BY DICKENS!

Portsmouth, England

Day 127

Hiya's...how are you?

I hope you arrived ok at Grandma's Elise and David!!!! Aww..i wish i were there with you all!!!! I miss having a coffee and chat on grandma's couch!! Love to you all...

Oh! And, 'By Dickens' i mean we went to Charles Dicken's birthplace! Which is a street about 2 miles from where we stayed at The Lady Hamilton (named after Lord Nelson's mistress -Lord Nelson of the Battle of Travalgar era)and what a walk it was!!!!

We actually went there twice. The first time it was closed so we walked the 2 miles (yep, miles!) home and did it again the next day..

What's really weird about Dickens house is he was actually only in that particular house for 3 months and i don't think he even knew which house it was until he was in his late 60/s when he and his manager went searching for it..

Apparently he was known to say to his manager, when he was looking for the very house in his 60's, 'It must be that house because it looks like father!' telling us he never really knew which one it was...and well, of course, he was only there for the first 3 months of his life!

It was an interesting house i've got to tell you. Very victorian, (he was born in 1812) and so it was a 4 storey house! Including the attic where the servants stayed (apparently in that time they all had servents!)

There were a few stories surrounding ol Dickens, that we discovered in his house, and after looking at copies of his birth, death and marriage certs...and also the book which logged the rent that his parents Elizabeth and John paid (mostly paid in arrears).

Charles Dickens, at the end of his life (he died in 1883) apparently had separated from his wife and had a companion called Ellen..and it seems he was at her house when he had a bit of a turn, a carriage was ordered..so he got taken back to his house where he was living with his sister in law, and housekeeper so there was no gossip surrounding how he died!

Juicy hey..i loved it!!!

He left his companion a sizable sum in his will and it was she that eventually bought the house where he was born and made it a memorial for Dickens.

What a lovely story...she, the sister in law and Charle's Dickens eldest daughter, Mammy, were all friends for a long time after he died as well....

And that was the Dickens museum..it had a few of his famous books (Oliver Twist, Pickwick Papers etc) the chaise he finally died on, a pen, a bust etc and that was about it....

We walked to The Royal after and had a beer and a toast to him..and to Aiden for his birthday..and thought about how we'd get to Paris..

Which is by plane via Southampton..in a round about way. And here we are..at the airport waiting to fly out!!

See you in Paris, France. Which by the way, according to family origins is a country i have close associations with! We're from the Anglo Norman times....and our origins start in France!! No wonder i love it there...I always did want to change my name to something exotic like jenae (with the french accent!!!) Oh dear....

Did i tell you Greg's family come from Germany..Bavaria? Interesting hey...No wonder he always gets mistaken for a German (no joke) until he opens his aussie mouth!!!! haha

Okies....just wanted to fill in some time and say hi!

Oh yeah, i bought 3 MORE books while i was here in England, for fear of not finding english books in Europe like last time!!!! And of course, there's no telly at nights at most of the places we stay so i NEED the books to read!!

One of them is called, 'Skinny Bitch'! haha..couldn't resist it. It's a no holds book that Greg thinks is great because it advocates NO DIET DRINKS due to the aspartame in them...i think i'm finally convinced it definately is dangerous!!!!!

It's quite a revealing read this book....worth reading! It also scared me into chucking out the teas and coffees i collected in the hotels....gawd...that's desperate hey.

Bit hard in France not to indulge in their lifestyle though..ohlala..all their pattiserie (sorry about the spellos!) and their french wine..french bread..french fries..and snails...ok only kidding.

Another of the books is about Lady Hamilton....Lord Nelson's lover, and i got that just because that's where we stayed..and apparently it's quite a read!!! And a bit of a Sons and lovers type book!!! (DH Lawrence).

Far out...England's great for their authors aren't they???? Feel like i'm in a fluffy literary cloud here!!!

Oh well..back to my books..and playing the waiting game...

xxx