Furthermore: August 06

August 28, 2006

Out and About

I’ve had the week off, so we’ve been out to eat a few times in Cambridge and nearby. Friday night Jay babysat for us, so Mrs F and I went to the Riverside Restaurant at the University Centre. Last time we went was not long after we moved to Cambridge and it was deathly quiet. This time it was reasonably full, and the food was very good and good value for money too. The service was less impeccable - the staff were quite friendly but didn’t seem to be entirely on the ball - eg we were brought pre-starters but the waiter couldn’t remember what one of them was called, and eventually just gave up trying to describe it. Coffee was not so good either, and the sweet trolley seemed a real touch of the 70’s. I quite enjoyed the fact that the place seems quite out of time - I assume it can’t be making money for anyone, and is presumably kept as a sort of vanity adornment for the University.

For Saturday lunch we went to Teri-aki at the Quayside which was great. I haven’t had good sushi really since I left London so it’s really good to have somewhere like that in Cambridge. It’s similar to Wagamama but better executed. Only gripe would be that there’s no baby-friendly seating. Fortuately E was well behaved and didn’t try to throw herself off the bench. She also ate like a horse (well, a horse that likes Japanese food perhaps). Even L seemed to enjoy the dumplings and tried a little bit of some other things too.

Finally today we ventured up to the Five Miles Inn at Upware. Great location right on the river, and the food and service were both pretty good (although my steak and ale pie needed some gravy or something grumble grumble). Unfortunately it seemed to be raining over a small radius around Upware but nowhere else, so we couldn’t sit out, or go in the playground. I slightly preferred the Fish and Duck for shear remoteness and eccentricity (although last time we went we immediately bumped into Jay) but when we went past the little road leading to it the sign was gone, so I think it is probably still closed.

August 21, 2006

Preaching to the uninterested

I saw one of those guys in town on Saturday who have to get up on a box and talk about Jeeesus for the benefit of the rest of us heathens. I was quite impressed though, that he’d come up with a novel approach. Rather than the usual straightforward haranguing, he was offering a test with a cash prize of ?20. You had to answer a few questions to prove you were a good person, and then he’d give you the money.

I’m not quite sure what the catch would have been - if unsubtle, it would probably be that you don’t worship Jesus; if subtle, it would probably be a more Socratic attempt to show that nobody lives up to their own standard of goodness, and that therefore we all need - guess who? - to help us on our way.

The whole scene was ironic on so many levels though: firstly, nobody was taking him up on his offer. Everyone could see it was a trick, or they didn’t think they needed someone offering them ?20 to know whether they were good or not, or they thought it politest to ignore him. At any rate, the effect was that the chap was standing there offering free money, with no takers.

Except one. The whole time I was there, there was a guy standing right in front of him, his hand slightly raised in an attitude of supplication. The preaching guy was desperately trying not to pay any attention, only acknowledging the man’s presence by saying “Take the test! You just have to be sober and speak English!”

So to sum up, the preacher is trying to do good by spreading the gospel. He wants to give away his own money, except that the only person who wants to take it is seemingly not worthy to receive it.

Personally, I’m tempted to say that Jesus would have given the drunk guy the ?20. As an example of charity, I’m sure it would have had more effect than any number of hours of preaching.

August 10, 2006

A somewhat Jonathan Carroll moment

I was eating breakfast when I noticed some movement in the street outside the front of my house. It looked as if a person was bobbing up and down outside my garden, so I went to the window to get a better look. Outside was a metallic helium balloon.

I thought maybe someone dropped it so I went out to look. At first I couldn’t see where the balloon had gone, but then I noticed it about 20 metres further down the street. It was tethered to a small weight, so it was bobbing along as the wind picked it up. There was nobody in sight and no indication of where it might have come from.

I took it in the house and gave it to my children. It says Happy Birthday.

August 9, 2006

Happy Blog Anniversary

Three years blogging at Furthermore today. I’ve posted about 330 articles in that period, so I guess that’s roughly one every 3 days.

You’ll notice there’s been a fair bit of family history just recently - I was spurred back into it when I got an email from someone who is another descendant of my great great grandfather, John Freestone. The Freestones seem to fairly well covered now, and one of my mum’s relations has done a lot of work on my mother’s maternal line, so I thought I’d pick up the remaining two and see what I could do.

August 8, 2006

Walter James Freestone (1897-1954)

Walter Freestone was my grandfather on my dad’s side. See the Freestone Family Tree page.

He married Mabel Humberstone, and they went on to have the following children:

• Cathleen Freestone


• Dennis Freestone (1924-1999)



• Gordon Freestone (my dad) b1933


• Colin Freestone b1936

Walter died well before I was born, so I don’t know that much about him. He ran the Duke William pub in the Bail in Lincoln from about 1940. I have a note that around 1930 the family were working in the Clinton Arms, Princess St, Lincoln. Apparently my dad remembers looking into a flour mill that used to be near there.

Humberstone Family Tree

This will be the permanent link page for the family tree of my dad’s maternal ancestors (Humberstone family).

Matthew Humberstone (b ~1841) m ?

• Martha Humberstone (b ~1874)


• William Humberstone (b ~1876)


• George E Humberstone (b ~1878) m1897 Gertrude Alice Vamplew (b ~1881)




• Mabel Humberstone (b 1898)



• Eva Humberstone


• Ernie Humberstone - no children


• Dorothy Humberstone m Ron ?


• Tom Humberstone m Pat


• Harry Humberstone (b ~1897) - killed in WW1. [Commonwealth War Graves Commission Record]
  


• Mildred Humberstone (b ~1883)
  

Notes: all this information is from the 1891 census, based on my finding the marriage record between George Humberstone and Gertrude Vamplew in FreeBMD.

Hmm, and now I’ve found George in the 1901 census and he’s single and still living in Matthew’s household. There’s only one Gertrude Humberstone of the right age, and she’s single and living in Nottingham. None of the children seem to findable at all - not even Mabel and Harry, who should certainly have been born by 1901. I think the marriage record I found in FreeBMD is the right one but I may well have the wrong George and the wrong Gertrude from the 1891 census.

The census record records Matthew as a widower, and includes in his household a Martha Goddard, 28, described as his sister in law, which suggests he had at least one brother. He’s a gardener by occupation.

The family are living at 14 Foundry Street, Horncastle, which is significant, as a newspaper cutting reporting the death of Harry Humberstone says he was “residing for some time with his parents at 39 Foundry Street”. As a bit of local colour, William Marwood the hangman who devloped the “long drop” lived in the same street, and would only have died a few years before the 91 census.

I haven’t pursued the Vamplews as yet, but the 1891 census has the following:

• Joseph Vamplew (b ~1857) m Lucy Ann ? (b ~1859)




• Fanny M Vamplew (b ~1878)


• Gertrude A Vamplew (b ~1881)


• Herbert Vamplew (b ~1885)

The family are living in Horncastle Road, Woodhall, and there are two servants in the household - Joseph is an agricultural foreman and the servants are described as agricultural waggoners.

August 7, 2006

Adorable Child Blogging

I was putting L to bed last night, and she asked me, “Daddy, what does ’startastic’ mean?” - I assumed it was something she’d heard on kids TV so I was trying to explain about making up words based on other words but then she said, “no, no, it’s like when you say ‘I really like your dress’ but you mean ‘I really don’t like your dress’”. Finally the penny drops. L can do a really good sarcastic voice, and I’m just a bit worried who she’s going to use it on.

I also discovered that L sees (at least some) words as colours - she volunteered the information quite spontaneously. I say the word, she closes her eyes, and opens them, and then she tells me what colour she can see. Everything I’ve tried so far seems to be purple or pinky purple though. My mum and brother both have some synaesthesia, so maybe she’s picked a bit up too.

Meanwhile E has acquired a fantastic new trick. She’ll say, “dot, dot” (knock, knock). If you say, “who’s there?” she says “dotta hoo” (Doctor Who). She’s been listening to L of course, who is obsessed with knock, knock jokes. She can repeat quite a few, but she still doesn’t quite understand what makes the format funny. Until recently she’d make up jokes like this:


Knock Knock

Who’s there

Elephant

Elephant who?

Elephant lampshade

Now we’ve progressed to a more sophisticated version, where the “who’s there?” is likely to be answered with just an initial sound or letter, and then the reveal will be something beginning with that letter. So now she gets the importance of the link between the responses, but she’s not quite sure how to make it funny.