This morning I did some real detective work in Rhyl library!...with pencil stuck dramatically behind my ear, I trolled through a score of back copies of the old Prestatyn Journal from the 1970s and managed to pick out several pieces detailing the embryonic stages of the Trelawnyd Flower Show! Using a microfiche for the first time, made me feel as though I was starring in some Hollywood thriller (even though I was in Rhyl)It was fascinating work, not only for details of the show itself, but I found reading the local news of summer droughts,minor burglaries and normal small town gossip strangely nostalgic and ever so slightly melancholic. It was the Prestatyn of my childhood! -Bad haircuts, drunk driving, steak dinners with black forest gateaux, a well attended and much loved carnival, Towering Inferno at the Scala and the usual plethera of summer weddings....
As I walked back to the car I caught sight of Auntie Gladys battling with three large bags of shopping, She never ceases to amaze me; at 90 years old, she still takes the bus 5 miles to Rhyl to do all her own shopping, then will schlep it all back without help of any sort!.
As it tuned out Gladys was very grateful for the lift, and I absolutely loved the opportunity to listen to her stories of her early life in the village on our way home. There is nothing more entertaining and poignant than oral histories from someone that has really LIVED their lives.
I could have listened to her all day.
This evening I received two phone calls from more prospective chicken course members. That makes a potential 9 students! (be still my beating heart!) One conversation proved to be very useful as I was offered a new and unused broody box by a lady from the next village......I have seized the day and have already set Blanche and Haleh up in it
Oh my. Microfische takes me back many years. When I was 23yrs old I worked for American Express Credit Cards as a skip tracer then later with service establishments. Anywho,that was when computers took up whole floors of buildings and we all had microfische at our desks to look up everything. Sounds like the Stone Age now huh?? Your 90 yr old friend is a treasure. I've found my almost 86yr old mother tends to "doctor" stories, so her tales can't be believed!
ReplyDeleteWish I could be at your flower show. Sounds like you are putting your all into it, as you do with everything else.
ReplyDeleteYour chicken class should be terrific too. Lucky students.