Seamstress

Couple of regular online meetings first thing then off to V’s to go for a walk (well more like a moving chat!). We both need to download stuff and talked non stop as we went down from her house to the beach at Porty, all along the prom, and back along the high street. Stopped for some soup and a roll, but we weren’t distracted by looking for shells or in shops or anything else. Toying with a visit to Borneo to see the orangutangs since it’s on her bucket list and I’m up for any trip! Her slight fear of flying and discussions of houseswapping in Canada, illness of another of her friends, grandchildren, building work, sons and etc kept us going until I dashed off home to be there for Winsford arriving.
Over tea and cake we got stuck into family history exploration. I didn’t really know where to start other than with the names of my (maternal) grandparents but coincidentally my last surviving aunt had sent me some newspaper clippings about my grandfather and his brothers in the First World War. Of the six brother, three were killed, two in France and one in Russia. Two were awarded military medals. From these various scraps she helped me find his parents (his father was a butcher in Dundee, like one of Winsford’s great grandfathers too!). The blip is of my grandfather and grandmother’s marriage certificate in 1912. Winsford expertly flitted between newspaper archives, Scotland’s People and census websites and I could barely keep up with the information pouring out…I can see I’m going to get hooked! Seems one of my aunts died aged 20 of poisoning…..so sad to think it might have been a suicide, although I don’t think my mother or any of the others even talked about her. I’ll need to check with some of my cousins. Looking at some of the ancestors’ addresses and finding (most of) them on street view was also a bit of a thrill, with my great grandparents’ house in Blairgowrie looking quite a lot like A&N’s cottage!
MH arrived and we went to book group together at CW’s. We’d read Baghdad Clock but it wasn’t an easy book to be gripped by…more of a stream of consciousness narration about Iraq between the wars. C had as usual made a fabulous Middle Eastern feast (as blipped by Winsford) to match and every mouthful was delicious. We celebrated her success in a recent job interview and talked non stop as usual about all sorts. Lovely evening, such a boost every month.