From Bordeaux to Windsor

                                        Me, Susie,Roy,Beanie and Nigel at Roy and Jo's stables.
After two days cleaning and two nights staying with Jane and Michael the day of departure, 1^st February 2012. The weather had turned bitter cold even in our normally mild part of SW France and it was forecast to be very cold in the UK too. Nigel and Michael took Molly for a walk whilst I checked that we had everything ready to put in the car. Michael and Jane accompanied us, in our car which they are going to look after until John and Jill arrive, into Mont de Marsan where we parked at the station and got our tickets. After a copious lunch at the bar de Plumacon, by the bullring, we loaded our luggage onto the train, said a final farewell to Jane and Michael and set off on the first stage of our journey.

After an hour and twenty minutes on the (chilly) train, twenty(cold and draughty ) minutes waiting at the station for the airport shuttle and 45 minutes on the (hot) coach I was beginning to wonder if my body temperature would ever be able to stabilise itself again. I think that it was the first time that I have been through Bordeaux and not seen anyone sitting outside at one of the many pavement cafés in the town. Even in chilly or wet weather there are usually one or two hardened smokers sitting over a beer or a coffee but it seemed that today was just too cold for even them.

We had checked in for our flight, at 6.20, the previous night so we just had to drop off our hold luggage and make our way through security to the departure lounge which, thankfully, was at decent temperature, not too hot nor too cold.

Flight was fine and on time. I had booked a taxi to take us from Gatwick to Windsor and was looking forward to finding driver holding up card with Marsh on but, sadly, there was no-one waiting for us. After 2 calls to the taxi company they told me that I hadn't paid in advance. As I had had a confirmation e mail from them I was somewhat angry. If there had been some mix up why hadn't they told me and why had they sent me a confirmation e mail? Still, we had to get to Windsor so we had to get another, more expensive taxi. I was told before we set off that we could pay by debit card as we didn't have any cash. Journey to Windsor was fine and an hour later we arrived at our lodgings, The Swan in Clewer. Taxi driver then informed me that it would be more expensive to pay by card. I was thoroughly pissed off by this time but thankfully there was a garage with a cash machine around the corner so I was able to get cash there.

Finally we got to our room. The Swan is a small pub with just 4 rooms but the room is adequate and clean and warm. Warm is important as it is so cold at the moment! We had a drink in the bar and there was only one other person in there. Then to bed as we were both pretty shattered.

The purpose of staying in Windsor for 4 days is for N to meet up with some long lost relatives. Thelma, N's mum had started doing a family tree and after she died, last May, we decided to carry on with the research. Also, as N had never known much about his father, from whom Thelma was divorced, to find out more about him too. At Thelma's funeral N had met up with his cousin, Susie, who he had not met since they were children and they had kept in touch since then and she arranged to come down to Windsor, from Amesbury, to spend a couple of days with us. Susie arrived at The Swan on Thursday am, N had gone to have a look at the church and we introduced ourselves and chatted until he got back. We then walked alongside the river and into the town centre where we had lunch at Weatherspoons and I thoroughly enjoyed a steak and kidney pudding! After lunch I left N and Susie to look around the town and I went to look around the shops and do some shopping at M and S. I met up with them, later, in the library where they were both doing some research into their family. A walk back to the Swan and after a short rest we walked a mile or so down the road to a Harvester pub for our evening meal. We rang N's Uncle Roy and arranged to meet him tomorrow at the Fox and Hounds at Egham.

Next day N and Susie went off to look for graves (!) and I stayed at the Swan where we had arranged to meet up with Beanie a second cousin of Nigel who he had “met” through Genes Reunited. She has done a lot of research into the Kirtland family and was keen to meet up with N and Susie and Roy. Beanie rang at 10.30 to say that she was already in Windsor (she lives in the Forest of Dean) as her cousin was very ill. She came round to pick me up and we went to meet up with N, Susie, Roy and Jo (Roy's business partner) at the Fox and Hounds. I was so pleased to meet Roy, at last, as I have heard so much about him from N. Although almost 80 and suffering from MS his memory is brilliant and he is a mine of information about the Kirtland family. After an hour or so chatting we left the pub and went to the stable yard where Roy and Jo keep the horses that they use for carriage driving in Windsor Great Park. http://ascotcarriages.co.uk/index.html I was thrilled to be able to meet the horses and spend some time there. Finally we said our goodbyes to Roy and Jo and to Susie as well who was leaving us to go back to her home.

Nigel, Beanie and I went back to Windsor and met up with Steve, who had arrived earlier that morning, in Weatherspoons where I had another steak and kidney pudding!! After lunch Beanie took N back to the Swan and I went with Steve to his hotel, the Sir Christopher Wren, to check in. Once checked in we walked over the road to the Royal Oak where we spent a couple of hours chatting over a bottle of wine. It was so good to be able to spend time with Steve as I hadn't seen him since early August. Back to Steve's hotel for a while and then we walked up the High Street and met up with N and had a meal at Wagamamas. We then said goodnight to Steve and walked back to The Swan, still very cold but a bracing walk!

On Saturday morning I left N at The Swan and walked, along the river side, into town to meet up with Steve at his hotel. It was very cold and there were quite a lot of people on the river bank feeding the swans. Once at the hotel I went up to Steve's room and had a shower and washed my hair as there was no hair dryer at The Swan. Steve and I then had a wander around town and watched the changing of the guard at the castle. I was surprised how many tourists there were in town despite it being February and so cold. We met up, for lunch, with N at the Royal Oak. The afternoon was to be an important event for N as he had been able to find the widow and son of his father Ramsay who had died in 1985. Whilst Thelma, was alive she had not wanted to ask about her first marriage but since she died last may N has started to try and find out more bout his father. We eventually found out, only a month or so ago, that Linda, his stepmother lives in Slough as does Stephen his half brother. We couldn’t find a telephone number for them but we were able to find an address so N wrote to Linda and gave her our telephone number. We had a call, late one night, which we didn’t hear as we were in bed. There was no message but it was a Slough number so N called back the following day and spoke to Linda telling her that he would like to know me about his father and that we would be in Windsor in early February. N spoke to her when we arrived and arranged to meet her and Stephen at her mothers house, in Slough, at 1.30pm on Saturday. We left
Steve in Windsor and caught a taxi to the house in Slough. We were both feeling rather nervous, N more than I, about our reception but when we arrived Linda was very welcoming and ushered us into the house to meet her mother. Her mum, Jean, is 85 and quite frail but she has a good memory and retains fond memories of Ramsay. Both ladies were pretty glamorous! Stephen arrived about half an hour after we did. He is 40 years old and very tall. Looking at photos of Ramsay Stephen is very much like him. N was able to find out a lot more about his father and to see his

RAF logbook. Linda married Ramsay when she was 21 much against her fathers wishes, Ramsay was 48. Stephen was born 9 months after the marriage. Linda left Ramsay after 11 years and went to live in Spain for a while. She never divorced Ramsay but he visited her in Spain and she returned to the UK from time to time to see him. It appeared that he never gave up his love of women and that he was quite a jack the lad. His business back in his younger days was running bookies runners before betting became legal. Linda said that at one time he was a millionaire but that he lost most of his money before he died of a heart attack in 1985. Stephen gave us a lift back to Windsor where we met up with Steve at his hotel. N went for a rest in Steve's room and we went over to the Royal Oak to watch the rugby but it was very busy so we went back to the hotel. Much more comfortable and Steve was still able to watch the rugby albeit without the sound. We had booked a table at the Cornucopia Bistro for 6.45pm and walked up there. We had a good meal and came out to find that it had started to snow We all piled into a taxi, dropped Steve off and went back to the Swan.

Quite a bit of snow had fallen during the night but by 9am it was beginning to melt. We heard that Heathrow had cancelled many of the days flights but having checked on line our flight was still scheduled. We packed our bags and arranged with the landlord that we would pick them up after. They had kindly allowed us to have a late checkout as it was Sunday and no one else was booked into our room. It was far too wet and slippy to walk into Windsor so we booked a taxi to take us in to meet Steve for lunch and then to pick us up later, collect our bags and take us to the airport. We had a roast lunch at The Royal Oak and then said goodbye to Steve, always a sad moment but it has been good to have these 2 days with him.