scratched; her fingers worked. Her legs were unbroken. She
stood carefully and limped to the wrecked mule, hunched
grotesquely near the masonry that had brought him down. He
turned to her with miserable eyes. Blood trickled from his
forelegs, broken at the knee. The beaded sweat on his
shoulders and the quivering of his legs suggested that not
all his injuries were visible.
She drew
her long knife, giving thanks that she had not lost it in
the fall.
I'm sorry," she choked, passing the blade into the
mule's chest, into his heart. The animal died with a
gasp. The straining neck relaxed; the head sloped down to
the dry grass.
The last
daylight lingered over the plain. Night was creeping up
the furrowed slopes of the northern mountains; the
glittering red crest had dissolved into a series of black
shafts. A night-breeze stirred, with the sound of
numberless soft wings.
She ran
furiously, her arms close to her body, giving little
attention to where her boots touched ground. Boulders and
bushes seemed to race past her with an energy of their
own. She stopped once, breathing hard, to take her
bearings. There was no noise of pursuit; a filmy cloud of
dust rose a half-mile to the west, confirming that she had
thrown the cavalry off her trace. In her mind's eye she
could see them filing along dry washes and scattering over
the fields, stopping now and then to listen for the sound
of fugitive feet against gravel and stubble. But the night
breeze was from the mountains; it would carry no
information to pursuers from the west.
hesitated at the edge of an open wheatland bordering the
foothills. Aunt Laelia's house was the easternmost villa
on the wooded rise beyond the river-plain. Adriana could
not reach it without leaving her cover, or without
exposing herself to a knot of farm-hands who had gathered
at the end of the day's work, half-way across the
She struck
out across the open space, trusting her neutral clothes
and the gathering night to conceal her from Faustinus's
men. As she walked toward the peasants, she rehearsed the
questions she meant to ask. Perhaps the reapers could help
throw her pursuers further off her track.
She spoke
to an older worker, ignoring the others.
people are you?" she asked.
are of the household of Caius Icarius."
is his house up there?" She pointed due north.
if it matters to Your Ladyship," the man answered,
with a show of blighted teeth. He appraised her body; she
would have to leave quickly.
me," she said with a flourish of her whip, pointing
along the heights toward a range of pillars on the western
edge. "Is that still the summer residence of Tiberius
lucky man if you are to be his guest. Don't you want to
be our guest?"
you," she said, yanking her garment away from the
cautious hand of a reaper who had reached out to take hold
of it.
With the
peasants' guffaws echoing in her ears, Adriana hurried
up the furrows toward Icarius's house. She forded a
sluggish creek that meandered at the base of the hills,
her sandals squelching in the mud, and climbed the wooded
rise on the opposite side, over gravel and snapping brush.
In the protective shadows of the trees on the crest, she
glanced back; the field-hands were walking home, absorbed
in conversation.
began to claim her; her legs were like animated logs,
moving without feeling. For fifty paces she moved west,
breaking twigs with her feet and making a stir in the
brush to let the serfs think that she was on her way to
Ephorus's villa on the western spur of the ridge. In a
grove of chestnuts she stopped, holding back her bursting
breath, and listened once again for the footfalls of
horses and men. Icarius's dogs were barking. She smiled
gratefully. In a moment, dogs were barking in every villa
on the heights.
She doubled
back eastward, pushing as quietly as possible through the
brush that scratched at her arms. For a paralyzing moment
she thought she might be moving in a circle. Listening
hard, she heard the creek murmuring at the base of the
ridge. She walked in the same direction and was out of the
woods before dark, hurrying through the shadows of an
olive orchard. A suggestion of a footpath led her through
dry grass, skirting frequent tangles of maple-trees and
Now she
recognized the wooded fields as her great-aunt's: the
old familiar pear trees, the occasional sheaves of cut
wheat leaning against one another under the maples and
walnuts. She had known since childhood how to get over the
villa wall. So far as she knew, the old lady kept no
unchained dogs. She knotted up her tunic and pulled
herself into the lower branches of an oak that had served
her well years before. The tree had grown to twice the
size she remembered. She urged herself onto a bough that
overhung the estate yard and dropped noiselessly to the
dry lawn.
To her
relief, a light shone in the tiny window of the
gatekeeper's lodge. She picked up a stone and tapped on
the window-grate. The gatekeeper's dog howled, joining
the chorus all over the heights. She saw the old man jump
up in senile alarm. In a moment he hobbled out of the
gate-house, half undressed and holding a lantern that
shook like a ship's light in a storm.
features softened when he saw her, though there was no
light of recognition in his eyes. She put a forefinger to
her lips.
Marcella Adriana," she said, in a voice of fatigue.
"I couldn't use the bell. I must see my
Adriana! Glory to the saints! But Your Felicity is in
ruins, pardon me. I'll call my lady."
The old man
hurried away, his sandals clapping weakly against the
walkway. In a cluster of maids with lamps, Aunt Laelia
emerged from the estate-house and floated toward the gate.
Her frailness and spun-silver hair softened her dignity. A
faint aroma of carnations surrounded her.
hardly believed the old chatterbox," Laelia
confessed, placing her delicate hands on Adriana's
cheeks, and looking into her eyes with deep concern.
"Child, how is it with you? Who has chased you here,
and why?"
there's too much to say," Adriana said, passing a
hand over her weary eyes. "There are men in the
valley." She pointed toward the barred villa-gate.
"You can see their torches from upstairs."
imagination she saw them herself, tiny lights flickering
among the trees on the heights, leaping up and dying away,
spreading apart, drawing together.
be here soon," Adriana said. "I can't stay.
You remember the name Gaius Faustinus. . . ."
Pouring out
details, she followed Aunt Laelia up the yard and into the
house. She felt a stab of regret that her childhood
memories of the place would have to be renewed in the
sunlight of a better day: the roses that never seemed to
fade; the cool summer-house, a miniature palace of marble
lace; the grove of myrtles with resident nightingales; the
parrots, who terrorized Laelia's cats and squawked
insults in Greek.
Aunt Laelia
gave crisp orders for fruit, wine, cold meat, a foot-bath,
and presentable clothes, and cautioned the servants
against bright lights. With an oil-lamp she led Adriana
upstairs to a pleasant sitting-room overlooking the
western foothills and the river-plain. A trio of sleepy
maids followed with a jar of wine and a brazier full of
glowing coals. The solitary lamp was extinguished; the
women moved about in the glow of the brazier.
went to the window. The moon shone peacefully on the
wooded heights to the west. To her relief, each of the
villas along the crest glowed with lamplight at several
squinted out into the silver half-light, searching for
movement in the black landscape. The chill of the evening
air seemed to be coming through the walls. On the brow of
the ridge, she saw little dancing flames, first one, then
three, then several more, rising and falling almost
you see anything?" Aunt Laelia inquired anxiously.
took the old woman by the shoulders and brought her to the
window. Together they watched the distant line of torches.
It seemed to be moving away, from Caius Icarius's
neighborhood toward Ephorus's summer villa. Elsewhere in
the valley and on the heights there was no movement at
all, only a silent expanse of dark trees and moon-silvered
not leave here in the condition you're in, soldiers or
no soldiers," Aunt Laelia said sternly. "Do you
need money?"
shirtless and penniless, Aunt," Adriana confessed.
"Fool that I am, I let the 'sisters' know I'd
be going through Capua. My clothes and my money are there
now. Faustinus's men will be hot on the way. If I go to
Capua, the game is over."
A smell of
warm honeycakes and spiced wine entered the room.
must eat something," Aunt Laelia said. "It's a
pity you can't sleep, just as you did when you were
little, after playing all day in my yard."
Adriana devoured the cakes while a pair of maids undressed
her and patted her scratches with warm, wet cloths.
girls," Aunt Laelia urged, waving her thin hands and
glancing nervously out the window. "I can't tell
where they are. Can you tell?"
guess is, they're at Ephorus's house by now,"
Adriana said without looking. "They'll be here in
half an hour, I expect."
The maids
dressed her in a fresh blue tunic and a pair of light
boots that seemed never to have been worn, and bundled her
effects in a blue riding-cloak. In spite of her agitation
she smiled with pleasure at her reflection in the dimly
lit mirror.
Blanda would have insisted," she said, laughing
weakly, "that God doesn't approve of adulterous
dyes. If he'd wanted clothes to be blue, he would have
made blue sheep."
true," Aunt Laelia said with mock gravity. "But
at least you haven't dyed your hair a lust-inspiring
color, or imitated the painted eyelids of the
She leaned
over and put her frail arms around Adriana. "Oh,
child," she said, weeping a little, "we used to
have good times, didn't we? Will you come again, when
you're not roving up and down Italy like a
nodded, enjoying the warm pressure of Aunt Laelia's dry
hands on her cheeks, then patted the old lady's
shoulders gently.
it must be time to go," she said, stepping to the
On the dark
plain, a line of torches snaked toward the villa at a
distance of perhaps half a mile.
have a horse ready for you, dear," Aunt Laelia said.
kitchen-boy hurried into the room with dark bread,
snow-white cheese, red wine in a skin, and a leather
satchel. He bundled the provisions in Adriana's
presence, bowed, and disappeared.
need at least one servant. I'll send Callistus with you.
He's a darling boy, no trouble at all, tough as oxhide.
Oh, Adriana! please don't refuse. . . ."
I'm going alone," she said firmly. "I can't
take responsibility for anyone but myself. I must move
very quickly. If I don't, I'll never need servants
stables, then, dear," Aunt Laelia said, throwing up
her hands in resignation.
The two
women, a pair of maids, and a dignified eunuch moved in
the light of a single hand-lamp, through the shadowy house
and down porticoes of white marble where the child Adriana
had dreamed in the sun years ago. By moonlight they
crossed the villa yard to the tart-smelling stables. A
stableboy met them with a roan pony, sleek and comfortably
Aunt Laelia
spoke breathlessly, at the speed of her thought. "If
you decide to take the coast road, keep the horse. If you
need a carriage or anything else, go to Titus Gracchus the
shipper at the sign of the dolphin, near the center of the
wharf at Minturnae. Gracchus will cooperate; he owes me
several solidi and a great deal of gratitude besides. If
you rent a carriage with mules, Gracchus will see to the
return of my horse. Plumeus is a good, quiet horse. You
won't have to worry that he'll betray you, whinnying
at nightbirds and polecats. When you reach Gracchus's,
greet him for me in the name of Christ. He's not too
senile, I think, to see to all your needs. I have one more
thing for you. You will not refuse it."
She caught
Adriana's hand, lifted it, and pressed a leather pouch
into the open palm. By the heft of the metal, the sum it
contained was more substantial than Aunt Laelia could
easily afford. From long experience Adriana knew better
than to argue.
In the pain
and awkwardness of the moment, the two women stood facing
each other in the half-light of the lamp, aware of the
rush of time, not knowing what to say.
noble of you to try to help Quintus, dear," Aunt
Laelia broke the silence. "In all the world,
there's only one women created for each man, and vice
grant it," Adriana said. "But how do they find
each other? It'd be hard enough if they were two
nightingales looking for each other in a world of
Aunt Laelia
raised a forefinger. "Deity has its ways," she
said. "We think that God can't solve our problems
except by bringing history to a close. Not so! When all
the doors are barred, the Spirit leads us out through a
aunt's warm, frail hands were on Adriana's cheeks. The
women embraced. The stillness of the night was intense. A
soft breeze stirred noiselessly. Pushing back the absurd
tears of exhaustion, Adriana slung her bundles over
Plumeus's shoulders and mounted with a standing jump.
She looked down at the frail aristocrat standing anxiously
in the grass by a chestnut tree, her white knuckles
pressed to her lips.
"Go to
bed, Auntie," she said gently. "Thank you with
all my heart for everything."
be with you, Adriana," the old lady quavered, making
the sign of the cross.
laid a hand on Plumeus's neck and encouraged the
sensible beast to a cautious walk. In thirty paces she had
cleared the woods that hid the south gate of Aunt
Laelia's villa wall. She covered a mile in the shadow of
a long stand of chestnuts. Dismounting, she took the horse
by the bridle. He followed her quietly down to the
river-plain along a path that lay too low to be seen from
the north. She put a hand on his nostrils for silence and
walked him westward on the moonlit flats, feeling as
conspicuous as an ant on a wall.
She had
five miles to travel, more or less, before she reached the
heights south of the Liris. Her confidence grew; there was
no noise of pursuit. As she mounted Plumeus and rode him
across the highway she had left earlier in the day, she
looked back, dreading to see Taurinus's riders, but the
river-plain was empty. Doubtless Aunt Laelia would
encourage Faustinus's men to inspect every corner of her
house. . . .
When the
southern heights and their relative safety were less than
three miles away, Adriana allowed herself to be
optimistic. Plumeus was a dull color; Aunt Laelia's gift
of blue clothing would be inconspicuous at night. The moon
was south of her; it would obscure her presence in the
The Liris,
in the lee of the coastal hills, had shrunk to its summer
proportions. Adriana forded the stream, clutching
Plumeus's mane. On the far bank she rode uphill, past
dark farmhouses and empty stableyards, climbing the
heights from which she would see the Tyrrhenian shore, a
long curve stretching from Minturnae to Caietae. On a bald
hill with a ruined watchtower of the sort that little boys
loved to play in, she tethered the horse and lay down in a
patch of dry grass. Plumeus came and lay beside her,
pressing his nose against her like a dog. From her
vantage-point she could see for miles to the south and
She lay
quietly and pulled her cloak up under her chin. Her nerves
settled slowly; she was aware of her abused body. Her legs
were pulpy and swollen from hanging astride the horse; her
scrapes and bruises still hurt in spite of Aunt Laelia's
unguents. She closed her fingers around her little dagger
in its sheath, and took comfort from it. Plumeus was
already asleep.
She dozed,
and woke with a start as a passing cloud revealed the
brilliance of the moon. Apprehensively she listened for
the tramp of horses and the jingle of bit and spur, and
watched the valley for steel glittering in the moonlight.
Gradually the spacious calm of the night asserted itself,
and she was at peace. There were other beings in the world
worse-off than she. In Subura, women slept under the
rafters of a thousand ratty tenements, with only the
cracked roof-tiles and the midnight tomcats between
themselves and the stars.
When the
moment is upon you, Avitus had instructed her as a
child, you'll know what to do. Every problem in life,
death excepted, comes with a solution attached. Sometimes
you'll fight, sometimes you'll flee, sometimes
you'll sit silently and wait for your deliverance to
come. The one rule you must always remember is not to
fear, because fear gives the game to your adversary.
Avitus!" she said aloud, imagining that he was there
on the hillside with her, and that she could curl up
before the hearth of his friendship and sleep safely the
whole night through.
The morning
was radiant. Her tunic was limp with dew. She shook out
her hair and sat in the early sunlight awhile, letting its
dry warmth soothe her lingering aches. Empty but not
hungry, she felt sleek and spare, like a dragonfly.
Plumeus grazed contentedly at the end of his tether. The
countryside was handsome in the early light: cultivated
hills, punctuated by the dark emerald of vines; an old
watermill on a grassy bank; winding, stony roads from
which a distant echo of mule-bells came; and over
everything a deep sense of coolness, restfulness,
She saddled
the patient horse and rode toward the coast, satisfied
that she had thrown off her pursuers. By midday she stood
above the seaward slope of the mountains, with a wide
prospect of blue water between Caietae and Minturnae.
The air was
fragrant with late-June flowers; honeysuckle and clematis
grew wild along the path. Scrawny sheep grazed the slopes;
a shepherd dozed in the shade of an olive tree. The
neighborhood was a safe place to sit and think.
tethered the horse, brought out Aunt Laelia's wine and
cheese, found herself a boulder, and sat on it to consider
her options. They were hardly numerous. Travel anywhere
near Capua or Rome was out of the question. She could take
a mule and a boy along the coastal highway and risk
apprehension in any of a dozen cities. A boat to Sardinia
could no doubt be found, but she might wait weeks for a
trader risking the voyage to Africa. She could flee to
Aunt Marcella's seaside palace in Caietae, and take
refuge there until Faustinus's agents tired of the
search. She could skirt Capua and the Bay of Naples, and
ride south along the malarial coast or through the
mountains. An overland journey would keep her off the
pirate-infested sea, but the south of Italy was a gloomy
enigma, the haunt of unregenerate pagans and lawless
outcasts from the coastal towns.
alternatives, she descended the mountainside. The
Tyrrhenian sea widened out before her, beyond the coastal
olive-orchards and vineyards. The north gate of Minturnae
stood open, unattended. Plumeus trotted through with a
sharp echo; he seemed to know his way through the
neglected ill-smelling streets to the river-front, three
miles inland from the sea. The town wharf was quiet; sea
trade was cautious. There was a sprinkling of sailors and
prostitutes. A few oxcarts creaked in the thoroughfares,
hauling wine and oil. Pigs and seabirds foraged among the
decaying vegetables scattered against the warehouse walls.
She found
the office of Titus Gracchus without trouble, its dolphin
sign cracked and faded with the constant breeze off the
seaside marshes. The place was threadbare but clean; it
seemed wordlessly eager to do business. A boy-servant of
Gracchus ushered her into the shipper's office. He was
poring over his accounts.
in the name of Christ from the Lady Celestia Laelia of
Aquinum," she said, with a small bow.
the fat man chuckled, with a little wink at Adriana's
bosom. "Greetings to the ambassador of Her Piety
Celestia Laelia, in the name of the Triune Most
He was an
amiable old windbag in a wine-splashed tunic and filthy
sandals. She explained, as vaguely as she could, her need
of quick transportation.
madam!" Gracchus said with a magnificent flourish of
his fly-whisk. "If I were not bound by law to this
miserable place I'd carry you on my own shoulders
wherever you wished to go." He made irresistible eyes
at her.
kind," Adriana responded politely. "I'd be
satisfied with an ass and a boy."
have a superb little ass," Gracchus said, "one
siliqua per day, honest silver coin, including the boy.
How far will you take them?"
past Naples. I'll find other transportation from
Felicity has options, not easy to come by in this
world," Gracchus observed. "Your Courage appears
to travel without servants? Considering the hazards to
which Your Pulchritude may be exposed on the road, I'm
able to offer the services of a coasting vessel departing
for Puteoli this very afternoon, and I encourage. . .
much for the boat," Adriana interrupted.
silver nummi, including provisions, since Your Efficiency
travels without provision or servants, eh?"
laid a small gold coin on the table. "A tremissis
will perhaps pay for the boat and the provisions, and
erase your memory of me?"
intensification of the old man's watery gaze let her
know that he understood.
madam!" he said. "Gold or no gold, if the whole
company of heaven should descend here on a shining cloud,
they could not extract from me the smallest particle of
information concerning your whereabouts or destination. I
have forgotten both myself."
grateful for the assurance," Adriana said, picking up
the dull yellow piece and putting it in the codger's
leathery palm.
whispered thanks and good-bye into Plumeus's ear,
delivered him into the hands of a stable-boy, and took a
siesta, sitting upright in a corner of Gracchus's office
until the coaster was ready to leave. With Gracchus
hovering at her elbow she eased herself along the
gangplank into the boat. The rowers were already seated,
rubbing their eyes between yawns. Gracchus handed
Adriana's bundle to the captain; the two men bowed in
unison to each other, and in unison to Adriana. The little
merchant-galley creaked away from the wharf, its twenty
oars dipping and rising to a chant listing the glories of
Neptune and St. Peter.
With a
goblet of the captain's black wine, she settled herself
on a rug in a tangle of ropes, sacks, and bales, and
toasted herself in the high sun, watching three long wakes
recede in the still water, a broad avenue of swirls behind
the stern, and two successions of dimples where the oars
had dipped. The sea-breeze stroked her hair. She closed
her eyes and nodded to the rhythmic chant of the boatmen,
who seemed to be making more noise than progress.
ship's cat, playing with the rigging, woke her from her
doze. She approached the captain, standing near the helm.
day tomorrow, by Neptune and the Prophet Jonah," he
said for her benefit, squinting at the horizon.
memory of Puteoli is out of date. Is there anything to be
aware of when one's on foot there?" she asked.
The captain
shrugged. "What can I say, madam? The drains smell,
the houses are filthy, the streets are bumpy, the priests
are corrupt. The people cheat, the windows won't shut,
the door-handles fall off, the pottery in the inns is
always cracked. It's like anywhere else."
understand that a load of Vandals went down in a stolen
ship off this coast," Adriana commented. "I
heard the men speaking of it earlier."
they did, madam, and too few of them drowned," the
captain said. "The Blessed Apostles sent stormy
weather off Cumae. The ship was carrying statues from Rome
after the sack, I think. It went straight to the bottom.
There were broken timbers and Germans all over the shore
east of Puteoli, washed up like seaweed, after their
brothers from hell had sacked the city and left."
The ship
anchored for the night near the beach south of Liternum.
Adriana was sleepy but unable to sleep. She watched the
rose glow of the sunset, gradually sliding under the cover
of night. Mellow lights appeared in the old white villas
ranged along the beach. The stars came out; a meteor shot
across the heavens. A bright moon rose, and laid a silver
chain over the water that seemed to hold the ship in
She turned
on her sleeping-rug, away from the voices of sailors and
the glow of the deck-hearth, and faced the dark line of
the shore. The calm air pulsed with the sounds of
twilight: a girl's laughter down the beach, the sound of
a young man's singing, the uncertain call of birds not
yet asleep, the rumble of carts on the seaside road. The
night was faultless. Far off in the heliotrope darkness,
points of fire reddened where the fishermen of Liternum
cast their nets by torchlight.
deck-hearth glowed fainter; the rowers and sailors nodded
off where they sat. The moon was high; its white light
shadowed the rigging, tracing patterns on the deck. The
sea was almost noiseless. In the dusk of her imagination,
on a breezy couch in a summer-house, Adriana took Quintus
gently by the ears and drew him down to her, kissing his
forehead and his hair.
But Quintus
vanished as the gentle rocking of the ship put her to
sleep at last, and in her dreams she was a child again,
running through endless fields of blue cornflowers.


text:
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text:
Quality Control Concepts
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text:
See, there are some challenges I'll gladly sign up for. And others, I'd stay clear of. For example, J-Money at Budgets are Sexy proposed the Millionaires Club. This challenge comes as a great time for me as I just recently revisited my lifetime goal to become the first millionaire in my family. I created one 'medium sized' mini goal and that is …..
to be able to NOT have a full time job by the time I am thirty
In other words, I would like to have enough passive income, income that I do not need to get out of bed to earn, to cover household expenses, eating, and a basic quality of life. If I need a part time job, that's ok. But no 9AM – 5PM here for me (or there for me in the future).
I need a plan, man!
I basically have six years to achieve my goal but need to figure out how to do it now. Any suggestions? One thing I know for sure is that working for the 'man' until I'm sixty is definitely out! This just isn't for me. Boss man if you're reading, I'm very thankful for my job but I know that I will not be fulfilled in working at a position in which the end all is just a check.
A more fulfilling position is one in which I am of course the Queen B of all matters. But I'm apparently a little A.D.D. when it comes to entrepreneurial endeavors and have objectively noticed that my true passion has not been discovered. For years I've been accumulating tools and various resources and through this process I thought my passion would be revealed. Yet it lies dormant within. Miss New Money is a constant work in progress and one activity that I enjoy doing. However, in its current state, I ain't quitting no job anytime soon.
Then there's real estate. I told you that I am currently in the process of buying a new home, one that I will live in for a little while at a significant decrease to my current monthly costs. In saving for this home, I have created Challenge #2….
to save 1/2 of all monthly income
Last month's budgeting resulted in a hefty surplus. This got me to thinking that saving more of my take home pay every month is in fact highly doable and therefore I will have enough money to cover the costs of purchasing a home (and by my deadline too.) if I saved at most half of my monthly pay. This is good news as this house has a much greater purpose: it will serve as the all important first property that kicks off my rental property portfolio. Now from there, it's all about momentum. I'd like to continue to purchase and continue to collect rental income AKA passive income. You see how we brought it full circle!
In six years, I'd need enough money generated to live a life; maybe not one of luxury just yet, but one that covers all of my life's expenses and frees up my time. Time can be worth more than gold, ya know. With this time I will develop 'The Almighty', the master plan to earn me my luxurious lifestyle; my purpose filled, life's work; what will carry me into old age and through the gates of heaven; what will drive me to wake each morning and to stress about each night: My very own business.
As for a challenge I will not be participating in, "SS4BC" over at Small Steps for Big Change proposes "345 Days of No Eating Out". I love to eat out! Love it! And while I have cut back on going out to dinner, it is still something that I love to do and am not willing to completely give up on. This would make me miserable and only lead to a binge – make that binges: eating out binge (which does more harm than good) and a buying binge….no good. With challenges, it needs to have some hint of 'doability' (ok-now I might be pushing it with the English vernacular).
What personal challenges have you created for yourself? Were you able to overcome?
Filed under: Confessions of a Finanshionista, Dine & Dime, Entrepreneurial Wind, Financially Fit Women, Professional Development | Tagged: bossman, Budgets are Sexy, chalenge, february, J.O.B, millionaires club, personal challenge, small steps for big change |


text:
Triple Tree AerodromePosted on Monday, November 03, 2014
Produced in cooperation with the HubCity Writers Project.
It's a beautiful, early fall day as I make my way down Highway 221 to the Triple Tree Aerodrome near Woodruff. The sky is as clear as my expectations are hazy. I have never heard about this place in our community, yet it's billed as the "Augusta National of Aviation." I have no idea what I'm going to see, but I have a feeling it's going to be interesting regardless.
Arriving at the main entrance, I begin a slow ascent to the visitor's center at the top of a hill. My first impression is that this place is massive. The rolling hills and fields are currently home to hundreds of RVs and tents. In the sky I can see small, radio-controlled planes whizzing about, doing barrel rolls, loopdeeloops, and fantastic dives. At the visitor's center I meet Rob Traynham, an incredibly genial volunteer who is one of the leaders at the Aerodrome.
Rob drives me around the area and gives me a bit of history and information about the Triple Tree Aerodrome. Founded in 2000 by aviation enthusiast Pat Hartness, it and serves as a place of fun, fellowship and hospitality for those who enjoy the pursuit of flight. Some of the facts are staggering. With over 400 acres of land, the Aerodrome features a 7,000-foot grass runway, the longest in the world. To keep it in pristine condition the runway is mowed every 48 hours (which gave rise to the Augusta National comparison).
The facility is almost entirely volunteer run, with only one permanent staff member and a crew of over 100 volunteers who maintain the property and organize events. They offer a variety of events throughout the year, including both general aviation and radio-control performances. He tells me that at their events with full-size aircraft there will be as many as 800 planes on the Aerodrome grounds. Their biggest radio-control event, Joe Nall Week (named for a former master of ceremonies at the fly-in), is the largest of its kind anywhere in the world.
As we drive throughout the premises I am struck by the sheer number of people there, as well as the delight they all seem to share in flying their RC planes. There are countless groups of RVs huddled together, with their owners sitting in a circle together chatting. Rob stops at each one and asks them if they are enjoying themselves, and then invites them to the evening's barbecue. We pass a WWII-era flight control tower on our way to the main field for radio control flying. I am stunned both by the size and design of these planes. They are meticulously designed to resemble full- size aircraft as closely as possible, which allows them to perfectly mimic any maneuver those planes can perform. It is late in the afternoon and only a few people are still flying, but it is dizzying to watch the skill with which they command their radio-controlled planes. As I express wonder at their abilities Rob turns to me and says, "Do you want to try it?" I sheepishly demure, but he is insistent.
Before I know it I am at the Hangar, a 10,000-square-foot building that houses several astonishingly beautiful and antique planes. Rob introduces me to another volunteer who is going to serve as my instructor. The training RC plane has dual controllers and several other features that they assure me will prevent me from crashing this thing. Once it is airborne my instructor tells me to do some turns and loops and even a barrel roll. I am surprised not at how easy it is, but how much fun it is. I am almost able to imagine what it would be like to be an actual pilot, and it is a thrilling idea. I keep it in the air for about ten minutes before my eyes start to hurt from the glare of the fading sun, and my instructor takes it over and brings it in for landing.
Rob tries to get me to come to the barbecue, but unfortunately I have a previous engagement. Surprisingly, I was disappointed, as I had not expected to have such a good time. The Triple Tree Aerodrome is a hidden gem in Spartanburg County. To take advantage of it, all you need is some kind of connection to an aviation organization. Give them a call, you will be hard pressed to find a more warm and welcoming place.
Contact Triple Tree via the website tripletreeaerodrome.com. School groups are welcome.


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Enjoy this celebration break in Vila Vita Parc Resort and Spa from 2 nights and explore the beautiful Algarve with your loved one. This package is ideal for your honeymoon, romantic break, anniversary or any special occasion. The 5* hotel is a member of The Leading Luxury Hotels of the Word and is in an ideal setting for your special occasion, honeymoon, or anniversary celebration. The hotel was voted "the words most romantic resort" by the World Travel Award Association in 2014. It is located on the clifftop overlooking the Atlantic ocean in Armação de Pêra. The hotel has 50 acres of beautiful immaculate gardens with duck ponds, fountains, stone footbridges, private beach, mini golf facilities, tennis court, gym and 8 swimming pools. If you are after a unique gastronomic experience, Vila Vita Parc offers 10 restaurants, 6 bars and a wine cellar stocked with fine wine. One of the restaurants is the famous two Michelin-starred Ocean restaurant, which promises an unforgettable gastronomic journey courtesy of Austrian Executive Chef Hans Neuner.
Vila Vita's spa features 4 aroma steam baths, a sauna and massage treatments. The hotel also offers an on-site nursery and a children's play park.
Cancellation policies:
Bookings cancelled with less than 48 hours are subject to 1 night penalty, except between June and September, where reservations cancelled with less than 14 nights are subject to 3 nights penalty.This offer/package is unbreakable. Unused items will be forfeited and cannot be reimbursed or exchanged.


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How To Use The Skytrain In Bangkok
The Skytrain: A Quick Way Of Getting Around Bangkok
Bangkok is a famously congested city. Never-ending traffic jams that sometimes continue round the clock can be very frustrating and stressful. However, since the opening of the skytrain there is a quick and hassle-free way of travelling around the central areas of Bangkok.
Although negotiating the Bangkok skytrain is easy, it is useful to know what one is dealing with before the event, so in this lens I hope to give people an idea of what things to be aware of when using the skytrain.
Bangkok Skytrain Map - A Useful Map For Navigating The Skytrain
One of the first things travelers need to know before using the skytrain is which parts of town it serves. Although the Bangkok skytrain coverage is not extensive, it does greatly assist travelers in getting around the city center and a map can help plan with travel connections.
This map of Bangkok highlights the skytrain along route and stations along with elevated expressways.
What Exactly Is The Bangkok Skytrain?
The skytrain in Bangkok is an elevated railway with all stations also elevated above major roads. Its official name in English is The Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) and its Thai name "rot fai fa" translates as "skytrain".
The skytrain opened on 5th December 1999 and extensions have opened since adding 2 further stations to the Silom line in May 2009, a further 5 stations to the Sukhumvit line in August 2011 and a further 4 stations to the Silom line in January 2013.
You can learn a little more about the skytrain here: Bangkok Skytrain.
These Things Are Not Allowed On The BTS Skytrain System
A few things are not allowed on the skytrain or on the stations.
1. No Littering
2. No Unlicensed Selling
3. No Smoking
4. No Animals (Except Guidedogs)
5. No Eating or Drinking
6. No Flammable Products
As one enters any skytrain station, one must pass through a security scanner which is attended by a security guard. Occasionally they will ask to look inside your bag before allowing entry to the station.
No photos used to be on the list but seems to have disappeared and certainly no one gave me a second look as I took the pictures for this lens.
How To Get Change To Use In The Ticket Machines
The unit of currency in Thailand is the Thai Baht and it is essential to have some to be able to buy your ticket. Whilst a few skytrain stations have exchange bureaux one cannot count on them all around the route, so come armed with some local currency.
However, there are change booths on every station so that travellers can exchange banknotes for coins in order to use the ticket machines. Also at these booths, multiple journey tickets can be purchased; there is little financial advantage in doing so but getting one means that during busy periods you will not have to queue at the ticket machines - the queues get quite long at rush hour!
So, go to the booth and obtain a sufficient number of coins to use the ticket machine: remember, it is a CHANGE booth not an EXCHANGE booth.
If you do wish to check out exchange rates I find this to be a fairly reliable currency converter: Oanda.com
Buy Your Ticket - There Are Basically Three Steps Here
1. Select your destination.
2. Find out what fare zone that destination is in.
3. Press the button for that fare zone on the ticket machine and pay.
1. Select Your Destination
This is done by taking a look at the skytrain map which is next to every ticket machine and look for your required destination. The station that want to go to will have a number between 1 and 6 on it.
The number on your station is what you need to know for step 2.
2. Find out what fare zone that destination is in.
This is easily done by looking at the fare information chart which is above every skytrain map (the map you just got the number from). Look at the number that you obtained from the map and you will see that a fare ranging from 15 to 40 baht corresponds to that number.
Get your coins ready for step three.
3. Press the button for that fare zone on the ticket machine and pay.
Press the button on the ticket machine that corresponds to the fare zone obtained in step 1. The fare will be displayed but you will already have the correct coinage because of step 2. Put the correct fare in the coin slot, using 10 or 5 baht coins.
You will receive your ticket and any change will come as 5 baht coins.
Now You Have Your Ticket
Skytrain tickets are about the size of a credit card and made of flexible plastic. On one side they have a picture; this one is concerning safety on the skytrain.
Don't be alarmed if your ticket does not look exactly like the one pictured, the designs change from time to time; frequently they show tourist attractions around Thailand.
Negotiating The Ticket Barrier - It Seems Tricky For Some!
For anyone that has used a similar system this really should not be an issue, you just put the ticket in the slot at the front, it reappears from the slot at the top, the barrier opens and you walk through taking the ticket at the same time.
However, on the first day the skytrain opened, most Thais had never seen such a system and the whole thing ground to a halt only an hour or so after the opening due to people not being able to deal with the ticket barrier.
As is apparent in this photo, one enters through the barrier with the green arrows displayed. The exit barriers display a red cross.
On the Skytrain Platform
On skytrain stations one must go up another level from the ticket machine and ticket barrier onto the platform. There are stairs and elevators on every station and there are lifts for the disabled but one must speak to a security guard first about this.
Once on the platform, for reasons of obvious safety, one is required to stand behind the yellow line marked about 30 centimetres from the edge of the platform.
One will also notice some other markings on the platform. These indicate where one should stand when the train stops at the platform. Basically, one is required to stand just to the side of where the doors will be when the train stops (the train always stops at exactly the right place), and to let people off of the train before getting on.
One more thing to remember is that when the skytrain is busy, people politely queue to get onto the train, as can be seen here:
Very civilized.
Getting Off The Skytrain
Once one is travelling in the correct direction to the intended destination, listen to the announcements telling passengers which station is being approached. The announcements are in Thai and English. There are also many maps of the skytrain network in all train compartments so that passengers can follow their progress.
The journey time between stations is just a few minutes.
For further confirmation that you are at the correct station, just look out of the window to see the signs on the platform, like the one pictured.
Once off of the train head down the stairs, through the ticket barrier and make ones way back down to the street. If you have bought a single journey ticket, after inserting your ticket into the ticket barrier, the barrier will open but your ticket will not be returned. If you want a souvenir ticket, you will have to buy another one, or get one from the BTS website shop.
Some skytrain stations have bridges which cross straight into shopping malls, Prom Phong, Siam, National Stadium and Sala Daeng all spring to mind.
Using The Bangkok Skytrain, BTS, Video Clip
Skytrain Extension Opens In August 2011
The extension to the Bangkok skytrain route from On Nut to Baring (Sukhumvit Soi 107) will officially opens on 12th August 2011. The whole skytrain network will be tested throughout June 2011 with passengers and a promotional fare.
This adds more than 5km to the original skytrain network, penetrating to the eastern flanks of the city of Bangkok.
I will soon add to this webpage to include the new developments in the skytrain network.
Which Stations For Which Places?
Unfortunately, the Bangkok skytrain does not really go near many of the main tourist attractions but it does service the main shopping areas quite well. Here I will outline some of the stations that allow passengers to alight near certain places of interest.
Sukhumvit Line
Mo Chit - Mo Chit Bus Terminal, MRT Station & Chatuchak Market.
Victory Monument - Victory Monument and Markets.
Ratchathewi - Short Taxi ride to Pratunam Market & Baiyoke Tower.
Siam - Siam Square & Siam Paragon Mall.
Chit Lom - Central World.
Nana - Lower Sukhumvit Restaurants, shopping and Nightlife.
Asok - Soi Cowboy & MRT Station.
Phrom Phong - Emporium Mall.
Ekkamai - Ekkamai Bus Terminal.
Silom Line
National Stadium - National Stadium & MBK Mall.
Sala Daeng - Silom Shopping, Lumphini Park & Patpong Road.
Saphan Taksin - Central Pier for River Bus.
Wong Wien Yai - Western bank of the Chao Praya river.
The Bangkok Skytrain Operating Hours
Skytrain Schedule.
The Bangkok Skytrain operates services between 6am and midnight every day of the week.
Trains are frequent and at the busiest time of the day, there are trains every 3 minutes to deal with the large numbers of passengers that now use the skytrain in Bangkok.
Here Are Some More Bangkok Maps to Help You Get Around
Although I have not used it myself, many people tell me that the Nancy Chandler map shown here is a really useful one.
Bangkok Skytrain: BTS Website - The Official Skytrain Site
For all the information on the Bangkok Skytrain check out the official BTS website where you can find full details of ticketing, stations, proposed extensions to the skytrain route and other information.
For tourists who wish to have a souvenir of their time on the Bangkok Skytrain, the BTS website also has things for sale, including T-shirts, postcards and souvenir tickets: BTS Shop.
Have You Used The Skytrain In Bangkok?
Is the skytrain a good way of getting around Bangkok?
Bangkok Skytrain News - What Is Happening With The Bangkok BTS
Are You Going To Be Traveling Around Bangkok?
If you are traveling around Bangkok, or planning to do so, and the skytrain does not get you where you want to go, there are other options for transport around Bangkok.
This page about Bangkok Transport will give you an idea of some of the options for beating the traffic jams in Bangkok.
Alternatively, you can read my account of being stuck in the traffic and know that you are not alone if feeling stressed out by sitting in a marathon traffic jam; Stuck In A Bangkok Traffic Jam.
Top Ten Best Things To See And Do In Bangkok
This useful little book lists many top tens for Bangkok: top ten temples, top ten restaurants, top ten markets etc. which gives the traveler a wealth of ideas for things to do on their trip to the Thai capital. I have used this book and it really does get you to the best attractions, restaurants and other places, often suggesting some unusual and seldom-visited spots.
Reasons to Visit Thailand
Five Great Things About Thailand
Thailand is a great country to visit or to live in. The relaxed pace of life and low cost of living make it both a pleasant place to be and a cheap one. Here I will highlight just 5 things that make it a great place.
5 Great Things About Thailand
Thanks for reading about the Bangkok skytrain, if you have anything to say about it, or this lens, please comment here.
Thanks for Visiting - Please leave a comment here
Great lens, I have been to Bangkok twice and never taken the skytrain!
Great page and thanks for the information.
I'm planning to visit Bangkok next year, this skytrain guide lens really help me
Using public transport in a foreign country can be scary. Excellent detailed lens, well done!
Very detailed and informative lens - thanks! Quick and easy transport is a problem in Bangkok and I just wish that the sky train would be more developed.
I've never been to Bangkok, but would love to visit. The skytrain looks like a great mass transit system.
great post, thanks for sharing this.
BTS is the best way to get around in Bangkok.
It's cheap and great services.
Bangkok Sky Train is undoubtedly one of the world's best sky train. I used it every time I go on holiday in Bangkok and it's inexpensive. --- Blessed ---
great advise :) love it
some really great advise, hope to get to use the sky train some day
Not all BTS stations have elevators.
That's really good ....................
Thanks for the tip. Never been to Bangkok. Gonna use your guide until then.
I have never been to Bangkok. Thanks for the tip.
Congrats on your LOTD. Wonderful lens.
Great lens, really brought back memories from our time in Bangkok. Can't wait to go back again.
This made me really want to go there! Great Lens!!
Hi 5 to your great lens
Nick! Congratulations on getting Lens of the Day! A very well put together lens. And to the rest of the readers here, I highly recommend Nick's lens on what NOT to do in Thailand.
First time I come here and I'm impressed! Love the "people politely queue to get onto the train"... something that our occidental societies should learn!
Congratulations on your LOTD!
Hey Nick, congratulations on getting Lens of the Day! I see it is 82 degrees in Bankok - wish it was that warm here too!!
I went to Bangkok before the skytrain opened and would love to go back. Awesome city, one of my favorite places I've travelled. Congrats on LOTD
Very interesting lens. Thanks for sharing it. Congratulations on LotD!!
This is great. The lens is very informative. Thanks for the great pictures too.
This is very well presented and a great resource for users of the The Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) - Skytrain. For other readers, it is very interesting. Congrats on a well deserved LotD
great LOTD! very well put together and informative...5*...wish there was a train lens like this for all major cities of the world...I could have used it a couple of times...nice that it also includes English wording signs.
Congratulations on LOTD!
Congratulations on lens of the day! Good lens with lots of information.
Fantastic ! If I ever go to Bangkok I will be shure to come back to this lens before I depart.
I have just come from there and loved it. To be quite honest I never even noticed the Skytrain, I must be blind. Perhaps I was just too busy looking at other stuff. Congratulations on LOTD and well deserved.
Congratulations on a quite informative, nicely illustrated, and very useful great lens of the day! 5 stars
Wonderfully done :) We have 2 versions of that skytrain here in the Philippines :)
Another fabulous lens from you but what else do I expect? All of your work is fabulous. Blessed by an Angel today (squidoo.com/october-blessings)
Very informative lens. I have bookmarked this as I will need this information as I am planning to travel to Bangkok pretty soon. Rated and Faved!
The skytrain is good. The MRT is also very good.
Wonderfully practical lens for travelers. The Sky train is great depending on where you are!
You're officially blessed!


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In 2015 I was collecting call stories from my friends who are serving in diaconal ministries expressed in the United Methodist Church through the provisional and ordained deacon, diaconal ministers, deaconesses, and home missioners. In this post, you will hear from Brenda Romenius who is a commissioned deaconess currently serving as Director of Christian Education at St. John's United Methodist in Springfield, Virginia. Here are Brenda's words:
"The call" is as unique to each of us as we are unique from each other. And yet, it is the same because it is a beckoning open to everyone that takes us into a place of service on behalf of God and Jesus Christ.
My "call" came at a United Methodist Women (UMW) Prayer and Self-Denial breakfast, where I heard a deaconess who served in prison ministry. Through her testimony, I was thunderstruck with this compelling urge to serve other people for God. Her story of service and social justice gave me the courage to think outside of my own life box with the realization that we all have a purpose in bringing God's kingdom to earth. That thought gnawed at me and would not let go. Something that kept coming back to me was seeing the difficulties experienced by families of divorce, as they struggled with emotional, financial and social hurts. Though re-married, I had been through a divorce several years ago, and I knew first hand the hardships and challenges for many families of divorce.
I retired from my corporate career and pursued becoming a deaconess. That was seven years ago. Since then, it has brought me a deeper commitment in my relationship to God, to help others see the love of Jesus Christ, and stretched my heart and energies in trying to serve hurting people in his name. I serve families, married and single parents, and children in my church. I advocate for social justice. I try to live each day with Micah 6:8 as my guide – "What does the Lord require of me? To do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God."


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Project: NewMan 3 Page 29
So the battle between New Man and the Thunder Hawks with Cyber-Tech is over, and the mad cyborg is subdued thanks to the inventiveness of Emmanual Reyes a.k.a. Bearcat and Thomas "Tom Thumb" McBride and the resourcefulness of Jonathan Thunderstorm. Ah, but that's not the end of the story. Now we have learned some interesting clues to where the tech for the cyborg came from. It's a link that will eventually have the paths of New Man and the Thunder Hawks cross with that of Omnispawn and the Humants!
No Project New Man updates this weekend. We've got some maintenance to do on the sites. Next week: we'll wrap this issue up and get ready to start the conclusion to The Haunted Man in Project: New Man #4! CUMonday! Have good weekend! 🙂


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The Greatest Love of All – The Whitney Houston Show, by Showtime Australia
At The Athenaeum Theatre until Jan 27, 2018
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: 4&1/2
Review Arts online on Fri Jan 12, 2018, and later in print (date TBC). KH
All photos here by Joe Calleri.
|Belinda Davids - pic by Joe Calleri
The audience goes wild during this tribute show, The Greatest Love of All – The Whitney Houston Show, directed by Johnny Van Grinsven, as Davids pays homage to Whitney without impersonating her, performing hits from Whitney's 29-year career that ended tragically in 2012.
The warm, engaging Davids who hails from South Africa, has an effortless, expressive and natural voice, with vocal power, precision and exceptional range that are a perfect match for Whitney's power ballads.
The song list includes: How Will I Know, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Where Do Broken Hearts Go, Didn't We Almost Have It All, I'm Every Woman, Exhale (Shoop Shoop) and Step by Step, with an exhilarating finale of I Will Always Love You.
Davids' passionate style, rich tone and breathtaking top register bring tears to the eyes, and she even masters Whitney's signature technique of singing a single syllable while moving between notes.
A few individuals are desperate to dance, but Davids coaxes the entire audience onto its feet to groove to How Will I Know If He Really Loves Me and, later, to Dance With Somebody.
In a poignant, tear-jerking scene, Davids sings the soaring, heartbreaking I Have Nothing while, on a screen behind her, Whitney performs the same tune, wearing the same ruby gown and using the same gestures.
The tight, five-piece band, led by musical director Richard Baker, is a highlight, and Hayden Baird's saxaphone is an evocative accompaniment to Davids' moving version of I'm Saving All My Love.
The two male acro / hip-hop dancers are diverting, although some of the other choreography is often distracting.
The radiant, accomplished but humble Davids creates emotional and electrifying moments in this production, and her voice must be heard to be believed.
By Kate Herbert
|Belinda Davids pic by Joe Calleri
|Belinda Davids & dancers -pic by Joe Calleri
|Hayden Baird & Belinda Davids -pic by Joe Calleri


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Product Information
This pretty nightstand will be a nice complement at your bedside in your transitional master bedroom. The metal nightstand has a classic shape, with a swirling metal motif. A glass top surface offers a convenient spot for a clock, books, and other nighttime essentials. The slatted metal lower shelf has additional space for storing and displaying bedroom items. In a unique Antique Green metal finish, this nightstand will blend easily with many different styles of decor, from traditional to more casual, to create a warm and inviting bedroom ensemble. Pair with the matching bed for a complete set.
Dimension: L: 20" x W: 20" x H: 32"


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PAHOKEE — The city is among 144 communities nationwide, including five in Florida, to which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is providing $54.3 million in grants that will assist in redevelopment of potentially polluted tracts of land.
The grants, announced on April 25, are part of the Brownfields Redevelopment Program, which will give these cities and regional agencies money to conduct environmental assessments and cleanups in locally designated areas.
A $300,000 allocation is designated for several potential hazardous substance and petroleum cleanup projects in Pahokee. "The grant money will be used for environmental research and analysis of areas that possibly meet the 'Brownfields' definition," said City Manager Chandler Williamson. He listed among them the city's former water plant (which is currently being demolished) and the old Pahokee High School, which is to undergo inspections of the interior and the exterior ground foundation.
"It can also be used for other city-owned and general land areas that can become shovel-ready for economic development," he said.
"From there, if any environmental concerns are uncovered," Mr. Williamson explained, "the city then can receive cleanup grant dollars to ensure the property is prepared for redevelopment. Without these two funding streams, areas of the City of Pahokee would possibly be prevented from implementing (plans for) economic development."
Other nearby cities — Clewiston, Immokalee and Moore Haven — will benefit from a $600,000 grant funneled through the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council to finance similar projects.
"EPA's Brownfields Program expands the ability of communities to recycle vacant and abandoned properties for new, productive reuses, using existing infrastructure," said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in announcing the grants. "These grants leverage other public and private investments, and improve local economies through property cleanup and redevelopment."
Administrator Trey Glenn of the EPA's Region 4, which includes the Southeastern states of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and the sovereign lands of six Native American tribes, said $8.9 million of the total $54.3 million awarded is coming to the Southeast.
"Brownfields Assessment and Cleanup grants target communities that are economically disadvantaged and provide assistance where environmental cleanup and new job opportunities are needed," he said. "These funds mean a great deal to these communities."
"Florida has been very successful with our Brownfields Redevelopment Program (BRP) over the years, and our efforts have been strengthened through funding received from EPA Brownfields grants," Carrie Kruchell, Florida BRP manager and liaison, said, noting that a total of $1.2 million that has been awarded for environmental site assessments in fiscal 2018-19 in the state. "These assessment grants support this important first stage of protecting and preserving our environment, which sets the stage for future redevelopment and reuse."
The Brownfields Program targets communities that are economically disadvantaged and provides financing and assistance to transform blighted sites into assets that can generate jobs and spur economic growth. A study analyzing 48 brownfields sites found that an estimated $29 million to $97 million in additional tax revenue was generated for local governments in a single year after cleanup. Furthermore, another study found that property values of homes located near brownfields sites that are cleaned up increased by between 5 percent and 15 percent after cleanup.
In addition, communities can use brownfields funding to leverage water infrastructure loans and other financial resources. For example, EPA's Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund can be used, under certain conditions, to address the water-quality aspects of brownfield sites and the assessment and construction of drinking-water infrastructure on brownfields, respectively. EPA's Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program may also serve as a potential source of long-term, low-cost supplemental financing to fund brownfields project development and implementation activities to address water quality aspects of brownfields.
Pahokee's manager, Mr. Williamson, concluded, "The wonderful aspect of this grant is it ensures we can provide the very best in environmental protection as we continue to address housing development, plus new business development in the downtown areas of the City of Pahokee.


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Slimming capsules and weight loss supplements
As extra and extra persons are turning into overweight and chubby, the necessity for slimming capsules and weight loss supplements is at its zenith. There are numerous firms and producers that supply new and improved weight loss supplements, again and again. A few of these weight loss supplements are extremely efficient whereas a few of them will not be solely ineffective but in addition unsafe. Due to this fact, it is vitally necessary to decide on the perfect weight loss supplements which have confirmed their efficacy and security.
You will get prescription weight loss supplements, over-the-counter capsules and natural slimming capsules in the market. Prescription weight loss supplements have confirmed their effectiveness and security in medical trials. As the protection and efficacy of over-the-counter and natural weight loss supplements will not be confirmed and they aren't accredited and controlled by well being authorities, it might show unsafe to take these.
About slimming capsules
In order for you prescription weight loss supplements then there are three choices for you, Acomplia, Reductil, and Xenical. Tell us extra about Reductil weight loss supplements right here.
Reductil slimming capsules
Reductil slimming capsules was initially manufactured by German pharmaceutical firm Knoll, which was absorbed by Abbott Laboratories later. This weight loss supplements has been accredited by FDA within the US and likewise by the European Union as its protected to make use of for weight reduction. This slimming capsules not solely helps in weight reduction but in addition manages weight as it really works as urge for food suppressant. It's helpful to take slimming capsules to cut back weight with low calorie eating regimen and lightweight to average bodily workouts.
This slimming pills may also help keep pure degree of two chemical substances often known as serotonin and noadrenaline in your mind. The principle ingredient on this slimming tablet is a substance known as sibutramine which reduces your craving to eat by affecting chemical substances in nerve cells and stopping them from being absorbed into the cells once more. On taking this slimming capsules, it's possible you'll not have the ability to eat extra meals than is required which helps you drop a few pounds.
Availability of Reductil slimming capsules
Reductil slimming capsules is obtainable in all licensed pharmacies within the UK and nations of the European Union. You may simply get this slimming capsules after doing the mandatory medical session and getting a prescription for it. You can too take a look at the on-line choices for availability of Reductil slimming capsules.
Uncomfortable side effects of Reductil slimming capsules
Many prescription and O-T-C medicine could also be unsuitable for you and trigger negative effects. This slimming capsules can also trigger negative effects to some extent akin to nausea, insomnia, diarrhoea, vomiting, dry mouth and lightweight headedness however it's not vital that everybody will endure from negative effects of this slimming capsules.
Precautions to take for Reductil slimming capsules
Like different medicine, additionally, you will must take some precautions earlier than going for Reductil slimming capsules. Youngsters beneath the age of 18 years and folks greater than age of 65 years mustn't take this slimming capsules. You must seek the advice of a physician earlier than going for this slimming capsules. Beneath are a number of the precautions for Reductil slimming capsules:
Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: Don't take Reductil weight loss supplements in case you have these sorts of consuming issues
Psychiatric sickness: This slimming capsules can induce a manic episode in these with manic/depressive issues
Tourette syndrome: You probably have uncontrolled actions
Coronary coronary heart illness (angina, earlier myocardial infarct, CABG or angioplasty) coronary heart failure, stroke or TIA, dysrthymias and peripheral arterial illness: You probably have historical past of any of it
Inadequately managed hypertension: BP >145/90
Extreme liver impairment
Benign prostatic hyperplasia with urinary retention
Renal impairments
Being pregnant and lactation
Alcohol and drug abuse
Don't take Reductil diet pills in case you have any of the above signs. These weight loss supplements are protected however they have to be taken underneath a physician's steerage solely.