A page of memories from my uncles photo album

Your uncle got around a bit then! What was he? A travelling salesman?
(only joshing)

Better than that he had the key to the pantry, fed his shipmates throughout his travels!

My great-grandfather ran away to sea at 16 and soon became a ship's purser. He was off the coast of San Francisco at the time of the 1906 earthquake and fire. He was also off the coast of Cuba when he afforded a government minister a favour of some sort and was awarded a box of cigars at Christmas, in perpetuity.
And every Christmas, right up to the late 1970s, he duly received a box of top-notch cigars from Cuba, regardless of of any change of regime!!!!
He died at the age of 97 - fully compos mentis and I enjoyed many hours discussing things with him such as plate tectonics, cultivating orchids and the influence of Kerry Packer on cricket.
He was in favour of Packer; "About time cricketers could earn a bit of money before their long retirement"
He had been very involved in sport and so was still interested.
Sorry. Got carried away a bit there!

Must have been great to converse with someone who had such lifetime experiences. I never knew any of my great-grandparents and my grandparents dies when I was too young to get such interaction. It took me some time to back track and research the ancestors, all starting from a couple of pages of names on three generations my father left. Very easy to get carried away there too!

And all good fun too!

Des belles photos à préserver.