Weekend

It was a splendidly busy weekend.  I drove along a painfully slow M25 on Friday to arrive at parents at about 6pm.  Pete was already there having got a train from a London appointment.  We went up the local pub with the parents. A great way to spend a summers evening.

On Saturday morning, Pete and I went to Tunbridge Wells.  It's a great place to look around the shops - from the usual in-every-high-street to the independent ones.  However, the main reason for the visit to Kent was to attend a BBQ with guest of honour my nephew Sam who turned 18 on Sunday.

We had a lovely party and finished late - though Sam finished far later as he went to Maidstone with some friends after midnight to go clubbing (as he was officially over 18) and was keen to waive his ID in the face of a bouncer.  Of course, no-one asked for his ID!

Here is a picture of 3 of my nephews - the 3 brothers.  Sam is the upside down one in the photo below, which is actually a remake of a photo I took in 2007.

On Sunday, we drove to London to watch some fit ladies wearing very little in a world Beach Volleyball competition.  It was officially part of the Olympic warmups and the 'stadium' for 1500 people was in Horse Guards Parade.  For those outside of the UK, William and Kate rode through the arch after their wedding.  It's a fantastic location for a sporting event.

It was a shame that it wasn't the mens competition, but we were both impressed by the skills required by the pairings.  The Brazilians beat the USA for the record.

Here are some images from the day.  That's Ronnie Wood in the 3rd picture and a guy gyrating with one of the dancers in picture number 4!

I take this man...

"I take this man"??!?  No, not me... this weekend was the re-arranged vow renewal ceremony for my mum and dad. Fifty years married and bickering their way into the future.

The service was originally planned for December, but had to be postponed due to the snow.  Yesterday was a lovely day and the small village church was full of family and friends.  I am not religious, but I am in awe at our little church that has stood at the highest part of the village in its current form for hundreds of year.

I had arranged some music, chosen by my parents and they walked into the church to Barbra Streisand's 'Evergreen'.  The Bose system I had borrowed filled the church perfectly and as they reached the alter, arm in arm, the track ended.  I couldn't do that again!  The service was excellent and the vicar was very witty giving my Dad to "admit Mum is always right" which raised a laugh and that "love is more than sharing your last Rolo".

Pete and his mum came along and it was great to see a friend of mine and his family, who I don't see enough of.  After the service, we had a party at the local pub and I managed to drink for about 6 hours while chatting from people, some of whom I hadn't seen for many years.  I love talking to my cousins, not just about growing up and the time we spent together, but also about their lives today.  I think we all turned out OK.  And they all like Pete, which makes it easier!

Home now and just a little exhausted.

Family BBQ

Pete and I spent the weekend in Kent at my parents for a full family barbecue.  The family ravelled from far and wide for lots of food and much too much drink.  I'm not sure where the various kids get the energy.  Here's a picture I took this morning whilst eating a fry-up.

Thanks to those that took part in the last Five On The Fifth.  There were some excellent and interesting images posted to the various blogs.  I appreciate that holidays and the 5th falling on a Thursday meant that numbers were down a bit.  I do need to carry out some promotion however. Don't forget that you can join the 5 on the fifth Facebook page here.

And finally, I asked a question in the last blog post about the stunningly beautiful picture.  So who was the guy?  It was Zac Efron...

Exploring London

With one day to take from my holiday allowance before the end of the company year, I decided to take my camera to London and explore some places I had never been to and combine that with some family history research.

It was a beautiful Spring sunny morning and I got the first of many trains at 10.03am towards London...

- Arrived Finsbury park
- Underground to Highbury & Islington
- Stopped for a Latte
- Got the bus to Dalston Junction
- Took brand new Overground train (with about 4 people on) on the "new" line to Rotherhithe where Pete and I used to live. Of course, most of the line is from the 1800's but some of it has only just come back to life.
- Had a look around Decathlon while is rained heavily
- Took Jubilee line underground train from Canada Water to Stratford

- Saw the Olympic site from afar (cranes everywhere so you cant see much)
- Had some lunch
- Took Jubilee line underground train back to Canada Water
- Got back on the Overground to New Cross Gate
- Got a train to Norwood Junction and then walked to the house where the Burton's lived. Sadly, some of the houses no longer exist.
- Took a bus to Thornton Heath to see where my Great-Grandad lived. It's a very rough area now.
- Rode a slow bus to Penge and got off at the wrong stop.
- Got lost in Sydenham looking for Crystal Palace Park, but it was a nice walk in the sunshine.
- Found Crystal Palace Park and walked around it for an hour. Lovely place in the overcrowded streets of south-east London. Saw the concrete dinosaurs for the first time!
- Got a train from the impressive Crystal Palace station to Balham.
- Northern Line Underground train to Leicester Square.
- Had a look around Covent Garden.
- Walked to The British Library, but it was closing so will go back another day.
- Had a look around St Pancras station and the shops.
- Decaf Latte break.
- Train home from Kings Cross. Got home at 7.45pm.

Some images from the day...

Gone for a Burton

I've been researching my family history for years and have been stuck on the person I most wanted to trace: my Great-Grandfather.

"Sandy" Chapman was my Dad's, Dad's, Dad and I knew he lived in Croydon and I knew he was in the First World War. From his army records I found he was actually called Arthur Charles Chapman... or so I thought.

I was always confused as to why I couldn't find his birth certificate or any record of his birth. Well, after some friendly online help by a stranger on Ancestry.co.uk, I have found him and it's one of those strange family secrets.

The records had showed that he had been born in 1888 (but no location). But it seems he lied about his age to join the army and he was actually born in 1890.

So I now know that his mother was Elizabeth Chapman (unmarried) who was living in a flat in Croydon. In another flat in the same house lived Arthur Burton and together they had a baby: my Great-Grandfather. They didn't get married until 1898, so his birth certificate shows him as Arthur Charles Burton Chapman. In the 1901 and 1911 census, my Great-Grandfather is shown as Arthur Charles Burton which is the main reason I could never find him. I assume that he always knew his "real" surname was Chapman and when he got married and had to produce a birth certificate he reverted to his official birth name again.

I know this is probably dull for you, but it opens up lots more research and potential stories for me.

All this does mean of course that if the Great-Great-Grandparents had bothered to marry before they had children, I would be called Stephen Burton!

Skiing

I'm not going to bore you with in depth details of my holiday - so I will try to be brief. My second trip to Morzine was pretty good - I last went around 15 years ago!

I went with one of my brothers (I have 2 brothers, have I ever mentioned that?) and 2 of his 3 sons (one is 13, the other 10). The kids were hyper most of the week and the 4 of us were sharing 1 room! The chalet that we were staying in with 14 others was "OK" - but could be really nice with some thought. However, the food cooked by our chalet maids (though one was a guy) was amazing - top marks to them for producing 5 star meals.

The ski area is huge around Morzine and I really enjoyed the snow at the start of the week. It also snowed heavily for a couple of days. Towards the end of the week it had warmed up and even rained a bit - but it didn't stop me from attacking the toughest slopes. Me and my brother managed to stand on the four highest peaks - though he didn't like one of the chair lifts as he hates heights!

And as for the cute French guys!!! Wow... they look so good and so fit. And when you consider that some are ski instructors, that makes them extra cool in my book.

France can be expensive for drink and food, and when you add the "ski resort" tag, expect to pay a further premium. Soft drinks are the same price as beer, though my idea of the kids having 3 Euro beer instead of 3 Euro Coke was not taken on board.

In the next posting, I'll mention some "people watching" while in the chalet and some anti-gay comments that has festered for days.

It's back to work now...

Tired

It was a fun weekend at my parents but a very dull day at work today - I really don't like going into the office to work any more. I am extremely tired and as there is not much to report, here are a couple of pictures I took at the weekend.

Things ain't what they used to be

Pete took his mummy on a shopping trip to Lille today, so rather than do my usual thing and laze around the house, I ventured down to Sarflundun (for those not in the know, that translates as South London) to watch my football* team, Crystal Palace, play Bristol City. It was a fine match with plenty of action and goals. I wont bore you with a full report and I wont bore you today with my views on why the club is failing... maybe another time. I don't really like going on my own, but my mate James was working so I decided to go anyway and travel to the stadium early for several reasons:

1. To buy a retro replica top from the 1990 season. This being the best season in the clubs history and the time that I really became interested in football.... and footballers.

2. To grab some junk food before and after the game. This ritual must be observed on pain of death.

3. To take a walk around the area my grandparents and parents all grew up in and soak up some nostalgia - and as we all know, nostalgia is not what it used to be.

Where the stadium sits is the border between London and Surrey - though it's all just one very crowded run-down hole. I walked to the small flat where my late grandparents used to live (my dad's parents) for over 40 years and a couple of things saddened me. Every Sunday morning, my Nan would polish the brass step and you could see your reflection in it. But now, that same step is tarnished and dull (like the whole road) - I would bet money that the last person to clean it was my Nan 7 or 8 years ago. The second thing was seeing that my Grandad's local pub, The Victory had closed down. He used to go in that pub every other day or so for 40 years, almost religiously, which is ironic as it's now the local Islamic meeting centre. The other regulars made him a t-shirt once with the slogan "Victory fruit machine instructor" as he loved playing the slot/fruit machine - it was the only gambling I ever saw him do.

However, the little house where my Mum grew up looks far better and is very obviously privately owned, but is still in an area that I would not walk about in after dark!

Large parts of South London are not nice - many areas are dirty, falling apart and don't feel safe. Of course, there are some nice areas - but not many. Perhaps it always was bad and my happy memories of long holidays staying with my Grandparents and playing with my cousins are clouding my brain a little.

I am tired now after a long day (as I dropped Pete and his mum at the station at 6.15am). So now is the time to laze...

* No matter how many times I hear or read it, I can never call it Soccer. It's just wrong to do so.