The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

MingVase

I have plenty of sensible ideas thankuverymuch Polly! I am a very sensible vase! 

I've seens pics of Devon and Cornwall, they look very pretty and very warm - but a wee bit enclosed for me. I need open spaces and moorland or I feel claustrophobic. But it would be fabulous for a holiday.

I read about the people left on Jersey, they didnt have a good time. They almost starved and many were taken away to camps in Germany and some of course did not come home again. And the islanders themselves were hurt by never being mentioned on Churchills speeches during the occupation.

pollyanna_26

Nargleblast said:

Pollyanna, my late grandma's family ran the Dixcart Hotel on Sark, must've been in the 1920's. My great grandma Dorcas Newton is buried in the churchyard.

In the late 1980's I took my grandma back to Guernsey for old times sake. We visited Sark one day and coming off the boat a couple of blokes recognised her from years ago. One of them was an old beau of hers, Johnny de Carteret. He took us on a tour of Sark on his cart, pulled by his horse Briar Rose. 

I would love to go back to the Channel Islands, they are truly lovely.

Thank you for this Nargle. I'd long forgotten how common the name Dorcas used to be. One of the spinster sisters who owned the sweet and other things shop and would give me a word to spell next time I was in there was called Dorcas.

They used to invite me to tea and lend me books. Sometimes when I'm looking at Bananas in a shop I remember B a n a n a, A d d r e s s. and many other words.

How lovely to take your Grandma back to Guernsey and Sark and to come across people who remembered her including a former beau'

I have no connections to the Channel Islands but if some sort of normality happens it's on the wish list.

When I moved here I was seen as an incomer. In fact it was about 20 years before most of the locals no longer made comments.

There was an old building referred to locally as The Ut aka The Hut. A bar and sports and social events.

He spoke to the committee about a big refurb, after some discussion the majority agreed and work started. it was a nightmare. One elderly gent objected to a new bar flap when the new bar was going in " my grandad made that flap" it took three years of similar complaints to fnish something which was way beyond anyones wildest dreams.

It brought more income, members and national rather than just local sports events but there  are still a few who mutter and moan about the loss of the Ut. Doesn't stop them drinking , playing bowls etc .

Travelling by horse and cart is something Ive experienced. First time was a little ride around the local area on the coalmans cart.I got an over the knee smacking for that from mum. years later it was on holidays no coal or coalman then.

Reading all those social history books I envied the ladies who would nip to the village in their pony and trap. I sometimes think I was born too late.

ETA It was a new youngish manager  who started the renovation. Missed that out.

pollyx

pollyanna_26

MingVase said:

I have plenty of sensible ideas thankuverymuch Polly! I am a very sensible vase! 

I've seens pics of Devon and Cornwall, they look very pretty and very warm - but a wee bit enclosed for me. I need open spaces and moorland or I feel claustrophobic. But it would be fabulous for a holiday.

I read about the people left on Jersey, they didnt have a good time. They almost starved and many were taken away to camps in Germany and some of course did not come home again. And the islanders themselves were hurt by never being mentioned on Churchills speeches during the occupation.

There are wide open spaces in both Devon and Cornwall if you look for them. Think of the Beast of Exmoor.

The wartime govt was something else on my dads short list of wrong things about WW2. He only explained two of them to me but it's likely  Royal Navy escorting the convoys both the RN, Merchant Navy and RAF would have been very aware of what was happening around the coast.

It was a deliberate exclusion. I never learned about it in school and it was never part of teaching as far as I can tell.

Enjoy your sensible vaseness. Long may it last!

pollyx

silvasava

Mar, Dartmoor and Exmoor are wide open moorland. Its used to train marines. The book Lorna Doone is set in that area. The New Forest in Hampshire has open heathland and so does areas of Dorset. 

Polly, my dad was on destroyers during the war, escorting convoys bringing in food and supplies. The supply ships often had no armament to protect themselves and were a target for submarines. I remember my dad saying when they disembarked in Liverpool the merchant seamen were not always treated very well as they were often viewed as not being part of the men fighting to defend our country  

pollyanna_26

silvasava said:

Mar, Dartmoor and Exmoor are wide open moorland. Its used to train marines. The book Lorna Doone is set in that area. The New Forest in Hampshire has open heathland and so does areas of Dorset. 

Polly, my dad was on destroyers during the war, escorting convoys bringing in food and supplies. The supply ships often had no armament to protect themselves and were a target for submarines. I remember my dad saying when they disembarked in Liverpool the merchant seamen were not always treated very well as they were often viewed as not being part of the men fighting to defend our country  

My dad was RN too. I was born a few years after the end of the war was always interested in history so he told me how they would be at a distance on the right hand side of the merchant ships to ward off any attacks while the Spitfires flew both further ahead or above to ward off air attacks. One of the biggest problems was mines .Decades later the bomb squad would need to deal with those long after WW2. Some were found along this coast plus UXBs abandoned on the return flight.

He wasn't bitter by nature but he was when it came to the treatment of the merchant men  not only in their home port but other ports on those long trips.

They were the No1 target sometimes they'd carry goods from the UK on their outward journey then load goods for the return to the UK.

A couple of my uncles and neighbours had their mental health damaged for life often due to being in the sea after an air strike or mine. They'd been financially abused abroad when it came to a bed for the night and shamefully some got the same treatment in their home port.

I was glad my dad lived to see a local memorial near the Pier Head and an annual rememberance. However it took most of my life so far for the MN to be allowed to join the annual festival of rememberance and my thoughts this morning were with everyone who whether overseas, based in the UK or keeping the home fires burning did all they could to preserve freedom.

I sometimes wonder would so many step up even before it became compulsory now there are many because I'm worth its and a broken nail is considered a tragedy to be shared online.

I've read a lot about the role of the Nightingale nurses and others who went to face the enemy willingly and doubt we would see such self sacrifice. We do however have aid workers in many parts of the world taking daily risks to care for the forgotten and ignored members of the human race and they're little beacons of hope.

In recent years I read the Cliffhaven Books which covered from shortly before the war to the final end when the troops came home from Burma. I'd never known until then how long and horrific the jungle campaigns were. Something else not really covered in school .

The books were fiction but based on well researched fact and how I first discovered why there was Two seperate mass homecomings post war.

Hope everyone is well. It's quiet on this old Fence.

pollyx

nursemaggie

The reason why we did not learn about either the first world war or the second world war is because all the records were still top secret.

Some have only just been released in the last 10 years. I was born in 1946.

Shropshirelass

A Remembrance Sunday service is held every year at the Merchant Navy Memorial on Tower Hill London. (DS belongs to RNR HMS President, who attend. He prefers it to the big show at the Cenataph) 

Our Bonnie, the Scottie/Westie cross who has bossed our household for 8 years (emphasis on the word cross), appears to be suffering from SAD. SInce October she sleeps 23 hours a day, growls at anyone who disturbs her, and insists on only following her own path when out for a walk. Walks are much reduced as she refuses to go out in the wind, rain or mud. Anyone who disturbs her sleep is threatened by alarming growls. Exposure to daylight lamp has not helped. I have a feeling she will only improve after Hogmanay. Is she just showing her innate common sense?

nursemaggie

Shropshirelass - our fencers whose fathers were in the Merchant Navy are in the north. Sunday trains are unreliable so I think they would find it difficult.

I hope Bonnie is OK  as long as she is eating normally. Has she done this before? Perhaps she needs a visit to the Vet.

prepareathome

Shropshirelass said:

Our Bonnie, the Scottie/Westie cross who has bossed our household for 8 years (emphasis on the word cross), appears to be suffering from SAD. SInce October she sleeps 23 hours a day, growls at anyone who disturbs her, and insists on only following her own path when out for a walk. Walks are much reduced as she refuses to go out in the wind, rain or mud. Anyone who disturbs her sleep is threatened by alarming growls. Exposure to daylight lamp has not helped. I have a feeling she will only improve after Hogmanay. Is she just showing her innate common sense?

Dogs make their own Vit D without the need for sunlight so if nothing has changed at home, I would pop her to the vet for some tests as dogs can suffer from depression just like humans or maybe her body is not making the vit D she needs or something is going on inside that is taking her energy and making her feel so tired and that is why she is so cross as well.  A few blood tests most likely will be enough to let you know what if anything is wrong.  Even if she is eating/drinking/toileting as normal I would still take her.  Hugs to her and you, I know how worried they can make us - my two are 6 and each autumn they almost hibernate but had them checked and all fine they just don't like it when it gets colder and less light but they have done this all their lives - mind you let them off lead in secure field for an hour and they are happy then home to hibernate again, not so bothered about walks on lead during this time so they dictate how long they are.   So, I increase the secure field visits during Autumn and Winter to ensure they get their exercise. Costs of course more but I just include that in my budgeting every year.  Hope she is fine and just like my two and being older just decided hibernation is the way to go during the darker days. 

Shropshirelass

 Nursemaggie, Bonnie is eating very well, thank you. Probably more than usual, as she cadges so much from us at mealtimes, though I make sure to feed her first. I do think this is a doggie version of seasonal depression, she has shown signs before, but never so bad. I make sure she gets lots of fresh vegetables which she loves.
We are a Northern family, though DS lives in London for his job. My Dad, who was a WWII veteran, served in the army in Cumbria (often wonder if Nella Last ever gave him a cup of tea) Orkneys, Northern Ireland, and then France, Belgium and Germany. He only came home in 1946, which is why I was born in 1947 ;-). He used to say the Services were not encouraged to be too friendly, to avoid them comparing information! No need to have bad feeling though.
I have great sympathy for my grandmother, just imagine the stress: one son a navigator in the RAF, then Dad all over the country/Europe, and her youngest son in North Africa, 2 daughters travelling into Liverpool to office jobs every day, as well as driving ambulance and doing Fire watch at home. Grandad kept 2 allotments going, and chickens in the backyard, as well as his full time job. Those generations deserve a lot of respect. Dad also believed Remembrance Day should continue - there was talk years ago that it was time to let it die down. He said the politicians need to be reminded always of the serious consequences of their decisions.