General Chat

I also enjoy coming on here although my days are rather dull compared to some. and I don't have much to say. Yes, it would be lovely if some of the missing ones would pop back.

One of my brothers is such a Royalist you would not believe although he lives here and has never been to the UK, a legacy from our days in the Commonwealth, so I am sure he will be watching closely to-morrow.



Val.

Val, Thank you for your message. We had a good time meeting people at the English Bar in town and all lthose who turned up enjoyed the day. I thought that the bride looked beautiful and her dress was simple and beautiful, I liked the fact that so many children of a yuong age were involved and everyone looked so happy.

We met with a few poeple we know at the English bar in town and most of the people were visitors. We came home and opened a special bottle of Pink Champagne and tosted the Royal Couple and ourselves, A very beautiful moment. OH can be both infuiiating and very Romantic....but then I expect that many men are the same!!!

I will give a fgew of the people a nudge to see if they will come back on here and if not well at least we are still in ciontact!! I enjoy your postings so please do not stop/

Off now to contact a few people

Bridget

17.25 hrs Spain

Goodmorning - very dull here.

I watched the wedding after all. Kate looked lovely, I really liked her dress it was elegant. I was surprised to see how thin her mother is though. I didn't like the outfits of the Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, and those hats! William driving his father's Aston Martin with all the bits and pieces attached was a lovely touch, especially the L in the front! The priest doing cartwheels amused me - he must have been so relieved it was all over!

Bridget your husband is a romantic, whaat a really nice thing to do.

I have made contact with someone in Southampton and was able to give him a copy of my tree and he was really please. He will be visiiting the Southampton Archives and if he finds any more information will let me have it - isn't that wonderful.

Have a nice day.

Val.

07.49.

Good morning Val, it is murky weather day here as well, where has that sunshine gone?

I have sent personal messages to five or six people who used to post on here to invite them back even if it is only occasionally...maybe some new people will join us soon? If not I am sure that we will still carry on being in touch with the resilient few. As I have said before I treat this thread as my penal people, saves the stamps and re read at any time. I have been wondering if we could somehow encourage people from across the world to join us...perhaps we can all put our thinking caps on!,,

Hoe wonderful that you have found someone to help with you UK connection. Do keep us informed. There is a chap who has helped me a great deal with my Ford Family who came from Mere in Wiltshire, he sent copies of all of them to my sister and I shall be seeing her soon for my army sons'church blessing and she is bringing it all with her. I am so excited, he has even put everything into folders for me...

Do you have family from any other part of the UK?

I can only agree with your comments about the dress code from Euginie and Beatrice......then as far as I am concerned their mother never dresses very well either....

I thought the very young bridesmaids were delightful snd the two page boys were so smart.

Yes I am fortunate that my OH is a romantic but he can also be very infuriating at times especially about sport.however it has taught me a lot as well and with 5 sports mad sons between us and one sporty daughter with her two children , I guess he has henhouse of a help than hindrance. We do though watch more sport than anything else. However I have never been a person for the "soaps" so no harm done really.also we do have three TVs around the house so if we want to watch different things we can do so.

By now I must be boring you so will say goodbye for now and I will have a quick peek later this afternoon.

Enjoy your day

09.21hrs Spain

Following my messages to a few people on here Lorna, see page three will be rejoining us after the 2nd of July, so if there is someone any of you miss why not send them a quick personal message..it seems to be working for me.

Having looked back to 2009 when this first started I am going to try to get back to my original style of writing. That would be a big step forward for me,

Take care everyone

10.25 Spain

Nudge

No post today.....so thought that I should at least send a quick message to everyone. I hope that you all have had a good day, no disagreements and some fun and laughter.

Sorry Bridget, Val and Co. Have again spent the last few days being very busy followed by long periods of rest (and some sleep).

Went out on Thursday (28th) to celebrate my baby brothers birthday. (he is 54).
We went to a Malasian Restaurant, the food was excellent. I had Mee Goreng for my main course, followed by banana fritters yum, yum.

On Friday I had a lazt day. Did watch some of the Royal Wedding and enjoyed it.
Saturday I walked to my local A-g-s Store and got a electric cable extension, so that I could mow the lawn at the end of the garden.
Walked all the way home again too, a total journey of around two miles, which nowadays is very good for me.

Later I mowewd the lawn (after bringing the washing in). So as you can see, a very busy and energetic day).
I had also received a marriage Cert. I had ordered it on Monday 25th (late evening)and it arrived on Saturday 30th. Really quick, especially when you consider the Bank Holidays.

Today I've been tired. And my son has been using my computer this evening.
So just a quichish visit before I go to bed.


Following our talk about housework, I have been thinking about open fires (coal fires in England).

I really miss roasted chestnuts .. they used to come pinging out of the fire and tasted delicious.

i also loved the taste of toast ot toasted crumpets done on the fire, but used to get hot knuckles.
I miss that sort of thing.

However, I don't miss the long rigmarole of lighting the fire, or the long wait till it gave out much heat. Or the chore of cleaning the grate.

Of course, coalmen also did home deliveries, carrying a heavy sack of coal to the coal shed. I wonder if that would now be allowed under health and safety rules.


Good night eveyone.

Tess
23.06 UK

Evening ladies, just a quick few words to say I have'nt abandoned you all, had lots to do over Easter. Will be back next week...........honest. Take care all Penny

Hello to all. I haven't been posting the way I said I would. Sorry about that - but I do transcribing for FreeBMD and they sent me a rather big job recently - but that's done now and I am back to normal.

So did anyone NOT watch the wedding? I watched it live until my bedtime - that was when they all arrived back at the palace - but I've seen the rest of it many times over - including the 'kiss'. One of our local chanels used a 'still' of that scene every time they went for a commercial break!

I loved every minute of it. Brought back memories of when I was in London and used to walk miles around those areas, sight-seeing. I also camped in Trafalgar Square overnight for the Coronation. Only the Brits can put on a display like that - and everyone was so happy for them and wished them the very best.

I have just finished writing a chatty reply to today's threads and pressed the wrong button and now have to start again.
So here goes!

Thank you Berona, Captainbugwash, and Tess, for your interesting postings,
. So many memories came flooding back, so in no particular order here are some of my thoughts.
Tees, the Malayan food sound delightful, I have never been to a Malay restaurant so maybe you could put a recipe on the Culinary thread.
You certainly have been busy with first buying your new cable and walking both directions, well done. How is the garden looking now, no wonder you were tired!
Penny, we wait with abated breath to hear what you have been up to!,,I will be on here later today.....as I have note done anything special so far today, I even missed the sun rising as I did not wake up in time...I blame watching the snooker last night!!
Berona, thanks for exposing toughens on a PM, however I still think it is a lovely title and I would think that it would make a beautiful first name...
I had forgotten that you transcribe, I guess that without people doing this we would not have all the info we search for. Would you write a resume of what you have to-do..I am confident that many of us would be very interested.

How about writing something of your London memories, having read your message I am going to write about some of my memories from the age of 18 to 24 when I worked at the London Hospital in Whitechapel now known as The London. I must first check that I have not done this in the early part of the threads.

Well it is a grey day here so far, the is a slight breeze and it is very quiet, it feels as if the whole community is still asleep except me...even Jet and Joe my lovely Cocker Spaniels are still sleeping.

Last night just as I was going to bed around midnight I had a phone call from one of my twin sons......his father has been admitted to hospital due to his heart condition. He has inherited this from his father and he is rather I'll, but hopefully his treatment will work. I have known him since we were 15 years old and we both still have good feelings for each other, also my second husband is a relative so we are quite concerned about him. He has a delightful Lady partner and they are both looking forward at being at army son's church blessing in two weeks time. Please say a prayer that he recovers and is able to be with us on this very special day.
Thanks and bye bye for now, have a good day and as usual I shall peek in and out through out the day

Positive thoughts to you all

07.37 hrs Spain

How nice to see so many postings.

It is such a lovely day , May is the nicest time of the year here. This morning the sky was pink, the sea like a sheet of glass, no wind (but that might change!) and just so peaceful. Yet another Public Holiday over here - Workers Day.

Tess, you certainly have been busy. I have never had chestnuts, but we used to toast marshmallows. We used have a fireplace in Grahamstown, it gets very cold there in the winter, but I didn't like making a fire because of the mess which had to be cleaned! If you don't mind me asking, do you live in the UK?

We have a very n ice Greek restaurant here, but we don't go there often as it is quite exppensive. Talking of expensive our petrol is set to increase by 30cents a litre on Wednesday, another thing which just keeps going up in price. It will now cost over R10 a litre.

Berona, I guess transcribing although time consuming must also be interesting. My daughter did some for a local site and found it fascinating, they haven't sent her anything for ages though.

I will be remembering you all Bridget and trust that your son's father will be able to attend the church blessing.

Val.
9.27.

How amiss of me not to have been on here earlier in the day. Sorry everyone.
I looking forward to hearing from you Captainpugwash!what have you been upto?
Berona, how about a short recall of your days walking around London, maybe others could write about some of their memories of the more youthful time of life.

As I have moved around a bit I will see others memos first then add some of mine,

Two frieinds popped in for a quick chat and then stayed for lunch, the salad was just about enough for 4 of us, and I had some Ice cream and Strawberries so we had those for desert.
Well time to bring the washing in as it is nearly dry and the clouds are gathering.

Val I have never had Greek food, or if I have I cannot recall it. Is it spicy?

Bye bye for now
16.16 hrs Spain

Good evening all, hope you are all well. As I said a busy time over Easter and following bank holidays. Mainly spent with family and friends, and dining out, so very enjoyable. Mind I really dont know where the time has gone, and am dining out again tomorrow but this time at the local pub with my eldest and middle daughter and my 18 month grand-daughter, so looking forward to that!
Tess, it sounds as if you have been busy in your garden, I have some plants to go out but my friend wont let me have them yet (they are in her greenhouse) just as well as we had a real heavy frost here last night!!! Yes I do live in the W Mids Tess, near Worcester.
Hope to read a few more postings tomorrow. Take care all Penny

Good morning everyone.

It is a beautiful sunny morning here in my part of Spain, the sky is a clear blue and the sea is shimmering, the sun is bright and the atmosphere is so tranquil it is almost inspiring me to write.

Jet and Joe my beautiful Cocker Spaniels are much more laid back these days and I guess that is because the are 7 years old now..how time flies. Jet is still the one who protects us followed by Joe at all times. They are both showing some silver in their coats now, and it does make me laugh to think that there are now three of us who are greying!

When I was so unwell, and even now if I have an off day they seem to know this and are quietly attentive with one of them always with me , they even wait outside the bathroom door. Jet seems to be peoples favourite and recently there were dog breeders from the UK visiting their friends and they also felt that jet had something special about him. However they also thought that I had been extremely lucky to own Joe because he is a rare colour of Pedigree Cocker Spaniels, he is an Orange Spaniel, we only learnt that when we received his paperwork after we had bought him....

They are both lying in the sun now having had their morning walk.

OH has finished painting all of the outside of the house now and it does look very good again, it really is a typical White Spanish house.

Some thoughts please. We currently have a lounge diner, lovely big room and the kitchen leads directly off the dining area. However a couple of years ago we had an extra room built at the end of our top balcony and it overlooks the sea and the Castle. I am seriously considering moving the dining are to there because of the fantastic views, this would then give us one very large lounge and we could put some of our furniture from the lower level rooms where the furniture is not well utilised. The items all match and are a wonderful old oak pieces which fit in very well to our older styl Spanish home.

Any thoughts, much appreciated, TVs Music facilities in almost every room and also Internet connections, so no concerns about that.

Well I have rambled on so must stop now, I will peek in again latter today.

Enjoy your day, be kind to yourself and then being kind to others becomes easier, at least that is what my mother told me!!

09.12 hrs Spain

Goodmorning,

The last couple of days have been quiet.

My youngest brother leaves for USA this evening to attend the memorial service for his son who passed away, very sad he was only 33 and was diagnosed last year with some rare blood disease..

Our weather forecast for day is 60% chance of rain although at the moment the sun is shining, so will wait and see.

My photographic paper arrives to-day so I will be able to print the photographs I have of my greatniece's graduation. No one here or in Port Elizabeth had any stock so it had to be ordered from Johannesburg.

Must be off now , may pop back later.


Val.

Good morning all. Hope you are in for a lovely day, wherever you are.
Bridget - you asked me to describe what I do for FreeBMD, so I will start by saying that it is a registered charity, manned by volunteers and the information transcribed is available free of charge. I did some transcribing for Ancestry for a while until someone pointed out to me that people had to pay for their info and I was not even getting the discount on my subscription, which I was supposed to get - so I changed over.

I began by downloading the programs from the UK site, then I download a batch from my co-ordinator's site (mine is in Canada, but they are in various countries). Each batch contains Index pages (150 records) and are entered into columns. Another program allows me to check my work, then upload it to both the UK and Canadian sites. I believe each batch is transcribed twice for comparison for accuracy, before being loaded into the system for researchers to use. The programs are well-written and easy to use. I work at my own pace in my own time and I recommend that anyone interested look into assisting with this massive task, which has now been going on for about ten years or more. As yet, it still isn't finished and any help is appreciated and will get it all done that much quicker.

As you say, it is interesting. I notice how (births) names are rare, then popular, then give way to new ones. Also, I get sad doing the deaths, when I see the 'age at death' as zero. So many of them in the earlier years!

Haven't posted on this thread before, but know some of the names, you seem a friendlly bunch ! I am sitting here this morning contemplating the day ahead, opticians, voting for who knows ! and the pain in my hip not getting any better, and no written confirmation of a date for an op. BBBBBBBBBBdly NHS.

Still have our daughters wedding in July to look forward to, the two of them are so laid back about it all, there are still some loose ends to tie up but never mind.


9.00am Norfolk UK

Welcome,Greenfingers, and I hope that you enjoy being a member of our daily diary. We have been going for some time now and it is pleasing to have new people joining us and others who are away for a while and then return.
We have covered a number of subjects, learnt a lot about where we all live, and are sways looking for new subjects.

Sometimes there only a few of us and at other times we have so many posting that I for one am delighted that the Postman does not have to deliver them to each and everyone of us! Daft thought I know!

Today is absolutely glorious in my part of Spain, the sea is warming up albeit slowly, I had a quick paddle this morning walking along the beach. The shops have been re-opened after the winter , and the village /town is looking splendid. We had two cups of delicious coffee, have got used to it being calienty, that is warm and even if it is mucho callienty it is not hot!
The only irksome thing is that the Mosquitos are now arriving so went out yesterday and bought the plug ins which we use at night and NO bites last night..hurrah.

It is quiz night to night, so we shall be out for the evening, I am useless at quizzes but as OH is the quiz master I have to be there, quite enjoy all the gosiip, now that is the nautghiest thing I do.

Berona,
Thanks for the description of the work you undertake, it seems very complicated to me so a very big thank you on behalf of us who simply research..if it wasn't for you and others like you where would we find all our research.

Valerie,what a sad time for your brother and you. I shall think of your brother in my daily quiet time, he must be feeling devastated.......

Good luck with printing your photos, the thing I find very expensive is the acid free paper and plastic holders so if anyone knows how these can be bought at a reasonable cost please let us know!

Best wishes to everyone, I will be back tomorrow

12.56hrs Spain

Apologises if I have made any spelling errors

I am going to sit in the garden now for a while and take a book to read, not sure which one I shall read so off to the bookcases now

:-) I think I might get to like this new layout but it did come as a bit of a shock, I did not see any advance notice, did you?

Not sure about the emotions though

16.13hrs Spain