In which we all kindof just do our own thing, but kindof together, involving looking at old things in the loft, packing some things to take (new) home, and then go for a drink because of course we do…
Slept a little later than intended today, but hey, I’m going to put that down to sleep deprivation in general, sleep deprivation while traveling, time zone changes, and well, the fact that I just like sleeping.
So I got up, had a light breakfast, chatted with the fam for a bit in the living room, then dad and I disappeared up into the loft to look for birth, death, and marriage certificates. As you do. I mean, hey, it passes the time..
OK, so I’ve decided to do the whole family history / tree thing, and asked my folks to see what they could dig up, /and/ be prepared to think about family. You see, for most of my life growing up, I thought our family tree was kindof skinny, not many branches, pretty straightforward, and not a lot of living extended relatives. My folks were both only children, and I only had three living grandparents (dad’s mum died far too young). So there were only seven of us (nine if you included pets, which we often did), and there wasn’t really conversation about family beyond that. I learned of a few others when my maternal grandmother passed away and some hitherto unknown (to me) family members crawled out of the woodwork to be annying about the will, but then buggered off again when lawyers told them to shove it.
BUT, a few years back, I happened to ask M&D about a family type thing, and the conversation sort of took off: aunt this, uncle that, who the hell are they, where are they, how are they related, holy crap that’s like two dozen names I’ve never heard in my entire life! And, no, of course I wasn’t writing it down. I was too flabbergasted. Suddenly the family had a tree. I mean, who knew?
So here I am today, with my subscription to Ancestry.co.uk, looking for information to plug in. Dad had struck gold. In a suitcase that I remember he and I removed from his dad’s house after his passing, he found an envelope with birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, and more, dating back to the late 1800’s. Dates, names, family members, all included. That should get things going quickly.
Unfortunately, not so much joy on mum’s side of things. If there’s a stash that came from her parents’ house, we know not where it has scarpered to. Could be it just doesn’t exist. In which case, we’ll turn to old photographs (which proved to be a huge help last time we talked about this stuff), and a pencil and paper. I have some info on her mum’s side of things, as they seemed to represent half the population of Orkney at some point in the last century. On her dad’s side of things, well, that could get trickier. I mean, his name was Robert Burns (no, not that one, I’m not that old), so it should stand out a bit. We’ll see where I get.
How the hell did I end up on that path… OH, right. The loft. Dad and I had headed up there to see if we could find the stash of paperwork on mum’s side of things, alas to no avail.
So intead, I emptied three to four boxes of my old crap – things I’d packaged to be sent over to the US about 15 years ago – to se I wanted to keep. Found a few things, trashed a LOT of things, and packed up a box to take home with me. It’ll cost me in extra checked baggage, but it’ll be cheaper and easier than posting it. Just 10 more boxes to go (next trip).
After all this work, we decided to head for a drink. A friend of M&D’s had been brewing beers for years, but came to my attention when he and his wife began distilling gin from their home. Their first release was Bardowie Gin – named after the loch they live next to, and where they gather the botanicals for their gin. M&D sent me a bottle for Xmas a few years ago, I liked it a lot, and had meant to see if could learn more some future visit. Which would be the current visit. Timey-wimey. As it happens, said gent had opened a tiny wee pub right next to the train station here in Milngavie, so we decided to pay it a visit.
Jaw Brew is really small. Those of you that know Chapel Brewing in Dundas, think half that size. It’s a fantastic wee place and I highly recommend stopping in if you’re around.
We had beers to start (smashing dark porter for me), and then tried their gins (the Zest orange gin for moi). Tasty stuff, and a great way to kill an hour.
After that, it was a quick trip to the shops for some fine culunary microwave dinners (we were feeling lazy), and a few items I was required to procure to be granted entry when I got home to the ladies. And then home for previously mentioned microwave wonders, some more gin, whisky, and bed. Oh, I also repacked my cases to accommodate some newly acquired bits and pieces.
Tomorrow, the grand whisky tour starts… well, more warms up. I connect with my fellow traveller for the remainder of the trip, we hit our first distillery, grab lunch with a friend, grab dinner with the folks, then… well, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, shall we.