General Chat

Hi all, Still no news of my niece. Keep watching the news, but nothing. Will keep on trying and hoping. June, are there any meet ups in the north of England or Scotland in September, as I will be in England then and it would be so nice to meet somebody from this site. What terrible weather we are having, more rain, torrential at times, and so dark and cold. Had to have the heating on again as I cannot stand the cold and damp. Kept myself busy today doing odds and ends that have been waiting to be done for ages. Tomorrow have a friend coming for coffee and in the evening we are taking my ex son in law and his wife out for a meal. Johan has read in our local paper of an address where they will renew your driving licence (over 70s) for a third of the normal price. This is only on the 27th July, so mad panic all round. First of all he has to go to the town hall for a run out of his particulars and get some new photos and then take a sample of his urine on Wednesday. The pensioners bond have organised this, but I wish we'd known of it before. Always a bit dicy this renewing your driving licence when you are Johan's age - 80. You have to be passed fit by a doctor. Still not many members around for this thread are there. Hey Jude, where are you? Sylvia xxx

Hi Sylvia Am I the Jude you referred to ? Just in case, I live in a small town called Wairoa on the East Coast of the North Island,NZ. On the map we are roughly half way between Gisborne and Napier. We have a population of just under 9,000 of whom 59% are Maori,I am of English descent but born in NZ. Our District is very large but a big proportion is taken up with a National Park,the main attraction is beautiful Lake Waikaremoana.Our area is a great tourist venue particularly for backpackers who love their tramping.We also have areas popular for their hot pools plus some wonderful surfing and fishing on the Mahia peninsular.The rivers are also popular sites for the trout fishing. No, I am not a travel agent but love my home dearly and after spending 12yrs on our local council enjoy promoting our district. I would love to hear from other FNW about where they live also. Meantime,much Aroha(love) to you all JudyNZ

Hi all, My name is Lynda and I live in Queensland with my hubby, my german shepherd and two horses. I have three children two of whom are married both with a boy and girl each. My son is in engaged. I am lucky cos i just love my son in laws and my future daughter in law. And my four grandchildren? What can I say, they are perfect!!!!!Now I am gloating. I live on 3 and a half acres between the Gold Coast and Brisbane, with beautiful views. Hey Jude, I liked your write up on NZ, my hubby is going to take me there next year on a P & O Cruise for 10 nights, cant wait. Have travelled a lot of the world but never NZ. We went on a South Pacific cruise for 14 days 18 months ago, and it is such a wonderful way to travel, especially when you are getting older. lol. I have posted on a couple of the threads but this is my first time at joining in,. I hope you are all well and happy despite the atrocities going on in the world at present. Oo roo Lynda

Wow,arn't we doing well lately ,with aus the kiwies and others joining in,you come on across Sylvia,if we have no meets up north for September ,i'm sure we can,and will set one up just to meet you and yours.I wen't down to the quayside yesterday ,and got my photo's of the invincible ,and a frigate called Leeds Castle .here for the tall ships race.I was teling Jenny yesterday ,that the officer at the bottom of the gangplank was a little snooty when i asked if i could take a couple of photo's of the ship he was serving on.I got a grudging okay ,but ,i couldnt go into the compound ,or go on board. Anyway i told him thaks very much ,but i only wanted to take a photo ,and i was not interested in going on board a toy..Asked what i meant ,i said i had been on board the old ark royal in Aden ,and that it was four times the size and tonnage of the invincible.and there was no comparison,i think i upset him a little lol. I Am off down to the town in a few minutes to take some vidio footage of the ships in the basins ,there are said to be upwards of one hundred this year ,and will never be another race so big ,or maybe even from the tyne ,so i have to go for it. I only hope the weather will improve for the little meet on Thursday ,but again ,we will have to go for it ,no matter how many turn up.Tell you what Sylvia ,never mind September ,get yourself over here and join in,hee hee. The description of new zealand sounds sooo tempting ,and i wish i could win this ruddy lottery so that i could take a long holiday to meet rellies i have in both places,and friends i have made ,oh well ,at least i can dream.I will be back later people ,time to get the walking shoes on, trust me to pull a leg muscle at physio last night ,i was peddling too fast to try to catch one of the lasses that runs the class [cor ,wat a cracker]though what i would do afterwards is beyond me lol.see you all later.Fred.PtfT&A&G&G&S.

Hi everyone, Its a lovely sunny day here but not exactly bikini weather. The washing is hanging outside but there doesn't seem to be much of a breeze. Sue, Its good to hear from you again, I hope your Nan helped you with your tree. Your daughter sounds very sensible, learning soon that quality rather than quantity is better with friends. Judy NZ, You have done right to spoil yourself, we dont get many opportunities to do just what we like. Once we have left childhood, we always seem to be at someone's beck and call. Brenda, My laptop keeps freezing too, also someone on Genes has this problem, Judy in the States referred her back to One Step Maintenance, I think I may have another go at that. Sylvia, I haven't heard of any meetups in the North of England, where abouts are you staying? I haven't seen Jude around lately, I expect she is busy with one of her projects. Welcome Lynda, we enjoy others joining us. I live in the NorthWest of England, about 20 miles from Blackpool on the West Coast. I have one daughter and son in law and 2 grandchildren, my grandchildren are 21 and 19 years old. The oldest one lives in Copenhagen, Denmark so we dont see him as often as we would like. At the moment, my daughter, son in law and granddaughter live with me, we are trying to sell my house and get one bigger. Fred, the tall ships are awesome, I love looking at them. I too would like to win the lottery and travel around a bit more. Looks like I will still have to carry on as usual. See you tomorrow. June xx

Hi all, Well we are a bit further with our plans for holiday in the u.k. We now know we will be travelling to Newcastle and the rest has to be worked out. The dates too. First things first. Johan has to renew his driving licence first tomorrow. Now that he is 80 he has to go before a doctor. No problem we hope. Maybe the coming weekend we can sit down together and work out a plan. I'm looking forward to visiting the u.k. again. I would also love to meet up with anybody from this site. I have pictures in my mind of you all, but I am sure you will all be different when I see you. It has been more or less dry here the whole day but cold and dull. I had a friend in for coffee this morning. She lived with an Englishman who died 6 months ago and misses speaking English, so we spoke English. This evening we took our ex son in law and his wife out to dinner in a wok restaurant. It was so busy there, that you wouldn't think it was a Tuesday evening. This restaurant is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner. It has 500 places to sit. Anyway the food was delicious. I now feel tired after the meal, so will stop my babble and say see you tomorrow. Sylvia xxx

Hi Everyone Nice to hear from you Lynda,Queensland is very popular with kiwis.My Mum and Dad lived there for a few years and loved it. Fred,know what you mean about wanting to travel,alas I'm unable to do that but since venturing into genealogy and with the wonderful contact with GR members the world no longer seems such a large place.My husband was born and raised in Cumbria but his ancestors came from Lancashire,Yorkshire and Staffordshire so my geography gets better and better !! As for the tall ships my husband shares that passion also.He was an egineer in the merchant navy,sailed on the Gothic and Runic neither as big as your Arc Royal though. June do hope you find your dream home soon.I enjoy watching the TV programme 'A House in the Country'. Meantime regards to All JudyNZ

Hi everyone, Its dry again today but no sun as yet, yesterday turned out lovely, sunny and warm. I didn't do a lot yesterday apart from food shopping and general housework. I did look on a 1851 census site that someone had recommended on the tips board, I only found 3 families but unfortuneately, I haven't found that they fit in my tree. Sylvia v O, I hope Johan passes his driving test ok and look forward to seeing your plan of your holiday. The restaurant you went to must be very good to always be so busy. We have an Italian restaurant that is always busy too, the trouble is, although I really love their food, sometimes I dont feel like the number of people, Judy, I agree with you, its lovely to be able to talk with people from all differenr countries on here and here what they are getting up to. We have aother house we should be looking at tonight but I think we will be cancelling because now we have more details, we will still be one bedroom short and that would mean building on (which there is room to do) but at the price they are asking, would make it expensive. We haven't sold my house yet so we are not in a rush to find somewhere. Well I can hear movement upstairs so I had better close down and I will see you all tomorrow. June xx

Hi All I just had to get on here to tell you all of a nice surprise I got tonight. My daughter Tamika has just started seeing a boy, at first I thought they were too young as she is only 14 and he is 15, but they both seem sensible and are happy enough to visit each other at each others home or talk on the phone, they haven’t asked to go out on their own yet. Anyway the surprise was, when I went and picked Tim up so he could come to our place for tea he gave Tamika a single carnation done up with a clear wrap and a ribbon, I thought that was nice of him, then he turned around and gave me a white carnation also wrapped and with a ribbon. I was really impressed and I though what a nice gesture. June I didn’t get any more info from my Nan unfortunately but I have already exhausted that avenue, she was a great help as she still had her mother in laws bible which had births of the family in it. I do love visiting though, and she always is interested if I have found anything else out in the family tree. Sylvia I hope Johan had a good birthday. It sounds like you are a very good friend to have, what a nice thing to do speaking English to cheer a friend up. I am guessing that you don’t live in England? I am still getting to know where everyone lives since I have joined this thread. Judy I have to agree with you and June, it is marvellous the people we get to talk to from all different parts of the world. It is like taking a holiday, without going anywhere, cheaper also lol. Fred I hope your muscle is getting better, your leg muscle you pulled while trying to outdo yourself at physio. You better watchout for Liz she may sneak up behind you with her stick lol. It sounds like you had a good time looking at the tall ships, you even didn’t let the snooty officer spoil your day, good on you. Well that’s about it for now I will try and catch up again soon.

Hi all, Yes, Sue you are correct, I don't live in Gt Britain any more. I left in 1962 and lived in Nigeria for 6 years and now live in the Netherlands, which suits me fine. June, now waiting for Johan to come home with his new driving license! We are going to get down to a route this Sunday - hoping no visitors turn up! I slept in this morning until 9.45 am. Almost unheard of for me as I am the 'early bird' usually. Johan had showered and had breakfast and fetched the newspaper from downstairs without me hearing a thing. I wonder if I am getting a little deaf so that I don't hear these things any more! I do love getting back to Britain though to do some shopping and hear the language again, although it is so expensive for us now. I still live in the days of a cup of tea for 5d! I would so love to meet up with some of you, but we'll just have to see. Have a nice evening, and see you all tomorrow Sylvia xxx

hi all ,Got some lovely photo's off my wife yesterday as well ,she was using the cam -corder which will also take stills via a stick,Liz said i had to mention it or she would hit me with the wooden one,lol. Sylvia ,once,you know your arrival date in Newcastle ,we have a load of peeps [geordies] who would love to meet you ,me and the old girl too so keep us posted please.Forgot to tell anyone from the states ,who may look in,we photographed the vessel that the states entered for the race and we were most impressed with the history of these vessels used in the war of independance,all the info on a board and put in a prominant position ,well done the yanks. [Pride Of Baltimore].These vessels were so small that it seems they were able to slip past the british warships blockading the ports in the dark. It was so busy in the quayside and town yesterday that it took us well over an hour and a half to do a half hour journey, ,tempers were frayed ,and to see all this fist shaking and shouting ,it was a bit like Marge from the Simpsons on one of her driving lessons lol. I was,nt bothered by it all ,we used the bus ,i bet plenty wished they had done the same. I'm off again now ,i have to run the daughter home and pick up two of my fold up chairs for the picnic on the beach,i am thinking of taking a couple of photo's to send to the Sahara trek lot ,with the message saying ,thats as close they will get to getting me back in that in the sand ,never mind the ruddy desert lol.[specially that Andy up north,] no trains there mate ,apart from the camel ones ,but the timetables are a bit iffy lol. seriously though ,best of luck to all of you taking part in that venture ,i can still remember the heat after all these years and you deserve all the support from everyone on here that you can get.Fred.PtfT&A&G&G&S.

Hi All,must keep this short ,as i keep getting frozen off with my pc.Will be in touch with someone to come round soon.as it is getting on our nerves and we cannot find out what it is. Hope to catch up properly when fixed,Love to all take care,Brenda

Hi everyone, Yesterday we had a lovely sunny warm day, they did promise rain in the aftenoon, its has just arrived this morning but as yet it hasn't wet the ground completely. I am glad I watered the plants yesterday evening, as yet there isn't enough to give them a drink. I quite like watering the front garden, there is always someone passing to stop and have a chat. Sue, I think your daughter has a good choice in boyfriends, he sounds very nice. Your Nan sounds a very interesting lady, maybe she will remember something, although trivial that can add to your family history. Sylvia v O, I hope Johan has arrived home with his licence so that you can now start planning your route. I think it does you good sometimes to sleep in like that, letting your body decide when to wake up. Fred, You are so lucky to have the Tall Ships there, glad you are making the most of it. I believe you are going again today with Jenny, dont forget the hot drinks. Brenda, I hope your PC is soon sorted, mine was still doing the freezing bit yesterday too, I really must have someone to sort mine out. I can hear movement, so had better get off Gaynor's PC, so that they can all check their emails. Take care. June xx

Dear All Thanks Judy and June for the welcome and also you Fred (thats my Dads name) Yes, Judy Queensland is a beautiful place and the weather is just fantastic. I hate Winter and will be glad when ours is over, but it is a bit of cheek though, during the day I am still wearing slacks and short sleeved tops and put the lightweight jumper on at night./ We have had a couple of really cold nights. I guess other people wouldnt like the long hot summers we have but you get used to it as long as you have a pool and air conditioning. We dont own a heater, we find our house warm enough. June, I know what it is like with kids moving in and out. we have 5 bedrooms and my daughter,son in law and 2 kids lived with us until they got their new home, they moved out the front door and my other daughter, husband and two kids moved in the front door. lol. Wouldnt have it any other way though. Judy I have kiwi rellies from my Dads side, a Tuckwood married a Hardy and their daughter married a maori and they have a gorgeous son. My family is multi nation one,. Heidi my daughter married Dean Australian born but to Papua New Guinea/Chinese parents, so consequently my 2 grandkids are cafe latte as I call them. My son who is engaged to Kotomi her Dad is English and her Mum Japanese. I wish we could all chat like on MSN Have a great day Lynda Queensland

Hello all, How nice to see some new friends adding messages here. It is good to hear from people on the other side of the world and to learn a little about their lives and the countries in which they live. I am having a bit of a problem with nasty people trying to access my computer and those pop-up warnings cause problems with my typing - half the words disappear as I type and I have to keep going back to fill in the gaps. Susan is nearing the end of her treatment now, she is still suffering nausea and tiredness but her hair is growing slowly and her eyebrows and eyelashes have grown back. Only two more sessions to go now, should finish on 16th September. Hopefully it will all be succesful. Next week (on Tuesday) I am going to visit the LMA to do some research there - have to get it all sorted out before then so that I take all the right information with me. As it is close to the FRC at Islington I can also get there if necessary but I know that some things I need to look up are only available elsewhere. For Lambeth areas I would need to go to the Minet Library at Brixton and I also need to check the Newspaper Library in Colindale. Unfortunate that it can't all be done in one day but I hope to be able to confirm most of what I have and maybe even find some new records. Will be meeting Max so will have some expert help. June, hope you manage to sell your house soon and find just what you are looking for at the same time so that you can get settled in to the new house before the winter. Sylvia, you must be looking forward to your holiday. Hopefully you will be able to meet up with some of our members in Newcastle. Lets hope the weather is good for your visit. Fred, you seem to be having a great time it must be a wonderful sight to see all those ships. Hope your leg is feeling better now. Brenda, it is so frustrating when the computer keeps freezing on you. We had that problem a couple of years ago but there were other problems as well so we had to get the computer replaced - luckily under warranty. The replacement was an upgrade on the one we had so that was good. I hope you get yours sorted out soon. To everyone else hope you all have a good day. God bless Love Kathleen

Hi everbody I haven't popped by for 20 days and things have certainly moved along on the board, when I came on earlier today GR was so slooooow so here I am. Has anyone had an email from GR asking 'Have you forgotten to water your family tree?' before?? The winter has definitely arrived I can't say it is really cold but wife says it is. Our son Craig has a digit camera bought a digital camera two months ago and has found it easy to operate. I don't think I'll be rushing to use it immediately and will stick to the standard camera. Incidentally the digital photos he has taken are better than those taken on a regular camera. We took Tiny the cat to the vet on Thursday evening and she has a kidney problem fortunately it isn't serious, she will get some medical next week. It's 5.48pm on a Friday evening and I'm off to watch the news. John

Hi everyone, Yesterday the weather was like winter, rain and more rain. Today the sun keeps trying to shine through the dark clouds. I shouldn't moan though when Birmingham was having mini tornados. We had one of those a couple of years ago, so I do sympathise with threm. Lynda, Do you have family get togethers at Christmas etc., I would imagine it would be good fun with the different languages etc. I think families should be able to come and go, it shows close knit families, I can never understand these parents that wont allow their children to come back home once they have left. Still it takes allsorts, as they say. Kathleen, Its lovely to hear fom you again. I'm pleased Susan has nearly finished her treatment, she has been very brave to go through all of this. I hope and pray everything is fine now. When you see Maz, please give her my good wishes. I hope you find some rellies too, I'm sure you will with Maz to help you. you couldn't have a better helper. John, I have received my newsletter from Gr this morning, never been asked if I have watered my tree before though. lol I thought they had sent it because at the moment I have only got one person in my tree. This isn't intentional, a couple of weeks ago, we deleted my tree so that we could update by Gedcom, at that time Genes were doing some updating of their own and we couldn't do it. We may have another go either today or next week. I got a digital camera just over a year ago, I hardly ever use anything else now, its so easy to transfer to my PC and then email to friends or print off photos. The weather is looking a bit brighter now, I had better go and see to the washing. Take care everyone. June xx

Hello all, It has been one of those days when I seem to have been busy all day but achieved nothing. Certainly not much of what I actually wanted to achieve anyway. The weather was not too bad, a bit cloudy from time to time but quite warm and stayed dry after a damp start. Tomorrow I have to be out a lot of the time and rain is forecast, I suppose they could be wrong!! Not a lot to add really, I think my brain has gone to sleep and maybe I ought to get myself off to bed. Sylvia, have you heard anything of or from your neice? I do hope everything is alright and that you hear very soon. For now, hope you all have a good day. God bless Love Kathleen

Hello All,well back again,hope it all works this time,.would take to long to tell you everything that was wrong with pc.!!!!! Glad you are all doing ok.welcome Lynda nice to see new face. Have been to your lovelly country twice and hope to go again in the not to distant future.Have been to Surfers,in Queensland,Sydney in NSW but mainly Victoria where my friend lives,a place called Mornington.near Melbourne. June any news on Leeds,can not see any threads. Will do longer messages tomorrow. Love Brenda

Hi everybody, Well I've not posted for a couple of days. Don't really know why. Just been doing other things I suppose. Yesterday I had the stitches out of my shoulder where I had skin cancer, but they hadn't got the results in yet from the lab. The dermatologist will phone me when he hears he says. June, Johan never received his driving license. They published the wrong date in our local paper and he was a day too late. We will now have to pay the full money for the doctor to ok him. Sometimes I could scream at those people who make these mistakes as it costs us money. Our electricity company also made a mistake and forgot to take money from our account since last September and now have demanded the whole lot in one go. Their mistake, our loss again. We have automatic payments as we don't want to be cut off, but I don't check to see if they have taken it off. I shall now have to do this in future I suppose. We have now changed our electricity supplier. Two years before this we had a huge bill from them for electricity somebody was using in the town here under our name. I could go on and on and on at these sort of mistakes happening to us at the moment. Their mistakes, we pay! If we don't pay, no electricity! We had torrential rain in the night, but today it has been dry. We should have nice weather next week I think. Unless they have got it all wrong again! If it is nice Annemie and I are having a day out to a lovely picturesque village not from here where they have their Folklore Days. Every Wednesday for 4 weeks. Well next Wednesday will be the third Wednesday, so hope it will be ok, or we have only 1 other Wednesday to go. Hope I haven't gabbled on too much, but that's got it off my chest. Sylvia xxx