A Brief Hello...

Sorry I've been quiet today - J and I just decided to go out to a local Italian restaurant for our dinner.  It was kind of a celebration, because Paper #1 got finished today. And The Boss has decided that he's going to let me do a day or two's study in a BIG library so I can dot 'i's and cross 't's before the submission.

And...  I think I've found out what happened to the unfortunate family at the heart of my paper.  The answer is, I think, in here:-

http://www.rps.ac.uk/search.php?action=fc&fn=williamii_trans&id=id23788&query=&type=trans&variants=

It's rather a sad tale, but it fits.  Family on the up in the late seventeenth century overspends itself when it spends an exorbitant amount on land, on which it builds a new house with pretty masonry before going bust soon after due to external pressures.  A descendant takes a piece of the old house (which must already be falling into decay, if indeed it ever gets completed...), establishes a new steading of the same name, which incorporates the fragment from its predecessor, and hopes to rebuild the family's fortunes.  Only this attempt at resurgance is itself doomed to failure in the long run.

Quite poignant, really...

And tomorrow it'll be back to business as usual.  AND we're expecting snow.  Oh, yippee.  I can hardly wait:-(