Top posts

• The Triangle through the years

  21 December 2015

  Above is a London bus blind which apparently can be bought on the net. As for the photos, I tried to post the pictures chronologically, but am not sure I have succeeded! I thought the presence of a numbers of trees indicated a greater antiquity, and then...

• Broomfield Park 4-the Yacht pond

  07 September 2015

  Some extra pictures of the Yacht or Boating pond I have collected - more of less chronologically. This first one is an aerial view: The swan necks are gone! (this makes me doubt if the photo was taken in Broomfield park) Not sure the one above is BP......

• Secret of the lost planet

  02 January 2015

  Hi all, and a happy new year. During the holidays, I took up this book from a shelf ( I knew it came from Auntie Olive, or perhaps Monsieur Père), and decided to re-read it - I remembered nothing apart from the title! But I must have read it in the early...

• The Fox pub on Green Lanes

  29 May 2016

  Today the Fox pub in Green Lanes is an unescapable item of PG. But it wasn't always as glorious-looking. Here are a few pics gathered during my idling moments of searching: My information says this view of the interior dates back to 1889...and here's...

• Were there toilets in the park?

  10 February 2021

  Well, it's been a time! But a recent exchange on the FB page called Winchmore Hill and Palmers Green Memories has suggested me to write this post about toilets at 9DR...Not that I hadn't mentioned the subject before... See here and here . There's even...

• Broomfield House in pictures

  06 September 2016

  Right well, I've already posted pictures of the House, but here you'll find them all put together! (most pictures come from the net, don't hesitate to ask me if some have been posted in spite of authorization) The order is chronological... hopefully!...

• The Italian connection

  15 August 2015

  This summer we went to Lucca, Italy, and you probably know that our ancestor, Carlo Morganti, who was Grandpa's grandpa (his mother's father) came from a neighbouring village, Bagni di Lucca (above picture). Auntie Bee went there some years ago, and met...

• Holy Land (3) The religious dimension

  27 November 2014

  Hi, Grandpa's albums are as I said the record of a pilgrimage, which I don't know whether he intended to make if it hadn't been for the occasion provided by the IEC Conference, but which certainly, once the possibility was offered, was prepared very much...

• Palmers Green tales

  18 July 2014

  I've stumbled on this series of talks of people being interviewed about their youth in Palmers Green (check the website Palmers Green tales and their FB page ), and even though there aren't any references about our family (I haven't listened to everything),...

• Monsieur Père was also a jolly good fellow

  21 December 2013

  Monsieur Père (perhaps especially from this distance) could seem and sound a rather formidable man... If you check here , you'll notice the memories I have written of him are mostly of the sobering kind! I think his daughters would testify to that. Mind...

• Monsieur Père at Standard Telephone & Cables

  01 December 2013

  One previous article had dealt with Monsieur Père paraphernalia ; this one is going to do the same, but with the specific attention to his work. As we all know, he used to work for Standard Telephones and Cables limited ( STC ) at its New Southgate plant....

• Brooke Bond tea-cards

  08 November 2013

  Here's the long awaited post on Brooke bond tea-cards!! I have no idea when exactly this practice of collecting these coloured rectangular tea-cards originated, nor who started it. What I know is that I seemed to have been swamped in them ever since 9DR...

• The Holy Land (1)

  13 November 2014

  Some time ago, I was reminded that Monsieur Père and Grandma had gone on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Israel, and I asked Noel if he could inquire next time he went to Bonnebosq. He did, and guess what? Mummy entrusted him with two albums, which our...

• Is Palmers Green typically British?

  14 May 2014

  This is the question you might ask if you have in mind what Auntie Cath did when she took photos of PG in order to show French pupils in her school (check here ). The date is yet unknown, but probably in the 80s. The interest of this initiative for us...

• Recording session of 1963 (?)

  04 December 2013

  These are the recordings from the tapes which Noël had kept from what mum had probably brought back from England, because the sound is quite good, as you'll hear, whereas we had copies at home whose quality was much lower. You'll hear Mummy (Cath), Monsieur...

• Plastic animals

  04 October 2013

  One final post made possible with Noel's recent photowork: the plastic animals which we had bought and collected in England during our stays at 9DR. Here's a picture, for example, where I can be seen absorbed in the pleasure of a toy elephant that had...

• School work

  18 September 2013

  I have started writing about my school experience in England, I haven't quite finished, but as a starter, I have a few school things which, upon looking at them carefully, something I'd never done, revealed funny little idiosyncrasies. This little English-French...

• That wedding party in 1985

  21 August 2013

  I've posted a number of photos of our wedding party celebrated on Nov 2nd, 1985 at 9 Derwent road ( here , here , and here ) but I thought I might put them all together in one post, and add the ones which I haven't yet posted! I remember AB had Mum all...

• Tell me if I'm wrong

  02 October 2014

  Am I right to think there's a difference in the house between these two pictures (1962 and 1980s)? I think I heard the toilet extension had been built at a rather later stage (but when?) 29/10/2014. This is what Jo added concerning the first picture:...

• Family trees

  23 April 2014

  Some time ago I had started putting together online all the information which I had collected about the various ancestors of our family, French and English, and of course I'm only bothered here about the English side. But naturally there are many missing...

• Transportation

  21 April 2014

  Hello everybody! We've just started our Easter holidays! So as it's the hols, a fun post on transportation. You'll see why I say it's going to be fun. Let's start with the vintage vehicles! I'm not sure whether this is the pram which Mark is describing...

• Cats!

  19 April 2014

  I don't know how long or how many cats there have been at 9 & 7 DR over the years. The picture above shows a 1960 pic with one: does somebody know its name and master/mistress?? Cats seemed to have been important if one judges by this picture: Look well:...

• The two gardens

  10 April 2014

  I hesitated when writing the two gardens in the title for this post, because perhaps one should say there was really one big garden, separated only by a fence, and also because the gardeners took care of the two plots in the same way. There used to be...

• London outings

  04 April 2014

  (Mme Tussaud's French touch!) It was mainly Grandma who was responsible for outings, while we stayed at 9DR. When we were smaller, she came with us of course, and then later when we were older, she organized things, and we could go on our own. We usually...

• Games at 9DR

  30 March 2014

  At 9 Derwent Road we played a lot, naturally because we were on holidays. I have already alluded to some games ( rounders , especially, and plastic animals ), and I suppose swimming was a kind of sports-game of sorts. Indoors, it was with Auntie Olive...