From time to time I dabble in a little genealogy. It was quite exciting for the first few generations and then all those ancestors with significant contributions to the global population started to confuse and bewilder me (particularly the men who re-married and started naming their second family with the same names as those of their first family - darn Scottish naming traditions!!). One of those families - this one from Nottinghamshire - turned up about 12 children a couple of generations back and so I didn't bother finding out who had married whom beyond my own direct line. Then the other day I was cruising through Genes Reunited and spotted two people with my mother in their family trees. She had an unusual name, so this was grounds for a possible match. Turns out this family is descended from my great grandmother's eldest brother - so there you go - another 15 or so people in the family tree, and a couple of extra surnames!! I sort of forgot it was Good Friday today so stunned the neighbourhood by starting up the lawn mower at 10am to get back on top of the growth that has eventuated from the recent rain (paltry though the rain itself was). Fortunately I ran out of petrol so was able to withdraw, honour intact, not too long afterward. Hope I didn't offend anyone ... Another genealogical website has recently sent me a reminder that I have not been logging in (they must do wonderfully regular house-cleaning of their inactive membership as this happens fairly often). Ancestry Aid holds the unique position of actually being free. What is more, they have bored genealogists who will devote time to checking out obstacles on the family tree (relatives called John Brown who were born in England, for example) and sieving the data to get you a good match to the family history. They did wonders for my Eliza Taylor who was born in London, and confirmed that the one I had hoped was her, was indeed her, taking her back out of London a couple more generations and into the counties. A pretty chilly morning this morning provided the perfect excuse for a fire to start the day and, though I nearly let it go out around lunchtime, it has been given a new lease of life to get me through the evening. ALso sorted out an excel table so I know who I will be phoning tomorrow when I start hitting the phone once more - I have emailed it to my coach so that we are both singing off the same page (it has notes of previous contacts etc...)