Friday afternoon has arrived and it is cooler as they promised. Today is one of those grey Northern days which is neither one thing or the other. Have been out to our library at Whitburn this afternoon where we are about to reopen with a few improvements after a six week closure. Our shelving there was over forty years old and we have replaced it with some newer units which we bought from a bookshop in Sunderland who had gone out of business. The children's area has had some purpose built units installed and all in all it looks much better. Our Housing Company, South Tyneside Homes, has also built a small extension to the building to house their enquiries office.
I notice, from the Daily Despatch website in East London, that there have been freak storms which have caused flash floods. Strangely this is something we are all getting used to in England too. It's only a few weeks since a similar but probably slightly colder, storm caused havoc in the uplands of West Yorkshire and around the West of England again. Last year we had devastating floods in the Severn Valley so we all appreciate the difficulties when you are faced with too much water. It is interesting to read the local newspaper from so far away and to get a flavour of the kinds of issues which face people in the Eastern Cape. They look remarkably similar in some ways.
I have also found out this week that there is a strange coincidence to our visit to South Africa. My grandfather, whose family came from Northampton in the Midlands of England, had an uncle George who I vaguely remember my father telling me ended up living in Durban. We don't have many family photos from that side of the family and most of them are no longer with us so we have to rely on bits of information from my grandmother, who is still alive. I do have a picture of this particular man though, and, on the rear under the backing paper it has an inscription which says it was taken in 1924 in East London. I am fascinated to know what he was doing there but also a bit aware that I might not want to know. From what I can gather, East London in 1924 wasn't a particularly happy place to be and you find yourself wondering what kind of people your ancestors were.
I notice, from the Daily Despatch website in East London, that there have been freak storms which have caused flash floods. Strangely this is something we are all getting used to in England too. It's only a few weeks since a similar but probably slightly colder, storm caused havoc in the uplands of West Yorkshire and around the West of England again. Last year we had devastating floods in the Severn Valley so we all appreciate the difficulties when you are faced with too much water. It is interesting to read the local newspaper from so far away and to get a flavour of the kinds of issues which face people in the Eastern Cape. They look remarkably similar in some ways.
I have also found out this week that there is a strange coincidence to our visit to South Africa. My grandfather, whose family came from Northampton in the Midlands of England, had an uncle George who I vaguely remember my father telling me ended up living in Durban. We don't have many family photos from that side of the family and most of them are no longer with us so we have to rely on bits of information from my grandmother, who is still alive. I do have a picture of this particular man though, and, on the rear under the backing paper it has an inscription which says it was taken in 1924 in East London. I am fascinated to know what he was doing there but also a bit aware that I might not want to know. From what I can gather, East London in 1924 wasn't a particularly happy place to be and you find yourself wondering what kind of people your ancestors were.
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