Sunday, May 16, 2010
Sunday in Charlwood.
It has been a funny old day - sort of lifeless....and yet we have done plenty.
We went to the boot sale at Pease Pottage at 7 o'clock.
At first I thought we would see only stalls of modern day rubbish; but gradually the older rubbish found its way into the shopping trolley.
Hey! I must be a violin dealer! Having sold one last week, I now have a child's violin in a case. I bought it for £5. Its in far better condition than the one I just sold.
I also bought a coat from Next for 50p. I like it a lot, but am hoping I won't need to wear it for several more months.
Later in the morning we went to Charlwood for the history weekend.
Our friend Tony had a display there. He was born in Charlwood and his mother encouraged him to keep everything of note, a habit which he carries on with to this day.
We already have copies of most of the Charlwood archive photos and postcards.
But by coincidence I found a Charlwood postcard on EBay this morning of something I had not seen before - the old steam mill. So we had something to talk about.
We printed some family trees - but no other Monks appeared. Members of the Charlwood Society were interested though.
What struck me as I browsed through many photos is that Bill's family of Monks were somewhat on the edge of the community - in distance and in their feeling of belonging maybe.
Bill's Great Uncle John's family appeared in football teams and social events etc - but none of his grandparents' tribe ever did.
I felt a sadness for Louisa, his Grandmother.
She had left her own family to marry Abraham Monk.
But within a very few years he had died and she found herself married to Abraham's brother, William.
Maybe she had never loved him, but saw him as some sort of security. I am not sure if ever loved her either!
She was poor, down trodden and her wayward sons took advantage of her.
No wonder she didn't want to walk up to the village and join in with the WI, or some such social organisation.
This afternoon I have been writing up purchases - not all of them of course!
I have a box ready for the shop tomorrow.
Jamie has been on Skype with me.
Young Jess had been reading a book from school about people visiting London.
Jamie talked about feeding pigeons in Trafalgar Square.
He asked me to Skype him some photographs.
Minutes later these pictures had been seen in Thailand and put on Facebook (by Jamie in Thailand) and Ashley had commented.
How could I ever explain such a thing to Louisa? Or any other person from our grandparents' generation?
The pictures were taken Jan 1st 1981.
This would not be allowed now. No seeds are sold to tourists to feed the pigeons.
I guess that is right - pigeons should not be encouraged.
But I am glad we have these lovely, happy pictures.
We went to the boot sale at Pease Pottage at 7 o'clock.
At first I thought we would see only stalls of modern day rubbish; but gradually the older rubbish found its way into the shopping trolley.
Hey! I must be a violin dealer! Having sold one last week, I now have a child's violin in a case. I bought it for £5. Its in far better condition than the one I just sold.
I also bought a coat from Next for 50p. I like it a lot, but am hoping I won't need to wear it for several more months.
Later in the morning we went to Charlwood for the history weekend.
Our friend Tony had a display there. He was born in Charlwood and his mother encouraged him to keep everything of note, a habit which he carries on with to this day.
We already have copies of most of the Charlwood archive photos and postcards.
But by coincidence I found a Charlwood postcard on EBay this morning of something I had not seen before - the old steam mill. So we had something to talk about.
We printed some family trees - but no other Monks appeared. Members of the Charlwood Society were interested though.
What struck me as I browsed through many photos is that Bill's family of Monks were somewhat on the edge of the community - in distance and in their feeling of belonging maybe.
Bill's Great Uncle John's family appeared in football teams and social events etc - but none of his grandparents' tribe ever did.
I felt a sadness for Louisa, his Grandmother.
She had left her own family to marry Abraham Monk.
But within a very few years he had died and she found herself married to Abraham's brother, William.
Maybe she had never loved him, but saw him as some sort of security. I am not sure if ever loved her either!
She was poor, down trodden and her wayward sons took advantage of her.
No wonder she didn't want to walk up to the village and join in with the WI, or some such social organisation.
This afternoon I have been writing up purchases - not all of them of course!
I have a box ready for the shop tomorrow.
Jamie has been on Skype with me.
Young Jess had been reading a book from school about people visiting London.
Jamie talked about feeding pigeons in Trafalgar Square.
He asked me to Skype him some photographs.
Minutes later these pictures had been seen in Thailand and put on Facebook (by Jamie in Thailand) and Ashley had commented.
How could I ever explain such a thing to Louisa? Or any other person from our grandparents' generation?
The pictures were taken Jan 1st 1981.
This would not be allowed now. No seeds are sold to tourists to feed the pigeons.
I guess that is right - pigeons should not be encouraged.
But I am glad we have these lovely, happy pictures.
Labels: family
