Calais camps

Watching some of the refugees at the camps at Calais being dismantled by French police, I am saddened to hear some of their stories. Some are trying to escape wars in their homelands.  Surely we should invite some of these people into the UK as genuine refugees.

Others who are only there opportunistically as economic migrants should be turned away from the UK unless we have a real need of their skills. I wonder what the numbers of genuine political refugees coming into the UK would be? Not that many I suspect. If all EU countries also "took in" genuine refugees the numbers would be small and wholly manageable. I think we have to put ourselves in their position and try to think how we would feel.

The UK should be able to decide who comes to settle here, not the EC. I voted Green, but feel strongly the EC has moved too far now. The UK ultimately is the UK, not Brussels.

Stroke - even more

It is now 3 days without my morning (sickness) medicines and, so far, the sickness is definitely no worse and may be getting better.

Someone wondered whether the reduction in sick feeling is linked to the reduction in liquid (Peg) feeds?  Next Thursday the liquid feed should be ended completely. I hope it is.

At the moment my main issue are giddiness when moving and turning on my feet and general levels of fatigue.

Stroke - a further update

Having gone 2 days now without my "morning" pills - 30mg Fastabs, and Domperidone -  I think my sickness feelings are NOT helped by the medication at all. So, I propose to tell my doctor and stop taking them altogether leaving my statins and pregavelin at night.

My sickness has not been too bad lately and I think it may be improving. Giddiness I am less sure about. Walking is generally easier, but I still get giddy on my feet.

Today food and drinks have both gone down well. Dry toast is easier to eat than toast with butter on. I ate a suet pudding and veg at lunch, and chicken and leek soup, toast plus half a Ginsters pasty (soft pastry) for tea. For supper I had a Weetabix and half a banana in milk.

Background music on TV programmes

Am I alone in HATING programmes on TV with background music that is too loud and too intrusive?

Just been watching a documentary called "The world's weirdest weather" on Channel 4. It was a good and interesting programme nearly ruined by music so loud you could barely hear the man speak.

Do programme makers assume all that watch these programmes are brain-dead and HAVE to have loud music all the time?  Personally I'd prefer no music at all. This loud "epsilon semi-moron" rubbish music really annoys me. Some programmes, usually continental ones, are much better and get the levels right.

Goree Island

It is funny how some places just never appear on ones horizon. I always thought I knew a fair amount about small obscure islands but I'd never heard of Goree Island until reading about it in the BBC History magazine this month. It is off Dakar, Senegal, West Africa and was a staging post on long sea voyages hundreds of years ago. Only a few slaves were sent to America from here.

It sounded like a miserable place for a stop-over filled with nasty bugs and little fresh water. You live and learn.

Battle of Blackpool Sands, near Dartmouth, Devon

This is a little history I had no idea about: an attempted raid on Dartmouth by the French in 1404.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blackpool_Sands . Well worth a read if you know, or have an interest in, the area. These days Blackpool Sands is a private beach famous for its clean sands.  It is located not too far from Stoke Fleming near Dartmouth.

Family history

Some years ago, my brother and I did some research on my father's side of the family. Using transcribed parish records, Mormon fiches (the Mormons have very good records) and local library searches we managed a direct line back to the 1500s in the South Hams of Devon and found one reference to land ownership in South Huish, S.Devon in 1428. With more effort we could probably get back further still. Lapthorn was Loppedethorn.

We are related (1700s link)  to the Gosport sail-makers Ratsey and Lapthorn who made the sails for HMS Victory.

As far as I can tell, we were "ordinary" folk: mariners, millwights, etc. I have not found links to nobility or royalty!

This represents 13 generations back to the 1500s. My research has been corroborated by fellow genealogist Norman Ford.

As yet,  I have not checked out other branches. For each generation back there are 2 trees, so go back 13 generations and there are a vast number of possible ancestoral lines! I am still humbled to think that ALL these ancestors had to have lived and breathed for me to be here today, right back ti the beginning of time. Life is indeed precious.