General Chat

He sounds as if he was much loved by his step Grand children :-)

I believe you Linda :-)

I think he was happy in the home Amanda - he lived to be 92. I didn't see him after he went into the home, due to circumstances, but my brother visited him frequently.
He was of course our step granddad.

I remember you talking about him before Tec, he sounds nice, but what a sad thing to have to take through life with you

I hadn't gone to sleep, I had a phone call

I suppose it was a good thing that he spoke of his first wife , better that than keeping it all inside :-(
I hope he ended his days reasonably happily in the old folks home .

I don't think he did ever get over it Amanda - he frequently spoke of his first wife.
When my grandmother died, he packed up a little suitcase and presented himself at the door of an old peoples home in Colchester.
He seemed to think you could just turn up and be allowed in - poor old chap, he was 87 then.
He wasn't allowed in of course, and after a spell back at home it was arranged for him to go to the home.

Tec , he sounds as if he was a proper country man..... lol

That is so so sad , about his first wife and daughter :-( it is a wonder that he ever got over the saddness of the event :-(

Amanda my Paternal grandmother was a widow for many years. She remarried at age 75 to the man who lived next door to where she had moved to. He was a very nice person, who had worked all his life on the land in Suffolk. His entire working life was working with the horses, and had spent much of his life following the horse drawn plough.
Sadly, his first wife, and one daughter died trying to rescue horses from a stable fire during the war.
A more pleasant simple man you couldn't wish to meet, with a fantastic sense of humour.
When I got married and he first met my OH, he patted her bottom and said "A nice looking filly, and should foal well" which sounds outrageous, and although she wasn't amused, it was hard to take offence from such a simple innocent man :-D

Tec , it is good to know that the heavy horse still has it's original use in some areas . It would be such a great loss if they disappeared althogether .

Linda , you must need the sleep if you nodded off .

There is an ex Asylum here in Gt Yarmouth , it was turned into appartments a few years ago .

That's a good use for the old Workhouses Linda.
There is a huge former Victorian Asylum in North Wales. If you can ignore what is was, it is actually a very interesting building with lots of fine architectural features.
It has stood empty for many years, and I often thought it would lend itself beautifully for conversion into apartments.

Our workhouse buildings have been turned into smart apartments for older people the sort you buy not rent. Lots of the other workhouse buildings in this part of the world became hospitals

Glad there were happier parts of the Workhouse to lift your spirits.

I love to see those beautiful horses working. They have been clearing an area of woodland near here for a few years now. The site is a steep embankment that would never take a tractor, so they use the horses to pull the logs off the bank to the road for the logging truck.

Oops, I started watching Time Team at 8pm, but I must have closed my eyes for a few seconds :-S

You sound as if you have had a lovely day Amanda, it looks as if it was nice and warm as well

Good evening Tec , I do hope poo Gordon doesn't object to you drinking all his " getty better juice " lol

Sorry to know you had a bad weather day , still the rain is good for the garden :-)

Pats of the workhouse certainly was grim but there where other sights that where much happier , especially the lovely gardens and the meadow near the small farm .
At the farm they have a working pair of Suffolk Punches , such wonderfully majestic horses .

Good Evening from a dull, cool, and rather windy N.Wales.

Linda I hope you will be much better tomorrow, and be back in fine voice.
I also have getty better juice, but it has someone else's name on the bottle, and clearly states that it's "Gordon's" :-D

Amanda - Sounds like you had a lovely day. Good that the Workhouse has survived, if only to give us more fortunate beings just how grim life was for the less fortunate in those days.

Diane - How are you today? not too bad I hope. If your weather is anything like ours, you are better off indoors today. My daughter phoned from Southampton and said it was really very hot there 25 C.
She was sitting in John Lewis's café overlooking the docks and watching what she described as "huge" passenger liners.
I looked up what was in port, and it was the "Oceana" and the "Queen Victoria"
Either would do for our cruise, though I would prefer something smaller, and more intimate - the latest ships are just too big.

Hello Diane , I hope you are getting along reasonably well . I haven't heard the news about Flick , as I haven't , up until last night been on for awhile . I was wondering how things where going a couple of days ago . Am I right in guessing the news was sad ? :-( xx

Hello Linda

sorry to hear you are ill and can I assure you it wasn't me that sneezed on the thread.

Eve looks as though she was having fun on the photo, I hope your daughter has recovered from the party.

Sylvia hope your friend is doing ok after her op.

I started typing this about 6-30pm then my sister rang, we have been chating since then and now I need to go and do myself something to eat,

~~~~~ to all I haven't mentioned, hope you are all well and thanks for your thought's about Flick <3

Linda , I hope your feeling a bit better this evening , little Eve certainly sounds like a sweet heart :-)

We had a splendid day at the show . It was really lovely to wander about the place whilst OH was busy chatting to folks on the stall . There where all manner of interesting things to look at in the muesum , rooms made over to various eras etc , as well as lots of things to do with the workhouse itself .
It was so sad to think of the poor souls who had spent their lives more or less trapped in there :-(
The building is the last work house in Norfolk apparently , I think it has managed survive because it changed uses over the years , ie soldiers lived there in WW2 and in the 60s it was an old folks home .
All in all , I had a very splendid day :-D

Eve skyped this morning and as I had my computer with me, I answered. She was bemused by the fact that grandma was still in bed, but even more so by my voice. she grasped the fact that grandma was poorly,so she asked her mum if grandad was going to take me to the doctors?

Later on, she told me that I could get some getty better juice from the supermarket. It is cute to hear her using that term because that is what my daughter used to call it when she was little. Calpol that is

I remember work - thankfully long behind me, retirement is much more fun

Awww Linda, you poor thing - it wasn't me! I'd be buying shares in the tissues company :-D
Touch wood, I haven't had a cold this winter.

Well, last day of my holiday, back to the grind tomorrow :-D These two weeks have flown by so fast. It will be nice to see everyone at work, I'm looking forward to it :-)

Carole xx