Saturday morning and the house has been a hive of activity since quite early on. The noise levels have started to drop as homecoming offspring gradually head out for some last minute Christmas shopping. These Londoners are so busy forging their careers/partying that they don’t have time in the normal run of their lives. This is what the internet was designed for.
Actually I’m not sure that Vint et al had Christmas shopping specifically in mind when inventing tinternet. They almost certainly thought it would be cool to be able to send each other messages saying “Hi there, what is the weather like in Berkley?” and stuff like that. Or more likely “incoming missile coordinates”.
It takes a few moments of adjustment when they all come home. “Where did that loaf I bought go” – “they’ve eaten it already”. “How many pints of milk?” Hey, we wouldn’t have it any other way. There is plenty of time when it is just the two of us. We are ok.
I do have some duties to perform this morning. Our Joe is cooking us a gourmet lunch and I have to strip three ducks of their breasts and make some stock. Mallard. In my mind this is a day to avoid shops although tomorrow it will be unavoidable. Fruit, bread, milk etc. The milkman won’t come now until Wednesday.
Preparation has already started for Christmas Day. I’ve roasted some beef bones and will be making a nice stock. Looks like this morning is going to be spent in the kitchen. Better go.
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If your name is Eve how do you feel about being called Christmas Eve? If your surname is Day I guess it isn’t out of the question that your parents could have called you Christmas. It wouldn’t be the first time someone was known by that name. Christmas Evans for example.
If you don’t know who he was just Google it. He was a contemporary of my great (x4) grandfather The Rev Daniel Davies who founded the Baptist Church in Llandysul. I visited his grave ten years or so ago. It was in the oldest part of the cemetery and only recognisable because a member of the church happened to be around doing some job or other. The original church is still there but now used as a vestry or similar.
Daniel was a tenant farmer. He was around at the time of the great religious revival in Wales. Prior to building the church locals would gather in people’s homes to worship together and in Llandysul I believe they used the corner of a field.
Having a name like Davies did pose a problem when researching the family tree. A quarter of the inhabitants were called Davies. Dewi ap Dewi – David son of David after the patron saint of Wales. This evolved into Davids or Davies. Fortunately our lot were leaders of the religious community which helped as the census entries had them down as Ministers or Preachers.
I need to check the work I did ten years ago and expand on it. I found it hard to get back beyond Daniel without spending hours and hours on the ground. Church records were a bit patchy and “David son of David” doesn’t help the cause. Both Daniel’s brothers were also Ministers of Religion, one of them being with the established Church in Wales. There must be some written record of his parentage somewhere.
My family history is interesting. No royal lineage or someone who became famous for inventing the left handed widget extractor or similar.
However the history of the Davies family does reflect what was going on in the world around. We were tenant farmers, took part in the religious revival and then became woollen mill owners during the industrial revolution. When that began to wane we were miners and my dad was the first in the family to get a University degree.
I guess this participation in waves of change continues with my involvement with internet technology and in the subsequent generation being part of the world of social media.
I’ll let you know when the book is ready. In the meantime don’t hold your breath 🙂