Updating

I have been going easy on computer time over the last few days because I had a sore back. I think it may have been a result of too much enthusiasm on the exercycle! Every time I sat for too long, I would find it hard to straighten when I got up, until I walked around for a while.

That was really annoying, because I had just worked up the energy to tackle writing up the family history. It's proving difficult despite the vast amount of research I have accumulated - or probably because of the vast amount of research. Putting it all in some kind of linear order is difficult, when it isn't really linear. In fact it's more of a family hedge than a family tree. I think I've figured out how to do it, more or less. I'll start in a day or so.

I had a phone call from my brother who has a new job. He needs a security clearance. For that, he needed to know death dates for our parents, and birth places, and he consulted me as the "family expert". I had to admit that even though I could tell him off the top of my head the names of ancestors in various lines going back to the 1600s, I couldn't actually remember what day of the month mum died. I know that some families commemorate anniversaries of deaths every year. I have never been especially bothered by the actual day, although I remember her frequently. Perhaps it bothers me a little that I couldn't remember, or I wouldn't be writing about it here.

As for my back - it's pretty good now. I started again on an exercise programme I was doing a while ago, and let slip. I'm at the age when I get a few aches and pains - I often have a sore hip when I get up in the morning (or indeed, lying in bed at night). When I did this programme before, the soreness in my hips completely vanished. And this time, after only one set of exercises, I was able to get in the car, drive almost half an hour to work, and get out of the car standing straight up. The book is called The Core Programme by Peggy Brill, and I think it's brilliant. (If there are any guys reading this, sorry, it's designed for women. Our bodies are different). It looks as if it may be out of print, but I think this may be the same book in a newer edition.

I only have one beef - my copy has that awful cheap binding where all the pages pop loose after opening the book a few times. For something designed to be used regularly, that seems pretty stupid. I'm thinking of taking it apart and going to our local print shop to have it put in a lie-flat spiral binding.