I made an effort to hang around with some of the boys from school today, but I didn’t have much in common with them. I tried to get the conversation going by asking them what they want to be when they grow up.
‘I want to be a litter carrier,’ said one. ‘You get to visit lots of different parts of Pompeii and be near important people.’
‘I want to be a floor cleaner,’ said another. ‘My uncle does that, and he finds loads of coins people have dropped.’
‘I want to be a wee collector,’ said another. ‘For the local laundry.’
‘You’re just a dreamer,’ said the first one. ‘No one from our school has ever got a job like that.’
‘I have a friend who used to be a wee collector,’ I said. ‘He owns his own laundry now.’
The boys listened in awe as I told them about Linos’s wee laundry. I decided to practise my speech-making skills by turning it into a rousing speech about how everyone should follow their dreams.
I can’t believe the dream in question was wee collecting, though. Whatever happened to wanting to be a centurion or a senator or a chariot racer? These Pompeii kids need to aim a lot higher.