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...