We have a very confusing little mystery and in the absence of Hercule Poirot, Robbie has been investigating. Just after Christmas I noticed that my tea had a funny taste, at first I thought it was just my imagination but then Robbie noticed that his coffee tasted a bit odd too. He insisted that the problem could be traced back to his mishap on Boxing Day when a bottle of vanilla essence launched itself out of the cupboard and spilled on to the worktop. He thought that some of the vanilla essence must have gone into the kettle, it seemed a bit of a long shot, but it could have been the cause of the trouble. After a couple of days I made a close inspection of the inside of the kettle and found that it was a bit greasy. I gave it a good clean and rinsed it about twenty times before drying it with a paper towel, but I didn't have a chance to test it before I went to work.
When I got home from work Robbie made me a cup of tea and to my dismay it still had a horrible taste. More detective work followed which led to us replacing the kettle in case there was something wrong with the other kettle. The first cup of tea seemed a bit better but then things went down hill and the nasty taste was back. I tasted the water from the cold tap and it seemed fine, but the water in the kettle had a horrible taste so the mystery deepened.
We had almost given up hope, but earlier this evening Robbie showed me the jug that he uses to fill the kettle. I always fill the kettle straight from the tap, but Robbie is a creature of routine and he insists that the correct way to do it is to use a jug. Unfortunately the jug that he uses is the old plastic measuring jug that I use to make gravy etc. It always gets washed up but I think it must be the jug that is tainting the water, I will replace it when I go shopping, but from now on Robbie will use a glass jug to fill the kettle. We have had two decent cups of tea since replacing the jug so we have our fingers firmly crossed. I hope we have solved the problem
If you asked Robbie he would tell you that I am pretty good at spotting clues and gathering evidence, as he has found to his cost in the past - I don't miss much! Unfortunately the detective work that I am engaged in at the moment is even more difficult than keeping tabs on Robbie, because the clues are old and there is no one left who can tell me if my conclusions are correct. It is like trying to complete a jigsaw when most of the pieces are missing. That is the 'joy' of family history research, reaching out to grasp detail that you know is there but it is tantalisingly out of reach.
Over the last few days I have been making renewed efforts to identify the people in my grandmothers photo album. There are lots of photos of my dad, poor chap, I thought I'd had some dodgy outfits in my time but you should see what my grandma dressed him in! I also recognise my grandfather, my grandma and some of her siblings but most of the other people are strangers to me. I don't know if I should be grateful to my grandma for preserving the photos or infuriated that she didn't label any of them. Even the few that have writing on the back have proved challenging. I was overjoyed when I eased a photo of a family group out of the album and found that it had writing on the back, but my pleasure was short lived. The writing wished my grandmother a happy Christmas wit love from "us all". There should be a law against such things, if I had my way people would be compelled to write first names and surnames on the back of each photo!
My advice to others is not to jump to conclusions and to ask lots of questions, however foolish they sound, because that will give you more chance of getting to the truth. Thanks to the good people on the Roots Chat forum I now know more about my great uncle Frank Buswell. He died in World War 1 and his obituary described him as 'Driver Frank Buswell of the Royal Field Artillary'. To me a driver is a person who sits in a vehicle behind a steering wheel so I wondered why his uniform included spurs and a riding crop. I assumed that it must be some sort of tradition, but today I plucked up the courage to ask why. One of the Roots Chat members patiently explained that As a driver he would have rode/Controlled teams of horses that pulled the guns and equipment of the Royal Field Artillery so he would have worn spurs etc. Another mystery solved and in the process I have gained a more accurate picture of his military service.
When it comes to family history, finding answers is only part of the problem, the most difficult thing is finding the questions. There are things we do not know we don't know!
I went to bed at about midnight and left Robbie fighting a losing battle with his computer. His whole iTunes library has vanished without trace, apparently even artificial intelligence is offended by the stuff that Robbie calls music! I listened to my radio for a bit and then I settled down to sleep. Some time later I was was woken by a strange noise. In that semi sleep state I tried hard to make sense of the noise. It was rather like the noise of the filter in the big fish tank in the orthodontists waiting room, a sort of watery sucking noise. I knew we didn't have a fish tank and I could tell the noise was close by so I had to wake up and investigate. When I was fully awake it didn't take very long to solve the mystery, Robbie had given up on the iTunes and had come to bed and had decided to cheer himself up by chewing a chocolate toffee!! I put two pillows over his head but the chewing and sucking went on and on for ages, I'm sure a gobstopper wouldn't have lasted that long. Words were exchanged and I don't think he will do that again!
