General Chat

Well I'm back, sorry I haven't been on here much recently.

Bridget, I'm so pleased that Jet is doing so well.
Hope that you gets lots of photos of Evie's christening.

Berona, my great grandmothers brother, (from Herefordshire) married a woman who was born near Bisley. I know a lot of people from the area moved overseas, (looked up Bisley on the internet).
This family moved to Birmingham U.K (where I now live). didn't know anything about them till I started to research the family history. They lived in an area where I used to work and make home visits. I now wonder, did I visit any of the houses they lived in? I certainly visited huses in their roads.


Have been busy, going to exercise class and relaxation sessions.
Had my hair cut last week, at the college, on special offer, it cost only £1.
Just had a couple of inches trimmed off, to make it more tidy.
I was the first "real client" for the young girl doing the cut.

Toorrow I'm off to have my nails done. They certainly need a lot of attention at the moment.

Also been to hospital with my son. he has chipped a bone in his thumb and damaged the tendon 9or was it ligament), at work.
He works in an "assisted living home" and was injured when he put his (open) hand up, tp prevent a client from biting him!

Now that he is not allowed to drive, I have offered to get a provisional licience, so that I can drive him around anywhere he wants, as long as it does not involve the motorway.
For some reason he has turned down my offer :-D

Have had some mild sunny weather recently. Makes me want to take up gardening.

I am determined to try to get stronger, to loose some flab (I've got lots of it) get some muscle, so that I can get strong enough to mow the lawn and dig in the soil. Perhaaps some home grown spuds will be on the menu soon.

Will try to be back soon.

<3

The only people who lived in Australia prior to 1788, were aboriginals. They had no say and the Englishman took over.
From that time on, Britain wanted to populate the country, so it was easy to get a passage out and they even sent 'criminals' out, sentencing them to 'seven years penal servitude in Tasmania' for minor crimes. The old story goes that they were sent out here for seven years if they merely stole a loaf of bread to feed their families.
When their time was served, they were offered some land to farm, so most of them stayed here.
So far, I haven't found any 'criminals' in my family history. The average Australian of to-day is proud to say that they had a 'criminal' ancestor - when they can compare them to the prosperity of to-day's people.
Until after WW2, we had only British people here with a smattering of Greek and Chinese people, then we had the post-war influx of European migrants. Only over the last few decades, the immigrants have come from everywhere.

Berona, what a sad time your relatives had, I once read that more people from the UK died than survived in the first 20 years in Australia, how sad is that.
Also of course many convicted people were also sent to Australia..it begs the question were this people so desperate for food, work, somewhere to live etc or were they simple thieves etc?
How did those who had lived in Australia think about all these strange people who suddenly arrived and wanted to take over!!

Must go. Someone has just arrived unexpectedly

Bridget

Bridget - my father's great grandparents did that and I think I have mentioned it before on here - they were a young couple with three little boys. I don't know if they looked upon Australia as the 'promised land' but there was no work for them in Bisley, Glos., so they came here (took about four months to get here) and buried the two younger boys at sea when there was an outbreak of measles on the ship.
I often think of them when I am doing that branch of my tree. What choice did they have? They must have hated the place before they even got to it - but they couldn't turn around and go back home. They might have lost the eldest boy - or even one of themselves.
After working on a farm for a while, they opened a saddlery and life became easier, although it required hard work. There was no refrigeration or any way of keeping cool in Summer and no sanitation, either. No wonder they died in their fifties.

They built a home which is still standing (and heritage listed), had three more sons (rearing two of them, along with the eldest boy) and the sons, too, became pioneers of their district. One of them was local Mayor and another entered Parliament. It's hard to imagine how it was then if you could see it now.

Good morning to you all and many thanks to those who have added posts in the last few days.
Yippee the sun is shining, the sea is grey/blue rather tha black, and I can occasionally hear people checking on their gardens.

Berona, in Spain I have never heard anything about weather etc in Austrailia. However it is at times on the UK news especially when there is unusual weather etc. Sky tv does more in my opinion and of course as OH is sports mad we do watch the cricket etc. This means that we have UK televisions not Spanish.


I am now helping someone else about their family and I was truly taken back when I discovered that some of her family lived in the same streets as some of my Hampshire relatives!! It really is a small world.

My granddaughter Evie is being baptised tomorrow in Belfast where her mothers family live and close to where my son and his wife and daughter are posted. I am sad that I will not be there but they understand why and will send many photos. This made me think about all the migrants who left the UK and went to Australia, Canada, America etc in boats which took a long time to arrive. Children died and so did others and then buried at sea. Many found that their dream was not what they had hoped for. I am amazed at their courage and determination. Does anyone else feel the same?

I am rambling again, ......sorry.

Bye bye for now,

Bridget :-) <3 :-) <3 :-) ;-)

It seems that we are all having weather we don't want!
Yesterday was the first day of Autumn here and we actually had some rain where I am. Still not enough to water a garden, but enough to make arthritic joints ache!
Further into the city of Sydney, there was torrential rain for a while and up north, the rivers are overflowing. Still a few thousand people unable to get back to their homes.

Bridget - I have to tell you that we don't get a lot of news from Spain and I wonder if you hear anything of Australia? Perhaps the news media is not equipped to get the news across? We hear of things happening in the US and UK as they happen! We also get to see it happening via our TV. It makes the world seem so much smaller, doesn't it?

Here in Spain it is still raining, not gentle soft rain but torrential rain, flooding some houses down by the beach, driving is hazardous and everywhere is grey and very cold.
Thank goodness we do not have to go out.

The Quiz was good and 23 people came along and just as we finished so the rain started, we could hear the water flowing down the streets,, the street lights went out as we were driving home, not very pleasent.

Nice to see you back Tess,

Hoping that everyone is well

Bridget

Have been very busy again.
Off to my relaxation session tomorrow morning. So need to get to bed.

Will try to come back for a chat in the next few days.

Take care everyone.

Good morning to you all.

Well what a surprise, our weather is awful to day! It started at about 5am and hasn't stopped, heavy rain. Dark sky and Thunder & Lightening. Jet & Joe are under our bed, hiding from the sky and the noise and it is warm.

I think we will stay at home until this evening when we go out for a quiz, the people who arrange this quiz always come to our quiz.

Well not much else to say so will be back letter,

I am delighted to be able to say that Jet is well. He was seen twice yesterday and the medication was already working...cost a large amount of money but what else could one do. He will be seen again on Thursday evening and then if all is well he will be seen as usual. He is taking 4 lots of Meds but will go down to 2when the others finish.

Thanks to everyone for your support.

Today the sun is shining but it is cold, not normaly this cold at this time of the year.

I have been quite lazy today apart from cleaning the house, only the part we live in, sorted out the garden at the top of the ground, and OH checked the watering systems as some were not quite right. Washing done, ironed and put away. Food prepared for our evening meal.

The darts night was good fun and also good to see other people, but today we are staying at home.

Nothing else at the moment, so please have a happy / content day and I look forward to seeing who adds tomorrow.


Bridget :-) <3 <3 :-)

Bridget - sorry about your Jet - I remember when I was about six or seven, 'Auntie' Lilian (who was actually the wife of the plumber and not related) had a chocolate cocker and I got to play with it when she visited - one day it had a 'fit' when I was playing ball with it. I am thinking this may have been a 'stroke'. Good news was the dog did recover and lived at least another three years.

I think I have found your tree on the other lot - obviously living relatives are not visible.

Sorry again about the football, but it wasn't my beloved Arsenal that beat you but that dreadful North London team T***enham.

Gerard
:-D <3

Bridget - sorry about your Jet - I remember when I was about six or seven, 'Auntie' Lilian (who was actually the wife of the plumber and not related) had a chocolate cocker and I got to play with it when she visited - one day it had a 'fit' when I was playing ball with it. I am thinking this may have been a 'stroke'. Good news was the dog did recover and lived at least another three years.

I think I have found your tree on the other lot - obviously living relatives are not visible.

Sorry again about the football, but it wasn't my beloved Arsenal that beat you but that dreadful North London team T***enham.

Gerard
:-D <3

I thought that I had replied, sorry.
Gerard, I will send you a message re my other tree, and yes I have looked on my tree on here as well.
We had a difficult day yesterday. Our lovely Cocker Spaniel Jet, was very quiet and then he flopped to the floor, I helped him up and tried to encourage him to eat. It was hot so I bout out fresh water and then started to do some work. About 15 minutes later I noticed he was not on the veranda so looked for him and he was laying down on one of the raised flower beds. I rushed out and thought he was dead! However I managed to find that he was breathing and opened his eyes but no response. I called for my husband about 15 minutes later as I could not raise any attention from Jet. Called vet who said bring him now, so of we went. 2 hours later after many examinations, etc he was walking, quiet , and would not eat. He had a stroke, now I have to give him 4 lots of medication and in a month he should only have two Meds for the rest of his life. We are so relieved.

To everyone, enjoy your day, your family and your pets. :-) <3 :-) <3

Hello to all. Just showing the flag. Nothing much to report.
The fires are either out, under control, or just burning where they don't matter.
In the meantime, floods are the thing of the moment, and the poor Queenslanders are copping it again, less than two years after last time. They had just got everything cleaned up and looking normal, too.
Northern NSW has had floods also with thousands of people evacuated from their homes. This is still going on in many areas - whilst here in Sydney, there has been rain and wind in the city area, but on the western side where I am - only the occasional light shower - plenty of heat (around 30c each day) with not enough rain to water a garden. We seem to have a bit of everything.

Bridget - get it right - it is West Ham versus Tottenham - and bad luck about the 93rd minute winner! :-(

Gerard

Gerard. I will send you a message so you can see my other place full of trees!

We had a fright today, as usual I was up around 7am and made my coffee, Jet one of my lovely dogs did not want his food and it was difficult to make him even drink...... Then looked at the news and realised that Jet was trying to stand up but could not do so. Would not eat his food, then he slumped, but was still breathing. Peter got up took one look at him and called the Vet who told us to bring him immediately ...so we did.

Two hours, and many tests we found that he had a stroke! What a relief. He has lots of Meds to take and we visit again in a couple of days.

We are watching West Ham : Arsenal match and it is 1-1 at the moment yet WH should be ahead.


Bridget <3 :-)

Hi Everyone

I am sure we are not deserting Bridget's thread!

Bridget - did you get to see the Doddingtons yet? Your tree on the other lot is it private or public, 'cos if it's public I can visit it anyway.

Ann - I wasn't having a go at you - I was just mentioning that diet can often affect our medical status - particularly things like high blood pressure from too much salt - diabetes from too much sugar and obesity and all the problems that brings from too much!

Tess - a good idea not to ignore the letter re the fine - we had a dodgy company up our street at 1B (we are 18) and they managed to have enough debts for Bailiffs to call at our house, when I explained that they were at the wrong address, they were reluctant to believe me, although it was obvious that they were in the wrong. Fortunately life caught up with them and their company is now defunct and we get no more letters for them.

Berona - I am pleased to hear that the fires are now mostly under control - but the weather is still too hot - keep cool - make sure that air conditioner is well serviced!

I'm off to church shortly with OH, the church will be looking extremely drab as it is Lent - we use the old tradition of covering all the church's fancy bits and have no flowers, it means we look forward to Easter especially!

Signing off now, love to all, prayers for those in need, Keep warm (or cool)
Gerard
<3 :-) <3 :-) <3 :-)

Good morning from a cold,wet and blustery day in Peniscola! It has been an unusually wet & cold winter this year. There has been the odd day that is warm but song " blowing in the wind " just about fits our weather.

Tess how concerned you must have been re the the surprised re the non existence of the journey and the £80 ticket, pleased that your son helped.

Have you chosen which cooker you would like? I am pleased with mine now I remember how to turn on and off etc. I cooked a really delicious Fish Pie and it all went smoothly.

My friend will be visiting around 11am re her family tree. She wants it down loaded but also thinks it will be like the view online!

I think that I will download the census etc and then write the rest and give to her. I have suggested that she now joins An....try but said "oh, I cannot afford to do so, plus paying for paper, ink etc! ".

Well off now to have a coffee, so bye bye for now and maybe others will add today...I hope so

Bridget :-)

Good morning to you all. I have not forgotten you but been busy re family both living and Ancesters. Does anyone else find that finding Ancesters can be tedious and unable to find and then suddenly they all appear at once?

Weather looking better today, rather dull for the last few days, I hope it starts to get warmer soon.

Off soon to buy a few plants and have some shopping to do, so have to say bye bye for now. Have a good day.

Bridget :-)

No Valentines card this year (again) I really wasn't expecting one.

However, got another unexpected letter.
Not addressed to me (or my son) but to someone called Andre S.

Luckily my son opened the letter, because this Andre S. has given my address when found travelling without a ticket, from Birmingham to Bristol.

Hoping this can be sorted pdq as I don't want this debt (£80) attached to my address.

I think that I will have to buy myself a new cooker to cheer myself up.

My present one (which has a replacement element), turs itself of on a whim. Very difficult timing things that are cooking.
Also won't come back on again till it feels like it. A right moody whatsit! :-P


Snow has gone. :-D
So have got something to smile about :-D :-D