"Hope had already entered; and feeling all its anxious flutter..."

Historically Hysterical had been going to the library to read old letters day after day. The staff started to recognise her and her presence in the reading room. One in particular, Mr Archives, was drawn into conversation with her because of her accent, having spent a time living in HH's homeland.

HH and Mr A, from then on always exchanged smiles and small talk, but HH thought nothing of it, just that Mr A was a nice fellow, though their eyes had met across the reading room several times with some degree of intensity, HH went back to her work and Mr A to his. HH decided it was time to finish her work at the library, and on the day she was set to leave, she didn't see Mr A, so never said goodbye to him, which she regretted. After going to a bigger, less inviting library, HH decided that she wanted to go back to the other library, and so she did.

The next day, she saw Mr A again, who was surprised and, it would appear, pleased to see her. Mr A said how lovely HH's hair looked, and HH, though flattered, thought he could think nothing of her other than a reader, and went back to her work. Another day went by and HH thought that she would finish up at the library that day, and told Mr A that she was going to Ireland. Mr A was sad to hear that, but thought that the ship had sailed. However, HH was not quite finished her work, and left some letters in the library to read the next week. Mr A, seeing these when he was locking up the library, hurried out to where HH was packing her bag. He asked if she was coming back to the library, and she said, with a smile, that she was and that she would see him next week. HH left the library with a smile, wondering what Mr A could mean by rushing out to see her in such a fashion, and may have frightened some of her fellow commuters by smiling the whole way home.

HH's friends told her to ask Mr A to share a cup of coffee with her, but HH thought that it would be much to forward, but determined to wear her hair in the way that Mr A liked when she returned to the library. When she returned, Mr A was there and said that they should get a coffee, which caused many smiles from HH. The next day HH and Mr A not only had coffee, but also went for a drink after work, and a lovely time was had by all. HH had to go to Ireland the next day, so that was it, or so she thought. Many emails later, HH decided that being in Ireland would not do, so headed back to England to see Mr A, and again had a lovely time. Much historical sight seeing occurred, including Portsmouth, and cooking and walking and all in all having the most marvelous time.

HH had to go back to Ireland for Christmas, but Mr A came to see her just afterwards and stayed until New Years. Mr A and HH had a lovely time in Ireland, particularly spending hours and hours in a pub in Belfast. HH and Mr A will have about another week together before HH has to return home, so who knows where the story will go after that. HH is all hope, all anxious flutter.....but no more on that today.

HH

"I believe I am the most absent creature in the world"

I have been a tremendously slack blogger for the past few months, well by slack I mean non-existent, but I will endeavour to improve myself and my blogging now and in the future.

A lot has occurred since my last, several months of research, a month and a half of living in a London Lounge room, lunch with the gorgeous foodycat, a trip to Ireland, back to England, and now back to Ireland again.

My research has gone pretty well I think, I spent a week in Ipswich and then a week in Winchester, I didn't see any sights though, just the inside of the record offices, not very exciting. A few pub dinners along the way and a few pints which kept me going. I took a week off to work from home and then headed to London where I spent a week and a half at the National Archives at Kew, which is an impressive building, and they have an excellent system for the archives, though nothing riveting there. My next point of call was the National Maritime Museum, which is officially my favourite place, and I spent the rest of my time in London going there, apart from one day at the British Library. I must say here, that I had planned to spend more time at the British Library, but went back to the Maritime Museum, and I am so pleased I did... more on that later, but I will hint that there may have been a mild 'misadventure'.... but more on that later.....

I found some great material and now I have the fun task of going through hundreds of digital photos of 18th C letters and taking notes on them all!!

I headed to Ireland mid-November, but the work I had counted on there didn't quite come to fruition, so I eagerly headed back to England for a little more work at the Maritime Museum, some nice walks in the park, and a little sojourn including a trip to Portsmouth to see the Victory and the Dockyards, a Dickens festival, and a little domesticity....

Well I am back in Ireland now, and am trying to get ready for Christmas. It feels a bit strange and my Christmas spirit hasn't really kicked into gear because I haven't baked 10 cakes, too many mince pies for words and a pudding, and I am not in charge of all the food for Christmas, there will be no Christmas Morning Muffins, no Boxing day pie, no pistachio and cranberry stuffing for the chickens....but I will just have to take a back seat and try and enjoy myself, and if nothing else, I will have the Doctor Who Christmas Special to keep me going, so that will be a nice consolation prize....

Well that is it for tonight, but more on the misadventure later and perhaps something a bit more reflective or a little more insightful!



HH

Rochester Castle

Christmas Tree, Grafton Street, Dublin


Nelson with the Victory

Nelson with the Figure head of HMS Trafalgar