In early November 2020 a second lockdown began. At the same time, Commando was told he was under threat of redundancy. The second thing somewhat eclipsed the first, obviously. Escaping into the past was a blessing in many ways. Learning about the General Strike and the terrible depravations the strikers went through during those nine May days in 1926 put things into perspective.
Continue reading Lockdowns, redundancies and strikes
In late October 2020 the news was depressing. COVID cases and deaths were rising. Despite local lockdowns and a new, tiered system of restrictions, there were murmurings about another total lockdown. Businesses were going bust, and unemployment was rising fast. Everywhere I looked there were rumblings of discontent, conflicting information and vociferous opinions that made me wonder if the virus had affected peoples’ capacity to reason. To my mind, no one had definitive answers and, no matter what the government did, or said, they couldn’t win. In the end, I decided the only thing to do was ignore it all, worry about my own health and safety and concentrate on the second big writing project I’d recently started.
Continue reading Research is vital
My big writing project, inspired by my paternal grandparents, was completed (I promise all will be revealed soon, bear with me) and I had tentatively begun a second big writing project. This one was inspired by my mother’s parents. Where my memories of Pappy are still vivid and much of his story was told to me first hand, my memories of Nanny, Laura White, are far more hazy because she died when I was just four. I knew even less about my mother’s father, Leonard White. He died when Mum was barely more than a child and she had never talked about him much.
Continue reading Memory lane
On 26 September 2020 Commando had a session booked with Paul at the Running School. As it was a beautiful sunny afternoon, I decided to go along and have a little stroll while he was being beasted. There was a time when an hour spend roaming around Stoneham Park would have felt like a treat. Now, my afternoon mission felt more like a sad pilgrimage and I knew I wasn’t going to enjoy it, despite the azure blue skies.
Continue reading A fire and a shrine
As September 2020 crawled to a warm, lazy close I kept walking. It was too hot for epic walks and all the pretty places were still crowded with furloughed workers so I mostly stuck close to home and walked the streets. The leaves were slowly beginning to turn as autumn approached and the mornings were often misty.
Continue reading Throw away society
My decision not to think about all the media hype over the pandemic was proving far more difficult than expected. Not thinking is, it would seem, a physical impossibility and the only way to not think about one thing is to think really hard about something else. Well, that and walking. So, on 16 September 2020, I set off on another river walk. This time I decided to tackle the old two bridge challenge route.
Continue reading Not thinking
On 14 September 2020, I set off for an early morning walk along the river. It was one of those mornings that felt like the cusp between summer and autumn. A slight haze of mist hung over the water but the sun was trying to burn it off. When I reached the bay there were swans and ship’s masts, plus the merest hint of pink clinging on from the dawn. We’d made it to mid September. Schools were open again, the furlough scheme was coming to an end and the Chancellor was making promises that there would be no ‘horror show’ of tax rises to cover the financial impact of COVID19.
Continue reading On the cusp
As August 2020 crept towards September there were worrying signs that the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel might have been a false dawn, or maybe an approaching train. Suddenly, all the positivity of June and July, the news of retail sales recovering to almost pre COVID levels and things slowly reopening was slipping away. Things were going awry again. There were surges of cases in Manchester, East Lancashire and Yorkshire. Local lockdowns didn’t seem to be working. Plans to reopen more things were put on hold.
Continue reading False dawn?
Everyone knows that VE day was 8 May 1945. Everyone remembers it as the end of World War II. 2020 was the 75th anniversary of the defeat of the Fascist regime in Europe and it should, quite rightly, be remembered. The war did not end in May 1945 though. Fierce battles still raged in the far east. People tend to think of the war with Japan as an American affair, something separate to our war, but tens of thousands of British troops and Commonwealth allies from Australia, India and New Zealand fought against the retreating Japanese army for months after the war in Europe ended. They were the forgotten army and VJ Day is the forgotten victory.
Continue reading VJ Day
History and the stories that have informed and formed our modern city have always inspired me to write. Finding out an interesting fact about a place I thought I knew well, or solving the mystery of a building, woodland, or strange stone not only satisfies my curiosity, but is also something I enjoy sharing with others who find these things interesting. The inspiration for my ‘big writing project’ was a gift from Commando. The gift was an Ancestry.co.uk membership. Through it I verified many things I already knew, but I also uncovered new facts and new mysteries.
Continue reading Lee-on-Solent – They have no grave but the sea