Many have put their name forward, but only 11 could be chosen.
You will all be very glad to hear that a number of those on central contracts took on the Coldecotts (spelling?) at Goodwood yesterday and we have started the season with a fine victory. Expertly captained by Harry, we never really looked in trouble. Great batting from him and some fantastic spells with the ball from Fred and Ted. Harry’s mate Tom Ford looks like an excellent addition to our squad (but nothing like the fashionista) and I am convinced we will be able to give a better report of ourselves this year against the village. Anyway, enough of the past, what of the team for the 10th? It is:
Ted Keeling
Jim Keeling
Josh Keeling
Luke Keeling
Zak Keeling
Simon Keeling
Archie Keeling
Harry Keeling
Fred Keeling
Tom Ford
Paul Keeling
I might say Dr Trev, after so many years of telling me that he was ‘orf games’, played for the opposition yesterday, was their top scorer and reminded me of just how tricky he was to get out. You will all be hugely relieved to hear that he is bringing his whites and is making himself available as 12th man. Luckily there are 4 weeks until the match, having kept wicket and scored a 50 runs I somehow doubt he is feeling entirely nimble and youthful today!
Imo at Hockey
Imogen plays hockey for the local Taunton hockey club and last weekend her team (she is the captain) had to go to Cannock near Birmingham to take part in the play off in the junior national hockey competition. There were ten teams in the play off and Taunton came eighth. I think the winners were Surbiton.
20th April 2011
dear Lizzie, I have spent a happy half hour reliving THE party. Thank you so much for the great photographs. I shall now have fun again printing them. You are marvellous. all love Granny.
Posted by: Mum | May 10, 2011 at 03:26 PM
MOVE OVER EINSTEIN
It's my birthday today. Happy birthday me and thanks in advance for all the presents etc. (Which I haven't received yet.)
I was born 8am Sunday April 1955. Almost exactly 20 hours later the great Albert Einstein died, on Monday at 2am. There obviously wasn't enough room for both of us on the planet! He is one of my heroes.
Click the headline for great things Einstein said.
I was born 8am Sunday April 1955. Almost exactly 20 hours later the great Albert Einstein died, on Monday at 2am. There obviously wasn't enough room for both of us on the planet! He is one of my heroes.
Click the headline for great things Einstein said.
Keelings v's Sedlescombe Sunday 10th July - Team Update
The day draws nearer and you will all be glad to hear that the Keeling team is beginning to shape up. You will see below a picture of the squad at a recent practice and, though the kit is rather outdated, I'm sure you will agree with me when I say that this is probably the best team ever formed ..... in the history of cricket!!
Can any of you name all 14 in the line up? Answers on a postcard to:
We're going to smash them!
BBC TV Centre
London W12 8QT.
The winner will recieve a much deserved clip round the ear for being such a swat.
The actual team will be formally announced and the team list will be up on games noticeboard at Hurlingham before afternoon lessons this Wednesday. Any ragging in the corridors will result in detention and you WILL miss lunch.
Comments
Thanks for the big laugh! We needed it as pre party nerves are starting to bite! Love DAD and Mum.
Posted by: Mum | April 17, 2011 at 01:54 PM
Can any of you name all 14 in the line up? Answers on a postcard to:
We're going to smash them!
BBC TV Centre
London W12 8QT.
The winner will recieve a much deserved clip round the ear for being such a swat.
The actual team will be formally announced and the team list will be up on games noticeboard at Hurlingham before afternoon lessons this Wednesday. Any ragging in the corridors will result in detention and you WILL miss lunch.
Comments
Thanks for the big laugh! We needed it as pre party nerves are starting to bite! Love DAD and Mum.
Posted by: Mum | April 17, 2011 at 01:54 PM
Happy Birthday (Great) Granny / Mum
I made a printable version of Ruth's great Google map of Captain Gibbs' WWI movements. It's a present for Mum and if you want to share you can print it out here: Download Arthur gibbs map. For some reason Captain Gibbs is behind enemy lines on 28 June 1917. Can anybody explain? Maybe he did a bit of spying or was captured and escaped very quickly.
Running Imo
Comments
Dear Imo, what a splendid run! Keep it up and you will really run for England! All love Granny
Posted by: Mum | February 15, 2011 at 04:43 PM
Well done Imo. LoL Jim xo
Posted by: Jim | February 15, 2011 at 08:37 AM
love looking at your pictures....Love Granny
Posted by: Mum | February 17, 2011 at 10:27 AM
It looks like a great race. Well done Imogen!
The child just behind Imo looks remarkably like Alice. Has she been time traveling again?
best wishes Jo
Posted by: Jo Keeling | February 16, 2011 at 09:20 PM
Cricket 2011
A new year and a new date!!
After frantic last minute shuttle diplomacy and much arm twisting, we have managed to move the fixture from the rainy, exam filled days of May into the joyous, sub-continental heat of July. It’ll be a dust-bowl, a spinner’s delight – I can feel the cup coming home already!
All I need now is a tiny, weeney bit more support than I had last year (a miserable team list of 3!) in order to form a winning, Sedlescombe destroying fighting unit. Throw your names into the hat and stand by your family name! There is honour at stake.
There is also an optional warm up match the day before for anyone who needs the practice and want to join me and turn it into a ‘double-header’ weekend.
Let me know. xP
After frantic last minute shuttle diplomacy and much arm twisting, we have managed to move the fixture from the rainy, exam filled days of May into the joyous, sub-continental heat of July. It’ll be a dust-bowl, a spinner’s delight – I can feel the cup coming home already!
All I need now is a tiny, weeney bit more support than I had last year (a miserable team list of 3!) in order to form a winning, Sedlescombe destroying fighting unit. Throw your names into the hat and stand by your family name! There is honour at stake.
There is also an optional warm up match the day before for anyone who needs the practice and want to join me and turn it into a ‘double-header’ weekend.
Let me know. xP
TREVOR BACK FROM HAITI
I have been working with some of the most dedicated, professional and caring nurses and medics. When a patient with cholera comes in to the hospital their chances of survival immediately increase by 20%. Those who walk in are taken to the ward. Those who are stretchered in are already near death. The most skilled nurses in the facility get 2 intravenous lines up and pour in up to 6 litres of fluids. From being virtually dead they sit up and talk and are taken to the ward next door where they recover over 2 days.
We have been working 13½ hour days in 370 Centrigrade. The hospital (Birsy) is a collection of 8 large tents connected by plyboard walkways elevated on brieze blocks. It is staffed by a total of about 30, a mixture of ex-pat doctors & nurses, local doctors & nurses, translators and orderlies.
Dr Trevor and the other staff.
Comments
I think this website is absolutely fantastic.
Well done Trevor.
As the oldest grandchild, I wonder if anyone would be interested in trying to arrange a family get together? Drinks party at Boodles?
I would be happy to organise it.
Love to all
Jonathan
Posted by: Jonathan Hudson | January 24, 2011 at 09:53 PM
We called it 'serial resurrection', so much the same thing. Dr Trev
Posted by: Dr Trev | January 24, 2011 at 12:14 PM
Many thanks for sending us all this. We are proud of you. Is the treatment you describe called the Lazarus treatment?
All love Mum
Posted by: Mum | January 24, 2011 at 10:06 AM
Reading Capt Arthur Gibbs' letters
Wow. Well done Granny for getting the letters published in that amazing book. I am really enjoying it. My emotions have ranged from amusement at the fine food they managed to have in the trenches - foie gras! Krug 1904! Consomme Fortnum & Mason! - to welling up when his brother Bryan & he, both obviously fairly ill and unhappy, are in Arras on Christmas Day 1917. Their poor mother.
The only difficulty I had with it was I had no idea where he was in France or what was going on in the war. The need for secrecy in the letters is partly the problem, but also he and his mother would have known exactly what was going on, so they didn't need to say it. Whereas I am quite ignorant.
I'm sure (I hope) I'm not the only one, so I thought that, instead of every Keeling doing their own homework to set the letters in context, we could help each other by passing on any little tit-bits that we discover.
And so, I have created a google map of Capt Gibbs' letters here:
Each of the markers on the map is a letter from Capt Gibbs - you can see them listed in the left hand bar as well as on the map. Not every single letter in the book is marked. With some letters, the address is not clear. At other times he has written several from the same place, in which case I have just marked the first one.
(Towards the end of the book I started to colour code them - red for frontline, blue for billets and reserve trenches, green for travelling and yellow for on leave - and I haven't finished redoing the early ones yet).
So, if someone discovers something that gives a bit of context - a map, the details of a battle that is taking place, for instance, explanation of a historical or political reference in a letter - they can add the information to the letter marker. Can anyone, for instance, tell me why the letters stopped when they did? And before the war ended. Was Capt Gibbs at home when the Armastice was announced. If anyone does know, could you add a note to the last marker?
To see what you can do with the marker, have a look at the marker for the 21 March 1916, from Railway Wood in the Ypres Salien (the one in the picture above). You should be able to see that I have linked to some trench maps and a synopsis of his letter.
So far I have made Granny & Dad (Jenny & George) "collaborators" so that they can add things to the map. I can add as many collaborators as I like, but I just need to know your emails - let me know at ruthkeeling [at] gmail dot com. (I don't know if it has to be a google email or not, we can try and see).
Hope this works and proves useful. Ruth xxxx
ps. I had hoped to draw the front line on before I posted it up here, but there aren't very good maps online, so it might require the purchase of a book, or a visit to a library. So here it is: work in progress.
Comments
Daddy went on leave/home posting, I think, end of August 1918, that is why the letters stop. He was presumably at home for the Armistice. I have just read a book about Edith Cavell, an English nurse in Brussels who was shot as a spy in 1915. This explains to me, from HER letters home, why there is no good map of the trenches. It was such a muddle.
Posted by: Mum | January 15, 2011 at 01:54 PM
well done Ruth, brilliant! xxxxx
Posted by: camilla | January 15, 2011 at 12:38 PM
The only difficulty I had with it was I had no idea where he was in France or what was going on in the war. The need for secrecy in the letters is partly the problem, but also he and his mother would have known exactly what was going on, so they didn't need to say it. Whereas I am quite ignorant.
I'm sure (I hope) I'm not the only one, so I thought that, instead of every Keeling doing their own homework to set the letters in context, we could help each other by passing on any little tit-bits that we discover.
And so, I have created a google map of Capt Gibbs' letters here:
Each of the markers on the map is a letter from Capt Gibbs - you can see them listed in the left hand bar as well as on the map. Not every single letter in the book is marked. With some letters, the address is not clear. At other times he has written several from the same place, in which case I have just marked the first one.
(Towards the end of the book I started to colour code them - red for frontline, blue for billets and reserve trenches, green for travelling and yellow for on leave - and I haven't finished redoing the early ones yet).
So, if someone discovers something that gives a bit of context - a map, the details of a battle that is taking place, for instance, explanation of a historical or political reference in a letter - they can add the information to the letter marker. Can anyone, for instance, tell me why the letters stopped when they did? And before the war ended. Was Capt Gibbs at home when the Armastice was announced. If anyone does know, could you add a note to the last marker?
To see what you can do with the marker, have a look at the marker for the 21 March 1916, from Railway Wood in the Ypres Salien (the one in the picture above). You should be able to see that I have linked to some trench maps and a synopsis of his letter.
So far I have made Granny & Dad (Jenny & George) "collaborators" so that they can add things to the map. I can add as many collaborators as I like, but I just need to know your emails - let me know at ruthkeeling [at] gmail dot com. (I don't know if it has to be a google email or not, we can try and see).
Hope this works and proves useful. Ruth xxxx
ps. I had hoped to draw the front line on before I posted it up here, but there aren't very good maps online, so it might require the purchase of a book, or a visit to a library. So here it is: work in progress.
Comments
Daddy went on leave/home posting, I think, end of August 1918, that is why the letters stop. He was presumably at home for the Armistice. I have just read a book about Edith Cavell, an English nurse in Brussels who was shot as a spy in 1915. This explains to me, from HER letters home, why there is no good map of the trenches. It was such a muddle.
Posted by: Mum | January 15, 2011 at 01:54 PM
well done Ruth, brilliant! xxxxx
Posted by: camilla | January 15, 2011 at 12:38 PM
The Joy of Travelling by Air
30th December 2010
The Joy of Travelling by Air
The objective and the plan
The reason why Jenny and I decided to fly to Germany a couple of weeks ago was because it was the only sensible way of getting there on time for Cally’s funeral. We were very pleased that Tom decided to accompany us on this trip. It was also nice that we would see George who was travelling from Berlin to attend the funeral.
Our outward bound travelling plans were to depart from City of London Airport around 1400 hours on Thursday 16th December on a BA flight which was due to arrive at Frankfurt Airport around 1700 hours. We were due to be met there by a man who works for Nico and driven to The Krone Hotel in Lohr where Nico had reserved rooms for us.
Our homeward journey was planned for Saturday 18th December on a Lufthansa flight leaving Frankfurt at around 1300 and due to arrive at Heathrow around 1400. Nico’s driver was to take us from Lohr to Frankfurt where we had to check in by 1100 and a Sedlescombe taxi driver was due to pick us up from Heathrow and bring us home to Jacobs.
Finding out about airline schedules and booking seats on planes nowadays can best be done computer experts. We therefore turned to Emma for help. In a flash, she had booked our tickets and given them (or probably a series of magic numbers) to Tom so that he could make sure we got to the appropriate destinations.
Before leaving London, it was clear that we were living in luxury. Emma was our UK travel agent, Tom was our ticket-meister and baggage-meister, Nico was our German travel agent and George was available as an interpreter. The only thing Jenny and I had to do was to book our Sedlescombe taxi driver. Wonderful!
Our journey to Lohr
City of London Airport is the only nice airport I know. Tom met us there and, after having arranged for some of our luggage to be put in the hold and after a bite to eat, we boarded our plane. Unfortunately, there was thick cloud and, after take-off, we were unable to look down at the Thames which is usually a special feature of leaving City of London Airport.
After an hour or two, the loud speaker started to issue a series of announcements at intervals of about fifteen minutes. These all started with the words “This is your Captain speaking”. The series of announcements ran as follows:-
You may have noticed that we are going round in circles. There has been a heavy fall of snow and we are awaiting our turn to land.
We are still in a holding pattern and it may be up to half an hour before we can land.
We have made the decision to divert to Stuttgart. (I wondered if we were running out of fuel).
We have now landed in Stuttgart and are waiting for the snow to be cleared at Frankfurt.
Some passengers want to get out here instead of returning to Frankfurt. The head stewardess will go round to count the number of passengers who wish to do this. (We elected to get out but only if we could get our bags out of the hold).
We have decided not to go back to Frankfurt. All passengers will therefore have to exit the plane here in Stuttgart. Advice about how they proceed to their ultimate destinations will be available in the arrivals lounge. (We never saw anyone dishing out this advice).
During the above period of enforced indecision, Tom periodically telephoned Nico to tell him what was happening or not happening. This enabled Nico to tell his driver to return from Frankfurt Airport to Lohr and at some stage to tell us that he would come to Stuttgart to pick us up. This was very good of him. Stuttgart is a lot further away from Lohr than Frankfurt is. Also, Nico must have hoped for a quiet evening at home prior to the funeral on the following day.
At Stuttgart Airport we found a bar where we were able to buy sandwiches and drinks. Just outside this bar, there was a taxi rank which we watched while we awaited Nico’s arrival. There was not much snow at Stuttgart but it was very cold as I discovered when I went outside to have a puff on one of my cigars.
After an hour or two, Nico appeared. He was very cheerful and did seem pleased that we had travelled so far to be at his Mum’s funeral. On the way to Lohr, he drove very slowly which I guessed was because he thought we might be fearful about high speeds on snow-covered autobahns. My guess was quite wrong. The reason was that something horrid had gone wrong with the engine of his car and the accelerator was not functioning properly.
A rather touching thing happened on our journey from Stuttgart to Lohr. Nico has a loudspeaker in his car for receiving telephone calls and every half hour or so Christa rang up to check on our progress. She clearly had no intention of going to sleep before her husband was safely at home with her.
Before he had left Lohr, Nico had found out how we could get into the Hotel Krone in the middle of the night and find our bedrooms. This was a brilliant idea of his. Nico got us to Lohr and into our hotel at 0200 on Friday morning.
So ended our outward journey about six or seven hours after our planned time of arrival in Lohr.
Our return journey to England
The first stage of our journey home went smoothly and Nico’s driver got us to Frankfurt Airport in good time in spite of quite a lot of snow on the roads. As it was a Saturday when there are few flights into City of London Airport, our intended destination was Heathrow.
As there are always delays in recovering baggage in airports such as Heathrow, Tom decided that we should endeavour to carry our luggage with us in the plane. This involved packing one bag inside another which we thought would give us a fair chance of keeping our baggage with us.
Jenny thinks the above paragraph is a figment of my imagination brought on by “Reise fieber”. Tom has a memory like an elephant and will remember if he actually re-packed our bags.
Tom’s next move was to insert our tickets or ticket numbers into an automatic machine which spewed out our boarding cards. We wondered what to do next and consulted a uniformed official. He told us to join a queue and receive instructions when we eventually got to the front of it.
This seemed a rotten idea because the queue was over a hundred yards long and was barely moving. Tom looked at our boarding passes or otherwise discovered that we were due to depart through Gate 24. He then led us through “Emigration” where we and our luggage were duly searched. When we got to the departure lounge near gate 24, we found that some people were already standing in a queue preparatory to boarding the plane.
Initially, it seemed quite likely that our plane would depart punctually. However, after hanging around for a couple of hours, our flight was cancelled because Heathrow and other English airports were snow-bound. We then debated various possibilities such as:-
1. Return to Lohr. Rejected as a backwards movement.
2. Stay the night in a hotel in Frankurt and fly to London next day. Rejected as time-wasting. (Just as well as it turned out. British airports remained shut on Sunday).
3. Hire a self-drive car and drive in a westerly direction. This stupid idea was mine. Fortunately, we could not find any self-drive cars available for hire.
4. Board a train and travel West. This was eventually our unanimous decision but a lot had to be done to implement it.
Because we had been through “Emigration”, this left us in limbo and we therefore had to go back through “Immigration”. This involved quite a bit of walking but fortunately we did not have to join any long queues and it was not too troublesome.
The queues started again when we wanted to make enquiries about train timetables and then buy our tickets. We tried to do this at automatic machines. These helped towards a decision that we should first take a train to Cologne and then take a second train to Brussels or Paris. So far so good, but the rotten machines refused to accept our credit cards by way of payment for tickets.
By this time, I had walked about five times further than I had done since my back operation and found a much-needed chair for a rest. Tom was temporarily away investigating the possibilities of self-drive cars and Jenny joined a different queue leading to some girls who were providing a human alternative to the automatic machines.
The target of Jenny’s queue was a bit like a post office. When Jenny was nearer the front of the queue, the girl she was approaching put up a notice saying something like “This position is now closed”. However, Jenny persisted and emerged poorer by £616 but happier because she had bought three tickets to Cologne and on from there by a connecting train to Paris.
Our two train journeys were pretty comfortable, the only anxious moment being when we were told we had to change platforms fairly quickly to catch the second train. During these journeys, the mobile telephones were hard at work. Tom had to ring his home to announce his delayed return. Jenny had to do likewise to Jacobs. She had spoken earlier to the Sedlescombe taxi driver when he had got as far as Reigate through snow-bound roads on his way to Heathrow.
While we were on the train, there were also several telephone conversations with George who was back in Berlin. When he knew we were going to Paris, he booked beds for us at the station hotel across the road from the Gare du Nord.
Our arrival at this hotel was around 2300 on the Saturday. At the reception desk, we heard other travellers being told “Sorry. We are fully booked”. This made us even more grateful to George for booking our rooms. We were so tired when we got into our room that Jenny disregarded the fact that our bed had the appearance of having had a previous occupant. She just got into bed and fell asleep.
After a very nice breakfast on the Sunday morning, Tom walked across to the Gare du Nord to buy tickets for our journey back to Blighty. Tom was booked on a mid-morning train to St.Pancras and we were booked on the first train to stop at Ashford which was due to leave the Gare du Nord at 1500.
Jenny and I had a delicious lunch at the Brasserie next door to our hotel and walked across to the Gare du Nord in good time to catch our train. We then encountered another long queue of travellers. All trains were running late due to snow falls accentuated by a broken down train in the platform from which we were due to depart.
An official told us that we should go to the back of a stationary queue about a hundred and fifty yards long. Jenny obeyed this instruction but I made friends with four English people who were travelling to Ashford and whom we had met over breakfast in our hotel. They were near the front of the queue and it was not long before other people in the queue seemed to accept that I was part of their party.
After about an hour my new-found friends said I should go and check up on Jenny. When I did this, Jenny was trying to check up on me and we missed each other. We both then turned back and met each other this time. I then managed to persuade Jenny to join my friends near the front of the queue.
Not long after that, our queue started moving into a separate part of the station near the departure platform. There were some chairs available at this point and we sat down on them and let the new queue pass us until it came to a standstill.
After about half an hour an announcement was made we were to board the train. We got out of our chairs and forced our way to the front of the new queue with Jenny now acting as chief queue-buster. We then boarded the train.
When the train departed, we were able to start guessing our possible time of arrival at Ashford. I used Jenny’s mobile to telephone our Sedlescombe taxi driver and asked if he could meet us at Ashford. He declined on the grounds of snow-bound roads and said we should be able to pick up a taxi at Ashford. He must have felt guilty about this piece of mis-information because, when I later asked him how much we owed for his abortive journey towards Heathrow, he said there was no need to pay him.
We then telephoned Paul with a cry for help. He said of course he would pick us up at Ashford. Our train was eventually quite late in arriving at Ashford and Paul had to make the best part of two journeys to Ashford before we finally met him there.
There was quite a lot of snow on the roads but Paul drove carefully and had no difficulty in getting us to Jacobs. When we came to the level crossing near Rye station, the gates were down and we had to wait while two trains passed in opposite directions. The TGV (or Trains de Grand Vitesse) may have difficulty in operating when snow falls but the great British service between Doleham Halt and Rye never lets its customers down.
Paul delivered us home at Jacobs at 2000 on the Sunday evening which was 28 hours after our scheduled arrival time.
This ends my narrative about the pleasure of travelling by air. Thank Goodness that we had three sons and a daughter-in-law to help us on our way!
MK
Comments
Epic journey!
Posted by: David | January 02, 2011 at 01:34 PM
This was posted by Paul, from our computer. I tried to post it myself, but failed. I might say it spent 20 hours in limbo.
Posted by: Mum | January 02, 2011 at 12:14 PM
The Joy of Travelling by Air
The objective and the plan
The reason why Jenny and I decided to fly to Germany a couple of weeks ago was because it was the only sensible way of getting there on time for Cally’s funeral. We were very pleased that Tom decided to accompany us on this trip. It was also nice that we would see George who was travelling from Berlin to attend the funeral.
Our outward bound travelling plans were to depart from City of London Airport around 1400 hours on Thursday 16th December on a BA flight which was due to arrive at Frankfurt Airport around 1700 hours. We were due to be met there by a man who works for Nico and driven to The Krone Hotel in Lohr where Nico had reserved rooms for us.
Our homeward journey was planned for Saturday 18th December on a Lufthansa flight leaving Frankfurt at around 1300 and due to arrive at Heathrow around 1400. Nico’s driver was to take us from Lohr to Frankfurt where we had to check in by 1100 and a Sedlescombe taxi driver was due to pick us up from Heathrow and bring us home to Jacobs.
Finding out about airline schedules and booking seats on planes nowadays can best be done computer experts. We therefore turned to Emma for help. In a flash, she had booked our tickets and given them (or probably a series of magic numbers) to Tom so that he could make sure we got to the appropriate destinations.
Before leaving London, it was clear that we were living in luxury. Emma was our UK travel agent, Tom was our ticket-meister and baggage-meister, Nico was our German travel agent and George was available as an interpreter. The only thing Jenny and I had to do was to book our Sedlescombe taxi driver. Wonderful!
Our journey to Lohr
City of London Airport is the only nice airport I know. Tom met us there and, after having arranged for some of our luggage to be put in the hold and after a bite to eat, we boarded our plane. Unfortunately, there was thick cloud and, after take-off, we were unable to look down at the Thames which is usually a special feature of leaving City of London Airport.
After an hour or two, the loud speaker started to issue a series of announcements at intervals of about fifteen minutes. These all started with the words “This is your Captain speaking”. The series of announcements ran as follows:-
You may have noticed that we are going round in circles. There has been a heavy fall of snow and we are awaiting our turn to land.
We are still in a holding pattern and it may be up to half an hour before we can land.
We have made the decision to divert to Stuttgart. (I wondered if we were running out of fuel).
We have now landed in Stuttgart and are waiting for the snow to be cleared at Frankfurt.
Some passengers want to get out here instead of returning to Frankfurt. The head stewardess will go round to count the number of passengers who wish to do this. (We elected to get out but only if we could get our bags out of the hold).
We have decided not to go back to Frankfurt. All passengers will therefore have to exit the plane here in Stuttgart. Advice about how they proceed to their ultimate destinations will be available in the arrivals lounge. (We never saw anyone dishing out this advice).
During the above period of enforced indecision, Tom periodically telephoned Nico to tell him what was happening or not happening. This enabled Nico to tell his driver to return from Frankfurt Airport to Lohr and at some stage to tell us that he would come to Stuttgart to pick us up. This was very good of him. Stuttgart is a lot further away from Lohr than Frankfurt is. Also, Nico must have hoped for a quiet evening at home prior to the funeral on the following day.
At Stuttgart Airport we found a bar where we were able to buy sandwiches and drinks. Just outside this bar, there was a taxi rank which we watched while we awaited Nico’s arrival. There was not much snow at Stuttgart but it was very cold as I discovered when I went outside to have a puff on one of my cigars.
After an hour or two, Nico appeared. He was very cheerful and did seem pleased that we had travelled so far to be at his Mum’s funeral. On the way to Lohr, he drove very slowly which I guessed was because he thought we might be fearful about high speeds on snow-covered autobahns. My guess was quite wrong. The reason was that something horrid had gone wrong with the engine of his car and the accelerator was not functioning properly.
A rather touching thing happened on our journey from Stuttgart to Lohr. Nico has a loudspeaker in his car for receiving telephone calls and every half hour or so Christa rang up to check on our progress. She clearly had no intention of going to sleep before her husband was safely at home with her.
Before he had left Lohr, Nico had found out how we could get into the Hotel Krone in the middle of the night and find our bedrooms. This was a brilliant idea of his. Nico got us to Lohr and into our hotel at 0200 on Friday morning.
So ended our outward journey about six or seven hours after our planned time of arrival in Lohr.
Our return journey to England
The first stage of our journey home went smoothly and Nico’s driver got us to Frankfurt Airport in good time in spite of quite a lot of snow on the roads. As it was a Saturday when there are few flights into City of London Airport, our intended destination was Heathrow.
As there are always delays in recovering baggage in airports such as Heathrow, Tom decided that we should endeavour to carry our luggage with us in the plane. This involved packing one bag inside another which we thought would give us a fair chance of keeping our baggage with us.
Jenny thinks the above paragraph is a figment of my imagination brought on by “Reise fieber”. Tom has a memory like an elephant and will remember if he actually re-packed our bags.
Tom’s next move was to insert our tickets or ticket numbers into an automatic machine which spewed out our boarding cards. We wondered what to do next and consulted a uniformed official. He told us to join a queue and receive instructions when we eventually got to the front of it.
This seemed a rotten idea because the queue was over a hundred yards long and was barely moving. Tom looked at our boarding passes or otherwise discovered that we were due to depart through Gate 24. He then led us through “Emigration” where we and our luggage were duly searched. When we got to the departure lounge near gate 24, we found that some people were already standing in a queue preparatory to boarding the plane.
Initially, it seemed quite likely that our plane would depart punctually. However, after hanging around for a couple of hours, our flight was cancelled because Heathrow and other English airports were snow-bound. We then debated various possibilities such as:-
1. Return to Lohr. Rejected as a backwards movement.
2. Stay the night in a hotel in Frankurt and fly to London next day. Rejected as time-wasting. (Just as well as it turned out. British airports remained shut on Sunday).
3. Hire a self-drive car and drive in a westerly direction. This stupid idea was mine. Fortunately, we could not find any self-drive cars available for hire.
4. Board a train and travel West. This was eventually our unanimous decision but a lot had to be done to implement it.
Because we had been through “Emigration”, this left us in limbo and we therefore had to go back through “Immigration”. This involved quite a bit of walking but fortunately we did not have to join any long queues and it was not too troublesome.
The queues started again when we wanted to make enquiries about train timetables and then buy our tickets. We tried to do this at automatic machines. These helped towards a decision that we should first take a train to Cologne and then take a second train to Brussels or Paris. So far so good, but the rotten machines refused to accept our credit cards by way of payment for tickets.
By this time, I had walked about five times further than I had done since my back operation and found a much-needed chair for a rest. Tom was temporarily away investigating the possibilities of self-drive cars and Jenny joined a different queue leading to some girls who were providing a human alternative to the automatic machines.
The target of Jenny’s queue was a bit like a post office. When Jenny was nearer the front of the queue, the girl she was approaching put up a notice saying something like “This position is now closed”. However, Jenny persisted and emerged poorer by £616 but happier because she had bought three tickets to Cologne and on from there by a connecting train to Paris.
Our two train journeys were pretty comfortable, the only anxious moment being when we were told we had to change platforms fairly quickly to catch the second train. During these journeys, the mobile telephones were hard at work. Tom had to ring his home to announce his delayed return. Jenny had to do likewise to Jacobs. She had spoken earlier to the Sedlescombe taxi driver when he had got as far as Reigate through snow-bound roads on his way to Heathrow.
While we were on the train, there were also several telephone conversations with George who was back in Berlin. When he knew we were going to Paris, he booked beds for us at the station hotel across the road from the Gare du Nord.
Our arrival at this hotel was around 2300 on the Saturday. At the reception desk, we heard other travellers being told “Sorry. We are fully booked”. This made us even more grateful to George for booking our rooms. We were so tired when we got into our room that Jenny disregarded the fact that our bed had the appearance of having had a previous occupant. She just got into bed and fell asleep.
After a very nice breakfast on the Sunday morning, Tom walked across to the Gare du Nord to buy tickets for our journey back to Blighty. Tom was booked on a mid-morning train to St.Pancras and we were booked on the first train to stop at Ashford which was due to leave the Gare du Nord at 1500.
Jenny and I had a delicious lunch at the Brasserie next door to our hotel and walked across to the Gare du Nord in good time to catch our train. We then encountered another long queue of travellers. All trains were running late due to snow falls accentuated by a broken down train in the platform from which we were due to depart.
An official told us that we should go to the back of a stationary queue about a hundred and fifty yards long. Jenny obeyed this instruction but I made friends with four English people who were travelling to Ashford and whom we had met over breakfast in our hotel. They were near the front of the queue and it was not long before other people in the queue seemed to accept that I was part of their party.
After about an hour my new-found friends said I should go and check up on Jenny. When I did this, Jenny was trying to check up on me and we missed each other. We both then turned back and met each other this time. I then managed to persuade Jenny to join my friends near the front of the queue.
Not long after that, our queue started moving into a separate part of the station near the departure platform. There were some chairs available at this point and we sat down on them and let the new queue pass us until it came to a standstill.
After about half an hour an announcement was made we were to board the train. We got out of our chairs and forced our way to the front of the new queue with Jenny now acting as chief queue-buster. We then boarded the train.
When the train departed, we were able to start guessing our possible time of arrival at Ashford. I used Jenny’s mobile to telephone our Sedlescombe taxi driver and asked if he could meet us at Ashford. He declined on the grounds of snow-bound roads and said we should be able to pick up a taxi at Ashford. He must have felt guilty about this piece of mis-information because, when I later asked him how much we owed for his abortive journey towards Heathrow, he said there was no need to pay him.
We then telephoned Paul with a cry for help. He said of course he would pick us up at Ashford. Our train was eventually quite late in arriving at Ashford and Paul had to make the best part of two journeys to Ashford before we finally met him there.
There was quite a lot of snow on the roads but Paul drove carefully and had no difficulty in getting us to Jacobs. When we came to the level crossing near Rye station, the gates were down and we had to wait while two trains passed in opposite directions. The TGV (or Trains de Grand Vitesse) may have difficulty in operating when snow falls but the great British service between Doleham Halt and Rye never lets its customers down.
Paul delivered us home at Jacobs at 2000 on the Sunday evening which was 28 hours after our scheduled arrival time.
This ends my narrative about the pleasure of travelling by air. Thank Goodness that we had three sons and a daughter-in-law to help us on our way!
MK
Comments
Epic journey!
Posted by: David | January 02, 2011 at 01:34 PM
This was posted by Paul, from our computer. I tried to post it myself, but failed. I might say it spent 20 hours in limbo.
Posted by: Mum | January 02, 2011 at 12:14 PM
SCHADENFREUDE
The headline in today's Berliner Morgenpost was "Winter Chaos: Crisis summit in Senate". They're moaning about the roads, pavements, railways, airports and the incompetent chaos thereof. Sound familiar? Feel a bit pleased about the super efficient Germans not being so super after all? That's Schadenfreude "pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others".
I hope I will be able to make it over and see some of you. Only 1 out of 5 BA flights were cancelled today.
Happy Christmas from Deutschland!
Interesting that they use English 'Winter-Chaos' though
Posted by: Carrie | January 16, 2011 at 02:19 PM
Loved it! I have a huge smile on my face! Dad is now on the telephone trying to get refunds on the tickets to places we never reached. I have just bought a raffle ticket in the village shop and I see the draw was taken LAST Friday. The disease is catching! When will we be allowed to pay on arrival? So looking forward to seeing you again. Do make it..... All love Mum
Posted by: Mum | December 22, 2010 at 12:53 PM
Very much looking fwd to seeing you George so don't be let down by weather, Simon
Posted by: Simon | December 22, 2010 at 08:39 AM
CALLY'S FUNERAL
Keelings elevated to aristocracy – Grandpa nearly dies of exposure – Cally buried
As many of you know, Grandpas younger sister Cally died last Monday morning 13th December age 74 after a long illness almost certainly caused by her lifelong smoking. The funeral was yesterday in her home Lohr am Main, Germany.
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| Later in the Chapel |
Emma and Jacob and two of their cousins also got up and said some words including how Cally had suffered her illness and frequent hospitalizations without complaint and how she kept her sense of humour.
Eventually the priest did his magic and we left the church. The village was sub-zero and clad in snow. Grandpa refused a lift to the cemetery and a coat proffered by Granny – 'he did not like it'. We proceeded at a very slow pace down icy paths. The cemetery has quite a large building in the middle, which is a sort chapel of rest, and there we found the coffin surrounded by flowers including an arrangement from Jocelyn Keeling and family (first pic).
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| Coffin exits |
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| The family grave |
May Cally rest in peace and may her descendants thrive - as they said when we left, "Next time, let's not meet for a funeral!
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| Grandpa wearing the reviled coat |
Dear George, A very accurate and fair report. No wonder your daughter is a journalist. Thank you so much for being there and arranging our Paris hotel. It was just what we wanted. And we had an excellent lunch in the brasserie next door, which set us up for the last part of our journey arranged by Tom. Love Mum
Posted by: Mum | December 20, 2010 at 04:00 PM
Can anyone send the artilce about Cally' funeral to Mum as I know that she wold like to see it? thanks her email is: jocelynkeeling@mac.com
Posted by: NIck Crean | December 20, 2010 at 11:43 AM
George and Tom - well done! LoL Jim
Posted by: Jim | December 20, 2010 at 09:51 AM
Brilliant George. Practically feel I was there. Just spoken to Mum, she called from Paris, on their rather complicated return journey. Perhaps Dad can get himself a new jacket while he is there!
Posted by: Paul Keeling | December 19, 2010 at 10:45 AM
Thank you George that was very nicely done, Simon
Posted by: Simon | December 19, 2010 at 08:53 AM
OH MY GOD! DID YOU CREATE MATHEMATICS?
I'm not blaspheming here. This really is amazing. It's a lovely example of mathematics. I read about it today. I never knew it before:
PLAYING WITH PRIME NUMBERSa
The prime numbers below 100 are:
2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97
I have highlighted some of them. I'll tell you why a bit further on. You might like to try and work it out. It would be hard to guess.
The prime numbers below 100 are:
2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97
I have highlighted some of them. I'll tell you why a bit further on. You might like to try and work it out. It would be hard to guess.
If you divide up the highlighted ones from the others you get two lists of numbers
Bold prime numbers: 2, 5, 13, 17, 29, 37, 41, 53, 61, 73, 89, 97
Shy prime numbers: 3, 7, 11, 19, 23, 31, 43, 47, 59, 67, 71, 79, 83
Bold prime numbers: 2, 5, 13, 17, 29, 37, 41, 53, 61, 73, 89, 97
Shy prime numbers: 3, 7, 11, 19, 23, 31, 43, 47, 59, 67, 71, 79, 83
Do you notice anything about them? The bookb hinted: "Try subtracting each number in the list from it's neighbour". I still didn't get it. I tried subtracting numbers in the different rows. Duh!
THREE IS A VERY NAUGHTY NUMBER
When you subtract the numbers for the first row you get
Bold: 3, 8, 4, 12, 8, 4, 12, 8, 12, 16, 4
and for the second row you get
Shy: 4, 4, 8, 4, 8, 12, 4, 12, 8, 4, 8, 4
When you subtract the numbers for the first row you get
Bold: 3, 8, 4, 12, 8, 4, 12, 8, 12, 16, 4
and for the second row you get
Shy: 4, 4, 8, 4, 8, 12, 4, 12, 8, 4, 8, 4
I'm sure you've spotted it now. Apart from the naughty 3 at the beginning of the first row, all the numbers are multiples of 4: 1x4, 2x4, 3x4 etc.
And that rule applies to every other number in the sequences that you care to try.
And mathematicians have proved that:
1) Both sequences (both bold and shy prime numbers) go on forever
2) The further you go the closer the ratio of bold to shy gets to 1:1
3) All the numbers (apart from that naughty 3) are multiples of 4. (In fact they are more precise than that)
And that rule applies to every other number in the sequences that you care to try.
And mathematicians have proved that:
1) Both sequences (both bold and shy prime numbers) go on forever
2) The further you go the closer the ratio of bold to shy gets to 1:1
3) All the numbers (apart from that naughty 3) are multiples of 4. (In fact they are more precise than that)
IT'S ALL ABOUT SQUARES
Oh, I haven’t told you how the prime numbers were divided into bold and shy ones. Simple: Bold ones are sums of two squaresc
2=12+12, 5 = 12+22, 13=22+32, 17=12+42 ...
the others are not.
Oh, I haven’t told you how the prime numbers were divided into bold and shy ones. Simple: Bold ones are sums of two squaresc
2=12+12, 5 = 12+22, 13=22+32, 17=12+42 ...
the others are not.
So why is it that there is a relationship between multiples of four, prime numbers and sums of squares of numbers?
AND HERE IS WHERE WE GET BACK TO GOD
That old God chappy was pretty devious when he was creating the laws of mathematics and he sneaked that one in.
Or did God create the laws of mathematics? Or were they always out there? Please, one of my religious brethren, ask your priest and let us know.
That old God chappy was pretty devious when he was creating the laws of mathematics and he sneaked that one in.
Or did God create the laws of mathematics? Or were they always out there? Please, one of my religious brethren, ask your priest and let us know.
Foot notes:
Just in case you have forgotten / didn't know
a) Prime numbers are whole numbers that cannot be divided by other whole numbers other than 1 and themselves.
b) The book is "I am a Strange Loop" by Douglas Hofstadter. Lent to me by David.
c) A square, in this context, is one whole number multiplied by itself. E.g.
two squared is written 22=2x2=4,
five squared is written 52=5x5=25.
The sum of two squares is what you get when you add two squares together.
Just in case you have forgotten / didn't know
a) Prime numbers are whole numbers that cannot be divided by other whole numbers other than 1 and themselves.
b) The book is "I am a Strange Loop" by Douglas Hofstadter. Lent to me by David.
c) A square, in this context, is one whole number multiplied by itself. E.g.
two squared is written 22=2x2=4,
five squared is written 52=5x5=25.
The sum of two squares is what you get when you add two squares together.
Comments
I continue to be fascinated by things I don't understandPosted by: Mum | November 23, 2010 at 05:44 PM
Interesting but is it entirely surprising?All primes are odd (apart from 3) therefore the difference between any two primes will be a multiple of two. So of course you can split them into two groups both of which have two between them. I will bet you £100 that you can split them into 4 groups where the difference is between the numbers in each group is 8. I'd also bet (£50) that because primes are as good as random then as the series approaches infinity then the number of numbers in each group tends to 1:1:1:1.So to the last bit. Why can 4x+1 be described as a sum of squares, is this always the case or is it just for all the 4x+1 numbers that are primes. And conversely why is all of this not true for 4x+3 numbers?Posted by: Trevor the Younger | November 23, 2010 at 03:19 PM
There was an old chappy from heaven,Who asked "What is 30x7?"If it isn't a prime,You can give me a dime, And we'll send in our 2nd 11.Posted by: Mum | November 20, 2010 at 10:31 PM
No commentPosted by: Mum | November 20, 2010 at 03:34 PM
Reading this at the end of a VERY long week and I have to admit I'm not up to it. There's life in there somewhere, but not as I know it!!I'll have to come back to this when less tired.Posted by: Paul | November 19, 2010 at 06:45 PM
Barbara Gibbs: socialite diary Britain 1900-1980
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| Barbar |
"The Court dress followed rigid rules laid down by the Lord Chamberlain's office; 'long evening dresses with Court trains suspended from the shoulders, white veils with ostrich feathers will be worn on the head.....gloves must be worn. Veils to be no longer than forty five inches. Three small white feathers — the Prince of Wales Plume — must be worn slightly on the left side of the head.'"
"So to sum up this part of my story I am really sure, after all these years that except for the very gifted and unusual humanist, whom I have never met, life's full potential can only be lived against a background of spiritual faith."
"Nanny approves of it for the new baby 'Simon, called Henry' whose face she covers with a piece of muslin so that he looks like a holy relic being carried across the lawn."
"Un-put-downable - a fascinating personal account of upper class 20th century Britain" - The Snobserver
;-) George
Click the headline for credits and 4 comments
Keeling Family Narrative
For the last ten years or so I have accumulated notes on our family which have been the result of chatting with Mum and Dad about relatives who have slipped into the history books. The living family have also received a mention and one or two letters have also contributed to the story. Eventually I have typed out my notes and put them into some sort of order which has formed the basis of a family narrative. There are one or two family trees shown in the narrative but these are really only branches or twigs because I am not a good enough typist to compose big family trees on an A4 sheet of paper. At the same time as the narrative being available there is also my file on which there are more notes and manuscript family trees with further records of our family. I even have photos of the family tree which lives in Simon's old bedroom at Jacobs, to help with producing a potted history of the Finucanes' descent from a Spanish king (apparently). This is very much a work in progress and a never finished task because there will always be more information to add. Hopefully I will now attach my family narrative which runs to about twenty pages. Love Tom
Click here to read it
the_keeling_family_narrative_oct_2010.pdf
Comments
That made great reading on the train - wll done Tom
Posted by: Paul K | October 26, 2010 at 10:30 PM
What a work! Well done you! I have it safely printed, and clipped together, and Dad and I are looking forward to reading it, in our spare time of which we have masses! All love Mum
Posted by: Mum | October 26, 2010 at 12:46 PM
Tom, how amazing - printed and longing to read it. LoL Jim
Posted by: Jim | October 26, 2010 at 09:20 AM
Click here to read it
the_keeling_family_narrative_oct_2010.pdf
Comments
That made great reading on the train - wll done Tom
Posted by: Paul K | October 26, 2010 at 10:30 PM
What a work! Well done you! I have it safely printed, and clipped together, and Dad and I are looking forward to reading it, in our spare time of which we have masses! All love Mum
Posted by: Mum | October 26, 2010 at 12:46 PM
Tom, how amazing - printed and longing to read it. LoL Jim
Posted by: Jim | October 26, 2010 at 09:20 AM
Thursday 4th November (London, Bush Hall): That's this week!!!
Click on the image to enlarge
Amazing comedy rock band that Van is putting on this week in London (something between Spinal Tap and Jack Black's Tenacious D and Flight of the Concords - if you don't believe me check out the link on you tube (see below). See them now, before they they go platinum and be able to tell your grandchildren you saw them up close and personal - your very own 'Cavern/Hamburg' moment.
Keelings going to be there so far: Van, Paul, John, Tania, Fred, Jasper, Zak, Jack, Felix & Luke.
That's only 10 Keelings in the venue - SHRIEKS, we might be out numbered, can't we make it to nearer 30?? It would be great to see any of you there. It'll be massive!
To book tickets go to: https://www.hmvtickets.com/performances/5385/book
or telephone 08432 210100
See a clip of their work on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I
(and join 8 ½ million others!)
Who'da thought I'd ever be interested in finance....
I have a plea to the uncles and aunts out there who understand finance.
I want to learn how to understand financial accounts. This is because Money = Good Stories.
So I wondered if any of you financial-wizard adults fancy spending an hour talking me through what it is all about. I even have the accounts of some government suppliers that we could use as examples. I'm staring at them now, and feeling very stupid as a result.
Obviously I don't want something for nothing: I will cook/buy you dinner or do any sewing/patching etc that needs doing in return.
Let me know if you can help.
xxxxx
Comments
I could help you with the patches or cooking. Sorry no accounts Love Granny
Posted by: Mum | October 09, 2010 at 04:35 PM
Wish Simply Books could help but Simon and Jim are your men! Love David
Posted by: David | October 09, 2010 at 10:15 AM
Ruth come in and see me or Jim for a lunch one day, love Simon
Posted by: Simon | October 09, 2010 at 08:25 AM
I want to learn how to understand financial accounts. This is because Money = Good Stories.
So I wondered if any of you financial-wizard adults fancy spending an hour talking me through what it is all about. I even have the accounts of some government suppliers that we could use as examples. I'm staring at them now, and feeling very stupid as a result.
Obviously I don't want something for nothing: I will cook/buy you dinner or do any sewing/patching etc that needs doing in return.
Let me know if you can help.
xxxxx
Comments
I could help you with the patches or cooking. Sorry no accounts Love Granny
Posted by: Mum | October 09, 2010 at 04:35 PM
Wish Simply Books could help but Simon and Jim are your men! Love David
Posted by: David | October 09, 2010 at 10:15 AM
Ruth come in and see me or Jim for a lunch one day, love Simon
Posted by: Simon | October 09, 2010 at 08:25 AM
KEELING / GIBBS FAMILY PHOTOS 1915-1965
Well I promised you more and here it is: Some very old photos from Mum's album. I'll be using some of them in the new edition of Barbar's diaries (to be released imminently).
We start with one from 1915-ish - dates are approximate - and end in 1965 with the arrival of Paul. Mum, do tell me if dates need correcting. Click the headline for more. x George.
We start with one from 1915-ish - dates are approximate - and end in 1965 with the arrival of Paul. Mum, do tell me if dates need correcting. Click the headline for more. x George.
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| 1915: Arthur Gibbs. My Grandfather. |
THE EVILS OF GOSSIP
You may have noticed that I seem to have settled in Berlin. If you have, you're right. I'm buying a flat here. I hope to move in December or January. It's at Regenburger Str 27 not far from the one I rent now. It's an 'Altbau' built around 1900, with lovely high ceilings, old fashioned double glazed windows etc etc. Not dissimilar to St Marys Mansions, but a bit smaller.
Another similarity is the gossip mill. I haven't even moved into the place or paid for it, although I have signed a contract. My future downstairs neighbours, a nice couple with a three year old boy, phoned me yesterday and asked to meet me. I visited them today. They were complaining about the noise I am going to make when I move in. I am not joking.
PS: I am still a Londoner: I have bought a one bedroom flat in Vauxhall (@Ruth: oops). I won't be there all that often so I am holiday letting it. If you know anybody who wants, do tell them. Relatives get a special rate: 10% extra because you love me so much. But don't worry, I won't charge you if you visit me in Berlin. (Errm @Ruth: if I did a pro bono for homeless people two weekends a year would that be OK?)
PPS Not many posts going up here. Expect more rubbish from me and good stuff from Granny soon.
Another similarity is the gossip mill. I haven't even moved into the place or paid for it, although I have signed a contract. My future downstairs neighbours, a nice couple with a three year old boy, phoned me yesterday and asked to meet me. I visited them today. They were complaining about the noise I am going to make when I move in. I am not joking.
PS: I am still a Londoner: I have bought a one bedroom flat in Vauxhall (@Ruth: oops). I won't be there all that often so I am holiday letting it. If you know anybody who wants, do tell them. Relatives get a special rate: 10% extra because you love me so much. But don't worry, I won't charge you if you visit me in Berlin. (Errm @Ruth: if I did a pro bono for homeless people two weekends a year would that be OK?)
PPS Not many posts going up here. Expect more rubbish from me and good stuff from Granny soon.
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