Gunpowder, Treason and Plot

And Happy Birthday, Mummy

As a child growing up in post-war Britain, today was celebrated as Guy Fawkes Day, with bonfires and fireworks. But it is also the birthday of my darling Mum, born November 5, 1921, so she would have been 102 today if not for her date of death being February 10, 2012. She had a good run, as people say, and I was grateful for her having been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a decade or so before that because I moved to New York to help care for her and we had a lot of fun together (I told you I’m a Pollyanna).

But back to Guy Fawkes. He was found with a bunch of dynamite trying to blow up the Houses of Parliament (look up all the details online), so the holiday became a day where we children created a “Guy” and burned him on the bonfire. As I recall my childhood, particularly in the Isle of Man, the bonfires were often on the beach. And one year in particular an errant firework went up my dress and scared the daylights out of me. No harm done, though. I’ll have to check with my sister again on more details. It’s good to have an older sibling to reminisce with and sometimes learn new facts.

And bringing myself back to the present with the clocks turning back, I checked my phone earlier than I normally would to make sure I knew the time. I wake up naturally every morning and sure enough I’m still on yesterday’s time so this post is nice and early. But in checking the phone, I got a notice of other Stacker’s work, and I now have my assignment for this morning as well as a film I hope to find later. Thank you, Georgia Fisanick and TCinLA.

I think I still prefer this long form section of my Substack, but I’m also glad to be able to interact with other people via Notes. I’m particularly indebted to historian Jim Buie and other people writing here whose life work has been plumbing the past and to Eric Matthes who gets technology in a way I will never master.

So with my body clock still driving me forward rather than the tick-tock kind, it’s time for breakfast.

Well, I thought I had posted earlier, but obviously some button escaped me. Which is kind of nice, because I get a do over. I had my yummy Sunday breakfast, read the Sunday paper (not so yummy and actually frustrating lately just from a technical standpoint because of the many typos) and now I’m ready to start my day researching. More will be revealed, as we say . . .