
So, had random uncle Paul over tonight. Half brother of my father. Apparently, he's been in Iraq recently. Didn't know that. Heh. Now he's in Germany, where approximately a third of the British army are stationed. Just, you know, coz. I guess we needed somewhere to put them. Anyway, they're all in ex-Nazi bases, and he happens to have ended up in the ex-Luftwaffe head quarters where there are Goering stories and beams that drop from the roof.
I'm learning many random things about my family recently. Like, my father owned this company and it's named after us. They buy and let property. One place they're currently letting has the same name as our village. First time I noticed this, I had one of those subconscious thoughts that never quite made it into consciousness, but I was aware of it anyway. It went along the lines of "Hey, he must still be thinking of us to buy that place." The conscious thought that replaced it was "WTF, he died eleven years ago. What, do you think he's still alive, just somewhere else?" The interesting self psycho analysis aside, I found out the other day that he did in fact buy the land and name the place that was to be built, and the company just still happens to own it. So whee, not a coincidence.
And another thing I learnt, after some debating of 9/11 over at journal fen which prompted me to ask questions, was that my mother was once shot at on a tube train by a terrorist. A friend of her got a bomb in the face, and she spent many nights sleeping in her office in London because the tube system got shut down from bomb threats. I remember never being allowed to go shopping or to see the lights in London around Christmas as a kid, thanks to the IRA, but I never really thought about it too much. Of course, my mother hadn't been working in London for years before I was born, so it was hardly the height of the troubles when I was a kid.
Anything else I learnt? Eh, I'll think of stuff. Various interesting things about my grandfather, who didn't meet his father until he was an adult and even then it was his wife that spotted the connection between various branches of teh family. At some point I'll work out the story of his life properly, because god knows it's been an interesting one. Born in India, father a soldier, when father went home on boat mother elected not to follow and kept him in India, then sent him to boarding schools. Or possibly mother and him went to England on boat, father elected not to follow. Need to find out which.
Something that amused me today though: Watching Carry On Matron (love those films!) and was very surprised to see naked breasts before 6pm. Naked breasts, visible nipples, all of top half of naed woman (and many complete back shots of naked woman). Either the watershed's collapsing, or C4 completely failed to notice that. Amused.