General Chat

Hello all:-))

I too think about how are ancestors lived. My paternal great grandmother had 15 children including triplets. My grandfather was the only surviving triplet. My great grandparents lost 2 children early in their marriage and then 2 of the triplets within 6 months of each other and their 15 y.o. son a few weeks later. I have a photo of the surviving family with my grandfather sat on his father's knee. He is tiny for the age he would be. My grandmother looks older than she is - worn out and sad.

Sue xx

Edit - that sounds lovely Lynda.

Linda, the break sounds nice. I hope that the weather clears for you as I doubt that it would be much fun driving in severe weather conditions.

I find that short breaks are actually more relaxing than longer periods away from home

Allan

Sue, thinking of our ancestors, I have always thought that though their lives were hard by today's standards were they more content?

Today seems to be about instant communication or instant gratification. the anticipation and realisation aspect appears to be missing so that things are no longer valued, not just for their cost but also for the effort which has gone into the acquiring of them.


Allan

Good evening/morning everyone. I've taken ages just reading the last couple of pages on here. Everything is 'jumpy' to-day on my computer.

Don't know if I've told this before (blame it on old age if I have) but your talk of ancestors coping brought to mind one set of gr/gr/grandparents, who emigrated in 1837 with three little boys. An outbreak of measles killed 48 people on that ship, including the two youngest boys. I often think of how they must have hated this country before they even got here. What could they do, but accept it?

We aren't going far, just next to Beamish museum which Sue might have heard of. We normally do two nights and go look at things in the area, but it is too cold for that,so we are just having a token one night.

I like longer holidays, we like to go to the Greek islands for instance and the air fare is hte biggest part of the cost,so it makes sense to stay for longer. i haven't been able to go for longer than a week for the last couple of years because mum didn't like me to be away. That won't apply now of course,which is sad.

Of course those of you who live in paradise don't need to go away.

I sometimes stop to think that I am blithely entering deaths of all those little children on my tree, without stopping to think of the heartache those mothers must have felt I know that it was normal to loose lot's of children, but they must have been devastated surely.

I too hope the weather clears up for you Linda - I have only ever driven in snow once and we had chains on. I would probably need the champagne or a suitable hot toddy after that.

Sorry late again my OH said to tell you that fat a*se has been hogging the computer - and in his pyjamas too - told him it was most undignified - comment back was there isn't a camera on our PC is there? At least they were the PJ pants that stay up, I packed ones that kept falling down when we went away.

I think quite a lot of my ancestors were a very firm and resolute bunch - they came out here on such small sailing vessels by todays standards and with so many children in tow plus several childbirths on board on the way. One ancestor had 22 children in total - needless to say not all survived and there was a birth on board.

My great grandfather came to NZ on a boat called "the Wild Duck" and when I was first into ancestry I googled Wild Duck - and got the plonk version. I printed a picture of the sailing ship in dock in Wellington - and it is there to remind me to not get airs above my station.

Perse

Good morning Berona.

I think that our ancestors, while still grieving the family loss would have just thought that that was what happened to anyone and just got on with it. They could hardly change their minds so they probably just thought that they were in the same boat (no pun intended) as everyone else.

Linda, Paradise is relative. One of the problems with WA is that it is so expensive to travel to other parts of Australia. It is sometimes cheaper to fly to Asia than to travel internally, but as our passports expired a few years ago and we have been too lazy to renew them, that is not an option at the moment!

Allan

Good Morning/Evening everyone,

Hope you are all well today

Tec

Linda - when I was about 10, we visited my dad's old auntie, who was proudly talking about all of her children. I remember asking how many children she had. To answer me, she drew herself up in a very proud way and said "I reared seven children. I had fourteen, but I reared seven!". She was so proud of the fact that she had reared seven out of fourteen!! That scene has stayed with me ever since! I was only a child, but I was horrified at her answer!

Linda - even if you live in paradise you need to see other places just to compare. We've been to Beamish and sat in the park listening to a brass band playing in the band stand. It was a lovely sunny day and we spent a whole day there with OH's brother and his wife. OH's brother has a yearly pass or membership as they go quite regularly.

Berona - that would've been dreadful for the family and not a good start to their new life. A family who came out to Australia at the same time as we did lost their eldest child to meningitis within a year of arriving here. They returned to England soon after unable to cope I guess. I remember at a young age asking my mother if they would take their little boy back with them and she explained that they couldn't. I felt so sad that he was still here while his family had gone back home.

Sue xx

Good morning Persey

I didn't know that you were into bondage! Wouldn't the chains have been more useful on the Tyres?? :0))

Allan

I think you should renew your passport Allan - leave it to late here in NZ and it can cause all sorts of conundrums. A friend of mine had to go back to UK when her grandfather died - and she found her passport had expired and it arrived at work post haste courier the day before she left. She was hopeless all morning at work in a panic and she is one that laughs off everything and always sees the funny side of life.

For us here it is more often than not cheaper for us to fly to OZ than get to the South Island. I was wanting to go to a funeral in Invercargill and the cost for the two of us at short notice was way too much. So instead we sent the husband a few hundred dollars (less than half cost of our fare) to help him out as they were not that financially well off.

Persey

Good evening Tec.

Linda as WA only has a very small population, 2 million people in total, internal travel is very expensive as there is no competition. and flights to anywhere are so long.

It is sometimes cheaper to fly to places like Bali from Perth and even with airfares and accommodation the cost can be less than a return fight from Perth to Melbourne

Allan

I have to have a gag in my mouth as well Allan.

In the Jewish ten commandments one of them refers to Out of the house of bondage. My youngest went to the Jewish school (no we are not Jewish) and my children and I were out at a friends place - it was a fashion party and the adults were talking about this dominatrix case that was in the papers at the time and one of them was trying to think of that particular word and up pipes the nine year old - straight out with it "Oh you mean bondage." The shocked look on some and their reactions was quite funny.

That's funny Persey - little ones can get us into such trouble:-)) I took our grandson home yesterday afternoon and met his father at the door as he had the twins for a couple of hours. When the 3 yo saw me he ran up for a cuddle and said to his dad "go away daddy I want to see grandma now - I love grandma". I have no time for my ex son in law but I did feel a little sorry for him.

Sue xx

Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings!


Allan

Ooh I only went to get a coffee and I come back to talk of bondage, what is happening to this thread?

I am off now to spend quality time with OH, goodnight everyone

Sorry I got tied up for a moment Linda,

But in the meantime I have been looking at the Beamish Museum on line.
What a wonderful place - I will go back and give it a thorough going over later. I see they had a special Christmas Season there for the first time this Christmas. I must ask OH if he has been there - it is definitely a place of interest to me.

P,