All in a Day...: Aiming for...

...another win, our fourth consecutive one. We find ourselves entertaining Walsall this afternoon. We will be one player light, as Andy Gray has (at last) landed his transfer to Barnsley. The young man has had an unsettled stay at the Valley, when his wife became seriously ill, and he then had a pelvic injury. He is now heading back to where his heart and family are...north. I hope he does well...as although things didn't work out with his venture south, and we didn't see the best of him, there were things conspiring against that. He has signed initially on loan, with the permanent deal being signed next week.

Several years ago...more than I care to remember, I started writing out my family tree. At that time, before the days of the internet and television programmes about the hows, I just asked questions of those members of family that were closest. It really only consisted of family members of memory. Now, with access to numerous websites and books...family history societies, etc, you can dig backwards for several hundred years with relative success. About three or four years ago I signed up to one of these websites, and started piecing my tree together. With a maiden name of Smith...I have constraints. Anyway, my tree now consists of over a thousand names, as I've gradually widened the search with cousins families. Along side of my tree, I started my husbands...his tree hasn't too many of the more common names, but has other complications. One of which gave me, with my sister, a visit to the London Metropolitan Archives yesterday, and although I found the archived book/register...it didn't provide the answer I hoped. So now I have to visit the London Records Office and trawl through their records for 1860/61. We were also trying to check for one of our Mum's ancesters, who was a freeman of the City...we couldn't find that, but will return to the search armed with more information.

My husband works just down the road from the Archives, and meeting for lunch we went to The Peasant in Clerkenwell, and had a very nice lunch of roast cod... We can recommend it, it's away from the main areas of the City, and a busy, yet peaceful eatery. We walked back down towards the Clerkenwell Road, there are a few little shops, and as a lady who can't resist a "few little shops", I dragged my sister into one, you know the type...those little gift type shops, the type which through just at the end of the road my husband works, he doesn't know exists! In there...sweetness that she is, my sister bought me an early birthday pressie. A bracelet of lime seed beads, strands and strands of them...and I love it! My family are all reluctant to buy me jewellery items, because I make...but, who can't resist a gift. It's simple but beautiful. Thank you so much...I do love it!

We continued on our way, to complete our day's research in visiting the area in which our great grandfather was born...St Bartholomew the Great, at Smithfield (see photos below)...and then walking through to the Museum of London(under refurbishment). It's a great place to visit, though better when it's all open, which will be 2010. It's the museum which houses the Lord Mayors golden coach...has a whole section on the great fire of London.

Whilst walking to the museum, I had a phone call from Norfolk. It seems that all is now speeding along and we're seeing our solicitor this week. After all this delay, the people who our Norfolk lady is buying from are pushing, and wants things completed and all of us moved early October...we should get our answers this week...hence the visit to the solicitor. If she'd filled in forms months ago, we'd have been able to sign contracts a couple of weeks ago, and there'd be none of this pushing or panic from her. Maybe now we'll get to sign something relevant! And those little pink flying things might actually land...