Today in History: 2nd August

Hello Summer-time travellers. Its time once again to pack your trunks, grab your passport and with your travel pillow around your neck, board the jet plane of time and fly into history.

1776: The US Declaration of Independence is officially signed (not 4th July)

1858: The British government assumes control of India from the East India Company. Creating the British Raj.

1870: The worlds first Underground Metro station (Tower) opens in London.

1921: TV travel expert Alan Whicker is born.

1934: Upon the death of President Hindenburg, Adolf Hitler gives himself the title Fuhrer.

1970: US Film maker Kevin Smith is born.

1995: Latvian basketball star Kristaps Porzingis is born.

2018: Apple Inc. becomes the first company in history to be valued over $1 trillion.

#apple #hitler #raj #londonunderground #declarationofindependence #alanwhicker
#kevinsmith #kristapsporzingis

A trip to Denmark and Sweden

Hello Gentle Readers.

Lena, Robert and I are now in Latvia before we head off to Armenia next week.

Lena's mum very kindly looked after Robert so we could take a little trip. Neither of us had been to Denmark and Lena had never been to Sweden. So we took a flight to Copenhagen with Air Baltic and then a Flix bus to Malmo. This took me up to 35 visited countries and Lena up to 40.

Here are some pictures of our trip.

Moose in Copenhagen

The Little Mermaid

Tunnel to the bridge....

...the bridge to Sweden

Malmo Scottish pub

#denmark #copenhagen #sweden #malmo #airbaltic #flixbus

A Journey of Self Discovery (part 4)

Hello again Gentle Readers and welcome to the last part of my journey of self discovery.

In part 3 I told you we made arrangements to meet. On the Wednesday Robert, Lena and I visited Dublin so we thought we would stay in London and then go to see my birth mum on the Thursday.

We also wanted saw Lena's sister and her little boy.

I have to admit that meeting my birth mum was making me very nervous. Lena told me it was normal and that everything would be fine.

We arrived at the town where my birth family live and parked the car. Unfortunately on the way to that town our windscreen got cracked and I had to phone the rental company to inform them. It must have looked strange if any of my birth family had seen us sitting in the car.

We walked towards the hotel and Luke, Rachel and her son Daniel were waiting outside for us. We greeted each other like old friends even though we had never met and this relaxed me enough to go and meet Rosie.

Rosie, Rachel and Luke with Lena, Robert and me.

Me and Rosie

Meeting Rosie was a great experience. We talked a lot, shared photographs and bonded.

Rosie gave birth to me and is my birth mother but my mum is my mum and she told Lena to tell my mum what a good job she had done raising me.

After a few hours of talking and eating a nice dinner we said our goodbyes but promised to stay  in touch. I have her phone number and address and we will keep in contact.

After nearly 51 years apart it would be a shame if we didnt see each other again.

#adoption #findingbirthmum

A call out to anyone who knows a publisher.

Hello Gentle Readers

Regular readers will know that for nearly 5 years I have been writing a novel Lazarus Rising. Well it is nearly finished. If you know anyone who knows anyone who might be a publisher please show them this plot synopsis.

Thanks

 Lazarus Rising is a historical novel which is about  love, identity, family and revenge. It is set during the late 18th and Early 19th centuries. Its main location is the real villlage of Stelling Minnis in Kent, England.

Told in flashbacks it tells the story of a mysterious stranger called Lazarus with no memory and his struggle to discover his true identity while at the same time facing up against an enemy who is determined that the truth will never be revealed.

On his journey he will make friends and enemies, face dangers and challenges whilst still facing his own demons from a past he barely remembers.

Set  before, during  and after the Napoleonic wars Lazarus Rising is a novel spanning 30 years and  travels from rural England to Portugal, Waterloo and early 19th century London.

Broad in scale but also personal and intimate. Lazarus Rising tells a tale that uses an Epic backdrop to tell one mans story.

#yerevanpublisher

A Journey of Self Discovery (part 3)

Hello again Gentle readers


Yesterday I started my story about my adoption and finished part 2 by telling you what I sent to the person I had found on the Internet.

I have to admit that when I sent that message I was not 100% sure I would get any response at all so imagine my surprize when I got this message back.

'Hello so glad to hear from you,mum was only 17 when she had you,her mum insisted/made her give you away, she has thought about you ever since, we are so happy you have contacted and would be happy to help with any information you may need'

It turned out that Rachel who had answered was my birth mums daughter (my little half sister) and she has a brother called Luke (my little half brother)

Luke, me and Rachel

She also told me that my mum, Rosie, had been looking for me for years and Rachel gave me her phone numbet. I didnt call immediately as Lena, Robert and I were driving to Scotland the next day.

When I did call it was a wonderful opportunity for us to talk. She told me more about the situation she found herself in back in 1968 and I was upset for her. She had faced terrible decisions which a  17 year old should never have to make and her mother, my grandmother, basically dragged me from her arms so I could be adopted.

She told me very little about my father other than he was an older man who took advantage of her and then disappeared.

We arranged to meet the following week and I will tell you about that in the next post.

To be continued....

#adoption #birthmum

A Journey of Self Discovery (part 2)

Welcome back Gentle Readers

In my last post I finished by explaining that I had found my birth mums name and address and I asked you what you would do.

Me and my Dad. I am 4 or 5 in the picture.

I went on Facebook....and found...not very much.
However I kept looking and found more information.

Time for some background.
My mum and dad told me I was adopted when I was 6 or 7 years old. When I was a teenager they told me my birth mother was only 17, unmarried and suffering from Epilepsy when I was born.

Over the years I thought about looking for her but because it was quite difficult to do I made excuses and never followed through.

Finding her was not what I intended to do on the day before we left China but find her I did. I also discovered that not only did I have a birth mother but I also had a younger half sister and a younger half brother.

My mum and dad who adopted me when I was just a few months old are very very important to me. My dad died in 2000 but I wanted to talk to my mum before I made any contact with my birth family. I wanted to know she was OK with me proceeding.

It turns out she was very supportive so on Sunday 8th of July I sent the following message to my half sister on Facebook messenger.

'Hello my name is Neil and I saw your info about your family at Heritage Family Tree. At birth my name was Michael A.K. Duffy and I was born in Hillingdon on August 25th 1968. I would appreciate any help you could provide.'

I then waited for her response

To be continued.....

#adoption #michaelakduffy #heritagefamilytree #searching

A Journey of Self Discovery (part 1)

Hello Gentle Readers

Me aged 3ish.

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while are probably aware that I was adopted by my parents shortly after my birth in 1968.

Before we left China, Lena and I had been talking about my roots. I was born with a different name. My birthname was Michael A.K Duffy. Bit of a mouthful compared to Neil Thomson and Lena often joked that with a name like Duffy; I must be Irish.

I consider myself Scottish because of my parents and having lived in Scotland for so long. I decided to go to www.ancestry.com and look up my past. I looked up my birth name and found that in 1968 there was only 1 Michael A.K. Duffy born, in July. This was confusing as you can imagine because I was born on the 25th August.

I decided to get a copy of my original birth certificate to solve this particular puzzle so I paid the fee and waited...and waited some more.

On the day before we left China an email arrived and attached to it was my birth certificate which had my original birth name on as well as my birth mothers name and address at the time of my birth.

As you can imagine I was intrigued.

What would you do?

To be continued....

#adoption #michaelakduffy #searching