JenGog's Guestbook

city of culture
Even with all the American and Canadian visitors to the city I doubt we will get a look in again . Always been a dirty old town but with a big history . Talking to a couple from Austin Texas at the football two weeks ago . It is amazing what Ryan Reynolds and Rob |MdElleney have done for the place since they bought the football club . Wish the council had as much interest in the place . Shame it took a Canadian and an American to showcase us to the world .

hibernation
Hello Dave - I always feel that the houses go into hibernation or as the trust staff say "They put the house to bed ". The melancholy bit came from Bob Carlson. We had been talking about this time of year and he described it as melancholy which certainly fits the bill. Hard to find things to do in the winter here but we keep trying .

poor squirrel
Hi Jackie - no sadly he failed to survive . I must admit I had my shoe ready to clout him on his head and put him out of his misery but he breathed his last as I got there. Quiet Christmas . Daughter came up on Christmas Eve but the rest of the days were pretty boring . It again was one of those times when I wished we had the van and did not have the cat so we could have gone to France for Christmas . Been a funny old week here . The girl went missing on the 22nd and was last seen here in the village . I have never seen so much activity from the police on Christmas Day. I believe she was an alcoholic and probably ended up in the Dee . She will be found eventually as usually suicides of which there a quite a few here end up at the weir further down river . Hope you too had a good festive season . Any plans in the pipeline ? We have none . Even the planning has gone into some kind of black hole . I fancy a trip to Egypt or to one of the "stans " following the silk road . Think that is more in my mind than Glenns . Hope your New Year is a good one too and 2024 kind to you. x

the question
An interesting question Bob .

nostalgia
As I get older I get more nostalgic . I find writing Travelblogs are a wonderful way of keeping memories and re-reading them is wonderful for bringing back memories that otherwise might be lost . I wish I had photos from my childhood or from earlier holidays as I would love to write about going to Casablanca as an 14 year old, seeing a Breugel exhibition in Vienna and going in a balloon over Cheshire . All memories never written about and sadly getting to the point where I struggle to remember any details . Love your older memories . A life that we have lost but not forgotten I guess .

Small world indeed
It is indeed a small world Bob . The musket holes in the wall were the Oliver Cromwells Puritans target practicing I believe. The holes in the doors were the places they pushed their muskets throughin order to fire at the advancing Cavaliers . . Across the river in the opposite church in Farndon they stabled their horses before advancing on the Parliamentarians in Wales . A case of the river dividing the families who before the Civil War probably got on very well . There is a window in Farndon- one of very few that depict the Cavaliers who billeted themselves in the church . I have not heard of the children dressing in the green but to be honest a lot of our customs such as well dressing are pagan in origin so I guess this was a practical event but also served both the Christian and the harking back to Paganism and the Druids.

correcting what you read
I was going to dismiss this as spam but decided to read it . Don't bother correcting the way I write my blogs . I am not writing a blog for a dissertation . I write them because I enjoy writing and at least I don't use of instead of have which offends greatly . I suppose I have to be grateful that you read the blog however please don't act like a teacher correcting the way we speak here .

hope
It is strange that an American and a Canadian both actors have actually taken our city /town - we will always call it a town to heart Their mission statement said they wanted to bring a belief to the place .

password
Thanks Bob I will give it a go