General Chat

Happy Easter Afternoon All. <3 <3 :-D :-D <3 <3

Well I had a good sleep last night, despite a bit of indigestion and achey knees , neck and hips. I thought my tablet at 8.00pm would make the indigestion worse, but luckily it didn't. I think I've had a bit of a bug that may have caused the tummy upset and aches as I feel so much better today. :-)

I bet Mandy's been busy hiding eggs in the garden for the grandchildren. What happens if one finds more than the others Mandy.......do they share them? I wonder how many of the chocolate bunnies are left........none if it was me!

Frank, the front garden is a credit to you both and looks so neat and colourful. I bet everyone walking by notices and likes it.

Gill thank you for reminding me as I must look up some of my rellies who went to Australia. I was looking at my tree last night and found that another of grandma's brothers my mothers side went to war. He only went for a year at age 18 then his service was terminated, the reason not shown on the few papers that have survived. The other 2 brothers were killed in action which must have been hard for the family. Then I found something that was really a surprise to me. I discovered that one of my dad's cousins was a prisoner of war in WW2!! He was captured in Singapore in 1942 and was in Malaya POW Camp. You would have thought dad being in the war himself would have mentioned that wouldn't you? Also amazing was when I told OH he trotted off and came back with a book he has all about that part of the war so I might have a look at that later. It's not the first time he has produced books he has on things I find!! lol.

Looking forward to seeing the last episode of The Night Manager tonight. It's one of the best things I've watched for ages. :-

I see Mel is still in good voice!

I agree with you about the Ancestry site Mandy. It was certainly much better and easier to find your way around family trees before! Most of our clocks change themselves now, but my mobile and car clock and the boiler don't. I made OH smile this morning when I said at least we don't have 18 to do like FIL did! :-) That was a good idea to hide bunnies in the house. :-)

I bet Paul and Beckie are looking forward to 'Little Mix' Anne. I have to admit that, although I know Little Mix, a lot of today's groups pass me by now.........must be my age! :-S

That's good you got a good nights sleep last night Ann ,glad to hear your feel better today.

They all share the eggs Ann ,they go one at a time to search and find two eggs and so on until they have them all and them DIL counts them all out and they fill their Easter bags .
There was sixty tiny eggs and twenty of the little bit bigger ones .
I have had two more chocolate bunnies ,still a few more left :-D

That info about your Dad's cousin is interesting Ann as my S-father was a POW in the far east. He was captured after the fall of Singapore aged 22, having been seconded to the protection of women and children on the last ship out of Singapore bound for Australia. The ship was torpedoed, and my S Father managed to get to an island where he and a friend were captured after a couple of days. Friend was sent to Japan but never made it as the ship carrying him and dozens of prisoners was torpedoed by an American submarine and they mostly drowned. My S father was sent back to Singapore and spent time in Changi, after that the Burma railroad, finally being repatriated in 1945 aged just 26. It was never spoken of at home, and the only give away were, all his life, repeated bouts of malaria and other malnutrition problems, mainly caused by Berberi, and relentless nightmares, which did get better over the years. For years nothing Japanese entered our house, but after thirty odd years you couldn't avoid it ! But it wasn't drawn attention to-ever! I would be interested in what your OH manages to dig up Ann about that time as its all a bit shrouded in mystery.

Pleased to hear you had a better nights sleep last night Ann and that you feel a bit better today. How interesting about your dad's cousin and what a stroke of luck your OH has a book on it too :-)
My granddad was a POW, but in Italy. He never spoke of it all through his life and I only found out, briefly, off my nan after granddad passed away. I vaguely remember someone saying he escaped and an Italian family helped him, but anymore than that I don't know. Both my grandparents have passed away now, so I don't suppose I'll ever find out what exactly happened, which is a shame as I would of liked to have known more.

I've been finding all sort of stuff, both in Australia and New Zealand and have found one of my relatives wife's first name. There's not many records available in Australia and New Zealand as they are very strict and have a hundred year rule on birth records, so only death records and Electoral rolls are available. I'm not sure about marriage records as I haven't come across any yet, so can only imagine they must have a time restriction on them too, which is quite disappointing.

It sounds like the children have had a great time finding all those eggs Mandy, I'm pleased the weather was dry enough for them. That's a good idea the way you do it that way there's no tears at the end if one gets more than the other.
I'm just watching the women's boat race at the moment and pleased Oxford are winning, but I do feel sorry for Cambridge as it doesn't look as if they're going to finish the race as they are sinking. They haven't given up yet though, I think it's more pride than anything else that's keeping them going. Some of my family lived in Oxford so I always support that side and hope the Oxford men win their race too.

Have you tried looking on Ancestry Liz, you might find out more about your S. Father on there <3 It might be worth a look, while it's free.

The women's race is over now, it was nice to see Cambridge finish after such a bad race for them.

Yes, Gill the race was exciting! and I'm glad Oxford won. I was born in Oxford and lived around there as a child. Think Cambridge will win the men's though!!
I will have a look on accestry i's amazing what you can find out if you have a really good look.
I'm looking forward to the last episode of the Night Manager, It's been a brilliant series, the finale should be good!.
Windy here, but sunny!! Lunch was roast lamb and it was lovely!!!

I see the Cambridge men won their race, I think it was because they were on the best side of the river, which would explain why the Cambridge women lost their race as they were on the other side. It was nice to see both Oxford (women) and Cambridge (men)win though.

My family originated from further down the country Liz, the only reason I'm from up north is because my granddad moved to Ellesmere Port for work many years ago, otherwise I'd of been a cockney LOL. His brother is the relative who lived in Oxford after he moved there from London. I now have family all over the country including my mum's sister way up in Scotland.

We had a roast chicken today after the lamb we had on Friday. I'm still plodding through my tree checking on Ancestry but don't seem to getting very far today. Yesterday was much better. I don't watch the Night Inspector, it's difficult to watch everything I'd like as OH and Sandra want to watch other things, so I can't be greedy LOL :-D :-D

The sun has come out here again but the wind has really picked up, I had to bolt the side gate and ring OH at work to let him know for when he comes in later. It's only one gate, but he has to open it to put the car away and I didn't want him forcing it open not realising I'd bolted it down on the floor.......mind you, he'll probably forget knowing him :-S :-S

Off to check Ancestry again now, while I watch Masterchef, I've recorded them from the start and didn't realise it was on so many times, so Sandra and I thought we'd better start watching them before we ran out of space on the planner.

See you all later.

You could always use catch up on your computer Gill! It's really easy to find and can solve the problem of watching programmes that others don't want to see, particularly if you use headphones!! :-D. Ian's watching James Bond with headphones as I don't want it. I'm about to watch something on my Kindle, (headphones again) that he doesn't want, so it works pretty well!!
I'm about to have a piece of Easter Bunny!!

That's interesting what you both say about your POW relations Liz and Gill. I must admit I was in my late 20s before I heard dad say anything about his time in the war, then it wasn't much, so maybe they just wanted to forget about those times and the things they saw. I remember a couple of photos of him in Tropical Uniform in India with a jungle hat and shorts, but my sister's ex has those along with most of our family photos and he won't give them back or let us copy them.

I had another search on Ancestry today but haven't found anything else I hadn't already found. There's more to do yet though!

Today we went to a small steam fair at one of the village stations at Quorn. There were lots of Traction engines with men that looked just like Fred Dibnah in attendance, complete with flat caps and oily rags in their hands! There was a fairground ride with 'gallopers' and I decided to take the plunge and have a ride on one. I couldn't persuade OH though! I picked one that had come to rest near the ground and decided to sit at the back of the pole in case I got stuck at the front with the head in front and pole behind me! My word, they go a lot faster nowadays than I remember and it seemed a very long ride!!!I :-0 :-0 I had to lean inwards as the motion was swinging me outwards and I could only just reach the footrest with my toe to try and balance. Then as it slowed down I prayed it wouldn't stop with my horse high in the air as it would be hard to scramble down with my knees, but luckily it stopped where it started!! It was really blowy and stormy looking by the time we left and still is.

Evening All
I have not seen any of today's posts yet ,but hope everyone has had a lovely Easter Day,and not eaten too many Eggs,Rabbits etc :-D and have left plenty of room for your dinner :-D :-D

We have a clear blue sky here still !!!!!.The wind seems to have died down a bit at the moment but that could be the calm before the storm :-S..

Just ready to sit down and tuck into a nice Roast Beef dinner :-D

Heavens Ann, that was brave to have a go on the galloping horses!!! Last time I did that years ago, it was just a nightmare!! I was terrified of sliding off the horse, they went so fast! and were a comlpetely terrifying!!! and I loved them when I was young!!!
What a shame about your family photos! I've got ours in a suitcase, but I'm always perfectly happy to let my cousins both see and have copies of anything they want. I don't believe that I have the monopoly over family things, the relations were as much theirs as mine.
We've the family here tomorrow which will be really nice. Our grandson can talk for England (he's 8!) So no silences when he's around !!! Our elder granddaughter is 16 today, and we've just had a lovely chat with her. She's doing her GCSE's this summer, so is going into school everyday after tomorrow during the holidays for extra revision. Last year she passed Maths and Spanish, and is completing the rest in a week or two. Hard to believe that little girl is a young woman. We're both so proud of her.

Time for Tim and Prue if anyone is watching them?!

We have recorded Tim & Prue and are watching the Antiques Road Show at the moment. After that it's The Night Manager which is so good.
Richard bought me a dark chocolate bunny which I will have to be careful not to over indulge because of the sugar levels

Becky didn't have to pay to see Little Mix she went with one of her friends who is an only child and her parents paid so she's a lucky girl, the same thing happened last year when they took her to see One Direction

Ann the steam fair sounded fun we have been to quite a few in the past as Peter really liked that sort of show. I can remember the galloping horses too.

The weather here took a turn for the worst earlier thunder & lighting and hail stones plus very windy

You are brave going on the fairground horses Ann. I am pleased you could dismount ok. I used to like to go on those huge swing chairs on the roundabout but don't think I could do it now.

It clouded over a bit this afternoon and the wind dropped a bit so I put the chicken out on the grass for a while. She had a good peck about and was walking too but still with her foot curled up.

My grandfather used to get malaria all through his life from time to time.

Could someone please pass me Frank's garden pics as I did'nt get them. Thanks.

Signing out now so saying night night.

Is there a reason why riders mount dismount on the left?

Morning David and all,

Sunny morning today but still that dreadfull wind and its not too warm either. Last night we had such heavy rain which went on for most of the evening up until I went to bed. What it did after that I don't know as I soon fell asleep.

To answer your question David it goes back to ancient times when soldiers carried swords. They mostly wore them on their left to draw with their right hand. If they got on their horse the other way around they would sit on their swords.

My friend Di is coming at about 12.20pm so I must have a tidy up.

Morning all

Very cloudy and cold today, it looks like it's been raining and it's quite windy too.

Well, I didn't know that about mounting and dis-mounting on the left......... ;-) ;-) ;-)
Hope you have a nice time with Di this afternoon Mel. Have you got anything planned or are you just staying in doors? It sounds like you have some decent weather, maybe all the wind you heard last night was storm Katie.
I've sent the pictures of Frank's garden to you. It's lovely and not a weed in sight.

I use catch up on my laptop sometimes Liz if it's just me watching, but the screen is a bit to small for all of us to watch together, so I have to record it off the TV instead. Happy birthday to your granddaughter for yesterday, hope she had a lovely day. Enjoy yourself with the family today.

I was right Anne, Sandra was quite envious of Beckie seeing Little Mix. So it was a treat off her friends parents? She's very lucky. I bet she had a great time.

How strange that your sister's ex has all your family photo's Ann, he should give them back, after all it's not his family. The steam fair sounded very interesting, you do go to some great places.
You were brave going on the galloping horses and lucky it stopped where it started so you could get off.

Nothing much planned today except looking at my family tree again as it's the last day Ancestry have their records open for free. Then I'll be settling down and catching up with some more programmes I recorded while OH is here. I've cleared about a third of the planner so far, but have other things I want to record so I need to clear some more, or I'll be back to a full planner again :-(

Morning all,

No sun here it's pouring with rain and the wind is really gusty it keeps sweeping the rain on to the front window .

I have a nice piece of beef for tonight with all the trimmings .

Oh Ann you were brave going on the Gallopers :-D

I have tried THREE TIMES to post this morning and it keeps clearing the page. So you will have to do without me until I can get this sorted. Love to you all. xx

Oh dear Frank your not having much luck lately what with your mouse playing up and now losing the post ,is Lewis still there perhaps he will be able to sort things for you .

Brightened up her now and the suns trying to peep through the clouds ,still quite windy .
Monday today ,i keep thing it's Sunday :-S