Toni’s Blog

18th December

It’s nearly Christmas.  I know this because my Tesco order had quite a few bottles in with the food!

Have you seen the Christmas tele programmes for the holidays?  I really hope you’ve all got plenty of DVDs on your Christmas list, there are so many repeats on this year.  Mind you Victoria Wood is a must.  It’s lovely to see her back on the tele.  

What will you be watching on tele over the holidays?  I’ve already planned my Christmas Day viewing.  If I can stay awake after dinner and a delectable bottle of sparkling Pinot Noir!  There are two films I’m really looking forward to.  First one is Kiss Me Kate with Howard Keel, immediately followed by White Christmas.  I really love that film, and by the time they open the doors and it’s snowing I’m in flood of tears.  Hope Santa brings me a big box of tissues!

So much has been happening since I last wrote anything.  I did have a lovely time in Wales.  It rained, of course, but then it was Wales.  Meeting members of my family for the first time was so good.  Thank you to Sue, Gareth and Fiona for the lovely spread they put on, and the copious cups of tea!  But the special part of the visit was meeting Nora and Jim.  Jim is my father’s nephew, which makes him my first cousin.  At long last I was to find out about my father as a man, not only a Dad.  

We take our parents so much for granted, but before we were born they had lives.  What did they do?  What sort of characters were they?  No doubt our kids will one day think the same of us.  Dipping into history is a fascinating pastime, especially when it’s your own.  

I also found out about my cousin who was hanged in Cardiff jail.  It’s a terrific story.  His name was Dick Penderin and he was found guilty of murder.  He protested his innocence to the very end, but they all do that, don’t they.  However, quite a few people took up the cause to clear his name and a few years ago his name was cleared.  It seems someone else committed the murder and set Dick up to be the scapegoat.  

Yesterday I posted my grandson’s birthday present.  It was on 12th November - sorry George!  I also sent all my Christmas cards.  Feeling really pleased that it was a job well done and everyone would get everything before Christmas, I forgot all about the Mobile Library van!  These senior moments are increasing! The Library won’t be around again until after Christmas, but I’ve got plenty of unread books adorning my bookshelves.

Every year in Skeffling we have a carol service in our church, St. Helen’s.  Unfortunately, as it was built in the 1400's it’s showing its age and the earthquake earlier in the year didn’t help. Basically there are huge cracks in the structure and large chunks of it are falling down. So we can’t use the church until English Heritage have done their bit and repairs have been made.  Instead we’re using the Village Hall for the carols.  That should be fun.  It’s not the usual church service, just a good excuse to belt out Christmas carols, meet friends, give them the cards you forgot to send, and have a glass of sherry and mince pie.  Although I believe it’s going to be tea, coffee and mince pies this year.

There’s a new category of story this time.  Christmas Stories.  I showed one of them to a friend yesterday, and she complained bitterly that it made her cry.  Well, that was the idea!  It’s titled  LONELY CHRISTMAS and is a beautiful story with a Christmas message for everyone.

Tom’s coming round in about an hour to do my ‘technical support’ bits, so I’d better get this finished.  Last week my computer really threw a wobbler and it took Tom just over seven hours to put it right!  They’re wonderful machines, till they go wrong.  I’ve got an uncanny feeling I might have to start looking for a new one in 2010!

6th November

Last night, being Bonfire Night, I went to our Village Hall for the annual Bonfire Fire display.  It’s organised by local people and is always a great night.  Families come from a lot of the neighbouring villages as it’s the only proper firework display in the area.  While you’re watching the fireworks you can munch on a burger or a hot dog and sample a mugfull of home-made chicken soup.

It’s been a busy week trying to get everything done before next Monday.  Why?  Because I’m off to Wales, Llanelli in fact, on an ancestry searching trip, and to meet for the first time a cousin I met on Genes Reunited.  I’m going with two friends, Jean and Martin, and really looking forward to it.  

Delving into old family records and finding out how our predecessors lived is fascinating.  Now and again you stumble on an amazing story.  It’s a great way to get the imagination working, too.  Especially when you come across a relative who had three children with no mention of their fathers, or a husband!  There has to be a LOVE ZONE story there somewhere!

My own family history has a few dark secrets.  The last man to be hanged in Cardiff jail was a cousin of mine!  Now that’s something I want to look into.  Unfortunately, most of my relatives who could have told me about it from memory are no longer with us.  Which goes to prove, if you want to know more of your family history ask someone while you still can.

Now I’d better go and pack or I’ll be wearing the same clothes for a week.  

Odd isn’t it, I haven’t gone yet but I’m already looking forward to coming back and working on the website.  It’s become really compulsive, and I’m loving every minute...

27th October

First of all, thank you to everyone who’s been visiting LOVE ZONE.  I’m really thrilled, I just hope you liked what you saw.  Please leave me a comment so I’ll know the sort of stories you like.

Since I started this I’ve changed things a bit.  12 times to be exact.  My next job is to put another story on.  I’ve already chosen it, and it’s all about young love.  It’s an emotional one, so it might tug your heartstrings a bit.

As well as working on LOVE ZONE I also write a monthly newsletter for the village I live in.  It’s called Skeffling News and I try to make it lively and interesting.  I did get a complaint the other day - apparently I got the blue bin date wrong.  Well, you can’t win ‘em all.

On top of that I’m Parish Clerk to Skeffling Parish Council.  I’ve been doing the job for 10 years now, and it’s an interesting one.  It means I can give something back to the community who were so welcoming to me when I first moved here.

Skeffling is a small village in the East Riding of Yorkshire.  There are 55 houses, and everyone knows everyone.  In a nice way...   For such a small place there’s quite a lot goes on, and we haven’t even got a pub!  

Oh, I forgot to tell you.  At the beginning of the year, Tom - you’ll be hearing a lot about Tom and Charmain, my very best friends in the world - started his website which is all about Skeffling.  It’s really taken off now, all due to his hard work and initiative.  He’s very generously given me my own Blogspot!  It’s called Toni’s Blog, and I can put anything I like on it.  So all the things I can’t say in Skeffling News - which has to be proper and give people information - I can put on the Blog.   Vent your spleen, he told me, so I do!

I’m currently on a mission to get our local bus company to provide us with a decent bus.  BT wants to put a wind farm in one of our local fields, right on the edge of the main road.  There’s a lot of strong feeling against this, so I can see that becoming a favourite topic in the future.

It’s only a small village, but it’s never dull!  

15th October

It’s my birthday today, and I was determined to get LOVE ZONE up and running so I’d have two things to celebrate.

Creating a website has been a daunting experience and I couldn’t have done it without the help of my friend, Thomas Hessell, who’s responsible for teaching me how and putting up with my hysterics and constantly repeated questions. He’s been very patient and I sincerely thank him for that.

Another pile of thanks goes to Shauna Nicholson who’s responsible for the graphics.  She’s filled a folder with different logos and is currently drawing ‘cute people’ for me to illustrate some of the stories.  Shauna is still at school but already showing a serious talent for art and writing.  I’m hoping she’ll write me a story for the Guest Writer’s page.

I’ve written over 400 short stories, most of which will appear on LOVE ZONE. My aim is to introduce new titles every two weeks, and I hope you’ll come back and read them.

Tom and I have tinkered around with the website and tried to make it as user friendly as possible.  If you do find something which you think could be improved please leave a message on the COMMENTS page and we’ll give it due consideration.

You’ll notice LOVE ZONE change as time goes on.  That’s mainly because I’ll be getting better at presenting the stories.  If you’ve got a website, or knows someone who has, you’ll know what I mean.

Well, it’s the early hours of the morning now, and I’m really, really tired, so it’s time for some beauty sleep.

I hope you enjoy reading LOVE ZONE as much as I’ve enjoyed creating it...