We Cheer Ourselves Up Using Pictures of Roman Plumbing, and Caitlin Moran

You know when you end up having to spend 27 minutes looking at pictures of Caitlin Moran on the internet just to be able to get on with the rest of your day?
As you know, we don't like to complain, but there are moments when one wishes that there was a lot less mansplaining happening, and a lot more syphilis. If the crotch of one's tights would stay in the position intended for it, and not slide down to one's knees, that would also be great. (One can dream, can't one?)

Incidentally, before we go any further, here is an emergency picture of Caitlin Moran. (We can't sit down and drink ourselves into a stupor while enjoying a spirited rant with all of you, so this is as close as we can get to providing spiritual solace.)

Caitlin Moran makes everything better.

Now exhale. Feels better, doesn't it? And guess what. It gets even better! It's dark outside, and there's all kinds of doom happening left, right and centre, and also there's something really weird going on with the Privy Counsel HQ toilet, which we hope will sort itself out before anything distressing happens. But we had a cheeky pint (and, incidentally, some seriously calorific pastries and, funnily enough, an extended spirited rant) with Exuberant Archaeologist Friend today, and realised that we haven't posted all her Rome photos. So here are more of Exuberant Archaeologist Friend's Rome photos! Huzzah!

Exuberant Archaeologist Friend writes, in her bold, plucky style (a translation follows, as usual, below the original, but do take the opportunity, if the mood takes you, of brushing up on your colloquial Swedish):

Detta är lite annat smått och gott:
Vad vi tror var ett avlopp som vi hittade på Colosseum. Synnerligen intressant. Kanske har det sköljt bort mer blod än avföring men det lämnade dock ett bestående intryck.
Vi fann en offentlig dryckesfontän i Ostia samt vad vi tror var ett annat avlopp. Detta var trevligt. I synnerhet som detta avlopp var klädsamt täckt av rik grönska. Vi blev en aning poetiska. Fontänen var mycket rar och vi önskade innerligt att den fortfarande fungerade. Men ack, den var snustorr och detta beredde oss en viss sorg.
Mera bilder följer.

(Here are a few more titbits:
What we think was a drain, that we found in the Colosseum. Singularly interesting. It might have drained away more blood than faeces, but it still left an indelible impression.
We found a public drinking fountain in Ostia, and what we think was another drain. This was nice. Especially since the drain was becomingly covered in lush greenery. We waxed somewhat lyrical. It was a very dear fountain, and we heartily wished that it still worked. But alas, it was bone dry, and this caused us a certain sorrow.
More pictures coming.)

ZOMG A DRAIN. IN THE COLOSSEUM. IN THE COLOSSEUM!

Huzzah - a drinking fountain in Ostia!

Another drain. This one is becomingly covered in lush greenery.

That's all we have energy for now - we have to watch a frivolous tv programme, then get on with some grammar and maybe bash our head against the wall for a bit.

There are lots more exciting posts coming up, though - Bogsley Hansson Friend sent us an awesome picture of a ventilation pipe (and also a water-saving sink!), and there is one more Italian instalment from Exuberant Archaeologist Friend coming, in which she loses her shit over Italian plumbing, in a manner which inspires feelings of courage and valour in one's breast.

Today's festive video is, inevitably, going to consist of a melodramatic country song.

Festive video - Miranda Lambert, Mama's Broken Heart

Related Reading

All previous posts about Caitlin Moran:
Joy in the Morning, Afternoon, and Well Into the Evening - Caitlin Moran in a Bathroom

In Which We Indulge in a Feminist Rant and, of Course, Incontinence

Caitlin Moran - Our Favourite Non-Toilet-Related Person

That time when we were enormously excited by a drain in Athens:
The Ancient Agora Museum in Athens - Unbridled Stoicism

That time when we tried to cheer ourselves up with a picture from our mate Jonny:
We Clutch Desperately at Straws, and Try to Cheer Everyone Up with One of Jonny's Pictures

Another post in which we bitch and moan a fair amount, about, among other things, grammar:
"Oh for Shame, How the Mortals Put the Blame on Us Gods" - We Indulge in Melodrama

All previous posts from Exuberant Archaeologist Friend