During and after World War II, both of my father’s sisters were nurses. My Aunt Sigrid, the eldest, six years older than my father, began training as a nurse at the age of 18, in 1931, – the minimum age at the time. At the time my father’s family were
Does anyone still recite the nursery rhyme “Monday’s child”? I believe it was written to help children learn the days of the week. It goes: Monday’s child is fair of face Tuesday’s child is full of grace Wednesday’s child is full of woe Thursday’s child has
Dr Seuss usually knew what he was talking about, but he obviously did not know my family. Amongst a raft of other things I found in my parent’s house after their respective deaths, were an awful lot of maps, both old and new. Pictured above are three examples. Unfortunately the
The early years of the 20th century seem to have promoted conflict in a number of countries, especially in Europe. As I’m typing this, I am travelling on a train from Belfast to Dublin, having spent a couple of interesting days in what is still a walled city. My first