Some Thoughts and Memories

  The place where I live in is in one of the flats of the large council place in Chalvey, Slough. The roof at the time of writing is going through a "comprehensive restoration" notably with new tiles replacing old ones. It is not everyday that something like this happens.  The flats are surrounded by metal rods with planks of wood to support the people doing this huge task. It is rather strange at times to see workers with their hard hats so close to one's flat window chatting away and joking at times. Drill like sounds can be heard on occasion as well as loud knocking sounds!   The initial scaffolding around the flats in Chalvey. More was later added. The photo was taken  on a gloomy morning!   More scaffolding and a yellow metal dumpster plus what appears to be a red coloured shute for rubbish from the roof.   The flats from behind where the resident parking spaces are...                    ...

 

 

    Public library computer which I use  for research and writing on a regular basis. Note plastic coloured  folders  for my work on the table. An Asian friend can be seen to the left using a computer behind mine.                               A close up of  two plastic coloured  folders. The one on the left contains my notes etc                                      A screenshot of blog posts for this particular blogspot Another screenshot  of a few of my emails for jobs. Over the years I must have applied for  thousands upon thousands of jobs and even had the odd physical interview..but to no avail! Self-employment beckons to get out of this situation. Two other coloured plastic folders along with a yellow one protecting a slim book.           ...

                                                  The rose "settling in" my black bag with the sides of my coloured plastic files. The "grimy" yellow is the inner cloth lining which needs to be washed.                                                                          My Asian girl friend gave me a Rose which she cut just outside her house in Slough. It was a simple symbol of love for me which I found moving. The pics were taken at the Curve library where we often  meet and "work" together.  Also, a pic of some beautiful flowers in Slough High Street, and also a full body image of moi !!                     ...

  My pater's mater in the small garden of their Brixton home in London which had among other things a conservatory and an air raid shelter. The photo was taken in the late 1940s.   ............................................................... George Charles Searle KPM / My pater's pater. He was a Londoner and knowledgeable on many things    My pater's pater carrying me as a child  in a park in the early 1960s. At first I had some doubts about this and then recalled seeing old family cine films in which I had a top with two braces over my small shoulders                                                               Ferdinand Herman Ritter von Rittershausen (1831-1899) an ancestor of my late pater's mater. He was  knighted by Emperor Franz Josef in Vienna 1874.           ...

Just after 1am on the morning of January 30th 2023 I heard a bell ring and then a little later two knocks on my door at the council flat in Chalvey, Slough. Two policemen had come to inform me that my pater had died in his council flat and forced entry had been necessary to recover the body. I was not really surprised by all this as it was expected as he would die "soon" as he was  91, and moreover on the last occasion when I saw him in December last his actions seemed a bit odd . He seemed to be suffering from a degree of dementia and was  "unable" to come out of his flat to have dinner with myself  in Turham Green. Instead he asked me simply to buy 4 bottles (or rather tins)  of Guinness for him. I undertook this strange request as a dutiful son, and later returned to Slough. His previous abode was a large private house known as Croft House in East Street,  Selsey where he lived with my step mother a Russian lady called Irina. It had a large abundance of inter...