The Big Adventure

Karmacat

Right, I'd better get my act together on yougov

Dental work is horrible, especially when it comes from painful issues just had some of that this morning

Off to Ancestry before yougov - let us know how you get on with that research. I need to think about priorities ...

Goldiegirl

Secret_Saving_Squirrel wrote: »

The tax office are a nightmare. I hope they take notice. You are very wise to write rather than phoning as they are terrible for keeping you hanging on.

Have a good weekend,

Squirrel x

Thanks - I'm going out to lunch tomorrow with some people I used to work with, so it'll be good to catch up with everything

Karmacat wrote: »

Right, I'd better get my act together on yougov

Dental work is horrible, especially when it comes from painful issues just had some of that this morning

Off to Ancestry before yougov - let us know how you get on with that research. I need to think about priorities ...

Hope your dental work wasn't too bad. Mr Goldie's wasn't quite as bad as he thought, but now that the injection has worn off, his mouth is aching a bit.

Anyway, on to my Ancestry research

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had received my dad's war records. It was really interesting, and confirmed a lot of things that my dad had told me. It revealed that he was calling himself by a slightly different first name.... This is the third name he's used!


But the thing that shocked me to the core was that the records stated that, in Kensington on 28th August 1937, my dad had got married!

This was news to me, as my mum and dad got married in 1955, his marriage certificate said he was a bachelor and he'd never, ever mentioned a previous marriage.

My first action was to log into Ancestry, but it was difficult, as I couldn't get all the information as I wasn't subscribing.

The name of the woman my dad apparently married was quite unusual, and my dad's surname wasn't common, so I looked for a death in this woman's married name, and couldn't find one.

I was freaking out at this point, as I was starting to think bigamy:eek:

But I couldn't find any likely marriage in any of the three names my dad used.

So I search the woman's name, and found that a person with this name had got married in Kensington, but not to my dad. She married someone with a surname alphabetically close to my dad's, so think this man must also have been in my dad's regiment and the army added the wife's name to my dad's records by mistake.

As I had free access to Ancestry today, I was able to confirm the date of this woman's marriage to the September quarter of 1937, so the dates tie up too.

Phew, what a relief

Also, as I had a new name variant I was able to find my dad on the voters roll between 1945 and 1954, and find out more about his landlady and her family. From what my dad said, they were a sort of substitute family.

So, all in all, a very satisfactory outcome, and my peace of mind has been restored !

Karmacat

Oh my word! Thats amazing! It just shows you how records misinterpret actual events sometimes ... thank heavens you got to the bottom of it!

I was looking at records relating to my dad too - he went to Canada in the mid 1950s to look for work, and I've found him on the returning ship, but not the outgoing one. Its a funny thing to see!

Dental work - just antibiotics at the mo, calming it all down, before it gets taken out some time in the future Got to be done. More ancestry now

Goldiegirl

Karmacat wrote: »

Oh my word! Thats amazing! It just shows you how records misinterpret actual events sometimes ... thank heavens you got to the bottom of it!

I was looking at records relating to my dad too - he went to Canada in the mid 1950s to look for work, and I've found him on the returning ship, but not the outgoing one. Its a funny thing to see!

Dental work - just antibiotics at the mo, calming it all down, before it gets taken out some time in the future Got to be done. More ancestry now

Hope your dental situation has calmed down.

I'm going to the dentists tomorrow, but only for a check up. I haven't got any problems at the moment, so I'm not expecting any trouble!

I like finding things relating to my family on Ancestry, but it's even more interesting when it's a family member that I actually knew.

Well, I had a lovely lunch with my friends on Saturday. We had a brilliant catch up chat,,and I was really pleased that I found something on the menu that was ok for me to eat. I had chicken skewers, salad and yoghurt dip, then Eton mess for dessert.

Plus, I didn't even have to pay for it. As it was deemed to be a belated retirement celebration, my friends paid for me. I hadn't expected that, and said that they didn't need to, but they insisted. So that was really kind of them:)

I've been given some eBay stuff by my friend, so I'll be cracking on with that this week.

Plus, we'll be up in the loft again to get rid of some more junk - this could be the last of it!

We managed to have a good walk this afternoon, and hope to get out as often as possible to enjoy the sunny weather.

We may to the Imperial War Museum on Saturday. Every time we plan to go, there's some sort of engineering planned on the railway, but this weekend it's clear, so hopefully we'll finally get there.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

I hope you make it to the museum, it is one if my favourite places. And very mse as admission us free!

Karmacat

How lovely

The Imperial War Museum sounds very forbidding, doesn't it, but I like the way the focus is on the experience of the ordinary soldier - most of us have them in our families, its good to know about.

Goldiegirl

I went to the IWM on a school outing, but have never been in adulthood, so I'm keen to visit. My Great War relative is great uncle William. Not that I knew him, but I've researched him. Plus, of course, there's my dad from WW2.

I went to the dentist - no fillings required, hooray.

A landmark day today - the loft is fully decluttered:j

I've been doing decluttering on and off for six years. I suppose I could have done it more quickly, but I was selling lots of things, so it all takes time.

I hesitate to say decluttering is finished, as it'll be ongoing making sure things don't build up again. If we downsize at some point, some more things would need to go, but at this point, we have a home for all the things we want and need.

There's a couple of bits in the shed that will be going, and I've got a few small things that I hope to eBay, but that's it.

I started the year thinking I'd declutter 500 things or batches of things, but that won't happen now, so I've got rid of the 'target element' from my signature. I'll still keep a running total, as 365 items for the year would be nice.

Karmacat

Good for you! Thats brilliant - what a nice feeling, to have nothing in the loft except insulation

Enjoy the freedom

greent

Goldiegirl wrote: »

A landmark day today - the loft is fully decluttered:j

I've been doing decluttering on and off for six years. I suppose I could have done it more quickly, but I was selling lots of things, so it all takes time.

I hesitate to say decluttering is finished, as it'll be ongoing making sure things don't build up again. If we downsize at some point, some more things would need to go, but at this point, we have a home for all the things we want and need.

There's a couple of bits in the shed that will be going, and I've got a few small things that I hope to eBay, but that's it.

I started the year thinking I'd declutter 500 things or batches of things, but that won't happen now, so I've got rid of the 'target element' from my signature. I'll still keep a running total, as 365 items for the year would be nice.

Fantastic news!! :T:T


My aim is to get there too - eventually!!:rotfl:

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Well done on the decluttering.