Diary week ending 24th December

[Roobarb]

Arthurk, I must have worded my rant badly, I wasn't suggesting that the Royal Mail opts out of parcel deliveries, just that they should deliver our post as expected and not view themselves as being on a par with the likes of Amazon in parcel delivery. I agree that the volume of letters has fallen but we still need to have an efficient delivery service, particularly for letters such as those mentioned which contain hospital appointments and the like. The NHS certainly hasn't gone paperless.

BB, I support the postal workers too, their working procedures have been changed, and rounds altered without any noticeable increase in efficiency. The only difference it seems is the morale of our posties.

[Aguella]

One of my goals for the new year is to be more intentional with my genealogy, and I think one good way to facilitate that is becoming more active on here!

It's been a good week. Friday was the final meeting of the year for my local law society, followed by a very long luncheon. I have the honour of organising our bursary dinner for next year - a wonderful initiative we run with a nearby university.

I spent the weekend camping out in the beautiful Blue Mountains west of Sydney, attending an art & music retreat. Amongst other things, I participated in a meditation workshop, swam in a lake with a butterfly atop my head, and played King Charles II in an improv play! Most importantly, I spent some much needed time in the great outdoors with truly incredible people. A weekend to remember!

Like most, it was my final work week of the year. Nothing out of the ordinary, and only one day in court. Struggled home today (I walk to/from the office) carrying a large and unwieldy framed artwork which was a spontaneous lunch break purchase.

Got plenty of genealogy done during the weekday evenings, mostly searching FindMyPast's newspaper archive, and found a snippet on my relations in Colombo which now necessitates some further research - love it when that happens!

Now looking forward to a night at the Museum of Contemporary Art with a friend tomorrow, then Saturday will be a seaside feast with friends before going to an old 1930s cinema turned events space for a friend's birthday - very keen to see everyone! Sunday onwards is strictly for family. Excited for that too.

Hope everyone else is looking forward to the celebrations ... now to gauge how much I can bore the living relations with all my tales about the deceased ones!

[louisa maud]

Anguilla
I often have family members ask about the family tree,  I start to chat then watch their faces,  that will  tell you if they are really interested or not.
One side of my husbands family thought they were related to a Sir, well, no they are not, interested disappeared  straight away, didn't want to know anymore.
I consider myself the holder of the family tree as not many are interested at all, their loss.

LM

[Aguella]

Anguilla
I often have family members ask about the family tree,  I start to chat then watch their faces,  that will  tell you if they are really interested or not.
One side of my husbands family thought they were related to a Sir, well, no they are not, interested disappeared  straight away, didn't want to know anymore.
I consider myself the holder of the family tree as not many are interested at all, their loss.

LM

I read somewhere that we genealogists are "the chosen ones" and it certainly does feel like a privilege to gain so much pleasure from such a stimulating & versatile hobby!

As for sharing the interest, I get a little burst of adrenalin when a relative rings up and asks for a copy of an old photo I showed them, or asks 'what was so-and-so's name again?' - I bet they come to you too as the resident Keeper of Lore - every family must have one !

[arthurk]

Arthurk, I must have worded my rant badly, I wasn't suggesting that the Royal Mail opts out of parcel deliveries, just that they should deliver our post as expected and not view themselves as being on a par with the likes of Amazon in parcel delivery. I agree that the volume of letters has fallen but we still need to have an efficient delivery service, particularly for letters such as those mentioned which contain hospital appointments and the like. The NHS certainly hasn't gone paperless.

Yes, but thinking about it, it seems like Royal Mail are in a bind. They need the parcels business to subsidise the letters, but particularly at Christmas, the sorting and delivery offices get overwhelmed with parcels. I can completely understand that some days the managers might (allegedly) say the priority is to get the parcels out and delivered to make a bit of space, otherwise they're going to start piling up out of the door.

Moreover, though I don't have any figures for this, I suspect a far larger proportion of parcels are on a delivery deadline (24hr/48hr etc) than letters, where you stick it in the box with no guarantee of when it will get there. So not surprising, really, if parcels are prioritised.

What to do about it? Answers on a postcard, please...

[Rena]

All my cards have been posted, which was a relief, until I received an unexpected card today, which raised my blood pressure slightly.  I'm hoping that I can get somebody to take it into town to the post box tomorrow.

Son brought his two tots today.  The eighteen month old usually requests "ducks" (Old Macdonald had a farm) but today kept demanding "Ashoo", which I took to mean a game ending with "atishoo, atishoo, all fall down".  lol - Her conversation reminds me of the days when I had my own tots and knew the meaning of every baby sound and every baby garbled sentence they made 

I anticipate relatives might be bored with me relaying our family tree so I try to pick out something personal to the current generation that they can relate to.  For instance I personally knew kith and kin born in the 1800s and can say that "Your gt  gt. grandmother had six toes", for instance. 

Since I related the story of the day I felt hot  and thirsty and yearned for a drink of dandelion and burdock, (then learnt that I was picking up younger son's thoughts as he trudged home up the hill in the heat)  I have been inundated with bottles of dandelion and burdock for birthday and  Christmas,

[radstockjeff]

Off to stay with my eldest son Mark and his family in London for Christmas.
My grateful thanks to all RCs for their kind and thoughtful messages following Jane's passing last week. It will be a different Christmas but I will be with family.
Here's wishing you all, wherever you are, a very Happy Christmas and good times in the New Year.
RJ.
 

[KGarrad]

I'll be off after lunch to stay with daughter #1.
Taxi booked for 2:30.

Winds have lessened - but still strong enough to knock me over!
It was blowing a hooley overnight.

[Gillg]

The wind is calming down now in Devon and for a change there are odd glimpses of the sun.  I'm having a last minute clean round and will do some parcel wrapping later.  We will be going to our daughter's for meals on Christmas Eve and Day, so not much for me to do in that department.  I made the pudding way back in October, so just have to bring sauce, cream and brandy butter (thanks, M&S). Grandchildren are getting excited, even though they have learned that there isn't really a Father Christmas.  I expect they will still put out a mince pie, as glass of whisky and a carrot for Rudolf on Christmas Eve.  Some customs are rather hard to give up and their Dad does enjoy his hooch.

Wishing everyone at RootsChat a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful  New Year.