SEPTEMBER 2002
Well, here we are again! I hadn’t intended doing anything for the memoir, I have lots of stuff on the go but circumstances triggered me off so here goes.
Since I got back from America in August I have been working on getting everyone in the family to send me their family pics so that I could scan them all in onto CD at high quality. This way, everyone has a copy of everything. Once I had started to do this it seemed a good idea to get Leslie to put some docs and text together connected with John Shaw Challenger who was killed at Ieper in 1917. If you remember, it was the fact that we knew so little about him that triggered me off into writing my memoir in the first place.
Once the text barrier had been broken it also seemed sensible to put father’s story on as well and during a conversation with Leslie I mentioned that I was undecided about my memoir, should I put that in as well? He wrote back immediately and said it should go in with the rest. So, if the shit hits the fan, it’s all Leslie’s fault!
I was thinking about this as I had my first coffee of the day and thought it might be a good idea to read a bit of the latter part of the memoir just as a check. I’ve been doing that and have decided that it all goes in and while the reading is fresh on my mind I could usefully tidy some loose ends and get the story up to date so far. So, here’s another chapter for you.
2002It’s been another good year so far. Eigg, the Jack Russell is still going strong and is a wonderful mate. She understands me so well that people are amazed when they see us together, you could swear she understood everything I say. Of course she can’t, she is a dog, but on the dog scale of intelligence and understanding she rates 10.5!
I had no Carleton College teaching this year, last year was the final one so I was free to park Eigg with Julie and Philip Lawson at the beginning of June and go off to Northfield for the last stint on house scraping. I was over there from June 2 to August 18th and we finished the house off. I was ‘home-alone’ for six weeks while M&R were in Europe and this wasn’t the happiest experience I have ever had, my advice is never house sit in a strange country especially if there are cat litter trays to be emptied each morning! The up-side of this was that my friends in Northfield and several beautiful young ladies from my teaching days came over and took me out for meals. There’s nothing does an old man as much good as walking into a restaurant with a beautiful young lady (or two) as dining companions!
HEALTHIn one word, perfect! In May I went to the doctors and got him to run a series of blood chemistry tests on me. Father, before he died, and Leslie now, both suffer from late onset diabetes and I thought it would be a good idea to get tested for it. They did a whole range of other tests at the same time, kidney function, prostate antigen, cholesterol and God knows what else besides. The end result was that I am 14 years old and BP is still 120/80. The Doc. told me to go away and stop bothering him! I’m still smoking the pipe, taking the whisky and cod-liver oil on rising and eating nothing that has been buggered about by the food technology wizards. I’ve just taken a fresh loaf out of the bread machine and it’s wonderful. Perhaps this is the reason why I am 14 stone! Who cares, fat is an organ essential to your immune system. Mind you, it wants watching, I should do more exercise………
CONSERVATION UPDATERobert has all the money in place for completing the Jubilee Engine move. We have it all out of Padiham and stored at Gissing and Lonsdale’s in Barlick except for the beds which will go straight from Padiham to Masson. The engine house at Masson is ready for the transfer, we have opened the floor up and installed the girder frame that will carry the engine. I have to trigger Terry Gissing into action now.
Another front with Robert is that he wants me to act for him to protect another of his archaeological sites, the waterwheel at Hebden Bridge. This will be the second time I have defended it for him, the story is too long to repeat here but the last time we had a fight over it a man called Klein ended up wishing he had never heard of us! Another developer has moved in and needs educating……….
Queen Street and Helmshore still stagger on balanced on a knife edge. I watch with interest and here again, I shall be asked to advise Robert soon because he has an interest in the site which nobody knows about except us. This will be earth-shaking if we move and will be a very interesting ride.
Trencherfield is still stopped; nobody has done anything about it. Gissings have been selected to do the initial surveying to identify the cure but haven’t been authorised to do anything about it. We shall see.
Bancroft still runs and Ellenroad is going strong so all my projects are in good order. Ellenroad got a major award this year. Interesting that nobody ever mentioned my part in it because it was my decisions all those years ago that got them the recognition. I suppose I am one of yesterday’s men.
WRITING AND RESEARCHI’m still doing my weekly column for the Barnoldswick and Earby Times. Funny, but I really enjoy reading it each week; it looks different when it’s in print. I get to be well known in the town, lots of people recognise me because of the column and comment on it in the street. I’ve never had a bad comment yet, very gratifying.
I’m still transcribing the LTP transcripts to the computer. I made a bit of a break-through this week actually in that I tried the OCR programme which came with the scanner I bought in May. This is a very high resolution scanner that does film as well as flat text and pics. I had tried OCR before on the carbon copy typescripts but the hit rate was so bad it was quicker to re-transcribe them. I experimented yesterday with the more powerful tools and they work much better! Three times faster I reckon than manual transcription so there is a ray of hope there.
I’m still reading and searching the Internet and coming up with more and more about Barlick. I haven’t done anything about publishing because I am content with the article each week. All the articles are on the web on what they call Blogspot, you pay a small sum each year and can publish and archive all you want there. It’s surprising the number of people that read it all over the world.
LIFE AND EVERYTHINGI’m beginning to suspect I’m making a good job of settling into old age! Dogs and kids like me and I’m on speaking terms with all my daughters and friends! When you come to examine it, this isn’t at all bad. I know this sounds smug but it’s really very important, after all, what other measure is there of your ability to interact with people? All you can go on is the evidence.
In addition, it’s very gratifying that people seem to turn to me when they are troubled and need someone to listen and offer comment on whatever is troubling them. Georgie Meadows says I am turning into a counsellor! If that’s true I am glad because one thing is certain, you can’t be of any use to anyone else if you are uneasy with your own interaction with the world. I do feel very balanced and stable, very few things disturb me and I have learned to distance myself from those things I can’t control. For instance, I have very definite views about the ongoing crisis between America and Iraq but recognise that it is outside my control so there is no point expending energy on it beyond making my views known when asked. Could be regarded as a cop-out but I have done my share. I want to be left alone to get on with the things I know best.
One of the best things about this year has been the success story of Margaret and Mick’s migration to Australia. They have settled in wonderfully well and all the reports are good. They are building a house, the slab went down this week, and both have proper jobs, pensionable and permanent. Margaret has even hired a cleaner! After all those years cleaning up after other people this must have been one of the high points of her life! While her sisters have been doing university courses and earning good wages Margaret has ploughed her own furrow looking after Katie and Laura and running their business. She is blossoming now and beginning to perform nearer to her true potential and it’s wonderful to see the transformation. Janet says she is very impressive, a high recommendation!
So, sorry to sound so complacent but looking at the world from the standpoint of September 24th in East Hill Street, things could be worse!
My mind ranges down the years and I wonder who will be reading this and when. I hope it’s useful for you to be able to get some idea from the past about your roots. Many things will change but the basic mechanisms of our lives and how we handle them will stay the same. Looking at my mistakes might alert you to some of the pitfalls you will face. Who knows, reading this might be a form of counselling from the past! Spooky! Give some thought to adding your own contribution to the record. I can assure you, it is well worthwhile.
Love to you all. Stanley. 24 September 2002 |