Pompeii: Lost In Time

I saw a fascinating article on the BBC website this morning about a new exhibition at Pompeii of the plaster cast remains of the dead townsfolk and animals after the volcanic eruption 2,000 years ago. It reminded me that I visited Pompeii on a school trip when I was 15 or 16. It struck a chord today because we visited in the run-up to Easter and spent Good Friday in Rome - I bought a big Easter Egg wrapped in coloured cellophane, something I'd never seen before. It was also my first foreign trip and first aeroplane flight.

I did Latin 'O' Level at school (don't worry, I didn't pass) and it was based on a new syllabus from Cambridge (I think) that involved learning Latin and learning about Roman culture through a series of short booklets that told the story (in Latin) of the family of Caecelius, a senator of Pompeii immediately before the eruption of Vesuvius. I think back on the lessons as some of the most boring ever (sorry, Mr McLeod), the different conjugation of verbs and wotnot, and I spent a lot of time day-dreaming, but I was fascinated by the ancient history. So I jumped at the opportunity to visit Pompeii and badgered my parents into letting me go on the basis that it would help with my Latin exams (it didn't).

I remember the coach to the newly opened Luton airport and the the cabins on the camp site near Naples, wandering round the streets of Pompeii and visiting the brothel to see the wall-paintings (well, I *was* a teenager) and visiting Vesuvius and going inside the crater. I picked up a piece of volcanic rock that I kept for years but have no idea what came of it. We then went to Rome for a few days and stayed in a sort of bed and breakfast place that specialised in school trips, big bedrooms with bunk-beds, ornate and with big windows. I recall visiting the Colosseum and the Vatican and looking up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel knowing it was important but just thinking, 'nice'. I didn't know enough about Pompeii or art or history to really appreciate where I was or what I was seeing. I would have a different response today.

I'd love to go back to Pompeii and see the exhibition. I think I'd see it with very different eyes. My Latin would be just as bad as it was back then, but I'd have a guidebook so I don't think I'd worry. I wonder what happened to Caecelius in the curriculum? Is Latin still taught in ordinary schools these days? I should know really...

I've no idea where my photos are from that trip. I think I'd borrowed my Mother's box brownie camera from the '50s which I found when we cleared the house a couple of years ago (my Dad kept it for some reason). Other than memories, the only thing I've still got from that trip is a small wooden music box that plays 'Close To You' by The Carpenters that I bought for my Grandma but kept for some reason (maybe I got something better for her?). It's on the top of a bookcase in my hallway and still works.