Tuesday September 12th 2023

 It's the day of the mini-cousins' get-together - a half-dozen or so out of the total of about 30 of us are meeting today at my cousin Jeannette's house in Beaconsfield, and Lois and I have just spent the night in a huge bed at an 18th century coaching inn nearby, so we're first to arrive at Jeannette's house at 11.30am.  

No surprise there, because all the other cousins are having to drive 50 to 100 miles or more to get there, and you know how we old codgers drive, don't you haha!!!

Yes, just like actor Duncan Preston's father - YOU remember what Duncan said about it, don't you!

Oh dear - and I know Lois and I must look like that on all the "speed" cameras, checking to see if we aren't going too slow to be on the motorway. Still, what can you do? When you're old, you're old, I'm afraid and there's no going back, is there.  

[I'm glad you've admitted that at last! - Ed]

(left to right) Gwen ("Old" John's wife), Chris ("Young" John's wife),

Susan (standing), "Young John" and Alan (Jeannette's husband) 

(left to right) Jeannette, Susan, David, Lois, "Old" John, Alan,

Liz, "Young" John, and Roger (Liz's husband)

It's very nice having a chat with my cousin Susan, who lives in Monument, Colorado. I manage to get her take on US politics, which is nice. She's lived in the US for - what? - 50 years or so?

Susan is in the UK for a couple of weeks, but she had a bit of bad luck with a fall 2 days ago, which left her with bruises to her face and tiny band-aids all over her nose. She's full of praise for the NHS which is nice to hear. For her sake, however, I try to avoid taking close-up portrait photos of her - poor Susan!!! 

Lois and I have a very pleasant afternoon at Jeannette's. The great thing is that it's just non-stop talk, talk, talk, which is a real change from our normal day-to-day lives. We have a really fun time until people start leaving around 3pm - well, we're all old codgers, aren't we. We're not going to be staying out beyond 4pm at the latest are we - we've all got to get home for our tea, haven't we! Be realistic!!!

my selfie with Liz, as "Young" John looks on

Lois and I aren't used to a lot of chat, either, because usually from day to day, it's just her and me, rattling around in our new-build home like 2 peas in a drum, and we've been married for 51 years, so we don't have to talk non-stop any more. And as the afternoon draws to a close, I get the feeling that my conversation is becoming more and more rubbishy, so it's definitely time to call it a day, and allow Jeannette and husband Alan time to clear up and relax and get their lives back. They're the oldest out of the lot of us after all, so be fair !!!!

We try to have a farewell group photo of the cousins before people start leaving - but it's all a bit shambolic. Nobody shouts "Say cheese!", or says "Ready, everyone?", and nobody tells Lois and Alan (Jeannette's husband) that they're not supposed to be in this photo, but what the heck eh!!!

(left to right) "Young" John, Liz, me, Jeannette, Susan from Colorado USA,

David (our new cousin identified by a DNA test,), "Old" John, 

with non-cousin intruders Lois and Alan

Yes, we're all old  codgers now - how different it was in the very first of these "cousin get-togethers", back in 1987, when we cousins were all the young (or youngish) parents in our 40's or so, with both our children and our own parents in tow.

flashback to 1987 - the whole gathering, with my red Vauxhall Astra 

and my father's dark-blue Austin Mini to be seen parked in the background

ringed are my parents, Lois and me

ringed here are our two daughters Alison (12) and Sarah (10)

Happy days !!!! But that was 36 years ago, wasn't it, which is a long time in anybody's life, that's for sure. Oh dear !!!!!

16:00 Lois and I go back to our room at the coaching inn, get into our big bed for a while, to get our strength back, and then we watch a load of TV.

my "arty" picture of us watching TV, as reflected in the stylish

glass stand of the table we're sitting at: the TV picture top left

and Lois's feet bottom right - classy picture, isn't it haha!

We see a nostalgic documentary about the Great Floods that hit most of the UK but particularly our own county, Gloucestershire, back in 2007. 

Do you remember those floods? After weeks of heavy rain both our big local rivers, the Avon and the Severn, burst their banks at the same time, which was unfortunate, transforming the 900-year-old Tewkesbury Abbey into an island. 

Tewkesbury Abbey, seen here in happier times,

before the great floods of July 2007

flashback to July 2007: the 900-year-old Tewkesbury Abbey

transformed into a virtual island - yikes !!!!

Yes, yikes !!!!

And yes, the whole county of Gloucestershire was suddenly transformed into a third-world country, because the flooding ruined the local water-treatment works and later the local electricity substations, so that, for instance, the Army had to deliver water to every street-corner in the form of great big blue "bowsers".

Here, Tim Brain, the former Chief Constable of Gloucestershire recalls the crisis: 

Yikes !!!! Bowsers delivered by the Army was his suggested solution, and so for 2 weeks, Lois and I, like all the other 350,000 people living in the county, had to collect our water every day from these bowsers, filling up our  jugs and bottles, and any containers we could lay our hands on.

a typical street bowser in the days of the Great Floods of 2007

- what a madness it all was! And real "third world"  !!!!

These bowsers were supplemented by huge packs of bottled water delivered by the Army to supermarket car-parks - one per customer.

What a crazy world we lived in, back in those far-off days!!!

But on the plus side the bowsers were a good chance to chat to the neighbours about the previous night's TV programmes, that's for sure. Do you remember some of those "bowser moments" ? I'm sure you do!!!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!