I said earlier that we had made contact with a great guy Mike Ford in Plymouth who offered to lend us a professional video camera to record our trip. We took it when we visited my cousin Cathy and Tony had a go at using it. Mike looked at what we had done and thought it all pretty good. However we wondered if we would spend too much time recording stuff and not enough time just looking. There was also the responsibility of a valuable piece of kit which is not small. After thinking about it for a while we decided that we would not take the camera but just borrow one from Charlie, my son.
We did however bring back a piece of cine film from Cathy's which Mikes clever friend has restored onto a cd which we have not seen yet but is apparently Shanghai Harbour. We will be down in Plymouth after Easter so will be able to get it then.
That decision made we arranged to go and see Auntie Jane again. Jane is Dads sister and has been great in identifying photos etc. and telling us about their time in Shanghai.
Jane's daughter Philippa was the cousin who transcribed Grandpas diary. But she had not been able ti identify where he stayed in London so it was missing from her transcription. I wanted to see the original and this was the main purpose of the visit.
Philippa had found the original and we were able to see that it was probably The Clarence which is in the right area. Grandpa said in his diary that they strolled "in Piccadilly and The Strand before turning in on the night before they left for Ostend.
The Clarence is now a pub but the manager told me that it had been there for 130 years and is on five floors so maybe it had either been an hotel or perhaps let out rooms in the past.
So we can't stay there but will have our supper there on the first night. Another little link joined up.
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