Firstly I got the sad news that my aunt had passed away.
Vera Nobbs (nee Steward) was three months short of her 106th birthday. She had lived in a residential home in Newton Flotman near Norwich for the last five years. She went there after falling at her home shortly after her 100th birthday. I remember the gathering she had at her home on her 100th birthday,
She was my father's sister. They didn't really get on, although I never found out exactly why. I know they didn't talk for many years which always upsets me as "an only one" who would have loved to have had a sister or brother. My father lived to be 92.
We continued visiting my aunt until lockdown hit. In the last few years she was physically suffering but her mind always remained pin sharp and many of the stories I have of my ancestors come from her.
Whenever as a family we visited her in Hellesdon (just outside Norwich and literally half a mile from where I was brought up) the food and cups of tea and cold drinks flowed. She always liked to know when we were going so she could make sure she had enough sandwiches, sausage rolls and crisps. She always felt guilty when she was short of food and drink (which was very rare indeed).
One side of my family lived to great age. My father into his 90s, his mother into her 100th year and now my aunt to the extraordinary age of 105. My grandmother couldn't face being 100 and lied about her age - knocking a couple of years off. But of course we had her birth certificate. On my mother's side it's not so good. My mother died when she was just 60 and my grandfather when he was 57. It's difficult for me to realise that I'm now almost 10 years older than my mother when she died.
Going back to my Aunt Vera, her husband (my uncle Jack) also lived to 100. There can't be many couples that can claim both having lived to be 100. They were married for over 75 years. Vera lived through two world pandemics (COVID and Spanish Flu), not to mention one and a half World Wars (being born in 1916 in the middle of the First).
She lived during the reigns of four monarchs - George V, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth II and must have seen so many changes in fashion and music not to mention the cost of living and so much more.
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And so to London. I can't say our three day sojourn was enjoyable. I was reading the free Metro newspaper on Wednesday with one contributor stating that London is becoming an unliveable city. I understand exactly what he means.
We walked straight into a Tube Strike which made everything very uncomfortable. There's another one today. I have to say we beat the system on Tuesday. There were huge queues around the Liverpool Street area of people waiting for a bus. So we crossed the road and got one going in the other direction. It was empty and we showed our passes to the driver.
"I'm only going one stop," he said.
"We know, but can we stay on for your return journey?" we asked.
"I see what you're doing you cheeky people," he said with a very wide grin. "I've been driving buses for 16 years and never met this idea."
When we got to the end of the line about two minutes later, he came upstairs, grinned again and said "Ah here we are, the intelligent ones." There was another woman who had done the same thing. I must say I couldn't help but feel a touch guilty at being tourists and taking a couple of seats from people trying desperately to get to work. We won't be doing it again.
The bus turned round and was soon completely full. It took two hours to get through the traffic into the centre and then the bus terminated in Sloane Square where we had to get off.
It rained all day as well which didn't help. There was no way we could get back to the hotel, so we stayed around until the evening when we went to see the musical Matilda at The Cambridge Theatre. To me it was mildly entertaining, but I know others really loved it. Problem was when we got out of the theatre and tried to get a bus back we had a rugby scrum to get on board.
No tickets were checked and it really was the survival of the fittest as we tried to cram on. We were one of the lucky ones and managed to stand downstairs. At first the driver refused to move and I fully understood why.
"This bus isn't safe. We have far too many people on board. Now people can either get off or I will call the Police and they will take people off until we have an acceptable number. I warn you I've got all night and this bus is going nowhere until it's safe to do so."
Eventually people did get off and we set off. It was a very uncomfortable journey but at least we were all safe.
I don't know the ins and outs of the tube dispute. I imagine it's a quarrel that has a considerable amount of politics in it. Basically its over conditions and pension rights and a perceived threat that management are trying to get rid of jobs (I bet that rings a bell with many).
I can't go into the rights and wrongs. All I know is that the actions bring our capital to its knees on what seems to be a regular basis. The more I go to London, the more I agree with that correspondent who states its becoming unliveable. The more I go to London the less I want to go again.
I took very few photographs on the trip, deciding to leave my camera in the hotel room on Tuesday due to the rain. I have lost two cameras in the past when they got wet and stopped working. The first was through a downpour in Norfolk and the second on the Great Wall of China. I don't want to complete a hat-trick on that one. More about the trip and other things tomorrow.