General Chat

Well have got back on here at last.

My busy day on Thursday involvrd going to get my hair cut short!!

I now have my right ear on display, and a slanted fringe ... it is all part of my new style.

Then went to the library to exchange some books and renew another one.

All did not go according to plan!
Library is self service, have to put books into a special machine and the press all the right buttons.
I did that ok, but it wouldn't let me renew the book I required for GReaders.
had to take it to the customer service desk, was told that someone had requested it, so I couldn't renew at the moment.

Then tried to get some new books. I now only have four at a time (usually) because of the weight of carrying them home.


Choose four books, put them in the machine .. it let me have two of the four, told me I could not borrow a third and just didn't seem to 'see' the fourth.

So another visit to the customer service was required.

The helpful Library Assistant could find no reason why I couldn't borrow the third book (I don't owe them any money and no one had requested this book), so she said that I could have it and stamped it in the 'old-fashioned' way.

Now to the fourth book ... the reason that the machine couldn't 'see' the book, is that it isn't a library book.
Just one that somehow got put on the shelves by mistake!

She told me I could have it, so I have bought it home.


Yesterday I received a death cert for my great-grandmothers, great-grandmother (she died in 1842). So spent what little energy I had on trying to update my tree.
Have managed to find more details about this branch of the family on Ancestry, partly because of some corrections done by some very kind, hard-working people.
Thank you, whoever you are.


Have managed to sit out this afternoon for about half an hour.

Tess

Oh Dear Theresa, what a time you had at the library. I sometimes think these 'self service' innovations create more work than what they are supposed to save. I avoid the ones in the supermarket like poisen LOL.
I personally don't get to our library much these day, though I certainly believe in them. If we had a mobile one then I would avail myself of it.
I do buy alot of paperbacks from the supermarkets. I save these up when read,and when I go up the hospital to see consultants, have x-rays, scans etc., the OH takes bags of them to the league of Friends shop, so they do somebody some good whilst raising funds.
Nice that you have been able to sit out for a while this afternoon. I have been outside also, working, but not very hard.
Now is the nicest part of the day.
Take Care All
Julia in Derbyshire

Great to see you on here Julia.

Take it easy and don't overdo it.

Tess

So pleasing to see so many people posting, Thank you everyone.

Well I have had a few strange days. A few days ago I had a message about an aunt by marriage who is on my tree. She has been there since day one of my family tree. I was lethargic one day and checked her details again, there was nothing new to add.

Out of the blue came a message. Someone had started a tree because they want to trace another person. On their tree was a person with thevsame name as my aunt....it is an unusual name so I contacted them....we

do have the same person....I am thrilled but notvas much as the lady who contacted me....this is her grandmother, and she is so exited as her mother and siblings
Never met there mother after they were put into a Dr Barnado home..when they were very young.....we know the cause which in it's self was sad.

Now the person who contacted me has also called me and then we
discovered that she lives within a twelve mile radios of mt sister in Bath.
They have spoken as of today..

Bye for now,

19.58 hrs Spain

Good evening all, sorry its taken a while to get back. Hope you are all well? Was wishing I was feeling a little better myself, have a bad back at the mo, not very comfy but am sure there are ones worse off than me !!!
Its been a very busy week here for me, visitors, eating out etc. But the week has flown by. Just hope the following week is a little quieter, could do with recharging my batteries he he.
Hope you all have a lovely Mothers Day. Take care Penny

Hello - 14.00 here.

I don't know where the last couple of days have gone! So nice to see someone new on here, hope we see you again Julia.

Went to movies yesterday, saw "The King's Speech" an excellent film although everything seemed to take place in the dark! Very unorothodox methods used by the chap teaching George V1 to overcome his stuttering.

After church this morning we went off to a birthday brunch, have just returned. There were about 30 of us the food was delicious and for dessert we had Milk Tart.


Penny and Tess hope you both having a better day.




Val.

A restful day today. Put some washing out on my (new) washing line. Unfortunately I don't have a line prop yet, so could only put short things on the line.

Sat out in the back garden again for about half an hour, not as warm as yesterday though.
Later in the afternoon it rained, luckily I managed to get wshing in.

Will be busy over the next few days. Meeting school friends, going shopping and having an Indian Head Massage.
Quite looking forward to the first and last.

What good news that you have helped to put together two family members. I hope that their friendship grows with the years.

Hi to everyone, hope you are all well.
I'm off for a lie down as didn't sleep well lastnight.

Tess

Captaingpugwash,val and Tess, thanks for your contributions. I was very busy yesterday and our friends who came to have a late lunch with us stayed until quite late. Well 4 of them went home around 9 pm and the other Copley stayed the night. This morning we were all rather quiet,,, maybe it was the wine ??

OH cooked a full breakfast for them but I could only manage toast and OH declined except for a few cups of black coffee.

Have to go and do some ironing now but may be back later.

Take care everyone


18.04 hrs Spain

Back to Housework - not mine you understand, but my mothers story.

At aged 14, she had to leave home to "go into service".

She was a little skinny bit of a girl, so much so that the housekeeper/cook said that as she was only little she didn't need a fullo sausage for her dinner, and used to give her a half sausage (cut lengthways).
As the junior in the staff, she had to do all the muckie nasty jobs... But I am getting ahead of myself...

Before leaving home herself, one of her young neighbours, who had been in service and was home for a few days, explained to my my that in the big house, they have a button on the wall, when you press it, a bright light comes on.
Mum couldn't understand this at all, the only buttons she knew about were on clothing.

When she got to her own "big house" in the near-by city, I think that the button on the wall was the only good thing about it.

She had to lay the fires, get rid of the ash.clean the fireplaces, shrub the door step. floors etc etc,. all the heavy, messy work. She was not kindly treated and must have gone through a difficult time, as she was among strangers.

In fact she rarely spoke about tit because of the painful memories.

There were no rubber gloves to protect her hands, no Fairy Liquid (or anything of that ilk), that was kind to hands. Just some rough soap and soda crystals etc. No help mop and bucket, but a scrubbing brush. Very long hours, for very little pay.

I think that she changed employers, still working in the same city, but her employer was not much better. In fact, I think that this was the employer, who wanted to to bath their children, including the twelve year old son!
She rarely got home, as she was badly paid and had very little time off (this was in the mid 1930's).
Eventually she got an infection in her hand and was unable to work, so she went home. After all, her employers didn't want to feed her if she wasn't working!

Her (widowed) mother wanted to make up for the bad time Mum had had. So one day Nan said that they would have a bought loaf instead of a home-made one (how timws have changed)!

Mum went to the local shop (where they probably made their own bread) to get the loaf. It was wrapped in newspaper.

The paper had job vacencies for good Catholic girls, to go into service in England.
Mum showed the advery to her mother and her her permission to apply, and to come to England if she was successful, hithertoo England had been "that heathen country"

All went well a few weeks later, Mum moved to England .. the first person in her family to do so.

Here pay and conditions were a lot better, so mostly a happy time for her.
She was fed a lot better (exceptionally well at one place) The housekeeper/cook thrie loved cooking, "the boss" used to entertain quite often, and cook always made sure that there was enough "Guests dinner-party food" for herself and Mum to have a big helping.
She was also paid at lot better (possibly double what she had been given in Ireland) even had enough money to buy a bike, something of her very own.

I know that this is more about my Mum than about actuall housework, but I don't know all the details and this shows how things changed in the home in her lifetime.


Have met up with two of my school-friends this afternoon. We booked to see "We will rock you" in July and went to a Chines "all you can eat buffett" for lunch.

I am now Full, so won't require any tea.

Val, I haven't been to the pictures for quite a while. Now thinking of asking my sister if she will come with me to see something, possibly "The King's Speech"

Tess

Tess

18.08 UK time

Goodmorning, 7.00 a.m. here.

Interesting reading Tess, life was very hard for someone as young as your Mum, times have certainly changed. I know that we love home-made bread instead of a bought loaf. Life to-day is easy compared to back then, but it is good to know that things were better for your Mum once she moved to England - a big step to go so far from home at a young age, must have been difficult.

We don't go to the movies often, in fact I think I might have been about four times in the past ten years! I had read such good reviews about the "King's Speech" which is why I dragged my husband along, threatening him with dire consequences should he doze off in the darkness of the cinema! It doesn't take much for him to nod off.

On Sunday evening I was sitting at the computer on a chair with castors when one of the bars with the castors on suddenly broke and the chair tipped forward, down I went and landed flat on my bottom! Result one painful back and shoulder, fortunately I didn't break anything. It is OK to laugh at the mental image Bridget!

Once a year those of us who worked for the Civil Service or the Provincial Health Department ( which is what I did working for the hospital) and are in receipt of a pension paid out by the National Treasury must complete a Life Certificate (to prove we are still alive!) and it must be signed by a Commissioner of Oaths, so I will take a trip to the local Police Station this morning to have mine signed - can't risk not getting my pension.

Look after yourselves.


Val.

Good morning everyone, today the sun is shining, the sea looks a beautiful shade of blue, the birds are twittering, and there is a delightful sense of calm. OH has left to take a friend to the airport and we have promised to keep an eye on her husband..there is a 30 year gap in their ages, and he has had several falls recently. We did ask if he would like to stay with us but he has declined.

Had a very quiet day yesterday, most likely because of the wine the night before.

OH has started painting the outside Walls, as it is required each year to keep it looking good. It doesn't take to long so he does a couple of hours each day until it is finished. We needed some more paint so went shopping and there was a 25 percent reduction so we were delighted. Every bit helps.

Tees I really enjoyed reading about your mothers toil as a young girl, now I am not suggesting that we should return to those days but it might do some youngsters a wake up call if they lived like this for even a week.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Kings Speech so hope you do as well, the coach for the king is very interesting so I will look forward to hearing your view.

Now Val would I really laugh, well maybe a giggle but only for a moment. I hope that you did not hurt yourself too badly.

I am surprised that you
have to provide an annual report that you are still alive and well. Do you have to pay for the commissioner ?

Tees, I hope that you get a good sleep today, I am one of those people who can survive very well on little sleep but every few months I fall asleep for about 12 hours...having just written that has made me realise that sincei came home I am in fact sleeping quite well..

Must go now, to tidy the kitchen etc but may be back later today

Keep well and have some fun today

09.23 hrs Spain

l4.00 here.

Bridget, there is so much fraud which is why it is done although those who receive State pensions don't have to provide the certificates and that is where most of the fraud occurs where the pensions of deceased pensioners is drawn either by family members or offcials. Once we have received the certificate from the Treasury Department we have 2 months in which to return it and if we don't do it in time they stop our pension. I go to the Police Station to have mine done and then there is no charge, we also have to send a certified copy of our ID Book along with the certificate.


Val.

Evening all, not much to add today, so will keep it brief. Val sorry to hear about your tumble (I did have the image in my mind, and tried not to laugh) hope now your bruises are out and you are feeling better.
Bridget, glad to hear you are sleeping better,long may it continue, as I have said before I am a night owler, but never have any trouble sleeping when I go to bed. Am lucky I suppose.
Tess, what hard work went on years ago, my Grandma was in service but I never knew what it entailed. You live and learn.
Well ladies shall say goodnight. Take care all Penny

A fairly late morning entry from me so that must mean thatni slept all night, wonderbof wonders, this morning in about 30 minutes we have the workmen / gardeners arriving to do some fairly messy work. We have a wonderful palm tree in the garden on the lower level next to the swimming pol and it has not been cut back for two years, so it needs a very good cut back to stop it blocking som light and to stop the seeds and dead branches from falling, that could cause damage. Therefor a chap will go up some scaffolding with safety harness of course and start to cut all the offending branches and then cut everyting remaining , to a smaller size. It will look wonderful then and I shall have my favourite view again. After that they will be cutting down the evergreen trees which are now around 60 feet tall! Lord oh lord do they
make a mess and also tale away a lot of light and sunshine from the house. They also have hundreds of what I call pods which fall all over the place and look so messy. We will replace them with something else but I would like it to have colour and be easynto maintain so all suggestions will be carefully considered. It is the disposal which is of some concern as there are no dedicated places. We will have the trunks of the evergreens cut for firewood in the winter but as for the greenery that will have to be taken by the workmen as will the palm tree.
Yesterday we spent quite a lot of time giving the annual White coatnof paint, well I did some but OH did the most, so we have been fairly busy.

Now I am wondering what topic we could have next, I have enjoyed reading about the housework of bygone times although with the world economy being so flat I hope that we will all become a little more thrifty etc. I am not suggesting that we should take advantage of housemaids etc, but using old ways of cleaning etc without to many chemicals, I hope you all know what I mean.

val, it has always puzzled me why a country such as SA has so much poverty? Surely it can be reduced, or is it simply that the country has too many people. I recall that even a few years ago the tribal way of living caused problems , re hierarchy is that a reason.?
A few years ago there was a sudden influx of SA people arriving in the UK, but they where mostly people whose family had at sometime emigrated to SA and made a fortune, they were bringing into the Uzk huge an mounts of cash. I can recall that where I lived, a much sought after seaside place an SA family came to view the house next door to me and they not only bought the house but paid in cash. It was £450.000 and then they bought an even larger house for even more again in cash. this was happening all over the UK.

This was about 14 to 16 years ago. It set a trend in the upward house Market in our area and we also sold our home 7 years ago last September and we also benifitted but since then the Market has been static and now is dropping.

Sorry for rambling above and then I pressed the wrong button and had not said good bye for now. I must have another coffee, I obviously need the boost. Have a good day

08.02 hrs Spain

Hello everyone, 8.30 a.m..

It is going to be another hot day.

Bridget there is a lot of poverty because unfortnately the people who are the poorest and cannot afford to feed, clothe and educate their children just keep on producing more, they don't stop at one or two this apparently is a cultural thing, this includes the unemployed. Then of course the government gives a grant for each child up to the age of 6 years, so now we have schoolgirls having babies so that they can claim the grants. Even not having a house makes no difference.

Am off now to do a bit of last-minute shopping as we will be leaving early to-morrow morning for Grahamstown to attend the graduation ceremony on Friday and then the garden tea on Saturday. On Monday we will come back via Port Alfred where we will spend a couple of hours with my brother and sister-in-law.

Bye for now will be back agan next week.

Val.

A little more about housework...
My mum married my dad (a soldier) soon after the war.
We were sent to the Far East where he was stationed. All families of serving service men are allocated a servent, so we had one of our own.

My mum wrote to her ex-employer to tell her that she now employe her own servant (with a few added comments!!).
I only vaguely remember this time, as I was very young and at this age took everything for granted.
When we came back to live in England (after a quick visit to Ireland to meet the family). We settled in a newish housing estate, in Oxfordshire.

We had a large red polished door step. I used to love to keep it polished nice and bright. We also had brass numger plates and door knocker, something else that I loved to polish.

No servant now, so Mum had to do her own washing. No washing machine either. So everything was done by hand. We had a mangle outside the back door. I liked to help, but was rather frightened of it, having caught my fingers more than once!

we too used blue a little bag that was put in with the "whites" Later washing powder had blue specks added to it.

It was also a time of stiff collars, starch was used to make them really stiff, and I think that a little was put in with the shirts too.
No steam iron, so a spray was used during ironing, clothes would then be rolled, so that they were evenly damp.

Only carpet squares in the middle of the room. no vacc. so these were brushed with a stiff brush. The surrounding lino was mopped and polished.

No supermarkets to do the shopping, just a lot of little shops. Bread and milk was delivered to the door (this was the norm). We also had a local butcher who delivered meat to order.
We didn'thave a local chip-shop, but a mobile chip van came around every friday evening.

No polyester or easy iron fabrics in those days, all natural material instead. A lot nicer to wear, but a little more difficult to launder.

We seemed to have less clothes in those days (and changed them less often). There were no disposable nappies, so mothers of babies had to wash all the nappies, it was lovely to see a line-full of lovely white nappies fluttering in the wind.

Food was prepared from scratch, and there was a lot less waste. The Suday joint would be streached to last a few days. Vegetables were often grown in the garden. (It was usually Dad's job in dig the potatoes or pick the cabbage).
Less choice of veg. in the shops too. I remember tyhat we thought that the lady from Malt, who lived close by was strange because she used olive oil in her cooking. We only used it to soften wax in ears.

Mum made some of our dresses, knitted our cardigans, jumpers and those dreaded long socks (worn with garters)..

Again, I rather took for granted all the work that my mum did, at this time she had her fourth child (my baby brother). By the time he was six months old, my dad was posted abroad again. It was another six months before we followed him. So Mum had to do every thing for all of us.
This included chopping wood for the fire and digging up the potatoes, getting the coal in from the coal shed, and keeping us all in order.
She managed all these jobs really well and this is one of the really happy times of my life.


Tess

Val, I realised that many people are poor I guess though that I am only thinking about the level of poverty in the UK, here in Spain there are many people, most from eastern Europe who also are very poor by UK standards. Anyone in Spain who is found to be illegal are either shipped straight back to their country of origin, offered to live in a community and receive two years education and learn Spanish. Then they can stay. There are many who manage to get around this and once they have employment they register. For example for the last 3 days I have had men working to get our garden back to how it should be! Our gardens are on 3 different k
Levels and therefore there is a lot of physical work simply in taking the rubbish etc out of the gardens. We have had 40 fur trees cut down from about 40 metres to just 10' then there has been around the palm tree to reduce and remove all those hugh seed packs and many many hanging palms, BUT we have very little problems with any stealing etc

Tess, you have a great ability to describe your early life, and it has brought back many memories although we never travelled although mum and my sister and I would have loved to do so. Dad was offered a terrific opportunity to go to South Africa, but declined at the last moment, we were very upset.
Please keep writing

Well have to stop now, will be back later

10.49 Spain

Good morning everyone

It is a beautiful day here in Spain.the sea is shimmering and is a beautiful shade of blue, the birds have been twittering, I am sure thstbthere arebmore varieties of birds than there used to BR. Their songs are quite delightful...
Now that I have had all the trees and hedges sorted out and reduced in size I have my amazing panoramic view once more and now I really do feel at home again.

The stillness is difficult to describe other than to say that it is tranquil, peaceful and yet full of promise. I am sipping my first coffee of the day and happy at the thought of talking to my twin boys in a short while as they ar 31 years old today,I sometimes wonder the years have gone.....one minute they were tiny, tiny people who were so precious, the next they were going to school and then the left home to go to University,
. These were the boys who I was told could have brain damage,,,so the relief was great. They brought me and their father great joy and completed our family as we had wanted 4 children.
The church bells are ringing now and I am wondering why, maybe it is just a practice.

Sorry, I pressed the wrong button and the message was sent to quickly!

This afternoon we shall be at the races! Well ee shall be watching the racing on the tv and placing bets, having champain, chatting with friends, having raffles, and generally enjoying ourselves . We have some excellent prizes for the raffle winners, and I am sure that we will have a lot of fun. The ladies or atbleast somevof the ladies will also have their fine dresses and hats, and one will be chosen as the winner....I also do not have to cook today as we have a champagne picnic!

Not a lot more to say this morning except I hope that you are all well, and have a good day today.

I will be back tomorrow when I can tell you if I am one of the lucky winners of the raffle

09.13hrs Spain