Saturday, February 28, 2009
Finding a piece of family history at Ford.
I thought there might be pictures on the blog today - the result of a walk after the car boot sale.
But after the car boot sale we felt tired; after all we had been walking around for over 3 hours!
We jumped in the car and drove to the Balaton cafe by the river estuary at Littlehampton and enjoyed our egg, bacon, sausage, beans and lots of saute potatoes with hot drinks.
It was then time to get back home.
The day began with me wondering if we should go out at all. George, the cat, alarmed me. He suddenly seemed to collapse all down one side and struggled to walk sideways until he slumped to the floor. I had left him on the sofa and half feared I would come home to find him dead. But whatever had happened to him had passed and when we got home he was up on the table as usual, demanding attention.
I bought lots of books at Ford this morning - well over 30.
I hope they will all sell well - apart from one.
Once I began to study my purchases I realised that I knew the author of one of the books. An old family friend (mostly my Dad's friends) had written "Woodcolliers and Charcoal Burning". Lyn Armstrong was the wife (or mistress - we never really knew which!) of Roy Armstrong who was the leading light in the setting up of the Open Air Museum at Singleton.
Lyn was definitely not his wife when we were children - because Sheila was. But Lyn was the main hostess when we went there. She arranged some lovely Christmas days at their lovely house.
I was far too young to know about a "menage a trois".
What makes this small book even more special is that there is an appendix on "Charcoal as a Filter: Why Does it Work?" which was written by my Dad. The book was published in 1978.
Sadly they are both dead now, and I really wish I could tell them of my find.
You never know what you might find at a car boot sale - every one is an adventure - even Horley, where no doubt we will end up once again tomorrow morning.
I bought lots of other interesting bits and pieces.
Bill bought 3 model cars and gave quite a bit for them - but assumes that they will sell for more.
I have written up none of my purchases yet.
I had things to wrap this afternoon (well Bill did the 2 awkward ones) and I dealt with a few EBay sales and listed some things that I described yesterday...... Bill found some more of the beautiful Porsche hard back brochures this morning, like I had described yesterday. And there are watchers already.
The my body suddenly seemed to shout "STOP" to me. My head was pounding and I felt very fragile and needed to lie down.
I do feel better now.
I didn't sleep very well last night - crazy dreams!
For some reason I was at a funeral - a politician's funeral and I was a member of the government. It was a sad occasion but there was more tension than there should be.
Then one of the men in a trilby hat whispered to me knowingly "H Bomb! It will be here by 10 o'clock"
And there was nothing we could do about it.
Then I woke up.
Wonder what all that meant.
So, I am tired - but that won't stop us being out early again tomorrow. It will be for a much shorter time. We will go to Dorking and then on to Horley and then I must write everything up - and also be wrapping and invoicing once again. Though at the moment there are only bids on 2 things for tomorrow.
Time for a cup of tea and then off to bed. Goodnight.
But after the car boot sale we felt tired; after all we had been walking around for over 3 hours!
We jumped in the car and drove to the Balaton cafe by the river estuary at Littlehampton and enjoyed our egg, bacon, sausage, beans and lots of saute potatoes with hot drinks.
It was then time to get back home.
The day began with me wondering if we should go out at all. George, the cat, alarmed me. He suddenly seemed to collapse all down one side and struggled to walk sideways until he slumped to the floor. I had left him on the sofa and half feared I would come home to find him dead. But whatever had happened to him had passed and when we got home he was up on the table as usual, demanding attention.
I bought lots of books at Ford this morning - well over 30.
I hope they will all sell well - apart from one.
Once I began to study my purchases I realised that I knew the author of one of the books. An old family friend (mostly my Dad's friends) had written "Woodcolliers and Charcoal Burning". Lyn Armstrong was the wife (or mistress - we never really knew which!) of Roy Armstrong who was the leading light in the setting up of the Open Air Museum at Singleton.
Lyn was definitely not his wife when we were children - because Sheila was. But Lyn was the main hostess when we went there. She arranged some lovely Christmas days at their lovely house.
I was far too young to know about a "menage a trois".
What makes this small book even more special is that there is an appendix on "Charcoal as a Filter: Why Does it Work?" which was written by my Dad. The book was published in 1978.
Sadly they are both dead now, and I really wish I could tell them of my find.
You never know what you might find at a car boot sale - every one is an adventure - even Horley, where no doubt we will end up once again tomorrow morning.
I bought lots of other interesting bits and pieces.
Bill bought 3 model cars and gave quite a bit for them - but assumes that they will sell for more.
I have written up none of my purchases yet.
I had things to wrap this afternoon (well Bill did the 2 awkward ones) and I dealt with a few EBay sales and listed some things that I described yesterday...... Bill found some more of the beautiful Porsche hard back brochures this morning, like I had described yesterday. And there are watchers already.
The my body suddenly seemed to shout "STOP" to me. My head was pounding and I felt very fragile and needed to lie down.
I do feel better now.
I didn't sleep very well last night - crazy dreams!
For some reason I was at a funeral - a politician's funeral and I was a member of the government. It was a sad occasion but there was more tension than there should be.
Then one of the men in a trilby hat whispered to me knowingly "H Bomb! It will be here by 10 o'clock"
And there was nothing we could do about it.
Then I woke up.
Wonder what all that meant.
So, I am tired - but that won't stop us being out early again tomorrow. It will be for a much shorter time. We will go to Dorking and then on to Horley and then I must write everything up - and also be wrapping and invoicing once again. Though at the moment there are only bids on 2 things for tomorrow.
Time for a cup of tea and then off to bed. Goodnight.
