Bore da, as we say. Up and at it. No idea if any larks are involved. Certainly a few blackbirds and the odd robin. Downstairs to make the tea but it is a bit early yet so taking the opportunity to tap away on’t laptop for a few mins.
A good day yesterday. Today is a day for getting things done before the skies open at the weekend. Last few bits chucking on the skip, filling in down the sides of the new pond liner, filling the pond itself. Stuff like that.
I am irrationally excited about having a pond. At 85cm x 65cm isn’t a very big pond but a pond it certainly is. A place for water loving plants and hopefully a frog or two. Slug devourers.
Quite a bit of topsoil left over from the dig for redistribution elsewhere in the garden. A decision regarding where will have to be taken at the highest level. Only THG is really properly qualified to take such a decis. That is fine. I am confident in the outcome.
I won the best gross at golf yesterday though unfortunately there is no dosh involved there. We have a bandit amongst us who will need an adjustment at the next handicap review. I did get nearest the pin and almost took the longest drive were it not for the fact that Ashley duffed his and it ended up being a good drive which would not have been the case had he hit it as intended. As his normal shot would suggest. I ended a quid up.
Seeing as our John is over we are off to the Duke William tonight. Couldn’t get in to OleOle (1st choice) or the Castle View (Indian). We ate at the Duke after the golf a few weeks back so it will be ok. Gonna be a scorcher so hopefully we can sit outside.
It will be nice to be back in the pool in the gym this morning. Jubilee Park outdoor pool is great but does come with hazards. Mostly on this occasion people of a certain age wallowing along whilst chatting to their mates. The 2ft 6 shallow end also doesn’t help. Total Fitness does have wallowers but far fewer. I did 25 mins yesterday and called it quits.
My book research is slowly moving into a different phase. I’ve gone back as far as I can using available online documentary research, church records plus items kept at the National Library of Wales to trying to understand who owned lands historically, By this I mean which princes and the modes by which their lands were divided up.
For example roughly a fifth of the acreage of Llanllwni in the eighteenth century was owned by Herbert Evans of the nearby Highmead Estate. Herbert was a descendant of the Lloyds of Castell Hywel who can notionally trace their ancestry back to The Lord Rhys. Ole Rhys had a lot of land which was gradually divided up between various offspring. The Lloyds themselves were big landowners but it is also possible to see how their lands were also divided across the generations.
I am not aware that we are related to the Lloyds or Lord Rhys, though everything is possible, but how did we come to acquire our own land? Some of it was by marriage but really it must initially have been as a result of land enclosures in the post manorial era.
The Welsh maenorial system was different to that of England in that the land not specifically owned by “the king” was communally owned. I suspect that it will not be possible to trace the ownership of this land with time over the period in question but I’m having a go. Llanllwni is about as remote and insignificant as it comes which makes it even less likely that I will find documentary evidence. V shall c.