Back and Forth Across the Pond

Things that have crossed my mind lately: (1) The daylight hours here way up the globe totally flummox me. It is bright insanely early. Sunrise is before 5 a.m. This morning, it was 4:50 and the sun was beaming through the curtains. My poor sleeping mind then assumes the alarm didn't go off and I awake convinced I'm late. And then, it stays bright way later than it should in my book. I was watching the telly and it was just starting to go twilighty. The time? Nearly 10 p.m.!! That is just . . . wrong. And it's only going to get worse. The longest day is a few weeks off, yet. (2) There are a lot of really bad parents around here. A young man got on the bus yesterday with his son, who was about 2, and a friend. He completely ignored the boy. He just left him sitting in a stroller and he chatted away with his friend. The boy was the saddest creature I had ever seen, too. But his father is hardly the worse offender. Way too many parents tell their kids to shut up. And the ones w...

Steve flew home this morning and half of me is now missing. I'm glad to be getting back to my research tomorrow. I need to keep my mind occupied. Even the weather is sad to see Steve go. After a week of mostly sunny skies, it's been raining all morning here. It's like the sky is weeping, too. But enough unhappy stuff. My observations: First Observation: I see famous people They take security perhaps a bit too far at Manchester Airport. When you queue up to check your bags, only ticketed travelers are allowed to stand in line. So I had to hang back outside the strapped queue area for Steve to check his bags and get his boarding cards. As I stood there, a couple exited the area and walked toward me on their way out. I looked at them, recognized them, and then it hit me that they were celebrities! Maksim Chermerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff were flying out of Manchester today and they walked right by me! For those who don't recognize the names: They're professional dance...

I've not been doing any blogging, because I'm sucking up every iota of time with Steve that I can. We're apart tonight, though, because one of his best friends invited him to a concert by one of Steve's favorite musicians, Jean Michel Jarre. So I thought I'd share with you a bit of reflection. Thursday was a beautiful day here in northwest England. It started off rainy, but it soon gave way to a brilliant blue sky, bright sun, and warmish temperature. Thinking it was foolish to waste such a glorious day (especially since it had been very rainy here - though nothing like that suffered by friends and loved one back home in "sunny" Florida), I suggested Steve and I go for a walk. This being Steve's childhood home, and with me having no clear idea of where I wanted to go, I asked Steve to lead the way and we began our trek through his neighborhood. It's an area I'm growing to know pretty well. I recognized the houses and other landmarks as we walke...

According to Flightview, his flight landed at 8:23 this morning. By now, he's probably walking toward immigration to join the queue. He'll be through in no time, since I'm not there to drag down the process. If only I could have a British passport! I'm so excited! He'll probably be home by 10!! I feel like a kid waiting for Santa! Addendum added at 8:55 a.m. local time: Steve just called. Flightview lied. He landed about five minutes ago and his plane was just taxiing to the gate. It was so nice to hear his voice and know he's just 40 miles away.

I guess I'm not as much of an historian as I thought. With Steve arriving tomorrow, I know full well I'm not going to get much research done. I miss him. I only have a week with him. I'm going to spend as much of it in his company as humanly possible. He's not big on historical research, so that means I'll be wherever he wants to be and not vice versa. But did I get any archival research done today? No. Why? Because I can't focus on anything other than the fact Steve's going to be here tomorrow. I am clearly more of a wife than an historian. And you know, I can live with that! I woke up planning on going to the Lancashire Records Office (LRO) today. I originally planned to leave early, so I could secure a place before the old-age pensioners arrived en masse. Then Steve told me that he was going into work later than normal and that he'd try to Skype before he left. We hadn't had a chance to talk Monday night, so I thought that was a great idea. The LR...

I had some errands to run this morning, so I didn't actually get started with my research until around noon. My plan was to rummage around the census records. I was looking up some family tree information and figuring I would start getting some population figures for Preston beginning with the 1801 census and running through the 1901 records. After I deposit everything except my notebook and pencil into a locker and sign in, I went directly to the Census Resources corner. All the census data is on either microfiche or microfilm. The records are indexed by street name, so once I had the correct record labels noted, I picked out a microfiche reader and selected my first document. Now, I've never used a microfiche reader before. But I have looked at microfilm and I figured fiche was easier. I sat down at the machine (which had no operating instructions) and looked it over. When I couldn't figure out where the "on" switch was, I decided I needed to get help. I queued ...

With my archival work completed, we had all day Wednesday to sightsee. Since it was Alicia's first trip to England, I opted to skip Hampton Court in favor of the Tower of London. While Hampton Court better fits with the era of history I enjoy most, the Tower offers a lengthier pedigree. But first, Alicia wanted to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. I've seen the palace, but I've not been there for the famous ceremony. So we got there about 45 minutes early and secured a good spot next to the wrought iron fencing that surrounds the palace. The first disappointment for Alicia was that the guards were not the usual palace guard in the red coats and furry black hats. These blokes wore more common-place military jackets and berets. Four of them stood in front of four little guard houses - stock still. Every few minutes, a pair of them would begin a choreographed routine where they would turn, walk away from each other, turn back, walk toward each other, and the...

Today I began my research at the National Archives near Kew Gardens, London. We arrived around 10 a.m. and immediately proceeded to the open computers where I could order my first round of documents. You're only allowed to request three documents at a time, and I had about 26 I wanted to see. Alicia also got a reader's ticket, so we could double our access. That meant six documents at a time. We were thankful the archives were open until 7 tonight! I was also thankful that I had my act together and had already done the legwork to figure out what documents I wanted. I wouldn't be wasting any time on hunting, at least. After I had entered the first six documents, the computer said the processing time was about 40 minutes. While we waited, we perused the documents available online. About twenty minutes later, our documents were ready for pickup. Impressed by the quick turnaround, we went to the document reading room. This is where historians get a hold of those fabulous origin...

Day One of the London odyssey proved long and almost painful at times. It started off well enough. The anticipated rain didn't seem to be coming. The sky was a brilliant blue. I was up early (having the sun up and bright around 5 a.m. still throws me off)and we got to the train station in plenty of time. We wanted to change our seats, so we'd be near each other. But we couldn't, because we were too close to our departure. The guy at the Virgin desk (who really was not very nice at all) said we could just switch seats once we were on the train, provided empty seats were available. What the guy did NOT tell us was another train out of Lancaster had been cancelled, and our train now had two trains full of people heading to Birmingham. So not only were there no extra seats available - OUR seats weren't available. Luckily, a very kind young man offered me his seat and Alicia lucked into an empty one nearby and we were able to sit for the 45 minutes it took us to get to Crewe...

I've not been to the library for a few days, because my friend, Alicia, arrived Saturday morning. I took Friday off to do mundane chores (like laundry) and have spent the weekend showling Alicia some sights and having some fun. We had dinner out and a bit of a pub crawl with most of the girls of the family and did some shopping today. Tomorrow, we take the train down to London. Tomorrow is a touristy day. We arrive in London around 1 and will head straight to the little hotel in Ealing I've booked for three nights. Once we've dumped our bags in the room (and I've secured my laptop under lock and key), we're heading into central London for some sightseeing. We've got 8 p.m. reservations on the London Eye, so I figured we'll wander around that area for a bit. Westminster Palace (aka Houses of Parliament, St. Stephen's Tower (which houses Big Ben), and Westminster Abbey are all in this area. I figure there's plenty to keep us busy until it's time to...

. . . so little idea what to do with them. I've accumulated a lot of statistical data the last couple of days. For instance, in 1851 Preston had the highest death rate of any location in the entire United Kingdom. Another example, 70% of Preston adults (and 53% of the total population) in the mid 1800s were Irish immigrants. Cool stuff. Well, I think it's cool. But is it needed data? That's the question I keep grappling with. And I periodically panic about it. Am I wasting my time? My question is still too big! I don't have a clue what my smaller question is yet! Should I have a clue? What if I miss something? Am I missing something? Thus far, I keep assuring myself that (a) I'm only a week into my actual investigating and (b) it's okay if I don't have my smaller question, yet. How can I possibly zoom in on the little picture until I'm well-versed in the big one? So I keep collecting information figuring that a good portion of it will probably not make i...

I awoke to another wet day today. I didn't sleep well again (lots of tossing and turning and weird dreams), so I was slow to get a move on. I had hoped to be on my way to Preston by 10 a.m., but it was rolling toward 12 before I finally got out the door. I took the bus into town and got off at the railway station, because I needed to stop at Wilkinson's on the way to the library to pick up some nail polish remover. The thing is, I don't know Preston all that well. I can get to the library no problem, but when I last went to Wilkinson's on Saturday, we went there from the library. I wasn't sure what way to go. In Florida, I never get lost, because I carry a mental map. So long as I'm not on an island, I have a natural sense of direction and can work my way around. But it takes me a few weeks to develop that sense outside of the state. Thus, I don't have it for Preston. So . . . I got a bit lost. Not lost as in, OMG where am I?! lost. But lost as in the street...

Monday was a bank holiday, so the library and archives were closed - extending my down time by one day. Tony and Jean took me to lunch in Southport, which was once a popular seaside resort. It's still a lovely town. I was going to take photos, but the weather was so miserable I opted against it. We'll be going again sometime. I'll take photos when we do. After a nice meal at Wetherspoon's, we wandered around a large consignment shop full of all kinds of goodies from earrings to furniture to paintings to gollywogs. From there, we went to B&M's, which is a bargain store. I picked up some edible goodies for Steve's care package. I also stumbled upon a toy TARDIS that I just had to bring home. Shortly after we returned home, Jackie and Nick (one of Steve's sisters and her husband) popped by with Nikki (their daughter) to visit. I then went with them to Tina and John's (another of Steve's sisters and her hubby) for a bit. We gals visited whilst the me...

I went out to the pubs with Steve's brother, Chris, last night. We started off at the Lamb and Packet, where his wife, Dawn, works. We then went to the Sun, which was heaving with people so we stayed for just one drink, and finally Grey Friar's. This is a huge pub and, although pretty busy, big enough that the noise wasn't deafening. We sat near the quartet of stairs leading to the restrooms and had a nice time watching people navigate up and down them. One poor guy was so wasted he fell UP the stairs, and his jeans (which he was wearing too low in the first place) fell down. Too funny! There was also a table of young girls in short, tight skirts seated nearby. It was quite enjoyable watching all the lads watching them as they went by. The girls took no notice, despite some outrageous stunts by some of the guys. So after having a late night out (I got home by 12:30 and was up until 2 a.m. Skyping with Steve), I opted to have a lazy Sunday. I woke up somewhere around 8:30, b...

One of Steve's sisters, Janet, was kind enough to offer to ride the bus into Preston with me today and show me the ropes. I know now that the bus anxiety I felt was unfounded, because I recognized the stop I needed right away. The economy is pretty hard hit here in England, so naturally everyone was in the city center shopping. We made our way to the Harris Museum and Library. We went to the library first, and I checked out a few books. Then we went to the Reference Library where they keep their local history collection. OMG . . . I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. The books! The maps! The parish directories! I drooled over the very large collection of material for a bit and decided that next week, that's my second home. It's a bank holiday weekend, so it's only opened Tuesday through Friday. I'll need at least that many days to make a dent. As I poured (or is that pored?) over history books dating to 1821 (1821! Can you imagine?!), I thought of Carmen. I ca...

I went out today. I didn't go into Preston on my own, but I did wander to the Penwortham Library, which is a few blocks away. After going grocery shopping with my in-laws and then out to lunch at a pub in Eccleston (the Original Farmers' Arms), I just wasn't in the mood to trapse into downtown Preston. Plus it was raining again (after it being beautiful and blue all morning), so I figured the local library was sufficient. I picked up a few books on local history, which are providing me leads to other sources. So that's a good start. I also discovered there was a reason why my cheap brolly (aka umbrella) was so cheap - it hyperextended whenever a breeze blew. I've added brolly to my shopping list. One thing of interest: One of the key movers and shakers responsible for bringing cotton mills to Preston, and thus changing its face forever, was John Horrocks. As it turns out, his manor house is just a few doors down from Steve's childhood home. It's been convert...