He came at ten past four this morning. I looked at the clock when I heard the porch door open. After depositing his goods he moved on. Usual bloke. I’m not normally awake when he comes. The process of looking at the clock involves opening one eye briefly then, presumably, going back to sleep. Thassit.
Today is St David’s Day. Dydd Gwyl Dewi. Dewi Sant. As a Davies I am named after him. Our family hails from West Wales, Carmarthenshire mostly. In some parts twenty five percent of census records showed Davies as a surname. This stems from the fact that many children were named after St David and in the days before surnames were used then sons might be called Dewi ap Dewi or David son of David. David’s became Davies. There ya go.
This does make life more difficult when tracing family trees. Church records did not have surnames. Also many church records have missing periods of coverage.This is where I have faltered in my own family tree research, not really touched for ten years but due for a renewal of energy. I need to spend some time on the ground in West Wales. Soon.
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Il fait orrible out there. Absolutely pelting it down. Might just as well be in Wales. Picked my car up from the menders, again, and thence to Waitrose to acquire a bean salad for lunch. Had a cawfee in the caff there.
It’s quite interesting to watch people when you are sat on your own in a caff reading the Waitrose magazine. That last bit is v sad innit. I only really picked the mag up because it is useful for lighting fires. We haven’t had a paper delivered for thirty years – using it to light the fire was one of the side benefits, especially with the Sunday Times which was an inch thick.
There was a granny and grandson combo sitting at the high table in the window. I assume she was a granny – soz if I got that wrong. The kid kept asking questions. Then a couple of women were sat in a booth discussing work stuff. Lots of paper on the table. One of them was very definitely in charge. The curious me wanted to know what they were talking about but I wasn’t so interested to make any effort to find out. In the next booth a bloke sat there on a conference call using his laptop. Huh.
All the booths were occupied so I sat at a middle table sipping my coffee and staring at the rain. Tis a valid enough use of time. Finishing the drink I zipped up my coat, bent my head into the weather and walked to the car.
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Let it be known I am now carless. I do have the use of wheels as I can borrow THG’s but I’ve decided I don’t need one meself. We as a family only need one car between us and hopefully it will encourage me to walk/cycle places, primarily to Waitrose. We live in town so I can walk to the shops/pub. The only place typically I go on business is London and I use the train so I don’t need a car for that and could always hire one from time to time if I was going somewhere other than the smoke. Trains get you most places you want to go.
I am expecting that this is the end of an era. I’ve been thinking how I can make my own small contribution to the global warming crisis and decided that not owning a car is the way ahead. I can’t see that an electric car is the way. We will at some stage also install solar panels.
I owned my first car in around 1984 or 85. It was a mini. UGC418M. Since then I’ve been through a variety of company cars and then a Jeep, a Jag and the Land Rover Defender. That’s okay.
The Defender was starting to get pricey to run, not least because the dealer charges £150 an hour labour. I am experimenting with how much we can really live on. I have expensive tastes.
Feels strangely liberating, not having a car. I was never really a car person.