Facebook

I have been a member of Facebook for approximately 1 year. Facebook is probably very "exciting" for up to 30 years of age after that I think it becomes "boring".
I base this thought on several friends/family members I have communicated with (by email or phone). Like me they gradually just don't bother to log in to Facebook.

Emails are private; if anything to do with the computer can really be private. I have thought about unfriending all of my "friends" on Facebook to see if anyone would start to communicate with me personally via email at least. I know certain members of my family would use email as they have continued to do rather than connect through Facebook. Others I feel would not communicate directly but continue to post all of their "thoughts and escapades" on Facebook.

All I have to say is "God, bless them" and hope that nothing they have put into "cyberspace" comes back to bite them in the bum.

Ta ta till next time.

Days of Rememberance

Today, 9/11 is indeed a very important, yet sad day of rememberance, my thoughts and prayers go out to the families/friends affected by this tragedy.

Yesterday was also a day of rememberance for me in a different way. I have been emailing back and forth with my UK high school friend since locating her a month ago. I spoke to her on the phone yesterday for an hour and we still didn't get anywhere near making a dent in the "catching up" of the past 50years.

I received the year book pages and recognized names of teachers and some of the classmates. I have to ask my friend about a few of the names I don't recognize. My friend had also sent me a copy of a copy of a photo, which unfortunately was not very clear. We both "think" we recognize ourselves; she is going to check for the original photo. Neither of us recognized others in the photo and we think it was a photo of "prefects" and not of classmates.

We also talked about how sad it is when friends, either from school or workplace part and promise to keep in touch and very rarely do. I have experienced this with many work friends/associates. In this day of the email it wouldn't take but a minute to say "Hi, how are you doing?"

The most important things in life are: Family - Friends and health.

Goosebumps upon goosebumps

In researching for my book I decided to get some detailed information on my "high school" called North End Secondary Modern on Leigh Road in Eastleigh, Hampshire, UK. I decided to register with Friends Reunited where I could put in the name of my school and hopefully see some names of people I knew back then. One name has been on my mind since starting my book so I put that name in and SURPRISE it "popped up" showing the school and age which would be correct SO I sent a message. I received a reply to my message and sat with my mouth open and yes, tears in my eyes as the person responding was indeed my old friend and classmate of 45 plus years ago. Even bigger surprise is she has been living in the United States since 1979 in So. Carolina. My friend mentioned a few things in her message that brought back memories I can use in my book. She has our 1959 year book with my signature in the "middle" of the back page. She is emailing me the class picture and back page of the yearbook. I am anxiously waiting for the email and attachments, BOY she will get a very long email reply.

I hope the above makes sense as I am so excited about getting in touch again with a friend.

Now I have to wait for the email. HURRY, HURRY. I am glad I do not have to wait for snail mail.

More Memory Joggers

Friday I received an envelope from one of my nieces in England which contained more items/photos to jog my memory.

The envelope included three certificates I had received while in school in 1959. The certificates were from: Pitman Academy, both were for typing - one in the elementary exam and one in the intermediate exam. The third was from The Royal Society of Arts passing the elementary level of typing with credit.

Another item in the envelope was my ration book from WW11, for sweets, tea etc. What memories. My niece also included some copies of old photos she had found. One in particular I was happy to get was of my younger sister Ruth. I believe this was about the only photo of her as she only lived 9 months. Now I have a photo to go on her information page of the family tree.

The above items have now inspired me to "get cracking" on finishing my book. Hopefully this will be done in the next couple of months.

Family findings

I have finally connected with a relative on my Dad's side of the family. She is the grand daughter of one of my Dad's brothers (my Uncle). I know this for a fact, not just because of the names in her family tree but a photo she has attached to her grand father's information. The photo is identical to a photo I have and similar to one my oldest brother used to carry in his wallet. I never met any of my Dad's or Mum's brothers and sisters. Everyone says it is because of WWll that everyone drifted apart. It appears that most of my parents siblings stayed in the London area.

My "immediate" family is quite large; brother, sister, nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews, even some great, great nieces and nephews. Unfortunately they are in England and Australia therefore I don't get to see them, thank goodness for email. I am seriously thinking about connecting to Skype, but then I would have to get the family to do the same.

I am still writing my book while researching my family history. My book will probably be a few more months in the making; every time I either talk to or get an email from family members, another piece of my memory gets "jogged" and gives me more information for my book.

What research can do!

The type of research I refer to is looking for ones family. I have been working on my family tree which crosses over to several family trees: two of my sisters married to brothers therefore my brothers-in-law's family become in essence part of my family. I contacted a gentlemen who was looking for information for his family tree regarding one of my brothers-in-law and strangley he had the same surname as Uncle Henry. The gentleman is a couple of years younger than me and remembers my sister Rita's wedding (I was a bridesmaid at 6yrs old)and he was there. He turns out to be the grand-son of Uncle Henry. He is also the second cousin to three of my nephews and one niece. Uncle Henry was not related to me but back then out of respect for older relatives of friends (his sister-in-law was my god-mother) the title of Uncle or Aunt was used.

I was really "blown away" as today I received an email from another one of my nieces with some questions she had regarding her childhood and she mentioned that she remembered Uncle Henry!!!!

This whole family thing started because I decided to write about growing up in the UK with my family, the more I researched the more amazing things I discovered - thanks to the internet and a little help from my eldest living sister and brother.

One regret I have and that is not asking/listening to my elders when I was younger when they started telling their "stories".

Family History

I have had a lot of fun these past few weeks. I had a small article published in a community paper in the UK where I spent part of my childhood.

I put aside writing my murder mystery and started writing about growing up in the UK. I have done a lot of research on the places I lived and in doing so have connected with people in those areas and some I knew as a child. I thought adding "a little" history on the places would be interesting to the reader. The history on most of the places goes back to AD43 but I will not "bore" the reader with too much history.

Another exciting happening was I was friended on Facebook by my nephew, his wife and their two children. As I have said before, it is good to keep in touch with family.

I have also been making a family tree and possibly have connected with some "long lost" relatives. We are all Londoners and most of us were evacuated during the war and then lost touch.