Today I was making a cup of tea in Gabriel's kitchen and came across a brass on her bench, in which she places the used teabags. It has been in our family for years, and as a child one of my weekend chores was to polish the brass - this piece being one of them. Some may even remember it - it had a cat with a fiddle in it. It's something I enjoy about being with family - coming across little "memories" in unexpected places. I have brought the things back over to the family in the past and it's lovely seeing them still being used.
Anyway, I commented about it to Dean who told me that a local road between Macclesfield and Buxton (where my brother was born) is called Cat and Fiddle Road, and there is a pub in it by the same name. He then went on to tell me that history tells us that there was a very popular governor in Calais (France) called Caton Fidele and it is believed the name stems from there.
When I later commented about it to Gabriel, she brought out a corkscrew - which we think our aunt from Sevenoaks left the family - with the same design on it. I remember seeing it at their house too, as long ago as 1969. However, inscribed in the brass on that piece were the words "The country folk were puzzled sore, The name, they read it, o'er and o'er, At length they said 'hey diddle diddle - why sure it must be cat and fiddle'.
That aunt was the daughter of one of my granny's sisters - therefore mum's cousin. Those sisters had another sister living in Buxton and hence, when Philip was born during WWII, it was a far safer place to be than in the heart of London. I assume both articles were purchased around that time.
Perhaps that's not as interesting to a reader, but it pieced together a few things that I hadn't put together previously.
Indeed we were in Buxton yesterday - and had a wee look around ... whilst looking for the local wool shop. We passed the spa water fountain - where I have photos of mum taking a drink. I have been there before, but it was years ago and somehow more poignant in Gabriel's company (4th generation).
Today I saw most of Cars II with the family - I'm not sure how children kept up with the plot, but then again perhaps they weren't dozing, while not watching the reactions of the two little boys. Already Nye is thinking the DVD could be a good acquisition, but that came just before asking his mother what the story was about.
I HAD planned to put up some photos today - but Dean has been pretty busy so I didn't like to ask! No promises, but perhaps over the next couple of days...!
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