Dull monotone thought for the day (as usual) on the wireless. Time to get up! I’d suggest to the BBC that they ditched this slot and replaced it with something more interesting like the shipping forecast but it does serve as my alarm clock.
Why people go on holiday abroad at this time of year beats me. Shed doors are wide open. I do have to keep an eye open though as the other day I shooed a black cat away that was thinking of coming in for a peek. I’m not a cat person. I don’t mind other people having them but they ain’t for me. I quite like dogs but they are far too much hassle. Not to mention the vets bills (I just did but I think I got away with it).
Yes I realise the British weather is extremely unreliable and when it is cold and pissing it down then the sound of waves lapping gently on the beach a few feet away from the bar could be quite an attractive proposition. The thing to do is to leave it until the last minute and decide whether to book a holiday in the sun or not based on the weather forecast.
Now the sensible amongst you will tell me that doing it that way means all the best places have gone and you are probably mostly right. I’m already planning a French trip for August 2026. I wanted to make sure we had the pick of the villas, reserve good cabins on the boat etc. Also we are taking kids and partners so they have to get the dates in their diaries far enough ahead to make sure everyone is available.
It may be that the summer holidays become the time we can all get together. As they start to get married and have inlaws with whom to spend every other Christmas, the big family Christmas lunch could well become a thing of the past. Unless we arrange it so that they are all away every other year, in which case THG and I would need to figure out which posh hotel to go and spend ours in. I can see it happening.
This morning I had one slice of bacon, grilled and one slice of sourdough, toasted in the new Dualit long slot toaster. On this occasion I didn’t really make use of the capacity of the toaster as it was only a small loaf but the toast came out fine. Add a splodge of HP sauce and I am now set up for the day. Not the full English of old but the new regime proscribes that. Will set off for Total Fitness at 10am for a swim, maybe swinging by Antonios for a haircut en route.
Had a bit of a breakthrough on the family tree yesterday. Having trawled through zillions of wills I found one where my 7g grandfather’s farm Maesnonni, was given to him in 1707 in the will of his mother’s brother who was a Hughes. It will explain why I haven’t been able to find a Jones of Maesnonni going back any later than 1731. Doesn’t particularly help as I now have to find Hugheses and Joneses. Also Davieses and Evanses and, in another scoop yesterday evening, Prices who apparently were descended from Brychan Brycheiniog. My sister Sue looked him up and reported that BB reputedly had 63 offspring (worralad) which means that most of the people in Wales are probably descendants of his. Elinor Price married my 6g grandfather David Jones.
So in total we are paret Davies, Evans, Jones, Hughes and Price. Just need to find a Williams and a Griffiths now to make up the whole set. The biggest problem from now on, not even taking into consideration the lack of written records is that I am now back to 1680 where people were using patronymic naming, so no surnames. I am reliant on farm names to identify people. It is even quite interesting to see how these names change. I’ve seen Maesnoni written as Maes Noni, Maesnonni (which is what is on the farm gate today), Maesnoney, Maesnony and last night old R Huges had it down as Maes Ty Nonni which is the oldest version and quite revealing as it means the field of the house of the nuns.
It is believed that the farm stands on the site of a now defunct nunnery but there is not much evidence of this that is anything other than circumstantial. There’s the name and there is a field called Maes Capel, – chapel field where in the early 10th Century an engraved gravestone was found notionally dating back to the ninth century. There was almost certainly a building on the site because when I invited the farmer, Hefin, took me to the field which sloped but clearly had a flattened section in the middle which would probably be where the nunnery or chapel stood. Needs an archaeological dig to find out more.
Anyway gorra go. Total Fitness beckons. Ciao amigos.