General Chat

Hello Carole and Sue.

Berona, a special word for you. whinge away if you want to. You will always be a lovely person to know and we, your friends would rather have you posting than not. If you are feeling miserable, then come and chat, I can't promise to make you feel any better, but at least it would pass some time for you.

Berona, Shingles! Such a simple word for a very nasty condition!

Be as tetchy as you like, and I am sure that I would not like to be a sufferer of the same condition!

Hello Carole< how are you?

I hope that everyone is having a good afternoon/morning.

Allan

Hello everyone,

I have never had shingles but I do appreciate what you are going through Berona. Several years ago my OH got very swollen glands on one side of his face and then one eye started to swell and he could hardly see out of it and it was from the same Zoster Virus - he was lucky that he went to the doctor when he did as if he had left it another day or two it could have caused blindness in that eye. He got me to take photos of him - not a pretty sight looked like criminal mug shots.

Sue you looked something like what I thought you would look like - as you had always said you were fair skinned. Linda says she is a blonde but I always think of her being a brunette or darker - I have no idea why.

One of my father's second cousins is buried at Chunuk Blair and another second cousin died at sea between Gallipoli and Port Said and is buried at Port Said.

I look at a lot of my ancestors and it is a bit like a Family at War - so many of them were in the army in the first world war. Quite a few never came back.

Persey

Today we have also lost three young men who met their deaths in an Iraquois helicopter crash just north of Wellington.
The helicopter, part of No. 3 Squadron, was travelling from the RNZAF's base at Ohakea and was due to take part in a fly-past of the Wellington Cenotaph while in formation with two others during this morning's Anzac commemorations. The fourth chap is in a serious condition in Wellington Hospital.

I know Pukerua Bay where it crashed - my son-in-law and I have been there to collect driftwood.

This evening we watched a dramatised documentary " The Kiwi who saved Britian" of Keith Park who wiped out Hitler's planes in the Battle of Britain.
He was praised by Churchill and all his own men who served with him, but after the battle he was removed from his job. It wasn't till last year that a statue was erected in his honour in England.

Persey

Persey

I heard about the crash this morning.

What a tragedy! Whether these young persons are killed in war or in peace, it is such a waste!

RIP to them


Allan

Hello Persey and Allan. I too heard about these young men. How very tragic. To think there are some families whose lives will now never be the same. God bless them.

Sue xx

It was very sad watching it on the news tonight, it had been on the radio all day but it is not until you see the pictures and the crash site etc that you feel that gut wrenching pull.
Our Prime Minister has cut short his visit to Gallipoli and is returning home - he knew the young men personally from having traveled with them on the Iraquois choppers.

There of course was a lot of talk about Gallipoli today and how everyone was camping out there for the memorial service and how it wasn't that way not so long ago when it was just the Turks that used to go there on Anzac Day.
I have a Turkish friend that lives not far from me, he used to have a shoe repair shop along from my bookshop on the Northshore. He made me laugh the first year he was here in NZ he bought a poppy from the seller who came around to all the shops.... he said to me "Why, why am I buying one of your poppies we fought on the other side?" I said ah yes but inbetween the fighting on the days off your lot would play football with the Aussie and Kiwi diggers. He is married to a New Zealander (of Dutch descent) - they met in China at University - they were both there for three years and can both speak Chinese.

Pxx

It is sad news about the helicopter crash, young ones should outlive their parents, not the other way around.

The rain has stopped now CC and it is brightening up, but we had a fairly useful amount we never use a hose on our garden or allotment because we have a water meter, so have to pay for everything we use. We have three large water barrels which collect the rain water from the roof, so I water the pots with that and OH uses it to wash the car. There is no water on the allotments,so again we have barrels connected to the shed and greenhouse roofs. if we run out of water, then it is just tough luck on the plants.

Perse, I do have pale skin and natural blonde hair, although OH was delighted to point out a few grey hairs on my temples last week. I never expected my hair to stay blonde for so long, but if it goes grey, I will be perfectly happy with that. I have never dyed it and am not about to start now, I hate to see women with dyed hair and dark roots showing.

My card changed during the year. if I remember correctly when they sent the email telling me that they would be taking the next years money, there was an option to change the card then. I can't see anywhere in "my account" to do it.

Just following on from the water saga, it doesn't cost a fortune for the water and allotment because I never use tap water for either of them. we have three of the very large water butts to collect water for the house garden. I only water the few pots I have on the patio, plus the containers I grow the salad leaves in The only plants in the soil which ever get any water are newly planted ones until they are established. There is no mains water on the allotment and i certainly am not carrying any down there. We have lots of barrels there as well. So far we haven't run out of water, but if we had a very dry summer we could.

We had intended to go to look at a garden which was open for charity this afternoon, but at lunch time a neighbour popped round and offered us two complimentary tickets for the Harrogate spring flower Show. She volunteers for something or other and gets complimentary tickets, but hadn't used them. It is a huge show, think of the Chelsea flower show etc.

I liked the show tent with all the floral displays, they were fantastic. OH wasn't bothered about them, he preferred looking at the knobbly roots on the tubers stand. It was a glorious afternoon, but very humid. Suddenly the sky turned black and there was a tremendous storm. we got soaked before we managed to make it back to one of the main pavilions. Still we had a good time and we bought some new clematis plants.

I am going to watch Foyles War now, so will be back in a couple of hours

Still no one around?

Tec, I need you, where is Amzbea, Wales ?

Or that is how it has been transcribed on a census anyway. The person concerned is called Williams - what else. Richard Williams in fact. I have knocked down a brick wall for a friend, or to be more accurate for her "cousin" in Oz. I need to find this place to get any further back, but I only have this chap on one census in 1871, so can't compare it with others. awkward chap died in 1872 and the whole family is missing from the 1861

Hi Linda,
Can't be Amzbea, as there is no Z in the Welsh alphabet......

Have tried various spellings, but makes no sense so far - will keep trying.

Tec.

Good evening, Linda, I'm around as I don't go to Margaret River until tomorrow, today being a Public Holiday in lieu of ANZAC Day.

Our water is metered but the bill gives a comparison of how much you've used for this period compared with the same period last year, and also how much has been used in the same period by houses with bores and without bores.

We have used less than average and only just slightly more than those properties with bores.

It doesn't make the water any less expensive!!

Allan

Good evening Tec!

Allan

Tec, this is the census I am looking at on Ancestry, I have looked at the image, but can't make it out

1871 census

Name: Richard Williams
Age: 37
Estimated birth year: abt 1834
Relation: Head
Spouse's name: Emma
Gender: Male
Where born: Amzbea, Wales
Civil parish: Lindley
Ecclesiastical parish: St Stephen
Town: Lindley
County/Island: Yorkshire

Hello Allan, what are you going to do with your holiday?

Good Morning Allan,
Hope you are well today,

We don't have a meter here - though we could opt for one if we wished.
Our water rates are very high in Wales, due to the infrastructure, pumping stations etc, taking Welsh water to English cities .

Tec.

Not a great deal Linda, it depends on the weather.

We spent yesterday sorting out our books and CD's and putting those that we no longer read or listen to, to one side.

OH's Choir is having a Garage Sale next weekend so the ones we no longer want will be going there.

If today is fine, we will probably do some gardening.

Allan

Tec, I can sympathise with that sentiment.

A few years ago there was a big push to take water from the South west to Perth.

This was at a time when people in the South West were on water restrictions and People in Perth weren't.

The excuse was "Perth is expanding and needs more water for the growing population"

There was an enormous back-lash form country people and the main reaction was "develop the South West and let the population come to the area where the water is."

Thiswas against a background of infrastructure being removed from the country areas because it was needed for Perth!

Allan

Linda,
I wonder what that is? how aggravating............

I've googled every variation I can think of - nothing that makes sense.

Amsbea,
Amsby,
Amsbi,
Amsbey,

and several others, including beginning with E in case it was mis-heard.

You do realise I may lose sleep over this - the kind of thing that drives me insane.........no comments Allan please.

Tec.

Allan, It would be logical to expand the development and population where the water is -but governments and planners are not renowned for their logic are they?

Tec.