Blather, Waffle and Poppycock!

[Orcs]

Good luck there Phil,

Years ago when we started looking at the ancestors my Mum got quite cross with us,  "What do you want to do that for, Haven't you got anything better to do etc"  This was very strange as Mum hardly ever got cross.  Well research soon found out her older sister had been born out of wedlock around 1910.  So as Mum had just turned 80 we left well alone, to perhaps take up when she was not around to upset.
Some years later  while I was looking after them for the day (Dad was bedridden and Mum had dementia) Mum had been endless repeating things when she changed tack and suddenly I realised she was telling me all about how her Mum had got together with a man and had my Aunt.  it was very disjointed, but in the course of the next few hours I managed to coax the full story from her. it proved to be a very interesting afternoon .

[Leman]

Yes it is amazing what comes out of the closet when parents are nearing the end. It turns out that my paternal grandfather, who was a professional soldier in the Royal Garrison artillery before, during and after WWI, ended up a very unsavoury character in later civilian life and was hastened from this life courtesy his majesty's legal system.

[Westmarcher]

  As the saying goes, you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family.

My neighbour was in his eighties when he discovered by chance that he had been adopted. For some reason, he required a full birth certificate (not the extract, many people use). The local registry office couldn't help him and so he eventually had to go to the main office in Edinburgh where he was taken into a room and handed an old envelope with a wax seal which, when opened, revealed the background story to his adoption (long story but basically young woman in domestic service). Not only did Roy originally have the same middle name as me but also the same surname. Otherwise we were not related ....... as far as I currently know!

As a footnote, Roy was adopted by a well off, middle class couple (who, at the time, "could not" have any children but later on did!), where he was fully accepted as part of the family and which probably gave him the opportunity in life he might never otherwise have had, to have a very successful professional career.   

[fsn]

It turns out that my paternal grandfather, who was a professional soldier in the Royal Garrison artillery before, during and after WWI, ended up a very unsavoury character in later civilian life and was hastened from this life courtesy his majesty’s legal system.

It's funny how some families are like that. In my family tree are the man who introduced Methodism to Shetland, a man who was imprisoned for murder in Australia, and a man hanged as a pirate in the West Indies. My grandfather was in the merchant navy - torpedoed 3 times, and the other was in the Royal Navy. An uncle left the Hood just before it departed to confront the Bismark, etc, etc.

I once asked my first fiancee about the interesting members of her family. Apparently ... and this may blow your socks off gentlemen, so batten down the hatches, and strap in ... once ... are you ready for this? ... once, a great aunt got tipsy on sherry trifle.  Afterwards, I think she was expelled from the family and sent off to the colonies in disgrace.

Which is only right, really.

[Leman]

Indeed some of our histories make the  BBC programme look quite boring. Paternal grqndfather is now known in the family as bad grandad. Maternal grandfather on the other hand is known as good grandad. He joined the merchant marine before WWI and did 2 years before the mast. In 1914, on the outbreak of war he transferred to the Royal Navy as an engineer, sunk three times in total, fought at Jutland on HMS Tiger, and after the war became an engineer for London Water.  In WWII he joined Dad's Army and for part of that he was given a fire watch post......... on top of the local gas tank! 

[Westmarcher]

It's funny how some families are like that. In my family tree are the man who introduced Methodism to Shetland, a man who was imprisoned for murder in Australia, and a man hanged as a pirate in the West Indies. My grandfather was in the merchant navy - torpedoed 3 times, and the other was in the Royal Navy. An uncle left the Hood just before it departed to confront the Bismark, etc, etc.

I once asked my first fiancee about the interesting members of her family. Apparently ... and this may blow your socks off gentlemen, so batten down the hatches, and strap in ... once ... are you ready for this? ... once, a great aunt got tipsy on sherry trifle.  Afterwards, I think she was expelled from the family and sent off to the colonies in disgrace.

Which is only right, really.

@ fsn and Leman; were your grandfathers called "Albert?"

[Westmarcher]

[Leman]

Mine were Fred and Tom.

[Orcs]

As the saying goes, you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family.

My neighbour was in his eighties when he discovered by chance that he had been adopted.... [
/quote]

Very true, I was fostered at 10 months and eventually adopted by the same family. On a course many years ago we were asked to introduce ourselves and say a bit about out family, after the usual "hi I'm john and my sister is a teacher and my brother is a mechanic and similar I got up.

I said "Hi I am Mark I have a total of 16 siblings that I know about, some I have never met, Their jobs range from a Baptist minister to an armed robber to a prostitute. "  I then sat down to ensuing uproar 

[Techno]

Well...I'm back....It wasn't quite as horrendous as I'd feared..(I was imagining even worse than transpired)...Even tho' I had to get a female nurse to take 'Madam' to the loo, when we'd reached the hospital.

Thank fekk, Von had had the foresight to pack a bag with some spare 'paper pants' and a clean pair of leggings.

Von & I are like two zombies, at the mo'.

Fortunately we're ranting TO each other, rather than AT each other.

Cheers - Poop for brains.

[Orcs]

Fortunately we're ranting TO each other, rather than AT each other.

Cheers - Poop for brains.

Well that's a plus then.

My sympathies as it is exasperating and ongoing .

Suggest you both have a kip now and Give MIL something to help her sleep (Large Brandy, Tamazepan, Sleeping tablets,)

[Techno]

Hi Mark.

Yep.....We could both do with doing 'nothing' for the next 10-20 hours...and trying to catch up on sleep.
It won't happen. (That frigging alarm will go off....on & on & on & on tonight.)

I won't post anymore...until I feel at least half normal again

Cheers - Mr Cracking Up

[fred.]

Hey Phil, sounds like you are having a tough time.

Is there a way at least one of you can get a decent stretch of sleep, while the other is 'on call'?

[Last Hussar]

I know someone whose father was kicked out of Australia for being too criminal....

Personally I am descended from Black Tom Fairfax's Grandfather, and another forebear was Henry VII favourite court musician.

[Leman]

What was he court doing?