Singing songs about sunshine didn't really work yesterday, there was heavy rain on and off all day. I'm still trying not to put the television on in the morning though, just five or ten minutes to get the main new points, then switch it off and music comes on. I don't even listen to the radio just my Spotify play lists and it has made a real difference to my mood. I find myself singing away as I'm tidying up and it is so much nicer than the constant stream of stress and misery on the news. I have often said music was always so much a part of my life when I was growing up and I wonder if it could have been part of the reason everything always felt so cheerful.
Yesterday I went to meet my sister to go to my Dad's house. I really wanted to share this beautiful piece of art work being painted at our local station by a young artist. She has managed to bring in so much local life, the ducks on the ponds, the lavender, the beech trees and even the local foxes. I think it really brightens up the station.
Despite the rain, my sister and I managed to get all the jobs at my Dad's house sorted out. I had told him a really interesting piece of information I had found out while studying the family tree. Someone had shared a photo of a portrait of the sister of my 4x Great Grandfather on Ancestry. I saved it to our family tree and sent the original uploader a message thanking him for taking the trouble to upload it as it had been so interesting to see it. He messaged me back to say he couldn't really take credit as it had been given to them by his wife's late 2nd cousin and my 3rd cousin Geoffrey Vickers, with a link to a Wikipedia page. Geoffrey was the great grandson of my 4x Great Aunt (I'm glad Ancestry worked out my relationship to him as I wouldn't be able to!) Geoffrey Vickers is a famous First World War Victoria Cross winner I have studied and copied photos of for my First World War website. Vickers is a name in our family that is used all the time as a middle name through the generations and I had never made the connection between the two families. Geoffrey Vickers lived until the 1980s which was an incredibly long life for a First World War veteran. Dad is so thrilled to have someone so brave as a relative, if a rather distant one and my sister has sent him some links to pages to read all about his exploits, which we left him happily doing. I have a feeling he will be sharing this tale with every person who talks to him outside the house for weeks!
There is a big match on tonight of course, Tom is working late again which he is ever so upset about but at least he'll be able to watch the highlights when he gets in. I know exactly what song I will be singing all day today, it's the song my children would sing all the time in 1996 and children are singing it in schools all over England today. What fun for them, win or lose they will have happy memories to look back on all their lives. Here is a wonderful rendition of the song by the Coldstream Guards outside Clarence House yesterday. Have a lovely day everyone what ever you are doing. Good luck England. xx
