Shopping!

It's been a lovely, very busy day today and I've been able to relax and forget about work for a while. This morning I picked my mum up and with Sophie, we drove to get Susie who lives in town. I'd promised I'd buy Sophie and Susie and my mum breakfast before a shopping trip in Milton Keynes. We parked easily and had a delicious late breakfast in Caffe Italia which set us up for lots of shopping.

I desperately needed some new clothes and for once I found lots of things I liked - two pairs of jeans and three tops! Miracle! As the day wore on it became a lot busier and the sun made an appearance which was a welcome change after all the grey days we've had lately. The girls went off on their own while Mum and I had a good look at all the shops, lusting after several handbags in the sale and trying out a couple of new perfumes. I always come home from a shopping trip smelling of different perfumes!

We were all home by 4pm and I did some research on my family tree. Yesterday a death certificate arrived for my Great Great Great Grandmother, Mary, who died at the age of 30 years. I'm ashamed to admit that I thought her husband William had had something to do with it, but she died of a fever and to my shame I found out tonight that he died shortly after her, leaving three young children orphans, one of whom was only two years old. It's been an ongoing mystery as I couldn't find any record of him after the 1841 census and, with my imagination, I thought he had been a bad man and had been sent to Australia. But no...the poor man, aged only 33 years died nine months later. They are both buried in a church in Swanscombe, in Kent, so that will be our next place to visit and maybe take some flowers, if I can find their grave.

I can only imagine how terrible it must have been for the children to have both their parents die so young but I know that they were taken in by their grandparents so at least they stayed within the family. I wish I knew more about them and their day to day lives, but that's one of the frustrating aspects of genealogy. You can find out facts such as births and deaths but it's the real lives I'd love to know about!