The trick with determination is deciding what one was is going to be determined about. Some decisions are made with an attitude of “maybe it gets done, maybe it doesn’t”. Other decisions are much more critical and one has to stick with the job until it is finished. One may not be equally determined about all projects.
Last week I started painting outdoors, on a sunny day. For three days in a row, I determinedly continued with a rather large project. Then came a couple of rainy days. Now that there is a week of no precipitation forecast, I have to be determined and work on the painting project every day. I have to be determined!
We arrived in London on August 23rd and stayed in the area until we went home on September 9th. I think we were both getting anxious to get home again. We had been away for two months already, seen a lot of different places, met a lot of relatives and new people. But there is always lots to do in London, so the last two weeks were filled with activities.
Of course we had to see all the regular sights – Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Parliament Buildings, the Post Office Tower, Selfridges, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Monument, 10 Downing Street, Madame Tussauds, the Planetarium, London Tower, Kew Gardens and probably lots of other things too. I’m just going to write about a few of the ones that stand out in my mind. I have visited London several times since then, so memories can be hard to place in which visit they occurred. These ones I’m pretty sure were from this trip.
Post Office Tower
I was a stamp collector as a teenager, so part of the point of the postcard was sending it to myself with a special post office tower stamp and it being stamped at the Post Office Tower. The tower was opened in October 1965, so it was a relatively new structure in September 1966.
Postcard of the Post Office TowerPostcard of the Post Office Tower, with Post Office Tower stamp and cancellation. Sent on September 7, 1966 to myself.
As mentioned on the card, we had good weather and an excellent view from the level we were allowed onto. There were elevators that took us up.
We had also walked up the Monument, but there one had to walk up oneself – 314 stairs according to Aileen’s notes. This is a monument to the Great Fire of London and was built between 1671 and 1677. The tower is 62 meters high and there is an open viewing platform.
Richmond
Aunt Florence lived in a residential hotel in Richmond. She invited us to stay in her hotel from the 30th of August til the 6th of August. This was an interesting experience as well as giving us the chance to get to know our aunt. She was born in 1897, so would have been 69 years old in 1966. I think she was still working and worried about being able to afford to retire. She had a lot of friends and liked to go on cruises. One has to remember that retirement plans were not so common in the 1960s.
We stayed in Richmond for a week with Aunt Florence.
From the hotel room, I remember the gas heater that had to be fed with coins for it to heat the room. This was something new and different for me.
Though we took the tube into the center of London some of the days, we also did things in Richmond, such as Kew Gardens and Chessington Zoo.
Blue bells at Kew Gardens
One day we were just wandering around Richmond and went into the cemetery at St. Peter’s Church, Petersham. It is always interesting to see who has lived and been buried in the area. We came across the well-tended grave of Captain George Vancouver, the person whose name was used for the city I grew up in. He died in 1798 at the age of 40.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia, 2020.04.26
Brighton
We also took a day-trip to Brighton from Richmond with Aunt Florence and her friend, Marion. I remember it as a wet day. I also remember going out on the pier. I was given a coin to play the machines and felt the thrill of winning even though I did nothing except put in a coin. I used up all my winnings (another good lesson) then quit. I’ve never felt the need to gamble money in such a way again. We also went to see the Pavilion, one of the luxurious residences of the Royal Family back at the beginning of the 19th century.
We took a day-trip to Brighton. The weather wasn’t nice enough to sit on the beach but we did go out onto the Pier.
Back in 1989, we didn’t usually know the sex of our child until it was born, so though I would have liked a girl, as I had a boy already, it didn’t really matter.
I had regular doctor check-ups on Tuesdays, so on Tuesday, the 25th of April I went to my regular check-up. The doctor (a lady) asked me how I was feeling. It was basically my due date. My baby was a bit restless, though I wouldn’t have said that labor pains had started at all. The doctor said she wouldn’t examine me and told me to head off to the hospital in Levanger.
It was the middle of the day and as this was my second birth, I knew a lot more than I did with the first one. I said to my husband that it was far too early to go to the hospital, though we should go later in the day. So we went home and had some lunch and relaxed for a bit.
We picked up Alasdair at the kindergarten at his usual time. We had already arranged for him to stay with someone living in Levanger when it was time for me to go to the hospital. We took him there, and got him settled in and then Brock and I left.
I still felt that it was far too early to go to the hospital, though I was now feeling like the birth was on its way. We went walking and we had a meal. I knew that walking would help the birthing process and staying upright would give gravity a chance to help too.
After a while we went to the hospital and to the maternity ward. They were very busy and asked us to come back in an hour. We said that was okay, as I was sure things weren’t imminent yet. So we walked around the park area near the hospital. I seem to remember a lot more park back in 1989 than there is now. (There are a lot more buildings now.)
When we went back to the maternity ward, the evening was getting on and this time we were taken in and I was examined. I was now dilated enough to be assigned a birthing place and the birthing process continued with Brock at my side as well as a midwife in attendance.
Everything went well. There was no need for a doctor this time. At about 12:45 am, on Wednesday, the 26th of April, after about three hours of labor, a healthy baby girl was born. I could relax again. This second birth had been much, much easier than the first one.
Mother and daughter at home at Fjellheim, probably in May 1989.
Before 1971, the United Kingdom used a non-decimal currency system. In essence there were 12 pennies to a shilling and 20 shillings to the pound. A price in a store could be £1 5s 4d. But in addition to these unusual (for me) quantities, with difficult addition and subtraction, there was also the challenge of figuring out what each coin was worth. The Republic of Ireland also used a similar system of pounds, shillings and pence, but issued their own coins and banknotes.
My source for the following information in this blog is: https://www.retrowow.co.uk/retro_britain/old_money/old_money.html
In 1966, the following 7 coins would have been in common use:
halfpenny (1/2d), pronounced “herpni”
penny (1d)
threepence (3d), pronounced “thruppence”
sixpence (6d)
shilling (1s)
two shillings (2s)
half crown (2s 6d)
In addition there would be banknotes:
10 shillings (10s)
one pound (£1)
five pounds (£5)
ten pounds (£10)
For someone unused to travelling, these new coins and banknotes were confusing. I had learned about the British money system in school, but dealing with it on a daily basis, for example, finding the right coins to pay for something was completely different.
The following pictures are coins that I actually have. You won’t see the size of them, except in the picture with the penny, which is very large, in comparison to the sixpence.
Irish coins from about 1966. All coins had the Irish harp, the name “EIRE” and the year on the back side. Pictured above are two pennies (1d), a half crown (2s 6d) and a florin (2s)A British one penny from 1966. It is still very new looking and Queen Elizabeth is looking very young.The other side of the British penny from 1966.These three coins are one shilling each, from 1949, 1958 and 1959.Here are two slightly older coins, one penny on the left and sixpence on the right.The reverse sides of the coins showing the monarch in 1943, George VI, (on the left) and 1906, Edward VII,(on the right).
We took a train from Glasgow early in the morning of the 6th of August. At Manchester we transferred to a train to Rochdale, which is where my dad’s next oldest brother, Walter, lived. We left Rochdale on the 21st of August so we were there for two weeks.
Healey Dell, Falinge Park, Town Centre, Town Hall and Parish Church
Walter Commins had gone to school with his youngest brother in Southport, so I think these two brothers probably knew each other better than some of their older siblings. Walter married Ivy and they lived in a semi-detached house. They had one son, Michael, who was married and living in his own home when we came in 1966. I still keep in touch with Michael, as he is good at keeping in touch with me. He is the only one of our generation that had the surname Commins. He has two sons and grandchildren so the name will live on through them.
Walter was very kind to us both by housing us and by taking us on many day trips, including Yorkshire, the Lake District and Northern Wales. Shorter trips included Southport and Blackpool. During the two weeks we were in this part of England, there were several rainy days, but we seem to have had leisurely days at Walter’s home on those days and they were able to find nice weather for the longer trips.
We had time to visit shops and meet people. Michael and his wife Brenda took us dancing one evening in Manchester. I remember it as a rainy evening, and Michael had problems with the windshield wipers. As long as he was driving, they worked well, but as he slowed down or came to a stop at a traffic light, the wipers slowed down or stopped too. I remember the dance hall, but I was not the most social person in strange places, though I remember dancing with people there. Michael was a year or so older than my sister, so I think she enjoyed the evening a bit more than I did.
Yorkshire
We took a day trip in the car from Rochdale via Halifax, Leeds, York, Scarborough, Whitby, Ripon, Harrogate, Burnly and back to Rochdale, a trip of a little over 400 km. The records say we were out for 12 hours, not getting back until 10:30 pm. In particular I remember seeing the York Minster and the seaside at Scarborough.
Bootham Bar and Minster, the Shambles, Minster, The City Walls, Mickelgate Bar
The route would have taken us through much of Yorkshire, including the North York Moors National Park. We saw many of the main Yorkshire towns. I don’t know now what the actual route we took, but given the list of the places we passed through, it would have been a good circle tour of North East England.
Southport
Though my dad was born and spent his childhood in Dublin, he went to school in Southport in England. His older brother, Walter, went to the same school. Because they were Irish, they were Big Pat and Little Pat. My dad never talked too much about his school years, except to mention that he went to church services enough during his years there to keep him going for the rest of his life. The school would have been a residential boys’ school.
Access to Southport from Dublin would have been a boat from Dublin to Liverpool, then a train the few miles north to Southport. As my dad was born in 1911, he was probably attending the school in Southport from about 1920 to 1927.
Gardens and Marine Lake, The Promenade, the Floral Hall, Putting Green and Gardens
Uncle Walter drove us to Southport, about an 80 km drive from Rochdale. Southport is on the west coast of England, about 27 km north of Liverpool. Today it is a popular seaside resort town. It has extensive sand dunes. We saw the school that Walter and dad had attended. The buildings were still there, but I’m not sure if they were still used as a private school.
Lake District
This was another long day trip. We saw several of the lakes, Windemere, Grasmere and Coniston Water. Having read so much about the Lake District, it was interesting to have a car tour of the area. I think we were lucky and had a beautiful day for the trip.
Ennerdale, Priar’s Crag and Calsey Pike, Tarn Hows Ullswater, Windemere Lake, The Langdale Valley
As I have been to the Lake District since 1966, my memories may get mixed up. I remember the lakes and nature being very beautiful and the towns very crowded. Comments on a postcard: “This part of England looks much like B.C. with the lakes and mountains.”
North Wales
I remember this trip better than some of the others. I remember the castle and the mountains. We first drove to Liverpool, crossing under the Mersey River via the Queensway Tunnel which comes out at Birkenhead. We then drove to Queensferry and from there followed the north coast of Wales, making quite a few stops to see places along the way.
Conway Castle, Swallow Falls, Welsh National Costume, Caernarfon Castle, Snowdon
Llandudno is a large seaside resort. Bangor is a university town. We crossed the Menai Bridge and saw the island of Anglesey. We stopped at the castle in Caernarvon, or Caernarfon Castle as it is now called. It is an imposing construction from the 14th century and dominates the skyline in the town. (The name Carnarvon was also the name of the closest side street to where I grew up in Vancouver BC, so seeing the original Carnarvon was very interesting.) We then headed inland via Betsw-y-coed and Ruthin, passing by Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales.
The trip was about 350 km, so another long day seeing the sights. I remember the weather being good that day which made it a very enjoyable trip.
After two weeks with Uncle Walter and Aunt Ivy, we took a bus to Stratford-Upon-Avon on the 21st of August. It poured with rain and Aileen sat by the window, which was leaking. She developed a cold that day. We stayed two nights in Stratford-upon-Avon. We saw all around the town, though didn’t attend a play at the Shakespeare Theater.
Garrick Inn and Harvard House, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Shakespeare’s Birthplace
We arrived in Glasgow by boat from Northern Ireland. As it was an overnight boat, I slept for a few hours and was up early in the morning. It was interesting watching our progress up the River Clyde. It was quite narrow already when I got up in the morning and we passed mostly the dockyards. This was the first time that I saw the sign “dead slow” and wondered what it really meant as dead people don’t move at all!
We arrived on the 29th of July and left again on the 6th of August. We stayed with a friend of our parents, Madge Cummings and her sister, Jessie Izzat. Madge had known our parents when they were living in Glasgow during the Second World War. Madge and Jessie lived in an apartment in an old building. The ceilings in the apartment were very high. In the kitchen they had a clothes rack which they pulled up above head height to dry laundry or towels. It certainly got things out of the way.
I remember learning to play Mahjong, the original game, in the evenings. Madge and Jessie also took us on several car trips and showed us around the Glasgow area, as well as a day-trip to Edinburgh.
The Trossachs
Scotland has many beautiful, wild areas, even close to Glasgow. We were taken to see Loch Lomond, drove through the Trossachs National Park and stopped at Stirling before returning to Glasgow, a drive today of about 150 km. This was a day trip by car.
Loch Achray and Ben Venue, Falls of Leny, Loch Katrine and the Trossachs Hotel
Stranraer
One day we took the train to Stranraer where I had a penpal. We visited with her and her parents. They took us around the area, showing us the local sights, treated us to lunch at a hotel, then we headed back to Glasgow by train. Stranraer is where there is a car ferry between Northern Ireland and Scotland as the distance between the two is very short here.
My penpal in the center with her parents at their home in Stranraer, Scotland. I lost touch with her shortly after the trip.
Edinburgh
From a postcard: “Dear Granny, Hi! We got to Edinburgh though the day we went it poured the whole time. In spite of the rain we toured Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh Castle. Jessie, who had her car, showed a little of the city, but as it was raining constantly and we weren’t prepared for it, we didn’t stay too long. It is pouring again today, so we will do our washing this afternoon. Your granddaughters, Aileen and Patricia” (Written by me)
Edinburgh Castle
One of the challenges we had when travelling for so many weeks at a time, was having to put up with the inevitable bad weather. I particularly remember it being terribly wet the day we went to Edinburgh and not getting out of the car much at all. Jessie was very good to us, but there wasn’t anything she could do about bad weather, except be flexible with what we did.
When I read my sister’s summary of the trip, I find listed a lot of things that I have no memory of at all. For example, a train to Gurrock and a steamer across the fjord and around a peninsula to Tarbert.
There was also a car trip to Prestwick Airport and Ayr, which are south of Glasgow.
Many years ago now I made a sourdough starter and used it for making bread. Though I still make my own bread, I now use bought dry baker’s yeast to leaven my bread. When my daughter mentioned making a sourdough starter I found my old recipes and decided to share them here. I have no idea now where I got the recipes from. Thank you to the person who shared them with me.
Sourdough starter
4 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and chopped
14 dl cold water – add to the potatoes. Bring to the boil and cook the potatoes until tender.
Mash the potatoes in the water, and make a smooth mixture.
Add 1 dl sugar and let stand until lukewarm.
Stir one package of active dry yeast into 2 dl of lukewarm water. Add 1 tsp sugar. Let foam for 10 minutes.
Add to the potato mixture. Cover with a cloth. Let stand overnight in warm room temperature until slightly sour or for two days for a tangy flavor.
Refrigerate in a sterilized jar.
To use sourdough starter
Take out 2.5 dl of starter and let it warm up to room temperature, about 1 hour
To the remainder, add 0.5 dl sugar dissolved in 2.5 dl lukewarm water. Stir well.
Any time you use some of the starter, you must replace it with sugar and water to keep it going.
If the starter is not used at least once a week, feed it with one teaspoon of sugar.
Sourdough bread – 4 loaves
2.5 dl sourdough starter
1 liter lukewarm potato water
0.5 dl sugar
0.5 tsp salt
3 tbsp oil
1 kg whole wheat flour
appr. 1.5 kg white flour
Use a bread mixer if you have one as it will save you a lot of hard work. Mix the sugar and salt into the warm water, then add the starter. Add the oil, and the whole wheat flour. Mix quickly by hand then do the rest by machine. Add as much white flour as is needed to make a dough that stays together, is smooth, and comes away from the edges of the bowl. Place in a large bowl and let rise until double in size, usually about one hour.
Turn out the dough onto a floured baking board. Divide the dough into four equal parts. You can make four loaves, or perhaps you would like some buns out of one of the parts. You can shape the loaves as round bread and place on a baking sheet, or you can use loaf pans. Let rise until double in size.
Bake at 190 degrees C, 45 minutes for bread, about 25 minutes for buns. Cool thoroughly on a rack.
My dad was a seaman, an engineer on an international freighter for many years, both on the east coast of Canada and the west coast of Canada. I’m not sure exactly when he met my mom, but it must have been while he was on a shipping route that went up the west coast of North America. He was on a boat called “Pacific Exporter”. (For technical details about the ship, see http://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?ref=2511)
Paddy Commins, probably around 1935-38
Paddy Commins on the Pacific Exporter
My mom lived in New Westminster, Canada, and attended Holy Trinity Anglican Church. On Friday evenings, the Seaman’s Mission at the church would have activities to keep the men from the freighters out of the bars and give them something to do while in port. My mom and her friend, Winnie, would go regularly to these social events. I don’t know which year she first met my dad.
Joyce Heaps, Moody Park, New Westminster, BC
The story went that my dad had a girl in every port, and my mom had a boy on every ship. But I don’t think that was true at all. They seemed to have become serious about each other, though I don’t think all of my mom’s family approved of her choice. However, in 1939, the year that they got married, my mom was 32 and my dad was 28, so they weren’t particularly young.
Paddy and Joyce ready for a swim
In the spring of 1939, my mom took a boat which went down the west coast of North America, through the Panama Canal and over to England. She arrived in England on 17 April. She stayed with some friends in Wembley, near London, before heading north to Greenock, Scotland, on 20 April. She stayed with my dad’s sister, Violet, at 45 Newark Street, Greenock, until she got married.
Paddy and Joyce were married on 5 May 1939 in Scotland. My dad now worked in Glasgow as a boiler inspector and they lived there. In September 1939, the Second World War broke out, so whatever they had originally planned about where to live was disrupted by the war.
Suddenly the weather has warmed up and the weather forecast is suggesting that we will have a dry week. One of my purposes for April this year, was to get working on the outdoor construction project that we started last summer. Now is the time for me to be steadfast to this project, get started and persevere until it is finished. My job is to continue painting. I need to pace myself so that I get sufficient done everyday without it being a problem getting my other activities done as well.
“Steadfastness is being steady, persevering and dependable. We remain true to our purpose through whatever happens. Steadfastness grows whenever we rise to a challenge. It bolsters our will to keep going when life tests our resolve. We choose a direction, then keep a steady pace. We are faithful and enduring with those we love. We commit ourselves to something for however long it may take. We are like a strong ship in a storm. We don’t allow ourselves to be battered or blown off course. We hold on and ride the waves.”
Belfast Castle, The Parliament Buildings for Northern Ireland and the City Hall.
We spent six days in Belfast from the 23rd of July to the 28th of July. The train trip from Dublin took two hours and we stayed in a guest house. We had no relatives or people to visit here, so were completely on our own for sightseeing.
High Street and Albert Clock, Belfast, Northern Ireland
This was a time of relative peace in Belfast so the city itself was relatively quiet. We explored the city but also took trips out of the city.
I remember taking the local bus to Bangor, which is 20 km to the east of Belfast and on the sea. We walked around the town center and down to the boat harbor. We had heard about the place from Audrey who had spent a week with her family there. One comment in a letter was that it was windy and therefore cool.
Bangor, Country Down, Northern Ireland Audrey and her family came here for a week’s holiday. They were always interested in sailing.
I also remember climbing Cave Hill on the outskirts of Belfast, so that we were looking down over the city. It was a nice climb up and quite open countryside looking down over the city.
We took two bus trips. The first one was to Portrush on the northern coast and the Giant’s Causeway, just outside of Portrush. Here we could see across to Scotland. I found the Giant’s Causeway very interesting and enjoyed scrambling around on the rocks.
The second bus trip was to the Mourne Mountains which are to the south of Belfast, but still in Northern Ireland. According to the letters, this wasn’t a very exciting trip, but we would have seen a slightly different type of scenery.
We left Belfast in the evening, taking an overnight ferry to Glasgow, sleeping in a large dormitory.
