Greetings from deepest Knightsbridge, the sky is dark, it is wet underfoot and she is silent.. I know, this is a most unusual state of affairs as she is known to have an opinion or something to say about most things.. however.. she does practise 'Restraint of tongue and pen' when evil people are lurking.
But this post will explain to you, Dear Readers, why she's silent, for two things occurred today, of which one, left her and one of the librarians speechless.
In my last post, I wrote about a woman who lived in the 18th century, she was a famous actress and her 'stage' name was Mrs. Jordan and she lived, for twenty years, under the protection of the Duke of Clarence by whom she had ten children.
The reason I wrote about her was that she died in penury as the result of vast debts being 'run up' in HER name by her son-in-law.
Yesterday, she read yesterday about two cases of financial fraud.
In the first case, the story is of a young couple, who were initially thought to have lost their deposit sum of £45,000 due to being duped by an email which was supposedly sent to them by the estate agent from whom they were buying a property.
Money was transferred but it was a scam, for someone had supposedly 'hacked' into the estate agents emails, found the correspondence about the deposit money being transferred and had slipped in one of their own emails giving a different bank account
And zoom.. the money disappeared.. they were, apparently, able to claw back £22,000 but the rest.. bye bye money.
The second case is a story being told by the ex-wife of a man who is 'wanted in connection' with the murder of a woman and two young boys, their three bodies were recently found in the garden of their home. He is alledged, by his ex-wife, to have run up debts in her name to the sum of £40,000.
She, having read these two cases, went on line and entered something into a search engine, she cannot remember what exactly, about 'debts being taken out in another person's name' and this is how she came to find the story of Mrs. Jordan.
One of the sources that is listed on the web about Mrs. Jordan, is a biography written by an author whose other books she has thoroughly enjoyed reading and she made a mental note to herself to see if her library stocked it. The book's title was.
Mrs Jordan's Profession by CLAIRE TOMALIN. Published in 1994 by Viking.
But she forgot to write the book's title down and she picked up the five library books which were being returned and put them into a big plastic bag, for it was tipping down with rain and you don't want any book to get wet, especially NOT a library book!
Off she and WW went, on the way to the library, something happened which I will write about in another post, just remember these details: a full box of mandarins, nine veryvery large pomegranates, a pomelo and a papaya.. strange, huh?
Upon reaching the library, she checked the books in through the system and turning to the librarian said. "Greetings to you and happy new year, have a mandarin, please would you do a search for me and see if there are any books on the actress Mrs Jordan, circa mid 1700's - 1816, because there's a biography on her but I can't remember the author's name".
Such an obliging man, he smiled at her and the mandarin, and going to the computer, he went into the book search and said "that's easy, Hammersmith have something on her, let's see if we can get them to transfer it over to our system for you", much typing went on, then he said "Oh, actually, we've got a book on her and it is in stock" and getting up from his chair, he went off in search of it.
The books that are returned back are received back by a machine which electronically removes that title from the reader's library account, the staff then collect them on a trolley and put them back into the right section, this trolley is kept close to the librarian's desk and she turned to see what books were on it that she might like to borrow.
And there.. was the very book for which he was looking! She could not believe her eyes.
What, Dear Reader, are the odds on that happening! If she had been in the library ten minutes earlier and not delayed by fruit.. I will tell you about this fruit, don't worry.. the book would have still been 'out on loan' and she wouldn't have it lying beside her as she taps this post.
She called out "I've got it here", he came back and said "I'm speechless (!) how amazing, it must have come in whilst I was at tea, what an extraordinary coincidence". They looked at each other and smiled. "And a happy new year to you and many thanks for the mandarin" he said, as she went off in search of more books to borrow.. she was also speechless!
Oooh, she does love a good book.. so do I but for a different reason.
It is a hideous fact that I cannot resist hardbacks, for their spines are, oh so, crunchy! But, you will be mighty relieved to know I've never crunched a library book, I cannot honestly say that I haven't thought about it but she's got these eyebrows, they're the same as Constance's and the sight of her raising just one is quite enough for me to have second thoughts about 'beaking' a library book.
And so tonight, with new books to read, we're aware that we are fortunate almost beyond belief, to be safe in a dry home, with electricity, food and clean running water, for there are hundreds of people in this country and many thousands, around the world, who are not.
It is a very sobering thought.
GeeGee Parrot.
January 9th, 2016.
PostScript: Claire Tomalin has written the following books.
The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft.
Shelley and His World.
Katherine Mansfield: A Secret Life.
The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Terman and Charles Dickens.
But this post will explain to you, Dear Readers, why she's silent, for two things occurred today, of which one, left her and one of the librarians speechless.
In my last post, I wrote about a woman who lived in the 18th century, she was a famous actress and her 'stage' name was Mrs. Jordan and she lived, for twenty years, under the protection of the Duke of Clarence by whom she had ten children.
The reason I wrote about her was that she died in penury as the result of vast debts being 'run up' in HER name by her son-in-law.
Yesterday, she read yesterday about two cases of financial fraud.
In the first case, the story is of a young couple, who were initially thought to have lost their deposit sum of £45,000 due to being duped by an email which was supposedly sent to them by the estate agent from whom they were buying a property.
Money was transferred but it was a scam, for someone had supposedly 'hacked' into the estate agents emails, found the correspondence about the deposit money being transferred and had slipped in one of their own emails giving a different bank account
And zoom.. the money disappeared.. they were, apparently, able to claw back £22,000 but the rest.. bye bye money.
The second case is a story being told by the ex-wife of a man who is 'wanted in connection' with the murder of a woman and two young boys, their three bodies were recently found in the garden of their home. He is alledged, by his ex-wife, to have run up debts in her name to the sum of £40,000.
She, having read these two cases, went on line and entered something into a search engine, she cannot remember what exactly, about 'debts being taken out in another person's name' and this is how she came to find the story of Mrs. Jordan.
One of the sources that is listed on the web about Mrs. Jordan, is a biography written by an author whose other books she has thoroughly enjoyed reading and she made a mental note to herself to see if her library stocked it. The book's title was.
Mrs Jordan's Profession by CLAIRE TOMALIN. Published in 1994 by Viking.
But she forgot to write the book's title down and she picked up the five library books which were being returned and put them into a big plastic bag, for it was tipping down with rain and you don't want any book to get wet, especially NOT a library book!
Off she and WW went, on the way to the library, something happened which I will write about in another post, just remember these details: a full box of mandarins, nine veryvery large pomegranates, a pomelo and a papaya.. strange, huh?
Upon reaching the library, she checked the books in through the system and turning to the librarian said. "Greetings to you and happy new year, have a mandarin, please would you do a search for me and see if there are any books on the actress Mrs Jordan, circa mid 1700's - 1816, because there's a biography on her but I can't remember the author's name".
Such an obliging man, he smiled at her and the mandarin, and going to the computer, he went into the book search and said "that's easy, Hammersmith have something on her, let's see if we can get them to transfer it over to our system for you", much typing went on, then he said "Oh, actually, we've got a book on her and it is in stock" and getting up from his chair, he went off in search of it.
The books that are returned back are received back by a machine which electronically removes that title from the reader's library account, the staff then collect them on a trolley and put them back into the right section, this trolley is kept close to the librarian's desk and she turned to see what books were on it that she might like to borrow.
And there.. was the very book for which he was looking! She could not believe her eyes.
What, Dear Reader, are the odds on that happening! If she had been in the library ten minutes earlier and not delayed by fruit.. I will tell you about this fruit, don't worry.. the book would have still been 'out on loan' and she wouldn't have it lying beside her as she taps this post.
She called out "I've got it here", he came back and said "I'm speechless (!) how amazing, it must have come in whilst I was at tea, what an extraordinary coincidence". They looked at each other and smiled. "And a happy new year to you and many thanks for the mandarin" he said, as she went off in search of more books to borrow.. she was also speechless!
Oooh, she does love a good book.. so do I but for a different reason.
It is a hideous fact that I cannot resist hardbacks, for their spines are, oh so, crunchy! But, you will be mighty relieved to know I've never crunched a library book, I cannot honestly say that I haven't thought about it but she's got these eyebrows, they're the same as Constance's and the sight of her raising just one is quite enough for me to have second thoughts about 'beaking' a library book.
And so tonight, with new books to read, we're aware that we are fortunate almost beyond belief, to be safe in a dry home, with electricity, food and clean running water, for there are hundreds of people in this country and many thousands, around the world, who are not.
It is a very sobering thought.
GeeGee Parrot.
January 9th, 2016.
PostScript: Claire Tomalin has written the following books.
The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft.
Shelley and His World.
Katherine Mansfield: A Secret Life.
The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Terman and Charles Dickens.
Delightful to catch up, my friend! Your adventures always sound so intriguing! My 6 year old granddaughter slept over with me last night, which warmed my heart.
ReplyDeleteCheers!
HeeHee.. how did you 'wear' her, draped across your shoulders like a fur tippet or across your tumtum? How lucky you are Pegeen.. how very lucky. Stay happy & healthy and eat toasted Buckwheat.. it is very slurpicious indeed. Claire Tomalin writes VERYVERY well and this book on Mrs Jordan promises to be an excellent one.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, a massive amount of letters - 600 - of her letters were acquired by the Californian collector Henry Huntington.
Whose collection of art, papers and silver in the museum at San Marino, Pasadena is extrordinary, in it are Gainsborough's 'Pinkie' and 'The Blue boy'.. wondrous pictures.