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Sunday 10 January 2021

I Lost a Lot of Comments

A while back I accidentally posted all comments. This included some people's emails, which I had kept hidden. I immediately deleted every comment, just in case. So the wonderful person who asked - no, I don't have your email, but if you are kind enough to leave it, I will take care of it. I would love to subscribe, and I'll share details on here if you think it appropriate.

Today has had a lot of pain in it. I am desperately unimpressed. It's just girly bits and my time of life, but I could do without it. I've managed to do a little writing, and even took a needed photo. It's of a book I bought for research, and I nearly pulled a muscle hefting it around. It weighs a ton!



It looked a lot smaller in the eBay listing and I suspect that the seller undercharged me drastically for postage. It is an 1899 Times Gazetteer of the World, and it is huge. Some entries are more detailed than others. It's actually open on the page for Sudan, and it's quite sad that such a huge country has such a small entry.

I need to have a good look around. Somewhere in this house is an historical atlas, probably printed around 1870 or so. I'll have to have a look for clues when I find it. On the fly leaf is the date 1890 and the name of my great-great-aunt. It would be perfect for research - including any adventures caused by out of date maps. Her brothers were ships' captains, so she probably understood about the importance of up to date maps, but she wasn't very old at the time. She was, I believe, a pupil teacher. That is, a young woman who learned 'on the job' teaching in a small village school. She went on to run the Post Office and the library and terrify the vicar. It also has maps of the Roman Empire, amongst others, showing the information that was available then. 

I've booked a tip run for tomorrow, and the car is already packed and quite full. Then I'll go on to Tesco, Aldi, the farm shop and then home. DH and bear like a particular type of flavoured water that you can only get in Tesco. There is a lot of mutterings about stricter lockdowns, and Tesco is eight miles from me. It's where I went before all this happened, and my favourite shop. There is another large Tesco, this time in the same postal district, but it's at least as far away and on scary roads. I shall have to stick to the more local supermarkets, and go once or twice a week. I will see how I go on. I plan to include lots and lots of sanitiser and masks.

Hugs and good health to all. 

5 comments:

  1. Sorry you are suffering. Unfortunately cycles remain cycles even when you think they aren't there until they are. Often brought back by warm climates and exercise. My very last one appeared in Spain whilst on holiday with friends in a freezing cold flat when the Icelandic volcano erupted and we had to return to England on a coach. (Never again!). Now, about your aunt. You can't tell us all that about her and not reveal how she came to terrorise the vicar!

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  2. I love the look of that book. What a wonderful treasure. I feel you on the woman thing. I'm at that time too and it's not fun. Some months when I think I might be coming out of the other side well, it all begins again. Yuck.

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  4. Sorry to hear you're suffering. I got off pretty lightly when the menopause came around - hair loss, a few periods of feeling faint, brain fog and very, very mild hot flushes for a few months. Mind you, it took its time coming. There was a period of 4 years where I was convinced I'd started (after all, the symptoms of peri-menopause and menopause itself seem rather similar) and then I'd get the old gut-churning feeling and lo and behold, blood in my knickers again. It sounds like I was lucky and I hope it goes away for you quickly too.
    The gazetteer looks absolutely fascinating. There is something about huge old books that just draws you to open them up and start exploring, isn't there? My grandparents used to have a book on anatomy (god knows why!) with the most marvelous diagram of the human body with fold out "innards" in the front, where you could open up flaps and then fold out the ribs to reveal the heart and lungs and so forth. Absolutely fascinated me as a child and I would pore over the information on various diseases, conditions and cures when allowed to get it out and open it up. All completely out of date even then, of course, but it was interesting to know what people had believed and what was still 'true'. How amazing it must be to find out how countries have changed in the same way and to get an insight into how they were viewed in the latter days of the British Empire. At one point I was reading the CIA's website which has a rundown of most nations from the point of view of America's interest in them; it was fascinating to see how different the author's perspective was to mine and the thinks they thought were important to record in relation to trying to sum up a nation in a couple of pages. I loved the line 'She went on to ... terrify the vicar.' btw!
    Good luck with the shopping and stay safe.

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  5. I think Boris is about to put the supermarkets on notice to fulfil their obligations to check people are wearing masks and distancing and observing a one way system otherwise they will make it a legal requirements. Apparently new research has highlighted that supermarkets are one of the main places to catch the virus. I think we will be going back to only visiting once a fortnight.
    I love your new book it must be a treasure trove of information.

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