Slogging It Out in the Salt Mines!

Thursday, February 19, 2009
London

The day has swooshed past me in a haze. I have no idea where the hours have gone. I awoke a little after 5 am today and after reading The Prisoner of Azkaban for an hour, I made a To-Do List as I had so many little things pending that I wanted to complete them all.

I spent the next couple of hours creating an itinerary for the 'Homes and Gardens Tour' I wish to take sometime in late May. This was time consuming, but I do believe that I now have a game plan and with some fine tuning, I think I might be able to pull it off. It involves using National Express coaches all over the country, the English Heritage Pass and my National Trust membership to visit the country estates I have in mind. When I was almost cross eyed switching between the websites of these various venues and the National Express website, I decided to take a break and get some breakfast!

The next item on my agenda was researching china replacement service companies online to try to find the missing Paragon teacup from the set I bought in Rochester. Chances are I will never find it as preliminary research has informed me that my set was one of the earliest ever produced by this company, somewhere between 1921 and 1933. One of the companies I spoke with told me that since I do not have a name for my pattern (only a number appears at the back of my teacup), it is clearly too old for their search experts and they would be unable to help me. Another company has emailed me back to request that I send an accompanying photo to help them in their search. I shall now have to work on getting this done.

Next, I had to do a bit of grading as a couple of my students were absent and did not hand in their assignments with the rest of the class. I also had to do an online recommendation for one of my former students (now a field researcher in Kosovo) who is attempting to find a position in a Master's Program at the London School of Economics. Drafting a letter of recommendation on her behalf took another great big chunk of my time.

It was well past mid-day when I finally sat down to transcribe material from the tape recorder based on the interview I did last night with Anglo-Indian genealogist Geraldine White. It took me simply ages to get everything down and half way through it, being almost cross-eyed, I decided to stop for a sandwich lunch and to start watching Jane Austen's Persuasion.

But within a half hour, I was back at work as I really did want to finish the entire transcription before I left for the next interview I had scheduled at 5.15 pm with another Anglo-Indian. Working slavishly, I actually finished the White interview though it still needed finishing touches and to be proofread before it was ready to be printed.

This left me enough time for a quick shower and then I was on the bus to Truckles Wine Bar at Bloomsbury where John had suggested we meet. It was a truly delightful place with a basement section that was almost Dickensian in character and ambiance. There actually was a candle stuck in a wine bottle providing rather dim and flickering light--just as you see in the Dickens' movies! It is these hidden gems that I so adore about London and that revive my love affair with this city at every turn. John and I settled with lager and a glass of Riesling respectively (as the pub did not carry cider) and then we were off.

John, a corporate attorney, is so different from any of the AIs I have met so far. He came to this country when he was 25 and spoke to me candidly about his experiences growing up Anglo-Indian in a small, narrow-minded pocket of South India. Several times during our conversation, he thanked me for undertaking this research project and told me what a great service I was performing for the community in putting myself through so much hard work in order to preserve the stories of the generation that preceded him in the UK. I found his candor deeply moving indeed and I know that I will be able to use a great deal of the stories he shared with me in the course of my work.

I was home by 7.30 pm when I got right down to work again on the White interview. It was 9.15 pm when I finally finished it and could stop for a bite to eat. I feel as if I have been chained to my PC all day today, added to which I received rather distressing news about my current lease. So, over all, I haven't had too easy a day. Though I did complete work on all the items on my To-Do List (except for one grant application which I shall draft next week), I do feel rather wrung out with concern.

Tomorrow, I will be accompanying my students on an NYU trip to Winchester and Portsmouth and I am keeping my fingers, toes and other extremities crossed for good weather and the opportunity to enjoy some lovely English tourist venues.