Joan Bartlett’s lockdown Pages

Joan’s Lockdown

BWG Ladies I have decidedto take up Liz Dobson's suggestion in her latest email and write of all the things I have been doing since the latest lockdown at the end of March.

On 5th April, I was due at the British Club for Monday Mahjong and on the Tuesday I was booked at Panipa to be pampered neither of which took place! My hair is so long now that I have to hold it back with a hairband! I am not too downhearted as I have been very busy besides doing the squares for Sister Louise.

In 2016 my niece asked me to write of our familyhistory before her father was born as he is ten years younger than me. I did so but on reviewing it,and at the same time,my eldest grandson in England asked me for information of my life. So that is one thing I have been doing. I was born in Kent in 1934 so have been all through the war, remembering the skies in the far distance lit up from the fires burning in London as a result ofthe bombs dropped from German bombers flyingoverhead. I have been through rationing and cameout unscathed, in fact we were all perfectly healthy, the only thing was the awful dried egg aswe were only allowed about one fresh egg a week! The document has grown as my memories have been stimulated by other members of my family and it also has photographs included. It will eventually be bound into a book for the future generationsin England, Australia and Thailand.

Whilst writing this document I have also been working on another one. My late husband was in the army for almost thirty years and once we were married,I moved around with him when there were married quarters available, although sometimes we had to wait a few months. We have been in Germany three times, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and various places in England.I enjoyed this life and the friends we made then are still our friends today. So,I decided to make a timeline of all the postings my husband had, the schools my sons attended and latterly the jobs I had and the people we had met and the fun we had.

As some of you ladies already know I also trace my Family Tree and I have been doing this since my late sixties.I wish I had started earlier but I was fortunate that during the latter part of the war my sister and I lived with my maternal grandparents and my Grandfather told me a lot about his family and indeed I met a few of them. He was one of seventeen!! I have managed to trace his side back to 1714. I do not think I will get further back as one needs to visit churches and graveyards and of course I am unable to do this now. This is the reason I wish I had started earlier whilstI was still in England and still driving.

In between that I have been rereading Agatha Christie, doing my Sudokuand Codeword puzzle books, and my household jobs. We do not have a house maid so certain jobs are my responsibility. I exercise by going up and down stairs as wehave63 of them!