Hi Everyone, Newcomers will wonder at the subject title, whilst aficionados will recall an earlier one! I assure you the expression does occur in the dictionary, which surprised me almost as much as you, the first time that I looked it up! Firstly, to appease Angela---MY INTERESTS---just the Banbury Area ones, this time. Most are of Claydon-, Oxfordshire.---------- PARRITT (variously spelt), WYATT, ASTELL, and now, PAXTON. You see a chance remark brought an immediate response from alertand kindly listers a few months back, and a brick wall came tumbling down! I am also hoping to follow up on the PREW family, first cousins ofmy grandfather's, too. His brothers and sisters scattered to all points of the compass, so no longer have a local presence, as far as I am aware. Thankyou Joe for the great story, Did your mother end up with white hair? I spent some time perusing my streetmap, but it was too recent, as it showed only the obliteration of the wonderful "cartwheel" roading system, in which major roads had fed the city's traffic north, south, east or west so efficiently! At least you knew which way you were heading! So, thanks for the location of the "playground" site.Got it!-------- But by the time I frequented the area, when I taught at the Parkgate Schools for 3 years, redevelopment had occurred. I also lived opposite a huge bombed site. The factory, which had been a ribbon weaving one, where my mother rose to become a foremistress before her marriage, met its "Waterloo", I think, in April 1941. I remember walking up the street after a night in a deep shelter, and seeing it ablaze. The devastated area stretched from Webster Street to Broad Street, extending behind the small shops and housing of the Foleshill Rd. and St Paul's C.of E. church. It was tidied up, as I suppose it would 've had a deadly tangle of burnt and ruined machinery, as well as the bales of stored silk, and all the partitioning and fallen girders. It made a fine spacious playground for the local children, who only had miniscule gardens and backyards, anyway. Daily the neighbourhood dogs were exercised there----with the result that you had to watch your step! I was too busy keeping up with my homework, when my head wasn't in a book, so I only used it for a short-cut. It has remained vividly in my memory, for one reason. I was by then at Wheatley St School and in Art, one day, we were set the homework subject of, "The view from my bedroom window". Hmmm. It necessitated raising the sash to its full height, as otherwise I had a fine view of the stiff cream crackly material we were issued to replace broken glass! It was some time before we had glass in the windows again and then it was that miserable semi-transparent stuff, until supplies flowed again some years after the war. It was to be a pencil sketch and although I had never done anything similar before I evidently made a creditable job of it and got duly commended. The other day reading Betty's reference to sugar mice made me realise that they were one of the things that spelt Christmas to me. Not the decorations, or Xmas trees, the carols or Santa Claus---- but the pink or white sugar mice that appeared in the sweet shops. A stocking wasn't complete without at least one or two.! A-n-d fast forward a bit! Around 1970 or so, I saw, in a magazine the instructions to make sugar mice. My interest was kindled and I determined to make some. The Pelorus Sounds Christmas Party was in a day or so, so I sent to a Havelock store for any supplies that I needed; having due regard to the fact that besides basic groceries it stocked gumboots (Wellingtons!), farm clothing and hardware, also garden supplies! Not much in the way of accessories for sugar mice!!! Living in the back of beyond, and with no road access or launch of our own it is as well that my English genes made me pretty inventive! I needed to make several dozen mice if each child was to receive one. Ears had to be thought out as I hadn't got large pieces of almond. Tails and faces were easy! On the day of the party, by 8am. we were in our dinghy out on the water awaiting the mail launch.We were laden with many cardboard boxes-----the prize mice and oodles of baking, plus my contributions to the lunch we were having at Keith's cousin's. We boarded it and anchored the boat, (well out because of the tidal drop). We reached our relative's an hour or so later and after lunch we wentacross the sound to the party at Homewood Hall. There were games and activities; Santa Claus arrived in his boat, and then weset out the goodies. It was worth the fiddly task I'd set myself to see the faces as the mice were arranged. The other thing that IS Christmas to me is "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", from the Nutcracker Suite. I can remember, as a very small child, hearing it for the first time,"on the wireless" . To me the sweet tinkly tune was sheer magic and fairy-like and I have never lost my joy in hearing it. Just prior to Christmas I was wrapping parcels----and chalk it up, I had it all done in time this year! My struggles with the tape, when I stuck everything except what I wanted to do----and in great danger of self-mummification, I wondered what we used before sellotape? Yes, I know about various paper tapes, but there must've been something else! It turned out that I had put myself through a needless ordeal, as when my roll ran out I replaced it with the real Sellotape. Everything went swimmingly after that! Which goes to show that my cheap stuff had been a false economy. Another lesson learnt , Muriel! In the later 1940s I would spend a couple of December evenings at Gran's making several sizes of Christmas bags and envelopes forthe Xmas gifts that Auntie Florrie gave to her staff. Once these receptacles were made, it was a simple matter to slip the gifts inside. It was quite a task as at the time Primary schools were bursting at the seams. To explain--- besides her main building she had to visit two annexes, each ½ hour's walk from the main building, and in different directions. In the circumstances a bike came in handy! Oh, I nearly forgot! Prewar memories of Mum receiving a hefty volume through the post. It was a Christmas card catalogue and friends and neighbours came to inspect and order. They ranged from simple cards to the ornate. There was a range of sentiments or verse, and you could select from these. There was also the form in which you personalised them with your name and address, to decide upon. I loved to turn the pages, revelling in the rich colours or perky motifs, feeling the embossed ones and enjoying the texture of the cards themselves. I can see Mum, now, laboriously filling in the forms to send away and the pleasure people derived at being able to afford, (perhaps only a few), good cards. It was a matter of prestige. Afterwards we had the album to play with. A prized possession. This Christmas watching my granddaughters play with dolls that were so up with the latest trends, I thought how lucky they were that the hair could be styled and still retain its original freshness and bounce. No sweetly pretty doll whose hair had become a blonde "mat" after a day or so's play for them! What a disappointment for us---and one that they will never know. Long live progress! Regards, Meandering Muriel. -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.6.10 - Release Date: 10/01/2005