Saturday 20 November 2021

Good morning

 Good morning bright and early.   Well it would be wouldn't it?   Lots of visitors (all very welcome) but tired by Friday and then sleeping in on Friday morning, dozing on and off for most of the day on Friday.  Staying up until eleven thirty on Friday evening because I wasn't tired and here I am - fresh as the first daisy in Spring - waking at four this morning, lying in bed until quarter past five - going through the geneology of various families in the village to try and persuade myself to drop off again and at six o'clock up and in my dressing gown doing a few minutes on the computer before I go and make myself a cup of tea.   That'll learn me as they say up here.

But it will have done  my brain no harm at all to go  through the geneology.   When friends S and T called, they were talking about somebody I used to live close to when o n the farm and I had difficulty in recalling their family for a few minutes.   Now, lying in bed this morning I was thinking about them, thinking about their parents and their brothers and sisters and getting them all in order (didn't help me to get back to sleep again of course).   And it did strike me that up here - until fairly recently looked at in the long term- transport and wages and opportunities to travel meant that you found a partner in the vicinity in most cases.  And so still in many cases grandparents, parents and children  live in fairly close proximity to one another - although the young people now are beginning to spread their wings as opportunities to do so present themselves.   And methods of meeting and forming relationships have changed so much since my day with computers opening up the world.

I shall now go and make myself a cup of tea to drink with my annoying tablet I have to take one morning each week when I have to stay upright, drink a full glass of liquid and have nothing to eat for at least half an hour afterwards.I shall return later.

Back to my original theme - do you think it matters whether you stay in one place all your life or move around?   When you die your life's experiences die with you so it is easy to say it makes no difference but of course you pass so much on to your children - so much of your experience of life is helped along by interaction with others - and I happen think that is vital.   Without that interaction we are depriving our children of so many experiences.

Nothing much has happened today - it has been a very quiet day.   The only thing different is that my Tesco delivery came this morning which meant that after my carer had gone i had to close down whatever job I was doing and wash out the frudge and wipe down the shelves in the cupboard so that I could put the food away when my  order came.   Three boxes of pigs in blankets.   I read somewhere that there was likely to be a shortage this year so in case there is i have ordered three bo=xes of one and a fourth as an insurance policy.  As I am quite likely to eat Christmas lunch alone here in my bungalow maybe the sixty 'pigs in blankets' I have ordered and stored in my  freezer are a bit excessive.

I am tired again and keep falling asleep at my computer as I write this  so I must sign off and get my head on that pillow.   See you tomorrow......

23 comments:

Tasker Dunham said...

My dad and his sister knew more about the family history of their home town than any internet resource. It was fascinating to listen to them. Nowadays they could probably have charged £2.50 per answer if the forthcoming 1921 census database is anything to go by.

Heather said...

I used to think how nice it must be to live in a place where one's family had always lived, and everyone knew everyone else. Nice as that may be, I would not have met so many lovely people in the various places I have lived as my husband's job moved us up and down the country.
Do hope your sleep pattern settles down. It is very disrupting when it becomes irregular.

Linda from Alabama said...

Lol .....I had to smile at your 60 pigs in a blanket. A local company here made pigs in a blanket which was a holiday favorite. They have suddenly discontinued them causing quite a stir and causing a petition campaign to get them to start back making them . I will keep you posted!

Red said...

Interesting comments on what we pass on. One of my kids is in Chicago and the other on the west coast. I live in Alberta Canada. What I will have to pass on to them will be mostly meaningless. I did not live close to my family. My sister died in 1953 at age 11. Only a handful of people living will actually remember her. So good old mr Internet will have to hold my secrets. Interesting post.

The Furry Gnome said...

Enjoy all those pigs in blankets!

Susan said...

I agree, travel is vital. We travel from the US to Europe and the Caribbean regularly. The first trip to London, with our newborn, we choose British Airlines because they provided a bassinet. Funny enough our infant was longer than the bassinet.

Susan said...

I disagree with Red about what we pass on is meaningless. Although my children and grandchildren have grown up in a different country to the one I grew up in they love stories about my family. Did you ever make dolls from poppies? A simple childhood activity I had forgotten until I was visiting England with my then 7 and 9yr old children. They were much taken with it. The most common refrain from the trip was them saying "why didn't you tell us this before". One of the things I enjoy on my trips back is going into the village churchyard. It brings back so many memories when I see all the names of families I remember with affection.

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Anonymous said...

My father had a tough time in WW2 as did many, as a rear gunner in a Liberator bomber and didn't think he'd live to come home.
My younger brother and I had a very insular existence, I think due to this trauma, only travelling a few suburbs away to family on my mother's and father's side, and my mother seemed happy with that. It was so good for me to break out, particularly to study. I wish their marriage had been happier. I don't think it matters if you live your life in a village, the big city ,or overseas, as long as there's love and laughter in your family, and no shame in tears.
Your posts make me smile Pat. Any village would be lucky to have you.-Pam.

Ufa88kh said...
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Bovey Belle said...

That's a lot of pigs in blankets - but why not enjoy them year-round?! They're too good just to eat at Christmas.

As for family history, as a family historian I think it is vital. How I wish my dad had talked more about his parents - he never mentioned his mum, who died when he was just 18, from bowel cancer. Likewise he never said much about his dad, who also died from cancer. I knew more about mum's parents. My kids have been told the family stories and spent childhood holidays being dragged around churchyards looking for gravestones of family members. (Plus fun things too of course!)

I've told them about the dens we used to make in the bracken, and Blossom Camp, and walking for miles just to stroke the gypsy ponies, and growing up with such freedom. Making rush mats, scrumping apples and plums, all sorts.

We moved to what is essentially a different country when we moved to Wales as we lived in a very Welsh-speaking area and our children are bi-lingual. Not a bad thing. They have all travelled far more widely than I ever had the opportunity to do. Lucky devil.

the veg artist said...

I envy people who can lie-in, or take a nap during the day. Even as a child, this was something I could never manage to do. I wake early and want to get up straight away. It can make for very lond days!

Tom Stephenson said...

I don't know what to think about staying in the same place as where you were brought up. I think I am glad I didn't, but it was the stock-broker belt of Surrey. It must be different if you were born somewhere like the Lake District, but I suppose you can always move back, having seen a bit of the world.

Anonymous said...

I often think of my ancestors who decided to emigrate to the other side of the world, from England, Scotland and Ireland, as free-settlers in pursuit of a better life, some on theur own, others with young families, but all leaving family behind. I am grateful for their courage and sacrifice.

Yellow Shoes said...

If I hadn't left home I wouldn't have the daughters I have and if they hadn't left home they wouldn't either!

jinxxxygirl said...

In relative terms my husband and i consider ourselves well traveled...within the US and abroad.. as we were with the military most our married life...In their adult life our children are much less traveled and truly do not want to hear of our life experiences or advice. But i have loved every minute of our travels and still enjoy vivid memories of the experiences.. and would not have missed it for the world.. A part of me has always wanted roots... My grandparents lived in the same house for 30 years..But falling in love with a military man it was just not meant to be..

Melinda from Ontario said...

I loved your post. The topic of ancestors and homes from the past is something I could chatter on about but I will refrain. I love the idea of growing up in one place surrounded by extended family. Leaving my country village and my grandmother was hard on me as a child. Even so, the moves I made, first as a child and later as a young adult, resulted in many great memories, a good career and a wonderful family. As hard as it may be to leave a place you love, the pay offs are often worth it.

Julia said...

Noticed your comment about your morning pill. It sounds like you have osteoporosis as, I at 85 , do. I disliked the pill taking so much that my Dr. put me on a once a month one. It's a big pill to take but beats having to go through that wait every morning. All good wishes, Julia in Texas

Debby said...

I think it makes a huge difference. You see the world as a lot less fearsome if you've traveled around it. If you have never left the place you were born, the world seems a lot more scary because it is the unknown. That's my theory anyway.

Debby said...

Here, pigs in a blanket are seasoned ground meat wrapped in cabbage 'blankets' with a tomato sauce. They are fairly large. I tried to picture 60 of them and was a bit astounded that anyone would think they needed 60...even with company! Then I looked them up. Your pigs and our pigs are two different pigs.

The Feminine Energy said...

I don't know if it matters if we stay in one place or not... but I have. I live in the same small town I was born in... and my parents were born in before me. I even have the same telephone number I had when I was born, believe it or not! My roots run deep here and my adult children and grandchildren always know where to find me. :-) ~Andrea xoxoxo

The Weaver of Grass said...

For those living outside Britain - I better tell you what our Pig in a Blanket is - usually only available at Christmas as a traditional part of the Christmas Dinner - but really can be eaten at any time of the year - small cocktail sausages, each one wrapped in a slice of streaky bacon and then roasted in the oven - eaten hot or cold but usually none left to eat cold - they all disappear at the dinner table.

Thank you for all those different views on whether it is better to stay in one place or move around. We all seem agreed - where we are happy is the only thing that matters

MFH said...

Dear Weaverofgrass,

During my formative years we lived in Japan, a number of places in the U.S. of A., and in Germany. I was almost 10 when we left Germany and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. There I attended several schools and at each I encountered some form of harassment. But it was in a rural highschool (grades 9-12 -- pre-university) that I was moved to carry a large knife...in a shoulder holster, no less, that I made from a squirrel I killed with my 12-guage shotgun. (Guns were/are an integral part of American life.)

It was the time when Black Power was ascendant and Martin Luther King's and Stokely Carmichael's visits to Nashville incited rioting.

Likely I was too young, but until Nashville, I'd never encountered racial prejudice let alone PRIDE in it. But the exposure led to my definition of stupidity as "willful ignorance."

Bigotry is stupidity taken even farther; through denigration it attempts to shame the "other." It's been my experience that this is more common among people who've lived in one place and whose relationships are mostly with like-minded people. But, thank god, as with any generalization, there're exceptions.

But over the last couple of generations many Americans appear to have embraced -- as evidenced in the almost equal split between votes for Trump and Biden -- bigotry as an expression of patriotism. Recognized in the term Nationalism, this perception is -- it seems to me -- admired more by people who've had limited exposure to other cultures and ideas around ways of doing.

As I've looked back through your years of blogging, I've nodded with a measure of satisfaction as I read of your worldly travels. The acquisition or accrual of perspective and acumen evidenced in your writings is, in my experience, rarely due to innate-ittude.

<3!

MFH