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Success...
Feb. 21st, 2009 11:13 pmMy sister chose her wedding dress today. It's absolutely lovely. She's an amazing shopper. We walked into the shop at 10am and she'd chosen a dress and paid by half past. Now we've got to sort out a bridesmaids dress for me. It's going to be tricky as they don't have a colour scheme yet - all the flowers are white - and there are many possibilities. I'd really like a halterneck but it depends what is in the shops I guess.
After wedding dress shopping we went to Ikea in Croydon. I meant to go on my own but mum and sis decided to join me. I only intended to pop in and pick up a new sofa cover and some replacement heads for my loo brush. I ended up spending £50 on various bits and pieces (including 3 pairs of scissors for 77p!). They didn't have the red sofa cover I wanted in stock so I ended up buying another black one. Let's hope that this one lasts a bit longer than it's predecessor (which shrunk in the wash and then ripped when we put it back on the sofa).
My week of annual leave is pretty much over now. Annual leave always flies by. I've achieved quite a lot though. I bought new plants for my balcony. It's now adorned with four primulas of various colours and I've also planted four daffodils and three hyacinths which should flower in the spring.
I also went to Twickenham Cemetery with my parents and found the grave of my mum's Uncle Cecil and Auntie Kathleen. In actual fact my dad located the grave. The numbering system didn't help very much and I'm crap at looking for things at the best of times. I must have walked past it at least twice. This was actually the first family grave we had located on mum's side. Many generations of her family were cremated (including her parents, three of her uncles and three of her grandparents) however, Auntie Kathleen was a devout Roman Catholic from Southern Ireland so she made sure they had a 'plot'. It was quite sad really. They didn't have any children and the grave hadn't been looked at for years. We will probably go again and take some flowers and soap to clean it up a bit.
After the cemetery we went to St Mary's Church in Twickenham to see my great-grandfather's name on the war memorial in the grounds. Unfortunately, the war memorial isn't in a very good state. It is made of stone which has eroded significantly. You can just about read my great-grandfather's name but some of the one's nearer the top are illegible. I would love to start a campaign to get it restored but I looked it up on the internet and it's very expensive to do. I wouldn't know where to start.
On Wednesday we went to Maidenhead Library to look at their newspaper archives. We were hoping to find an article about one of our ancesters who worked as a Ferryman and drowned in the river at Cookham, Berkshire back in 1882. Unfortunately, we didn't get through many issues. Local newspapers had tiny print and were very hectic back in the 1880s. They were very hard to follow, particularly on a microfilm which didn't fit the reader properly. We found lots of articles about an assassination attempt on Queen Victoria which took place at Windsor Station that year, and the subsequent trial of the random nutter responsible. We also found lots of articles about an elephant called Jumbo who took a very long journey from London to New York in 1882. Not sure that this qualified as 'local' news for the good people of Maidenhead & Marlow but I guess there was no TV in those days and they had to get the news from somewhere. Local news in 1882 also involved quite a few escaped animals (horse in church, cow in High Street etc.) and coverage of the temperance league. We will have to go back and keep looking for the chap who fell in the river. He definitely sounds like one of our more interesting ancestors.
On Friday, I bought a new piece of cross stitch to work on. I haven't done any sewing for ages because it tends to give me a stiff neck but for some reason I had the urge. When I opened up my sewing bag for the first time in about 5 years I found two completed 'Country Companions' greeting cards which I'd forgotten all about. I must find someone to send them to. A lot of work went into them. The new one is Dougal from The Magic Roundabout and I plan to give it to my friend for her birthday in August. She has a little Dougal toy in her car.
It's been a good week. I haven't communicated with anyone who isn't related to me (apart from online and shop assistants) and I feel relaxed. Sadly, it's back to work on Monday for at least another six weeks. It might be even more as I'm not sure I'll be taking time off at Easter. Oh well.
After wedding dress shopping we went to Ikea in Croydon. I meant to go on my own but mum and sis decided to join me. I only intended to pop in and pick up a new sofa cover and some replacement heads for my loo brush. I ended up spending £50 on various bits and pieces (including 3 pairs of scissors for 77p!). They didn't have the red sofa cover I wanted in stock so I ended up buying another black one. Let's hope that this one lasts a bit longer than it's predecessor (which shrunk in the wash and then ripped when we put it back on the sofa).
My week of annual leave is pretty much over now. Annual leave always flies by. I've achieved quite a lot though. I bought new plants for my balcony. It's now adorned with four primulas of various colours and I've also planted four daffodils and three hyacinths which should flower in the spring.
I also went to Twickenham Cemetery with my parents and found the grave of my mum's Uncle Cecil and Auntie Kathleen. In actual fact my dad located the grave. The numbering system didn't help very much and I'm crap at looking for things at the best of times. I must have walked past it at least twice. This was actually the first family grave we had located on mum's side. Many generations of her family were cremated (including her parents, three of her uncles and three of her grandparents) however, Auntie Kathleen was a devout Roman Catholic from Southern Ireland so she made sure they had a 'plot'. It was quite sad really. They didn't have any children and the grave hadn't been looked at for years. We will probably go again and take some flowers and soap to clean it up a bit.
After the cemetery we went to St Mary's Church in Twickenham to see my great-grandfather's name on the war memorial in the grounds. Unfortunately, the war memorial isn't in a very good state. It is made of stone which has eroded significantly. You can just about read my great-grandfather's name but some of the one's nearer the top are illegible. I would love to start a campaign to get it restored but I looked it up on the internet and it's very expensive to do. I wouldn't know where to start.
On Wednesday we went to Maidenhead Library to look at their newspaper archives. We were hoping to find an article about one of our ancesters who worked as a Ferryman and drowned in the river at Cookham, Berkshire back in 1882. Unfortunately, we didn't get through many issues. Local newspapers had tiny print and were very hectic back in the 1880s. They were very hard to follow, particularly on a microfilm which didn't fit the reader properly. We found lots of articles about an assassination attempt on Queen Victoria which took place at Windsor Station that year, and the subsequent trial of the random nutter responsible. We also found lots of articles about an elephant called Jumbo who took a very long journey from London to New York in 1882. Not sure that this qualified as 'local' news for the good people of Maidenhead & Marlow but I guess there was no TV in those days and they had to get the news from somewhere. Local news in 1882 also involved quite a few escaped animals (horse in church, cow in High Street etc.) and coverage of the temperance league. We will have to go back and keep looking for the chap who fell in the river. He definitely sounds like one of our more interesting ancestors.
On Friday, I bought a new piece of cross stitch to work on. I haven't done any sewing for ages because it tends to give me a stiff neck but for some reason I had the urge. When I opened up my sewing bag for the first time in about 5 years I found two completed 'Country Companions' greeting cards which I'd forgotten all about. I must find someone to send them to. A lot of work went into them. The new one is Dougal from The Magic Roundabout and I plan to give it to my friend for her birthday in August. She has a little Dougal toy in her car.
It's been a good week. I haven't communicated with anyone who isn't related to me (apart from online and shop assistants) and I feel relaxed. Sadly, it's back to work on Monday for at least another six weeks. It might be even more as I'm not sure I'll be taking time off at Easter. Oh well.
