So, in the week when we saw the leader of the free world advocate drinking bleach (here is a tip – don’t) what has been going on in the bottom left hand corner of England? The days roll on but today, after two years and 80,691 words, I think I might just have ‘finished’ novel number two. Of course, ‘finished’ doesn’t actually mean finished at all. Now comes all the hard work of editing, tweaking, lurching between being quite pleased with it and thinking it is all total rubbish. It is a sense of achievement nonetheless. I have also seen the first rough ideas for the cover, which is very exciting. I will now reveal that the sub-plot involves a character undertaking genealogical research. I was heard to say that there probably wouldn’t be a novel three but I have just bought a book that might help with a germ of an idea.

I have been updating my beginners’ family history course, ready for presenting it online to a full group, organised by Crediton Library in May, which is apparently Family History Month. I am still struggling with days of the week. Please don’t expect me to remember month names, let alone special designations for those months. It was a bit of a shock to realise that I taught my first family history course thirty four years ago. Techniques and methods of accessing records have changed beyond all recognition since then. The sources and the excitement are unchanged however. My early courses were illustrated with large posters and overhead projector acetates. I advocated, purchasing International Reply Coupons (remember those) and wearing skirts in case you offended an elderly relative that you were interviewing (that was the women of course). Now I am that elderly relative! Online databases and DNA tests were the stuff of science fiction. I am not convinced that it has all been change for the better. I miss the meticulous research that has, in all too many cases, been replaced with a grab it all quick and never mind checking to see if it is plausible, let alone true, attitude. Of course, many modern researcher are scrupulous about verifying the evidence and citing sources and long may that continue. In comparison to those days in the 1980s, so much can be done from the comfort of home and with luck, reasonable trees can be built in months not decades.

On the family front, we have tried playing Monopoly online. It was not an unqualified success. To begin with, neither party had traditional Monopoly. Well I had a traditional board but couldn’t find the corresponding cards and money. So I was using the deluxe version, with renamed streets and allowances for inflation and my opponents had a superheroes Monopoly. ‘I’ve bought Thor’. ‘Where’s that?’ ‘Regent Street.’ ‘I don’t have a Regent Street’. ‘Third green one along’. It was a laugh a minute and I was swiftly bankrupted.

The garden has come on apace. We now have a fully re-instated path, well the weed inhibitor is laid but we will have to wait until replacement chippings are available. We have recycled as many old chippings as possible but the new path is longer than the old path and many of the original chippings have long since disappeared.

I am gearing myself up for tomorrow’s #twopointsixchallenge when, in lieu of a marathon that I was never going to run, I will be doing a 26 minute workout, 26 minutes of gardening and offer 26 people the opportunity to have 2.6 hours of genealogical research in return for a donation to my chosen charity. I have not yet reached 26 takers for this so there is still time – I will give you until midnight my time on 26 April.

Stay safe – until next time.