Daniel Bradley Explores

Category: City

  • Ways Border Collies Can Actually Make the Best Family Dogs

    Ways Border Collies Can Actually Make the Best Family Dogs

    This is Arthur.

    He’s an adopted Border Collie from the county animal shelter. I rescued him in 2019 on National Dog Day when he was 10 months old. I didn’t know it was National Dog Day, but the coincidence was convenient because the shelter waived a whole bunch of fees and I could actually afford him. Let me tell you, don’t be fooled by what you read online, Border Collies like Arthur make the best family dogs.

    Not all dogs are the same, even within a breed, so you should evaluate each dog you meet individually. I’ll just tell you about Arthur.

    Great with kids

    I don’t know if you knew it, but raised properly Border Collies can be fantastic, protective, and loyal to children. They’ve even been known to want to heard them together like sheep in their care. When he was first adopted, Arthur would get nervous when kids would touch him, but after playing fetch with my nephews, he learned that kids were even more fun than adults because they’d play fetch for as long as he wanted to, or even longer, which is insane if you know the endurance of Border Collies.

    Built for Adventure

    Border Collies are made for the outdoor lifestyle. They love open fields and long hiking trails. Being very obedient dogs, you can take them with you off-leash (where it’s allowed, of course.) They’ll love to go with you almost any place you can imagine. Go ahead and read my article about off-leash hiking for more information. In addition, as herding dogs, they’ll likely see children as sheep they need to keep together, so they’ll help make sure the family stays accounted for on long expeditions.

    Well Behaved in the House

    As natural working dogs, many people have the misconception that Border Collies are bad house/apartment dogs. My dog Arthur had a hard time settling down at first indoors, but he’s since learned to be very comfortable. We’ve lived in both houses and apartments together, and he knows how to behave. I would recommend crate training, at least for young Border Collies at first because they tend to get extra bored when you’re not around. They’re little smart escape artists and food finders.

    Border Collies are extremely attached to their families, so they want to be wherever you are. If you are in the house, they want to be in the house. If they want to be outside, they’ll want you outside with them.

    They Love to Cuddle

    The heading speaks for itself, doesn’t it?

    Photo by Undine Tackmann on Unsplash

    Get Down to the Shelter and Adopt

    Of course raising a dog from puppy on up is a wonderful experience, but remember to consider adopting from your local shelter. Border Collies are often left in rescues by their owners who don’t understand what kind of amazing companions they can become. Adopting Arthur was the best decision I ever made. So, if you’re on the fence, head down to the shelter and take a Border Collie mix into the playroom. I bet you’ll like what you find.

  • Visiting the Roman Baths in England

    In the West of England and 100 miles from London you find a treasure that’s thousands of years in the making: Old Roman Baths in a city called Bath that have brought multitudes both ancient and modern to witness priceless natural and archaeological wonders. People have emigrated to Bath since even before Roman times for England’s only hot springs as a place of healing and worship. When visiting Bath in 2022, I experienced an enlightening connection with history that I hope to share. Wherever we live as human beings, we tread our footsteps over the lives and legacies of billions. The Roman Baths help illustrate this with wonderfully preserved ruins that anyone can see…for a few pounds.

    Photo by Paul Cuoco on Unsplash

    Getting to Bath

    If you’re traveling from London, I would recommend renting a car. Renting a car can be pricy, especially if you’re limiting yourself to only automatic transmissions, but renting can be worth it if you plan on using Bath as a hub to travel to other locations. The car can also save you a lot of time. However, parking can be hard to find during peak visiting times. Bath is a major shopping destination and my group and I drove in right during the peak of Guy Fawkes Day. We found one public parking space after driving around several times. If it weren’t for Google Maps, which I would recommend as your main source of navigation, I think we might have circled that town for eternity.

    Knowing this, if you’re uncomfortable driving or you prefer public transportation, bus and train options are available. You can find them at:

    https://www.romanbaths.co.uk/visit

    This website is useful because they’ve simplified your choices to the most prudent. National Express has a bus service from the Heathrow and Gatwick airports and after a couple hours or so you’ll find yourself a five-minute walk from the Roman Baths.

    The train station is called Bath Spa, and the slowest but cheapest option is London Waterloo. More expensive but faster services are available.

    Photo by Suzi Kim on Unsplash

    What to Learn at the Baths

    Sulis Minerva: Photo by N C on Unsplash

    The Audio Tour of the Roman Baths in Bath offers an informative look into the lives of Roman people in about 60 AD. The Romans named the town Aquae Sulis, or the waters of Sulis, after the Celtic goddess worshipped at the hot springs before the romans arrived. The Romans associated Sulis with Minerva.

    Photo by Daniel Bradley

    The baths in Roman days were a complex system of pools of varying temperature for bathing. There’s evidence that people would come as a sort of pilgrimage from across the empire to experience the warm healing effects of the mineral water.

    Photo by Daniel Bradley

    They would even heat stones to make a hot floor for bathers.

    Photo by Daniel Bradley from the Roman Baths Museum in Bath

    These examples only touch a small part of the vast knowledge found under the ground at the Roman Baths. The real wholistic lesson I took away came from the overarching theme of syncretism.

    Natural Subterranean Syncretism

    At the end of the museum tour, we had the opportunity to drink the water after its purification. The walls around the fountain were full of quotes throughout history of the believed healing benefits:

    Photo by Daniel Bradley
    Photo by Daniel Bradley

    When I drank a cup of the water, I couldn’t help but feel the impact of an amalgamation ancient beliefs, whether I held them the same or not. I thought of the underground veins where the water passed through Celt, Roman, and British worlds under my feet. Studying the history and drinking the water felt like a temporal connection to the long dead, like I could honor them with a few bitter gulps of mineral water.

    Natural syncretism isn’t a forced interfaith dialogue or lesson, it’s simply existing alongside ghosts of the past. Visiting the Roman Baths brought me closer to my ancestors, British and Roman, in a way that I didn’t know possible. If you find yourself in or around London, consider taking a side-step westward toward Bath and see these sites for yourself. If you’re a history buff and creative minded like me, you’ll have the time of your life. I was so influenced by my experience that I’m using what I learned for an upcoming novel.

    For More Information

    I would advise visiting the site I posted above for travel information. Pricing I’m sure is subject to change as well as other visitation guidance. The most important thing is to educate yourself from real sources before going.

    For references, all my photos were taken by myself at the museum or borrowed from Unsplash and credit is given to the photographers for their expert work.

    We live in a rich world of a million billion legacies. I’m glad we have a place like the Roman Baths where we can learn to appreciate them.

    Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash