Family History Stuff.
4 Mar 2006 10:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
curiouswombatDaughter-dear and I were at my mother's today - it's out usual Saturday routine - we have lunch, do any odd bits that need doing around the house that she can't manage these days, and go and do our weekly big shop together. D-d and I used to walk the dog, but since she died we just sit around and drink more coffee.
It has been snowing again - but the roads were clear, at least along the coastal route, so nothing to stop us going. We kept an eye on the weather though, in case it started to snow badly again. Mum was waiting for it to start again with the turn of the tide - she believes the weather often changes with the turn of the tide.
We started talking about years when we did get really heavy snow-fall - I can remember the winter of '63 when it snowed and snowed - I remember being all bundled up to go out to play in the snow - although not clearly.
My mother, on the other hand, had very clear memories of the winter of 1940, when she was 13.
The snow was a two or three feet deep (60 - 100cm), with drifts to 5 or 6 feet(up to 2m). My grandfather wanted to go and visit his parents and his brothers and sister, still living in the family farm where that photo I put on my journal last week had been taken many years before. But Mum and her parents lived in town - six or seven miles away, and my grandfather had a broken leg, and was on crutches.
After a few days the buses started running out to Bride and Andreas, and so past the end of the road down to Ballaghennie, and Grampy was determined to go out on the bus. So Granny eventually agreed that they would all three go, but if the road down from the main road to the farm looked to still be blocked when the bus got there, they would stay on the bus, go along to the next village, and then back home.
The bus stopped at the top of Ballaghennie road, and lo and behold there was a path cleared down the middle of the road, so off they got, and started along - Grampy slipping on the icy pathway on his crutches, and complaining and muttering as he went. Only problem was that the pathway only went as far as you could see from where the bus stopped! It had been cleared by airmen, to make their way out to a lookout post on the beach a mile further down, and they had cleared so far, then made a short cut across a couple of fields.
So Grampy was stuck, with his crutches, about half a mile from the farm. He decided to walk along on the top of the snow which was piled high against the hedges by the wind - which was the normal thing to do, and only a bit difficult for Mum and Granny - but of course you can imagine trying to walk on top of snow on crutches - every time he put a crutch down it sunk deep into the snow - like almost up to his armpits deep! Can you visualise it? The very picture had D-d and I laughing our heads off!
Eventually they got closer to the farm, and his brothers, who had cleared an area near the farm already, saw them coming and went out to help.
Of course they had to make their way back up to the bus later. Grampy's brothers, Tom and Charlie, were detailed to help him back up. Now these brothers would have been about 40 and 45, but Tom was not in the most robust of health, having had rheumatic fever as a child, which left him with a quite severe heart weakness, so carrying Grampy was not really possible. They tried to clear a bit more of a path, but this wasn't easy for Tom either, so eventually they decided to get a tarpaulin and lie it on the snow so that the crutches didn't sink so deeply, and Tom and Charlie walked with him to keep moving the tarpaulin forward - which gave me a mental picture of them pulling the tarpaulin from under him like one of those people who pull table-cloths out and leave the crockery still on the table!
Mum remembered that it wasn't terribly successful - but better than the journey down the lane had been!
It has been snowing again - but the roads were clear, at least along the coastal route, so nothing to stop us going. We kept an eye on the weather though, in case it started to snow badly again. Mum was waiting for it to start again with the turn of the tide - she believes the weather often changes with the turn of the tide.
We started talking about years when we did get really heavy snow-fall - I can remember the winter of '63 when it snowed and snowed - I remember being all bundled up to go out to play in the snow - although not clearly.
My mother, on the other hand, had very clear memories of the winter of 1940, when she was 13.
The snow was a two or three feet deep (60 - 100cm), with drifts to 5 or 6 feet(up to 2m). My grandfather wanted to go and visit his parents and his brothers and sister, still living in the family farm where that photo I put on my journal last week had been taken many years before. But Mum and her parents lived in town - six or seven miles away, and my grandfather had a broken leg, and was on crutches.
After a few days the buses started running out to Bride and Andreas, and so past the end of the road down to Ballaghennie, and Grampy was determined to go out on the bus. So Granny eventually agreed that they would all three go, but if the road down from the main road to the farm looked to still be blocked when the bus got there, they would stay on the bus, go along to the next village, and then back home.
The bus stopped at the top of Ballaghennie road, and lo and behold there was a path cleared down the middle of the road, so off they got, and started along - Grampy slipping on the icy pathway on his crutches, and complaining and muttering as he went. Only problem was that the pathway only went as far as you could see from where the bus stopped! It had been cleared by airmen, to make their way out to a lookout post on the beach a mile further down, and they had cleared so far, then made a short cut across a couple of fields.
So Grampy was stuck, with his crutches, about half a mile from the farm. He decided to walk along on the top of the snow which was piled high against the hedges by the wind - which was the normal thing to do, and only a bit difficult for Mum and Granny - but of course you can imagine trying to walk on top of snow on crutches - every time he put a crutch down it sunk deep into the snow - like almost up to his armpits deep! Can you visualise it? The very picture had D-d and I laughing our heads off!
Eventually they got closer to the farm, and his brothers, who had cleared an area near the farm already, saw them coming and went out to help.
Of course they had to make their way back up to the bus later. Grampy's brothers, Tom and Charlie, were detailed to help him back up. Now these brothers would have been about 40 and 45, but Tom was not in the most robust of health, having had rheumatic fever as a child, which left him with a quite severe heart weakness, so carrying Grampy was not really possible. They tried to clear a bit more of a path, but this wasn't easy for Tom either, so eventually they decided to get a tarpaulin and lie it on the snow so that the crutches didn't sink so deeply, and Tom and Charlie walked with him to keep moving the tarpaulin forward - which gave me a mental picture of them pulling the tarpaulin from under him like one of those people who pull table-cloths out and leave the crockery still on the table!
Mum remembered that it wasn't terribly successful - but better than the journey down the lane had been!
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no subject
Date: 04/03/2006 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 04/03/2006 11:30 pm (UTC)Only my grandfather could be so pig-headed as to decide to walk a mile or more through snow on crutches! Mum can't remember why he was so determined to make the trip at all, just how funny he looked!
no subject
Date: 04/03/2006 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 12:00 am (UTC)We had enough for people to make actual five foot high snowmen - we saw three or four on the way to Bride.
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Date: 05/03/2006 07:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 09:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 12:25 am (UTC)The most I can remember here is 15 inches and that took 2 full days for the roads to open up.
Heavy snow always makes for great storytelling.
no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 09:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 12:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 09:24 am (UTC)No, Kat neither. I suppose it depends on how climate change goes whether we never see that again, or it becomes the norm.
no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 01:37 am (UTC)Julia, surprising myself by coming up with words to comment
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Date: 05/03/2006 09:35 am (UTC)It was about nine or ten years ago now, on the Tuesday after Easter, and I was similarly dressed to your Mother, on a bright sunny morning (just as my Mum says), when it snowed heavily, and I ended up in the car stuck in skidding traffic, everyone getting out and helping everyone else, all in light-weight clothes.
I remember that I was within half a mile of the airport, where the Met. Office is, with about 4" snow on my car bonnet,in a queue of traffic which was sliding everywhere, and getting nowhere, with the weather man on the radio saying "There has been a light snow-fall, less than an inch, which is quickly melting, and should all be gone within the hour"!
surprising myself by coming up with words to comment
I'm glad you did - things that tiring at the moment?
no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 02:14 am (UTC)My family's favorite snow story is the time my grandfather took my mother and her three sisters for a ride around the block in their urban neighborhood. He set them all on the sled, and didn't notice until my Nana, waiting on the doorstep, pointed it out that he'd lost one on the way. Apparently, she was standing there, counting heads and coming up short.
"What do I do?" he yelled.
"Go around again and find her!" replied Nana. (The women were always the sensible ones on that side of the family.)
I'm glad to say he did find her, not least because my mom was the youngest sister and had been bringing up the rear--until she fell off.
no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 09:39 am (UTC)I'm thinking you and me both - or possibly it is the women really are the sensible ones, no matter which family!
Love your grandfather mislaying a daughter and not noticing.
no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 02:26 am (UTC)I wonder, with global warming, whether these snow stories will become a thing of the past ... or maybe more intense, given the winter you've been having!
It's nice that the three of you meet every Saturday :)
no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 09:42 am (UTC)Some of the global warming models show the British Isles getting colder winters - so deep snow might become the norm, and big kid that I am I sort of go 'yay' when I read this not 'aargh - how awful'!
no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 02:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 09:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 10:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 04:22 pm (UTC)brrrr....
Date: 05/03/2006 10:18 am (UTC)Re: brrrr....
Date: 05/03/2006 04:35 pm (UTC)Re: brrrr....
Date: 05/03/2006 05:35 pm (UTC)Re: brrrr....
Date: 05/03/2006 08:04 pm (UTC)Winter - oh good, let's do roadworks on the mountain road - in fact, even better, as it might be foggy or snowy up there at this time of year (No?), we better shut the whole twelve mile route whilst we change that one corner. Even better idea - let's put a whole lot of roadworks in the main village on the alternate route between Ramsey and Douglas (2 biggest towns on the island) at the same time. The sort that need traffic lights, causing a big back-up even when the mountain road is open. Hey - how many sets of lights do you think we could get up during the month of February island-wide? Maybe we could beat last year's record?
I swear that is a transcript of a meeting of the Highways Department!
They don't do roadworks in the summer because - hey - anyone can do them then, and we wouldn't want to incapacitate any holidaymakers!
highway dept
Date: 06/03/2006 06:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 11:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 12:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 05/03/2006 01:27 pm (UTC)I love reading your posts on everyday doings BTW, thanks for sharing.
Kathleen
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Date: 05/03/2006 04:46 pm (UTC)I'm with you on the driving - a good snowfall is a good excuse to stay near home!
I can't even imagine going so long without it raining - we think it unusual if it doesn't rain for more than 10 days - and that's even in the summer!
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Date: 06/03/2006 03:09 pm (UTC)The questions probably will have no practical use but Jim and I have half-joked that if we ever win one of those big lotteries we'll move. He likes the idea of New Zealand based on photos! I know it's "wither thou goest" and all but I'd rather my wither wasn't quite that distance! Neither Jim nor I like extremes in temperatures. Moderate for much of the year is the goal.
Count your blessings on that lovely rain....even the weeds are drying up and dying here. Our farmers and ranchers are battling for water rights against the environmental concerns that don't want the river completely used. The "Rio Grande" is a trickle in the summer with people literally driving and picnicing in the river bed.
Kathleen
no subject
Date: 06/03/2006 07:11 pm (UTC)A lot of Manx people emigrated to New Zealand - South Island apparently was so much like home.
Um - so the farmers think just taking all the water so that the river stops existing is a good idea? And then the ones who are a few miles further up than the point where it runs out completely decide that actually they still don't have enough, and the guys who live downstream don't actually need to live and farm there, they could cope with desert quite easily, so why not just drain it a bit further up? And so on.
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Date: 06/03/2006 08:19 pm (UTC)Actually I'd pay higher taxes if they would work on a National infrastructure project of resevoirs and aqueducts! Just think...so many of our States over here get annual flooding that destroys cropland and the rest has our problem with a lack of water....they could send the unwanted water where it is needed and both areas would see a relief!
That won't happen either due to shortsighted politicians and food growers with a "I want mine now!!!" attitude.
It defies logic and I despair of the idiocy in charge on all levels.
Your Isle sounds perfect! Soft days, moderate climate.....Jim loves the cam scenes too (and the pictures you've posted......now all we need to do is win the bloody lottery (want to retire???)
Kathleen
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Date: 06/03/2006 08:26 pm (UTC)We've got some very nice reservoirs as well!!
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Date: 06/03/2006 08:38 pm (UTC)Kathleen
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Date: 06/03/2006 03:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 06/03/2006 08:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 06/03/2006 11:05 pm (UTC)Got your note about the cars. They don't seem to ever move do they? I'm not exactly certain about your notion of checking them out yourself. It sounds just like the first step in a long series of coincidences that could set a wombat and a . . . big, cat-like thing that I still can't figure out how it learned to walk on two legs on a tale of treachery, mystery and murder.
I'm about to fall off my diet in a really big way. Am preparing a pot of normally healthy soup and have just discovered a pound of butter in the frig that is getting close to the expiration date.
Decisions, decisions.
take care
pgavigan
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Date: 07/03/2006 08:43 am (UTC)Our wee bit of snow has disappeared now - never really lasts long if we do get any.
Hmm - a story about a ravening beast on Douglas Head - that plot bunny can just join the queue!
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Date: 15/03/2006 12:50 am (UTC)Love your family stories!
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Date: 15/03/2006 08:33 am (UTC)Thank you. I rather like snow as well - we have had another snow-fall since, but it was very slushy, we were glad to see it melt.
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Date: 11/08/2010 12:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 11/08/2010 08:17 am (UTC)It's odd that documentaries about the early years of the war, of evacuees and so on, never seem to mention deep, deep, snow for ages at that point.