General Chat

Morning everyone

All the Welsh people have gone home (sad no doubt as they lost 1-0) and the streets could do with a good clean (as usual) - We have a McDonalds at the top of the main street and their rubbish seems to accumulate in our cul-de-sac.

Bridget - I have seen one of those spectacular weddings - it's like all the residents from two or three villages come to the wedding and bring all the music with them. The Spaniards certainly know how to have a good time.

The OH and I are off to church shortly - the sun is shining - and England are playing cricket at Lord's today.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend! :-)

Good morning to you all.

The sun is still shining bright and the temp is already creeping up.
Last night was the end of the festival, the clothes worn we truly spectacular and one couple were married in the Papa Luna Church.
after the ceremony they walked down to the main roads and followed by quite literally more than a hundred musicians, hundred of family, friends and visitors to Peniscola they walked around town, sweets and flowers were constantly thrown at them and many of the children scrambled on the pavements for the sweets.
It was such a happy hour or so for so many people and the cameras were definitely being used.
We later learnt that the family have lived in the area for more than two hundred years, they also are involved in the music festivals and the various parades throughout the year.
OH has gone to pick up Army son and his wife andi am supposed to be tidying etc but on here instead. I have about an hour beforetney arrive so plenty of time for a quick dust around.

Friends have telephoned to say there journey home went well and on the drive from tjeir airport to home they stopped to have good old Fish and Chips!

I will look in again soon and Greentiedmonster I am still waiting to hear from you about how our trees are connected. Not sure where your family start??

Please please PM me wih the details, you are tne third person whoi have several people in my tree who I have found through my threads!!

Bridget

Well goodness gracious me Greentiedmonster, we are related! No wonder I have understood your style!

I will PM you again

Thank you for your comment about my eldest son. The youngest son willshow me how to find the Blog for son number one and then I can let everyone know...just hope I do not poor them!

To everyone else on here I hope you all have a productive day and or a happy day.

Bridget

Good morning from dreary looking 'Holloway village'

We shall be invaded later by some Welsh people as the spaceship is expecting sixty-thousand visitors later at about three. We are also expecting the remnants of a hurricane over the weekend. Won't park the car under a tree then!
Bridget have you heard from your son and his OH in India yet? The work they are doing is so worthwhile.
I know you are really looking forward to being mummy again whilst your army son and his OH visit, I expect you worry about him so when he is not on leave, I can tell by the tone of your writing!!

I am hoping for a restful weekend with lots of sport on TV, my OH probably glaring at me from across the room.

Back tomorrow :-)

Good morning everyone, I hope that you all have an enjoyable day.

All is quiet here apart from the birds who are singing away and the very occasional car can be heard from the main road out of town.

It is still festival time here but now the music at night has to finish by 2am,where as in the past it went on all night. Yesterday afternoon OH and his friend went into town and bought the English newspapers, we do not normally bother as we can hear the news on the TV. They were waylaid by a parade of youngsters who were playing Jazz music throughout to the town, with the final Parade going right through the centre...well even in the centre of tow it only takes about an hour to get around Llthe streets.however both men enjoy Jazz so the sat and had a drink and listened to it all.

We enjoyed the party we went to yesterday. The grounds of the house we went to were superb and the food was excellent. It was very p,peasant meeting people we had not met before and one lady gave me her email address,we got along very well and it was a rather strange meeting asshe and her husband have the same names as us!

I managed to achieve just under 200.00 Euros for the collection for the raffle and all the money goes to a Local charity. We left after four hours as the flies were all around us,one of the reasons why we did not buy a house inland.
A few hours after we were home we had a telephone call to say we had one four prizes!! One of these was a bottle of sweet wine in a rather attractive bottle. We won this about 18 months ago and this is the second time we have given it to a raffle and themes have won it back.we do not like sweet wines so will have to put in it back into the next raffle.

Our Yorkshire friends go home today, so OHwill be driving tnem to the airport this afternoon,I shall stay at home and prepare forArmy son and his wife who arrive tomorrow.very excited at the thought of seeing them, because we never know when we will see them both again.

I wonder what you will all be doing today? What ever it is I wish you well.

Gerard, I hope that you enjoyed the cricket, my OH and his friend watched some yesterday when we were all home.

Bridget

Hi everyone

I spent yesterday at my voluntary work

My main task was to take sacks of student's cast offs to the textile recycling.

I made three trips (5 sacks) - three bus journeys there and three bus journeys back, plus at least a half mile walk on each occasion. A good job well done - even if I say so myself.

Today I am going to watch a bit of cricket from the KIA Oval in Kennington, London. (I will be in Holloway)

The weather is grey is dismal, but I think the sun is trying to make it through :-)

Gerard,

I have never for one moment suggested that Spain is better than England, it is simply different and as all my children live in very different places it made no difference where we live to them.
My husband, having been an English man through and through became sorely disheartend in his work, and finally he had two sudden death episodes and was advised to stop work immediatley.
It was then that he fabpncied living in Spain where the eldest son lives and now we see more of the family as they seem to jump on a plane the way we used to jump on buses.

I do know where you live and late last year went to the match with West Ham at the Emirates, WH lost but what a stadium.we then went to the West End and walked all around our haunts as a memory of our youth.

It is good to hear from someone who still loves London and the UK.

Oh the memories of walking around Kings Road, seeing all the stars of the day, occasionally catching a photo!

My closest school friend was Hazel Leacock and her step father owned a club in Soho and her uncle was the chef so we were allowed to sit on the indoor steps and listen to the Jazz music and songs..jazzis still very important to me.

So who knows, we may have passed each other at some time.

Berona, thank you for your kind thoughts about my grandaughter and step son.

Bridget

Well I live in the 'beautiful' village of Holloway in North London, literally a stone's throw away from Arsenal's Emirates Stadium (which is like a beautiful spaceship that has landed where the rubbish dump used to be), I live in a small maisonette (and have done for nearly 32 years), with my fairly new young wife - 8 years married.

I can look out of the kitchen window and see the new shed we erected earlier this year and our scruffy garden which our four cats make good use of, plus all the neighbour's cats too.

We live in a cul-de-sac and near the end where we are is the main Kings Cross Line to the North - but unless you are from the wildest countryside it really is peaceful and pleasant.

I am not jealous of Bridget in Spain - I am not really a sun lover - I occasionally go to Somerset for a short break (but it is too quiet for me) - I love my London with all it's noise and pollution - I must be mad!!

Will be back tomorrow - off to do my voluntary work today!

Gerard :-)

Good morning everyone.

I hope that the sun is shining wherever you are, if not in the sky then in your hearts.
Gerard, good morning to you, what are you going to be doing today? When we first started this thread we described where each of us lived, what we could see through our windows, the flulike of the sky, the sea/ the street / the neighbours gardens etc, obviously we did not give road names etc but it helped us all, I think, to learn something about each other. For example my first opening was about the beautiful view of the sea and sky, when I was living not far from Hastings, I described the view from the windows of the apartment I was living in which once had been a convent and amazingly I had lived there for six months when a very young age.

Could you and anyone else who has joined us in the last year do the same. Whilst you may as individuals geel that your surroundings are not very interesting to others such as me tit provides a interest about parts of the UK and other countries where I may never be able to visit.

Here in Peniscola itisthe final two weeks of the summer. Therefore each night we have parades iin town, with all sorts of events happening, from Flamingo dancing, to musical parades, singing, opera, Modern and Jazz.
The children are also included with Punch & Judy, games, dressing up costumes, sweets thrown in the air for them to catch.
At the end of the evening there is a fireworks display,so absolutely no chance of going to sleep before about 01.00 hrs.!

Another sunny and very warm morning today. We do not have any plans today so will just wait and see what sort of day we will have.

We did enjoy our lunch yesterday at the Chinese restaurant. It is rather different to those I have been to in the UK. No MSG for a start and any food which has to be cooked is freshly cooked for you, in fact you stand along a vert long cooking area watching each order being prepared. The fresh veg , salads etc are all so nice and crisp, the meat is fresh and you choose which pieces you want and can eat however much you can. Including wine the cost for our four course meal was 18 euros,

Well can hear others rising so time to be the good wife and hostess,I will be back later today.

Only a couple of days know and - - army son and wife will be here, I really am looking forward to seeing them

Bye bye enjoy your day

Bridget

Bridget - that sounds very hopeful for your step-son. I do hope that it all goes well for him. If not, keep trying. "The squeaky wheel gets the most oil"!

Not so good for your grand-daughter. A most impressionable age, too. I hope things improve rapidly for her.

I am sorry everyone - the trees still have all their leaves - and the plums keep falling off the tree up the road onto the pavement and making a mess - the Autumn equinox is on the 21st and England are still playing cricket (in the rain) - it is still Summer.
:-) <3

Well it is said that you learn something new each day and so now my most recent message is at the top. Only problem is now have to keep "going up " to remind myself what it is I want to say!!
Berona, thank you for asking about my son and my granddaughter

My so, well step son really, but like a son to me, is in much better form. He called several days ago to say that he had been to another meeting, and heeded our advice about taking hi Mum as well. He had also written each concern on a separate page of a hard back book where he is now recording what was and what wasn't discussed.
The meeting went very well,he has been promised a flat to live in big enough for his children to stay and a review of visits will take place. He may in the future six to twelve months gain full custody which would be fantastic.
The flat will be close to his mother so plenty of help there.

He still has other meetings to go to re court attendance to explain what has been happening etc.

He has received a full written apology from Social Services and has now been allocated a senior person for each meeting.

My daughter is feeling very down and is blaming herself for the accident which professionally I knows the normal thing to happen but as a mother it is heart braking. She is a very wonderful mother who is completely content to be with her children and is bringing them up to be respectful,kind and loving people. She nor Ior any one in the family is perfect but my heart hurts fro her and there is nothing I can do.

It is taking an eternity for her to see a social worker or any one who can help her financially as she still cannot go back to work. My granddaughter has become more aware of the damage and as she will be 12 in December she is finding it very difficult. I have tried to explain to her that every year doctors, nurses etc learn something new and by the time she is about 14 there will be more knowledge etc.
On aositive note she enjoys talking to Grandad 2 because he makes her laugh.

So we continue to pray, we try to look forward, I try to help financially and so on and so on.

Today we are going out for a chinese Lunch with visitors and two friends who have not yet met our UK friends.

Then this evening it is Quiz night so some fun to look forward to.

I do hope that this is not a sad message but that everyone can see that we are moving forward with the family difficulties.


Bridget

Mary - if you wish to go straight to the last page, just click on the little white arrow next to Post Date above the first post on any page and it will point down giving you Last Post First - same as the Index pages.

Bridget - I, too, have been thinking of your grand-daughter and also your son - how are things going with them?

Gerard - how can it still be summer in London when in other parts of England, Autumn started on 1st September? There was a discussion on one of these threads a few months ago, and those who looked it up came back with 1st September.

My major worries on name spelling have not been on my main branch I mean you can't really misspell Box or White or Wilson or even Devonshire but I have six versions of Randall!!

Just to let you know - all you sunseekers - that today was probably the second worst day of the summer in London (it still is officially summer) and I managed to get thoroughly wet - twice!!

I had the strangest info from a contact today - she reckons that two of our relations got married twice to each other, each time both of the couple used different names. Why!!??

Be back tomorrow to see everyone's news

Gerard xx

Hi All
Well I have been home in Spain for just over a week and at long last seem to have caught up with the mundane washing, ironing and housework.
We had a great time in UK seeing family, especially our two grandchildren, and friends. I also enjoyed shopping - the car was loaded up when we made our return journey.
We arrived in France to stay at our friends' for a few days to be informed that the next day they were having a BBQ and guess who was doing the cooking ? Yes, my hubby and me. It was for 14 people half of which were French - can we speak French - NO........ Anyway we managed the cooking bit even though it poured with rain.
My mom was pleased to see us but she has lost an awful amount of weight and has also had 2 falls recently - her guardian angel must have been at her side as she has only badly bruised herself - anyone else would have had broken bones.
We have some friends coming over in a few weeks - they have rented a large villa and all their friends have been allocated a slot to stay with them. We are with them 25th-30th September so another break to look forward to.
Sorry to read Val is leaving us - perhaps she will still read this thread even if not able to contribute.
I wish GR wouyld sort out the pages bit on long threads - perhaps my brain is not what it should be but I do find it difficult to get to the last page.
Well I hope the fridge has defrosted now and watch out freezer your turn next !!
Hope your granddaughter is ok Bridget - she is still in my prayers. Also I will remember your son and partner.
Enjoy your day everyone - see you soon
Love Mary xx

Berona and Gerard,

My family name on my grandfathers tree should be very simple. However the Spelling has several variants and I have learnt that many people could not write let alone spell, and often the person recording the document also could not spell. As a result the family name Ford is also spelt as Fford, Forde, Fored, and other variations.
Also some first names have been mis spelt
My mother has her name recorded as Winniefred. Her brother spelt the name!

Bridget

Gerard - first, let me tell you I believe the fear of identity theft has a lot to do with not wanting names on the internet - and also the fact that every person I have known with this attitude, is 'computer ignorant/illiterate'. That same relative has never owned a credit card or a cheque book and has always paid for everything by cash and in person. Very old fashioned, I know, but I can't see him changing his ways now.

Secondly - you are the first person to pick up on my 'research' names. The name Birchall is in my OH's tree and yes, your relatives could be part of the family, although I have not been able to delve into the aunts/uncles in any generation - only enough to know that there were an awful lot of them! Large families, and all from the area you mentioned. It has been made more difficult to research by the fact that I have found fourteen different versions of spelling the name! There doesn't seem to have been any education prior to the 20th century, so names were written as they sounded, and the signatures I have on marriage certificates, etc. are marked with a 'X'. One person 'fixed' it back in 1928, but he got it wrong - so since then, it has been Burchall and I don't think any of the living relatives are interested in changing it back again.

Berona - I've just noticed you're researching Birchall's

I have a few in my tree from Crank/Rainford nr. St.Helens in Merseyside/Lancashire any relation to yours?

Gerard

Haven't been on for a few days, as we have been very busy with end of season fund raising events for our church, sorting daughters garden out, finally painting our garden benches, having the decorators in, doing an Autumn clean....;phew worn myself out just reading it !!

Autumn has arrived mornings are chilly then you just hope for the best !!! Saturday was a lovely evening tho and we were at a BBQ and sat in the garden, and only saw one wasp !!!

I am still trying to catch up with all the jobs that got put off because there were more important things to do ....my it doesn't half catch up with you tho...............

Gerard, I suspect most people have relies in oZ I found some too...from aunts that my father never knew....its a smashing journey tho

Regards all

Jan Norfolk UK

Bridget is still here but we lost internet connection until late morning then went out for lunch.

It is not an uncommon experience for us to loose connection and the longestbwas for 8 days. Have learnt to live with it!! Ha Ha.

Just got home from a delightful day. Meet with friends for a coffee or two and then had a really great meal, over looking the med , the beach and the families enjoying time together.

We strolled back to the car park and arrived back home in just a couple of minutes.

It is very hot here today and the sunshine is covering the whole area......I do feel privileged to live here.
As I write the siren has just gone off confirming that all the fishing boats have arrived in port safely.

Gerard, I always put "name known" if someone does not want their name shown,then no one needs to be offended, the right to privacy is in my opinion a very important right and should be respected. Just as I respect others views.

Well I am off to have a siesta now

Bye bye from Bridget