Old Things and Family History

Please don't read the last few paragraphs if you get bored by WWII or family history.. This is primarily for all the relatives out there reading this! (but read the next paragraph - it's honestly interesting).

Have had a quiet few days in Norwich, Cambridge, and Milton Keynes - and back to London tomorrow. I've had a small taste of small-town England, but want to keep it that way so when Uni starts (at the end of September), it will still be an unknown. I made a terrible mistake in visiting Great Yarmouth, and as soon as I arrived I knew I would not be making a day of it. Believe me, it was not quite my cup of tea - it was pretty much just a whole lot of old theme park rides dumped on a nice beach, with fish'n'chip and ice cream parlours everywhere.. sorry Rupert Hohwieler, but your recommendation didn't quite reach your usual high travel-advice standards! I feel I'm yarning a bit too much now, but the bottom line is - I think I found the Huntly of the UK..

On a more positive note, I made good stead into finding out more about my family history. I had no idea about this, but back in the day (agggeeess ago), 10 of my relatives on one side of the family were all mayors of Norwich. So I couldn't think of a more fitting place to be studying political science in!

Spent the next day checking out the house where that side of my family are from. The house happened to be on sale, so I was lucky enough to get inside and get a tour by its present owners. It doesn't look like it has been changed in centuries.. a stunning time piece. Let's hope the next owners aren't property developers....

Today I made it to Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, the site where some of the brains behind the allied WWII victory worked tirelessly to protect our freedom. My Grandma worked here deciphering the German Enigma code along with many others, so it was fascinating to learn more about where she worked, and the [then] state-of-the-art computers she worked with. The code used by the Germans was so secure that there were literally millions of billions of combinations that could have been used to encrypt their messages - but an incompetent Nazi General used the same combination twice, creating a breakthrough for the British in their understanding of how the code was constructed. Only until the 80s were the code breakers allowed to share stories, intelligence, and anything else to their families.. sadly this was 3 years after my grandmother's husband died!

Back to London tomorrow for a few days, then Munich on the 23rd.

Very very old home I visited.

Inside. Note the massive fireplace in the background.

A creative busker in Cambridge.

Bletchley Park - where the German code was deciphered.

Colossus II - the first computer in the world. Used to decipher enemy code.