Marinade

 We have the Sonning Crew coming round tonight. All Lateral Flow Tests are negative. The Gorse Fox has got the pork fillets marinating in soy, honey, and various spices ready to accompany some Hasselback potatoes and salad... which still need preparing.

The Gorse Fox has used some of the day to prepare next year's spreadsheet for the accounts. All of the effort put in for last year's spreadsheet has really paid off. Instead of fiddling about for days, the Gorse Fox has done it all in an hour or so.

Key Moments

 It has been a miserable day weather-wise. Grey, damp, and occasionally wet. As far as Thursdays go, it was fairly typical. We had the Ocado delivery and then did our Sainsbury's top-up. Urban-Cub has finally got a negative Lateral Flow Test but still has to remain indoors for another day. Fortunately, that takes her to the weekend, which she was scheduled to have off anyway.

The Gorse Fox probably mentioned that he had got thoroughly fed up with the keypad that he bought for the iPad. On the dot of 10:00 this morning, UPS arrived and delivered the Logitech replacement he ordered last week. It is a little heavier, a little more robust, and best of all it seems to work flawlessly. It also has a lovely key-feel (which was always something the Gorse Fox disliked about the Apple keypad). So far, he is very pleased with his purchase - particularly as it was half the price of its Apple predecessor.

The afternoon has been spent working on the family tree. Today's approach was a little different. The Gorse Fox started working through DNA matches and trying to link them up to our tree. There were several successes, and several where the Gorse Fox could get with one generation of the matching person. It does, however, flesh out some parts of the tree that were looking a little sparse.

Research

 The Gorse Fox has had a full day of research the family tree. It has been very successful in as much as he has connected several DNA matches and also nailed a few more of the stories that he had received from the Silver Vixen's aunt. At first, many of these seemed like a stream of consciousness rambling, but, bit-by-bit he is actually managing to find evidence that supports most of these.

Urban-Cub is still c19 +ve, so is unlikely to return to work until next week.

Nothing else to report.

Visitors

 As revealed yesterday, we had Denise and Dom visiting us today. They weren't due until lunchtime, so we had a fairly relaxed morning, and the graven squeezed in some more family tree research.

By midday it was time to start on final lunch preparations. The curry was gently reheated on the hob, then put in the oven until needed, rice was prepared, bhajis were heated and naan readied. The Silver Vixen's salmon was readied for the oven and then we just waited for the guests. Apparently traffic had been heavy and it had taken longer than expected to get here. It made no difference to us as lunch could be readied for any time.

It was nice to see them both and we soon settled down to a chat and something to drink. Lunch was served in the Orangery. The curry went down a storm. It was a huge success and the heat that had worried the Gorse Fox yesterday, seemed to have mellowed overnight. It was now just delicious. We lingered over lunch... until we heard from Urban-Cub. Ellie had returned from Pistol Pete's, and did we want to come and say hello. Well, of course we did.

We wrapped up and wandered round the corner to Urban-Cub's and let ourselves into the back garden. We remained outside and Urban-Cub stood inside the door. Ellie rushed in and out, and across the square to her friend Broadie. (She and Broadie now have walkie-talkies so that they can talk to each other from home... even help us - though the Gorse Fox suspects we are just out of range).

We didn't stay too long. We settled back at home with some tea and later, some Christmas cake. We just sat and chatted until well into the evening. We heard about their Christmas, Emma, Remi and Louis, and Becky (and her award and promotion at work). We told them about all of our news and Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit's new jobs. It was nice to be able to catch up.

They had an hotel room booked at the local Premier Inn and left us at about 21:30. They weren't sure whether they would head straight home in the morning, or detour via Trevor and Sue's in Brighton. They will make their minds up tomorrow.

Cooking

 It was a gently start to the day. There was a little tidying up from yesterday, but nothing that took more than a few minutes. The Silver Vixen was called into action to squirrel things away in their correct hiding places and the Gorse Fox did the rest.

Most of the morning was spent on genealogy. No new significant discoveries but a lot of additional data for some of the Silver Vixen's relatives.

At lunchtime the focus changed. We have Denise (the Silver Vixen's sister) and Dom (her husband) coming to visit tomorrow. The Silver Vixen suggested that the Gorse Fox prepare a curry. This seemed like the opportunity to try a new recipe. This one was featured on TV a few weeks back on the Nadiya Hussain. This was not a quick recipe. The Gorse Fox was in for the afternoon. Cashews and whole spices were roasted, then four onions were caramelised, before garlic. ginger, salt, and tomatoes were added. When that had cooked down, more spices: turmeric, cumin, chilli, and so forth were added and cooked until the oils started to separate. Finally a kilo of beef chunks was stirred in. Topped up with water, this was then simmered on the stove for three hours. 

Now, it is finished and has been transferred to a pot that will fit in fridge overnight, and can be re-heated in the oven tomorrow. A word of warning, however, it is "hot".

Looking forward to Friday (when we have the Sonning Crew here for NYE) the Gorse Fox has to finalise the menu for the main course. Whilst he knows what he has in plan for the meat - pork fillet - he still hasn't decided on the accompaniments. His act needs to be go together so that any shopping can be planned

Urban-Cub made contact. She had taken another lateral flow test at lunchtime. She's still positive for C-19.

Bad Apple

 The Gorse Fox has an Apple keyboard for his iPad. To begin with, it seemed to work well. Now, however, it is flakey, to say the least. He has looked online and it is clear that he is far from the only person having problems with these nifty keypads. He can start typing and several letters into a word it will just stop working. Restarting the iPad will usually fix it for a few minutes.

The Gorse Fox is no longer happy to put up with this nonsense. He has ordered a new Logitech keyboard as a replacement. He has had several of their keypads in the past and they have always been rock solid. Let's hope this new one will be as reliable. It is scheduled to arrive by the end of the week.

Feasting

 After the quiet of Christmas Day, we had a busy day scheduled for today. The Gorse Fox was up soon after 7:00 and started the day with a Lateral Flow Test... which was negative, thank goodness. (The Silver Vixen started her day in a similar fashion and she too was clear).

Jane, Trevor and the Mask were due for lunch along with Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit. The Gorse Fox had to be ready. Potatoes (several metric tonnes, thereof) were peeled and cut, carrots were prepared, Brussel sprouts were trimmed, parsnips were peeled and trimmed, the ham was carved. The turkey was made ready, and the ingredients for stuffing balls wrapped in bacon, and pigs in blankets were lined up. As the clock ticked by each pieces was moved onto the chess board of lunch. Hobs were fired up, ovens were heated, serving dishes were retrieved from their hideaways. The countdown had begun.

Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit were first to arrive, followed closely by J&T and the Mask. We had a lovely time as the table was dressed and prawn and salmon was laid out for starters. Clearing the starters away, the Gorse Fox served up the main course. It seemed to go down well and everyone seemed to enjoy it. The Mask and the Coventry Hobbit were locked in battle over the consumption of roasted potatoes. In the end the Coventry Hobbit was victorious with some 16 tucked away under his belt. The Mask will have to bring his A-game next year.

While the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen cleared away, Cousteau-Cub, the Coventry Hobbit, J&T and the Mask walked round to see Urban-Cub and Ellie. They could only stand and chat from the garden, but at least they had a chance to see each other.

We had a quiet afternoon and everyone was blessed with some lovely presents from Santa Claus. By six-ish, everyone had left and the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox were left to a quiet evening.

Home Alone

 What a strange, quiet Christmas.

Plans had to change. 

We were scheduled to go and spend Christmas with Urban-Cub. Urban-Cub, however, came down with Covid-19. We adapted. We had the first Christmas at home, by ourselves since 1973. Just the Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen, it was lovely.

The tree is dressed and remains untouched. A side of salmon baked in the oven. A bottle of Prosecco was shared. We exchanged our cards. It really was quite special.

The phone started to buzz. Urban-Cub was up and about and clearly feeling a lot better. We chatted with her and later with Cousteau-Cub.

Urban-Cub needed some extra provisions, so just as we were about to serve up our lunch, we popped round the corner with some eggs and some cream. But this time, Ellie was back from Pistol Pete. She was so excited by the "Barbie's Playhouse" she had received that she played with it the whole time that we were there (Urban-Cub stood out in the garden). Needless to say, it took a lot longer to get away than the Gorse Fox had expected. When we got home, the carrots had roasted themselves to charcoal. It didn't matter, we made do with the salmon, some roast potatoes, and courgettes. (After all, we need to pace ourselves, given the various visitors we are expecting over the next week).

Prep

 The Gorse Fox was up first. He had planned to lie in for a bit longer but Jasper started his Olympic Trampolining routine at boy 7:15 so the Gorse Fox got up in the vain hope that he wouldn't disturb the Silver Vixen.

There were chores to complete this morning. The most important was to get the ham on. This meant cracking out the stock pot that he purchased yesterday.

Onion, carrots, peppercorns, celery, bayleaf, five spice and several litres of Coke (yes, the Real Thing) submerged the ham and the stove was fired up. When it finally reached the right temperature it was left on simmer for two and a half hours. Meanwhile, the Gorse Fox prepared a marinade. It was meant to have maple syrup, but the Gorse Fox realised he didn't have enough... so he replaced it with honey.

Eventually, the simmering was done and the ham left to cool slightly. The rind was peeled off and the remaining fat was scored. The marinade was poured onto the ham and it went into the oven. Over the next 90 minutes it was basted several times. Finally, it was done. It is now wrapped in cling film and sitting in the bottom of the fridge until Sunday.

While faffing about this morning, the Gorse Fox also retrieved the "party" table from the garage and got it all cleaned and set up in the Orangery. It is this time of year that the Oranger morphs into a large dining room.

During the afternoon, the Gorse Fox had a chance to spend some quality time in the Silver Vixen's branches of the family tree. As a result, he has made several corrections, and completed several bits of outstanding research. He also compiled a 4-degree relationship book of the Silver Vixen's relations. This goes through the tree and works out the various degrees of relationship - 1 step removed: parents, siblings, children; 2 steps removed: grandparents, uncles/aunts, 1st cousins, nephews/nieces; 3 steps.... etc. The final documents was some 389 pages of A4. (The Gorse Fox didn't print it!)

Laps

The Gorse Fox was up at his usual time. Though the alarm was not set, he woke and rose at 7:00. There were no specific plans for the day. He did, however, think about the preparation of the ham. Was the saucepan big enough to immerse it? Would the fluid end up all over the stove? He decided to measure the joint. It would not submerge in any existing pan.

The Gorse Fox headed off to John Lewis. Whilst the car park was packed, the store seemed quite empty. The Gorse Fox perused the cookware and, in the end, selected a large stock pot. Now, when he says large, he has realised that the Silver Vixen can actually do laps back and forth across it, and the Gorse Fox would need a Scuba tank, a regulator, fins, and a mask to find the bottom. Oh well, at least the ham will now be covered.

John Lewis was followed by a quick dash round M&S for some milk and some vegetables. It was crammed in there, but as usual, the self-service checkouts were under-used so the Gorse Fox was out within a few minutes.

We have finally heard that Urban-Cub does, in fact, have C-19, but that Ellie is clear. This means that Ellie can go to Pistol Pete over Christmas to give Urban-Cub a bit of relief.

It's been a quiet afternoon. The Gorse Fox did some of Urban-Cub's ironing, then returned to his study for some more family tree research. It was a fruitful session, even if there were no major breakthroughs.

National Service

 The Gorse Fox received the digital copies of his uncle's National Service records from the RAF. Considering the price tag, he was spectacularly disappointed with what came back. Other than provided a couple of dates, it didn't reveal a single fact that the Gorse Fox did not already know. It certainly failed to confirm various stories that he remembers from the uncle's time in the RAF... not necessarily because they were untrue but more likely because of the paucity of the detail that was recorded by the RAF at the time.

Adapt, adapt, adapt

 Though we had changed our phones to allow overnight calls, we had heard nothing. We assumed that Urban-Cub and Ellie had survived the night without incident. We went down for breakfast and waited for news. 

Cousteau-Cub was first to make contact. Though we had offered for them to come to us on Christmas Day, they decided to stay at home, leaving it until Boxing Day. Eventually, we heard from Urban-Cub. There were still no results from her test, but we needed to get Ellie tested. She didn't have any symptoms, but in order for her to see Pistol Pete over the Christmas break, we needed to show that she was fit and healthy - what's more he could take care of her while Urban-Cub was still isolating. The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox collected Ellie and whipped round to the local testing centre. Swabs taken and deposited, we now await the results.

Urban-Cub had planned to do her shopping at work. The kibosh was definitively put on that. The list was sent to the Gorse Fox and he headed out into the Wild West (actually east) that was Sainsbury's. It was an absolute zoo. People were absolutely oblivious of each other and there were severalMexican stand-offs and the carnage of gridlocked trolleys. The Gorse Fox maintained his calm, somehow, and filled the shopping bags. There were only a couple of items he couldn't find. He checked out and headed for Lidl. Bleach was finally located and purchase. Then he remembered he was meant to get raspberries. He headed across to Aldi. Raspberries were added to the trolley and he was done. It had been several hours, but at least the Urban-Cub should be set for the duration of her isolation. (Otherwise, the Gorse Fox will have to do another trip).

Now we just have to wait for the various test results.

Best laid plans

We were meant to be looking after Ellie all day today. The Gorse Fox was up at the usual time, and the Silver Vixen soon followed. By 7:30 Urban-Cub was at the door with Ellie (who had only just woken up). The day had started as expected. During the morning Ellie played with here magnetic letters, her "Numicon" number games, her phonetic flash cards and had started on "Numbots". This was the sort of day that the Gorse Fox hoped would fill the sponge of Ellie's grey matter, ready for more tomorrow.

The Silver Vixen went off to get her hair done, leaving the Gorse Fox and Ellie to get up to mischief. It was while we were working on her Numbots that the phone rang. It was Urban-Cub. She had just tested positive for C-19 on a Lateral Flow Test. It was her second test of the day - the first one being negative. She had been feeling very unwell, so decided to take another. That was it.

Urban-Cub headed home to collect Ellie. As she had been exposed to Urban-Cub, she didn't want her to further risk infecting the Silver Vixen or Gorse Fox. The whole day changed. Urban-Cub headed off for a proper PCR test... and the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen had an unexpectedly quiet afternoon. We are obviously waiting for the results of Urban-Cub's PCR, but suspect that Christmas plans will have to change... and the Gorse Fox will need a further trip to the shops. At least Urban-Cub was able to get all her shopping for the holiday period, though we could pick up anything she needs while isolating.

Countdown

 It is the countdown to Christmas and the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen are looking after Ellie during the day, as school has now broken-up. This meant that we were up at the same time as on school days, but there was no rush to get everything done.

Once we were all ready, we drove in to Chichester. We had some more food shopping on our list as Ocado wouldn't be delivering this week. We created a single list and started at Lidl where we managed to see Urban-Cub and her boss before we left. We got more than half of the items there, then dropped them off at home and the Gorse Fox went back out to Sainsbury's to fulfil the rest of the list. Lidl had been quite civilised, but Sainsbury's was a bit of a zoo. It was very busy and infested by people wandering round in a trance-like state or blocking aisles as they stopped to chat with other shoppers. The Gorse Fox thinks that the little handsets that are used for their "Smart Shopping" experience ought to be adapted to contain a) an air horn; and b) a taser.

We've had a quiet afternoon with Ellie. To start with she wanted to do some writing, then some colouring, and finally wanted to go to a show. This latter item involved moving all the chairs into rows and sitting to watch the TV. We managed to give her dinner during the intermission!

Out of the Frying Pan

 A deliciously lazy start to the day. The Gorse Fox was up soon after 7:15, the Silver Vixen about an hour later. There was nothing planned. There was no reason to hurry. We read the papers and had our breakfast. It was the perfect start.

Frequent readers will have noticed that the Gorse Fox has not mentioned the football. We decided that, with the current resurgence of C-19 Omicron cases, playing indoors was probably asking for trouble. We cancelled the game. The Gorse Fox has, however, taken another lateral flow test during the day, and it has come up negative.

once up and about, we headed in to Chichester. The Gorse Fox was determined to change our current roasting pans and trays. A trip to John Lewis was the chosen solution. The Silver Vixen went off on her own to get some serving dishes, towels and plates. The Gorse Fox waded through the selection of cookware looking for the best or most sensible replacements for our ageing and decaying pans. It took a while to find the right solution, but in the end it seemed like an excellent choice.

The Gorse Fox did look, briefly, at the le Creuset roasting pan. It was £185 and had a lifetime guarantee. Now, the Gorse Fox is (rapidly) approaching 70. £185 seems like a lot of money when the Gorse Fox's lifeline will probably expire many years before that of the the roasting tin.

This afternoon we have been completing some domestic chores and doing a bit more family tree research. Pistol Pete dropped Ellie off and she stayed with us until Urban-Cub got back from work and her booster jab.

Amateur Research

 Another lovely lazy morning. There was the usual cousins' call but then, throughout the day there were the odd chores that needed attention, but most of the day has been focussed on the family tree.

Over the last few days the Gorse Fox has found the various side branches to the Silver Vixen's ancestral tree. He had made a quick drive through the generations to see where it would take us. As far as these families are concerned, we seem to be centred around Frome and Pilton. Today was all about going through those discoveries and filling in whatever details and accompanying evidence were available. It was frustrating at times, but we now have the documented evidence to support the assertions made yesterday. The Gorse Fox can feel the need for a road trip to take some photos and trawl through some graveyards.

On the the subject of evidence and doing "sense checks" - the Gorse Fox has complained before about the stupidity that is found in some online trees. Today he has found another example. He found a case were a certain Katherin did, according to 3 researchers, have her first child at the age of 9. Needless to say, the researchers had just copied each other and none of them had shown the slightest modicum of intelligence. In fact, when it comes to this family the Gorse Fox has concluded that it is a waste of time looking at the trees that "Ancestry" suggests are relevant. Firstly, they are poorly researched, secondly they have no credible sources, and thirdly they waste so much time. For goodness sake people - do it right or don't do it at all.

On a completely unrelated tack, we currently have the Water Board (or whatever they are now called) outside the house. Apparently, there have been problems "upstream" which they have been investigating and are now ensuring there are no further problems near our part of the "flow". The Gorse Fox has just been out to offer them tea, but they declined. It seemed the right thing to do as they were working on a Saturday evening. 

Still rolling

 It was a very relaxed start to the day. No alarm, no visitors, just the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox getting up and about as we were ready. The Silver Vixen had a coffee date with the Stitch Witch but the Gorse Fox had nothing planned.

Once a few domestic chores were out of the way and the Silver Vixen had left for here date, the Gorse Fox returned to his study.

The first task was to find and record extra detail of the people identified yesterday as the Silver Vixen's ancestors. This took a while, but I is nice to get the detail on record. Once this was done, the Gorse Fox ranged across several Genealogy sources to try and find additional details of the individuals in question. In so doing, he has managed, speculatively, to drive the family tree back two further generations. The difficulty is that the Gorse Fox still has to find evidence to change ti details from speculation to fact. The problem is that in the 1500s and 1600s there were few data architects who cared about recording data and linking it both forwards and backwards through generations. Fortunately, however, the families with which we are dealing stayed in a very small area over a number of generations. This, though, introduced ambiguity as they seemed to have very little imagination when it came to naming children. this means that we have, at any one time, several families with the same family name who have children with the same Christian name.The Gorse Fox is still try to work out how he will disambiguate these names.

For now he is happy that he has drive the research to the Silver Vixen's 9 x gt-grandparents who married in 1601in Pilton, Somerset.

On a roll

 Ellie had been coughing a lot during the evening, but finally settled. Though she coughed occasionally during the night, it didn't seem to disturb her. The Gorse Fox got up at the usual time, but we left Ellie to wake when she was ready. 

Urban-Cub popped by on her way to work. The school had dropped a video of Ellie's class performing a Nativity play. It was only about 11 minutes long but it was very sweet and it was clear that Ellie was thoroughly enjoying it. Unfortunately, the video is protected otherwise the Gorse Fox would take a copy for the family archive.

It was the last day of term and we wanted to be sure she was going to enjoy it. We dropped her round at school at the usual time. She was revved up and raring to go.

The rest of the morning went to plan - well, sort of. Ocado delivered and then we got ready for our trip to Sainsbury's. It was good to see that everybody was adhering to the mask rules, as we went round. The front doorbell rang. We ignored it as we were in Sainsbury's and hadn't heard it. Eventually, the Silver Vixen got a phone call. It was Cousteau-Cub. She was outside the front door. She had been too ill to remain at work and had been dropped off by a colleague. We, however, were still two miles away. We suggested she borrow a key from Tinkerbell and we would be back soon.

Cousteau-Cub was clearly suffering. Whether it was asthma or some other condition wasn't totally clear at the time. She was finding it an effort to breathe and her voice had almost gone. We got her to take a Covid test and took her blood oxygen reading. Meanwhile, she contacted the surgery and waited on a call back from the doctor. When he did call, he set up a face to face appointment for her, mid afternoon. She went to lie down for a few hours and we watched as the time ticked by and the Covid test finally reported back as negative. Later, the Gorse Fox took Cousteau-Cub to the doctor's surgery and once she had been seen, given a prescription, and filled it, the Gorse Fox drove her home. She won't be going in to work tomorrow and hopefully that will give the meds a few days to kick-in properly.

While Cousteau-Cub had been sleeping, the Gorse Fox got on with his usual admin and the accounts, then returned to the family tree. He was clearly on a roll. In the space of an hour he drove the Silver Vixen's story back two further generations. Though he hasn't yet got dates nailed down, he suspects we are now in the 1670s. He ran out of time with this research for today but will hopefully get some more time tomorrow.

Urban-Cub has just been along to collect Ellie. She has a day off tomorrow so Ellie will be with her. There has been an outbreak of Covid at the prison so Pistol Pete may not be available to take Ellie this weekend for G-Force are on standby.

Time machine

 The day started much as usual. There was no obvious rent in the space tome continuum. People were going about their business as usual. The Gorse Fox strolled round to Urban-Cub and escorted her and Ellie to school. Back home he changed and then headed out for his football. (The Silver Vixen didn't go to Pilates today, though she did meet up with "the girls" for a coffee).

As Jack had picked the teams for today, we had the usual problem of all the established attackers on one team and the defenders and less mobile on the other. Again it was a bit like The Alamo as we tried to defend wave after wave of attacks. We did fairly well, all things being considered. The Gorse Fox managed to get a foot or leg to three balls which then whistled straight into our own net. Not the sort of hat-trick to boast about. The final score was about 6-5 to the attackers.

Back home the Gorse Fox returned to the family tree until it was time to collect Ellie. With the Silver Vixen's Great-grandmother now identified, it was fairly easy to trace her family. They, like so many families, seemed to stay in the same cluster of villages over a number of years. As a result, the Gorse Fox has managed, without too much effort, to drive that branch of the tree back to 1754 and suspects he can go further but ran out of time before the school pickup.

Cousteau-Cub popped in this evening, on her way back from work. It was lovely to see her, and Ellie commandeered her until dinner was ready. Once we had eaten and things were on an even keel, The Gorse Fox gave Cousteau-Cub a lift home and the Silver Vixen finished a sewing project for Ellie to give to her teaching assistant tomorrow.

Pinball

 After a good night's sleep, the Silver Vixen's alarm came a s quite a shock this morning. It was only 15 minutes later the the Gorse Fox's usual alarm, but he had deliberately switched it off last night. We only had to get ourselves ready today and, once the Gorse Fox was decent, he wandered round to Urban-Cub to escort her and Ellie to school.

Back home, there was just time to change and switch his football kit between cars and then he was off. The roads were a bit quieter than usual, but there seemed to be a lot of indecisive drivers about. They tend to worry the Gorse Fox more than the speeders.

Football was a little trying today. We hadn't really got quiet enough for 4 teams of 5, so ended up playing 9-v-10. On a full sized pitch this would be fine. On a 7-a-side pitch, however, it is dreadful. The pitch is just too crowded and the ball pings around like a pinball. On top of this, it limits the amount of exercise you can get as the pitch is so crowded. Anyway, we had three games. The first was 0-0, the second was a 1-0 win, and the third was a 4-1 win, so it wasn't too bad. The Gorse Fox was pleased with the defending and the interceptions he achieved.

Back home the missing Marriage Certificate had turned up from the PRO. Did this shed any new light on Ellen Louise (the Silver Vixen's Gt-grandmother) - No. It confirmed what the Gorse Fox had already deduced but didn't provide any illumination. He has now got to the point that he has written up his analysis of said Ellen Louise.

There is much confusion surrounding Ellen Louisa. Her story has been traced back through the clues that we were given by her granddaughters, Queenie and Audrey. We know, without doubt, that in the 1950s she lived at a house called Dorval in Pennington, and her surname was Gough. She had been “married” several times and Lydia was her first daughter. 

Tracing back we discover that in 1939 she was married to David Gough and they had only married in the April of that year (in their 70s). She was clearly shown as Ellen Louisa Gough (formerly Crees) on their marriage certificate and in the 1939 Register.

Her granddaughters remember that there were other step-brothers and sisters to Lydia, namely Ellen (Nellie), Florence (Flossie), Henry, and Hilda and that Lydia had the surname Miller in early records even though her father died prior to her birth. We discover that Ellen Louisa Crees had Ellen (1896) and Florence (1898)  with a man named Miller. No marriage certificate can be found even though this was likely to be in the early 1890s. 

By 1903 Ellen Louisa Crees seems to have been living with Henry George Burt near Reading and had a son Harold George (1903) and the evidence suggests that daughter Florence has come with her and has adopted the Burt surname. There is no sign of Lydia nor Ellen.

By 1911, and this is where the speculation gets even more complicated, “Ellen” is living with the widower David Gough in Swanmore, Hants. The 1911 census says they have been married for 1 year and that both Florence and Harold are present in the house as David’s step-children. No marriage certificate can be found, and whilst “Ellen” is shown as the correct age and having been born in Nunney, Somerset - she appears to be recorded as Ann. Chasing the records, there is an Ann Crees. She is Ellen’s sister. She does, however, live near Cheddar at this time and remained there until the early 1950s. Our assumption, therefore, is that Ellen, for some reason is being called Ann. 

While living with David they have two children. Henry was born in 1912, and Hilda in 1915. Henry’s birth certificate records the mother as Ann Louisa Gough (formerly Crees). A DNA test of one of the descendants of Henry shows a 2nd-3rd cousin match with the Silver Vixen so this “Ann” must share DNA with “Ellen”… or be the same person.

By 1939, the name Ellen returns when they marry (and she is shown as “Spinster” and daughter of Josiah Crees). Similarly the record in the 1939 Register.  A month later, in October, David dies. 

Our research hypothesis is that Ellen Louisa Crees and Ann Louisa Crees are the same person and that she never married any of her earlier partners - just adopting their names for convenience. She only married David as he was in declining health and he wanted to make sure she was looked after - so ensured there was a formal marriage on record. 

Note: all of this may change if some further records surface that contradict this hypothesis, but at the moment it seems to be the only narrative that makes sense.

Stamped

 After the morning's school run with Ellie, we buried ourselves in the kitchen. It was grey and damp outside and certainly didn't encourage any excursions.

The Silver Vixen had a call scheduled with a girlfriend. The Gorse Fox used the time to stow all of the residual decorations and their containers back in the garage. He has this down to a fine art, using large plastic crates which slot into predetermined locations in the garage loft. It probably took less than ten minutes all together.

Orangery cleared, the Gorse Fox then plucked up the courage to make a start on the Christmas cards. The labels, printed yesterday, acted as a checklist and, one by one, he worked his way through. When the Silver Vixen finished her call she sat down and joined in the task. It took a few hours but, for the first time in years (if not ever) we got through the whole list in a single sitting. Those destined for the post are all stamped and awaiting a trip to the mail box. The others await hand delivery.

Virtual dust

 A very lazy start to the day. Though the Gorse Fox had lined up the Coventry Hobbit to play football, a late family emergency meant that another player dropped out. We decided to cancel today's game. Frustratingly, this meant that the at the Gorse Fox and Coventry Hobbit didn't get a chance to have a run out.

In a fit of pique the Gorse Fox returned to the family tree. A number of relationship[s still needed to be sorted out, now that the Gorse Fox had the new hypothesis regarding the Silver Vixen's great grandmother. This took a lot longer than expected, but now seems to be correct. He still awaits a number of certificates that will confirm or muddy his hypothesis further Trawling through these dusty archives, albeit virtually, can be both fun and frustrating. At least online archives don't make him sneeze.

The other focus has been the development of the Boxing Day menu. This has taken a little bit of thought, but the Gorse Fox thinks he has everything under control. New Years's Eve, not so much, but he has a focus for the dish even if he currently has no idea what will act as an accompiniment.

Lights

 The day started with the Gorse Fox's usual call with the cousins. This week, cousin Tim has set us a challenge based on the theory of 6 degrees of separation. Each of us was given a target. In the case of the Gorse Fox it was Maria Vane Der Zyl, Chairman of the Jewish Board of Deputies. Now the Gorse Fox has to work out how he would, through contacts (no more than 5), get message to her. A little brain teaser.

Once the call was over we swept into pre-Christmas mode. The decorations were retrieved from the garage and the loft. The Gorse Fox managed the external lighting and the Silver Vixen did what she does best. She worked here way round the tree, the living room, the kitchen, the orangery, and the hall and, bit by bit, the house was transformed. It still seems at least a week too early, but it is done.

Talking of being early, the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen are a tad late with our Christmas cards. While she was busy with the decorations, the Gorse Fox retired to the study and dug out the instructions that he had so carefully written last year. The idea was that these instructions would ensure that the printing of address labels would go smoothly this year.

A great theory.

Microsoft had clearly made another minor change to MS Word. The simple creation of the labels went smoothly, but the suppression of blank address lines again caused problems. With reference to Mr Google, the Gorse Fox is heartened to see that a) he is by no means the only person to have been affected, and b) there was a solution. Having got to the point of printing the labels, he then found that he had insufficient labels remaining. The nice man from Amazon should rectify that tomorrow.

Just to close the loop, the Gorse Fox has updated his instructions on label creation in preparation for next year, by which time Microsoft will, no doubt, have updated Word and changed the damned process again.

To close another loop, the Gorse Fox's cousin Sarah has filled in a document that gives the Gorse Fox permission to get the full detail of his uncle's RAF service history. The Gorse Fox has completed his part of the document and returned it to the RAF.

Confused

 It was a crisp, cold day. No cloud dared sully the crystal clear blue of the sky - if wrapped up warm, it was gorgeous. Ellie had ended up staying with us overnight. She played up for Urban-Cub at bedtime and, in the end, we told Urban-Cub to bring her back here so Urban-Cub could get some sleep. It took a while for her to settle, but she eventually dropped off and slept through until morning.

We dropped Ellie off at school then had a quiet breakfast before heading into Chichester. The Gorse Fox had a late morning appointment at the chiropodist and we planned to have lunch in town after that. Fortunately, the bus ran on time so we were not waiting for long in the cold. The Gorse Fox went and had his treatment then met up with the Silver Vixen and we headed to "ASK Italian". We had a lovely lunch, and as we had used the bus, the Gorse Fox could have a beer. The Silver Vixen chose the Pollo Milanese and the Gorse Fox had the Stromboli Pizza. Both were delicious and neither of us could have eaten another thing. Very satisfying. We strolled back to the bus stop. Four minutes later our carriage hove into view. Ten minutes later we were home.

Pistol Pete arrived just before 15:00. He had a day off and wanted to come along to collect Ellie from school. We hadn't told her that this was in plan so it was a lovely surprise for her when she emerged from the classroom. Once home, we loaded his car and the two of them headed off for the weekend. Apparently they have a panto scheduled for tomorrow in Worthing and then they are putting up Pistol Pete's decorations on Sunday.

Back on the Family Tree the Gorse Fox has been delving deeper. He is now beginning to hypothesise that the Silver Vixen's Gt-grandmother didn't actually marry some of her partners, and only married her final partner (just before he died) after they had been together for 20 years, and that she was known as both Ellen Louisa and Annie Louisa. It is confusing and seems strange, but the DNA facts that have come back from a distant cousin and the details shown on relevant birth certificates seem to support this hypothesis. The Gorse Fox is now trying to determine how he can prove or disprove it.

Progress

 Ellie slept well. She got a solid 12 hours and didn't emerge until the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen were both moving about. We went through the usual schedule and marched her off to school. Though she had completed her homework, she hadn't uploaded it to her SeeSaw account on her laptop. We had to stop off and collect the laptop from Urban-Cub's on the way home. It took a little bit of fiddling around, but the Gorse Fox able to submit the photographed homework without too many dramas.

The rest of the morning was taken up with the usual shopping delivery and top-up excursion.

After lunch, the Gorse Fox returned to his research. He wasn't able to discover anything in the hour or so before we collected Ellie. As we walked to the school he bemoaned the fact that it takes 4 days to get the PDF copies of the certificates and how he was getting impatient. By the time we got home, the PDF were nestling in his email account... two days early. He has had a quick look at the images and already discovered something new and confirmed some suspicions. The game is, once more, afoot.

As he was dealing with the new certificates he also got an email from the RAF genealogy coordinator. The Gorse Fox's request had been received and was being handled. It could take up to 8 weeks to get the documents, but would the Gorse Fox like them in paper or digital format. He obviously chose digital... and now he waits.

Ellie is back home tonight and we have just got back from walking her round. We had only been there a few minutes before Urban-Cub arrived home.

Caged

 The day started with the Silver Vixen's alarm. She likes to be up sharpish on Wednesday so that she can get ready for Pilates. The Gorse Fox takes a slightly different approach and, as Ellie wasn't here, he wanders downstairs to make the tea and coffee then read the news. Once the Silver Vixen comes down he returns to get ready for football, then puts on some normal clothes over the top in order to walk Ellie to school with Urban-Cub.

Silver Vixen headed off and the Gorse Fox soon followed. Football today was limited to 5-a-side so we played in one of the cages instead of the usual pitches. The Gorse Fox likes playing in the cages because the ball never goes out of play. It makes it a good and continuous workout. The game went well today. The Gorse Fox managed some stout defending, several assists, and a goal of his own in our 12-6 win. Very satisfying.

The afternoon was spent watching a YouTube video regarding book creation from Family Tree Maker. It was informative but about 6 times longer than it needed to be. While this was going on, he marinated some pork fillet, which we cooked for dinner this evening. This is a recipe he will do again, it was delicious.

Home Alone

 The forecast was dreadful. We had an amber weather warning as Storm Barra hit the coast. Having had his booster jab yesterday and not being in the mood to get soaked to the skin (for the second day running), the Gorse Fox decided to stay put today and not play football.

The Silver Vixen had plans. She was meeting with a girlfriend for Christmas lunch over at Eartham. She would clearly be gone for hours, so the Gorse Fox was home alone. He thought about building a series of booby traps but decided that Jasper wouldn't see the joke so he made use of the time by cleaning the oven then getting on with some admin. New driving licence was first on the agenda. This was a very simple online questionnaire and was soon tucked away. Next, he renegotiated his mobile phone service contract. Not a huge saving, but extra data and 5G service for a saving of 3GBP per month. (Not that either of our phones currently support 5G... but no doubt the next ones will). Finally, he erected the new Christmas tree that the Silver Vixen had purchased yesterday. It's not decorated, but it is up and ready for the tender loving care that will bestowed upon it next weekend.

Back in the study, the Gorse Fox returned to his research. This is going well and we now have driven the Silver Vixen's paternal grandmother's line back to about 1759. It was not a smooth process, but the Gorse Fox is happy with the results and can corroborate all the facts in the tree. There was one glitch during the afternoon, but a swift online chat with the developers rectified the problem. There are still some peculiar gaps in the story and the Gorse Fox has ordered some birth certificates to try and make sense of things. They will take 3 or 4 days to come through.

Talking of certificates. The Gorse Fox received the death certificate for his uncle today. This meant that he could go onto the government records portal and request a copy of his uncle's service records. That's all done and now he just has to wait.

Key Moments

 The week started in the usual fashion with Ellie being dropped off. She had been up early and was already dressed and ready for school. All we had to do was get her some breakfast and walk her to the school.

The Silver Vixen had plans. There were cards that were not going to buy themselves. Also, she was so taken with Urban-Cub's Christmas tree that she thought she would get a similar one. Off she went to Chichester, leaving the Gorse Fox to his own devices.

We had a slot booked at the local recycling centre. This meant digging out all of the detritus that we needed to dispose of. This was done in the pouring rain and soon the back of the car was loaded to the gunwhales. The time slot approached and the Gorse Fox headed off. He was the only person at the centre. Bit by bit the car was unloaded and the detritus sorted into the correct containers. The rain continued to pour and the Gorse Fox was getting very wet. Finally, the car was empty. 

This is where it all went a bit silly. The Gorse Fox should explain. He was worried that in the process of emptying the car and traipsing back and forth to the containers that he might drop the car keys. Now the Skoda a a neat little recess for the keys to nestle. It seemed like a good idea to leave them there safely. With the car finally empty, the Gorse Fox closed the boot and as he grabbed the front door it slipped from his wet hand and closed. There was an ominous click. The car had self-locked. The Gorse Fox was standing in the pouring rain and the car was sitting there smirking. Fortunately, his mobile phone was in his pocket. He called the Silver Vixen. She grabbed the spare keys and asked Old Bill to run a rescue mission. Ten minutes or so later the keys were handed over to the drowned rat and he was able to drive home.

This is a mistake he will not make again.

The final excitement for the day was the Gorse Fox going in to Bognor Regis and getting his Covid booster shot. He has been waiting for several weeks for this, and was particularly narked when he got both and email and text message from the NHS today. The gist of the message was "Oi, you are eligible and still haven't been jabbed. Get on with it". Given that the Gorse Fox has been trying to get an appointment for weeks, he was no best pleased.

Too Good to be true

 A gentle start to the day followed by a drive across to Ford for the obligatory football. It t was an interesting mix of players today. Most were good, without being exceptional. This made for a good friendly game with no egos on show. The Gorse Fox had selected the teams and his algorithm had created an attack/dense imbalance. The Yellow team were predominantly attackers. The Gorse Fox's Orange team were predominantly defenders. With today's make up, this meant the Gorse Fox had to attack far more than usual. The final score worked out 6-4 in the Orange teams favour. The Gorse Fox managed a hat-trick, had one ball roll along the goal line, hit both posts, and hit the cross bar. It was nice to wander across the halfway line for a change.

Back home he returned to the Silver Vixen's enigmatic grandmother. As the Gorse Fox suspected, yesterday's breakthroughs were too good to be true. Some of yesterday's hypotheses and finds unravelled but in so doing they started to tally with the reminiscences that the Silver Vixen's Aunt Queenie had written down. Whilst some of the original thoughts weren't quite correct, the information started to stack up. There are still some anomalies that need to be bottomed out. The Gorse Fox is, however, convinced he is on the right track. He has to keep reminding himself that the DNA doesn't lie... but suspects he will never find her great-grandfather on that side of the family.

Lost and Found

 A very lazy start to the day... with a call to the cousins. It is clear that living up North has its problems as young Tim sat there in his fleece and bobble hat to fend off the cold of a failed central heating system. The Gorse Fox resisted the temptation to say how bright and sunny it was here in the South.

The Gorse Fox returned to the family tree. Despite his determination, yesterday, that he would pursue the Silver Vixen's grandmother no further, he got distracted. He started to try and record some of the DNA matches, however tenuous, in his database. One of these clearly linked through the Silver Vixen's Gt-grandmother. This got his thinking. Is there an obtuse route by which he can start to solve the enigma. DNA at least gives a confirmation of familial links. What about starting with a DNA match and working back?

This took a full day of research and the development of a timeline for the family over 100+ years. What became clear was that the Silver Vixen's Gt-Grandmother married her deceased sister's husband. Thereby lay the confusion. The research is not complete, but the Gorse Fox is fairly sure that he finally has a solid set of defensible sources that identify her Gt-grandmother without any doubt. There are still gaps that need to be filled, but he is (finally) happy that he understand that part of the Silver Vixen's pedigree.

A message came in, mid afternoon. Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit had "lost" Harley (their dog). It had run off while they were up at Goodwood and despite a couple of hours of calling and chasing, they had not managed to find him. This was, obviously, very upsetting and they asked for help on Facebook. As it happens "a dog and owner that we know from the park found her near the car park at Goodwood and bought her back to Florence Park". Panic over. This perhaps being a lesson not to let the dogs run loose... or to endow them with an Apple Tag (or similar) so that they can be tracked at all times.

Done.

 Ellie slept solidly for a good 12 hours. In theory, this should mean that we too slept solidly. In practice, Jasper decided that he should start his training for the National Trampolining Competition soon after 5:00. By 5:45 the Gorse Fox had had enough and went down to see whether he had forgotten to set the timer on the automatic feeder. He hadn't. In fact, if he had left it another 60 seconds it would have opened without intervention. He intervened. He snuck back to bed for another hour.

The usual morning routine kicked in. Breakfast, ablutions, school clothing (gym kit today) and then off to school. When we got back we had breakfast and got on with various domestic chores before the Gorse Fox  sat down with the accounts.

All of the business out of the way, he returned to the enigmatic Nan. He searched newspaper archives, he searched electoral roles, he search census turns, he search births, marriages, and deaths. He re-read the letters from the Silver Vixen's aunt. He has concluded that banging his head against a glass encrusted brick wall would be far more relaxing and probably satisfying in comparison. He has been unable to find one single corroborating fact all week. 

He is well and truly done. 

Enough. 

That's it. 

She can sit and wait in the notebook util the Gorse Fox next has the urge to have another swing at it.

Spaghetti logic

 It was a lovely cold and crisp day. Bright blue skies and plenty of sunshine bathed the South Coast - all was as it should be.

Ellie slept through and exploded into life soon after seven (she's like her grandfather for that). Dropping her at school the Gorse Fox returned for breakfast and the usual domestic activities for a Thursday morning.

Once everything was done, the Gorse Fox returned to the research. The links examined yesterday had unravelled. The Gorse Fox was back at first principles again. This time, he added some old letters to the starting data. These letters were written by the Silver Vixen's aunt (daughter of the enigmatic Nan). These letters ramble on for pages in a punctuation-free stream of consciousness. Unpicking them is a nightmare. After an hour or two the Gorse Fox had reacquainted himself with some of the ancillary facts. Whether they will prove useful or not, time will tell. (After all, the Gorse Fox has gone through this process several times before). The stage is set for the next exercise of genealogical futility.

Records

The important news today is that Cousteau-Cub starts her new job. We hope that it goes well and she enjoys it - hopefully we'll get an update later. 

It was milder today. The Gorse Fox had the usual escort duties for Urban-Cub and Ellie's trip to school. Then after a quick breakfast, the Silver Vixen headed off to Pilates and the Gorse Fox headed off to football.

Football was a 7-v-7 game in bright sunshine. The sun is low in the sky so the Gorse Fox had trouble distinguishing the colours of players if they were between him and the sun. He wasn't alone. It seems that most of us had a similar problem. The first half was very tight, finishing 4-3 to the Gorse Fox's orange team. The second half wasn't quite so successful. Despite a handful of critical blocks from the Gorse Fox we still managed to concede a few more goals. In the end we lost 8-6. It has one;y been 2 weeks since he played, but his passing was off, even if his defending was pretty good. Hopefully another game will see some accuracy returning.

After lunch the Gorse Fox returned to the family tree. The first task was to complete some forms for the Canadian Archives and get them sent off. Hopefully, he will get his father's Naval records back before long. He then returned to the mysterious grandmother and her ancestors. Yesterday, he thought he had found a thread that was worth investigation. Today he pulled on that thread and everything started to unravel. He needs a good and intensive session, but fears this is one enigma (with many variations) that will never be solved.

Once we had collected Ellie from school we got back to creating her fire safety poster. She and the Silver Vixen did a very good job of sticking the various warning pictures to a roll of wallpaper. When it was finished, the Gorse Fox fired up the video so that her school teacher could see the poster and Ellie could explain it.