Two Hundred Years Ago

Two hundred years ago my Great great Grandfather, Balthasar Dietz was born in the small village of Nordeck, Hessen, Germany.

This was the year of the virtual defeat of Napoleons army at Moscow, haveing captured the city, he found it burned out with none of the anticipated  supplies for his army of half a million men.  Being faced with the prospect of the advent of the Russian winter there began the great retreat of his army , commemorated in the 1812 overture.

One Hundred Years ago

A hundred years ago, my dad was aged twelve and spent his Saturday in a barber shop in Old Gravel Lane, as a Lather boy.

Most of the customers were dockers who worked a five and half day week, and went into the barber shop on their way home from work to have a shave, before the Saturday afternoon bath.
 Most of them did not shave during the week, so had a weeks stubble to be lathered up ready for the barber to shave them with the cut throat razor, normal in those days.  In order to speed up the process the lathering was usually done by a lather boy who spread the lather with a brush onto the face, and then used their fingers to massage the first lathering into the stubble to soften them up for the razor.  Dad commented that the tips of his fingers were red raw by the end of the day.

Not many men go to the barbers for a shave these days, and even those that do would not expect to be lathered up by a young boy. Those familiar with shaving in a modern barbers will understand that at George Warner's shop in Old Gravel Lane, Wapping he could not afford to supply all the little niceties that happen today.  Not for a halfpenny shave !!  That's right halfpence. (or appence)

So it didn't start with hot towels and then on to moisturiser before the lather brush.  Oh no, there was a saucepan of hot water simmering on a gas jet in the corner with a tub of liquefied soap alongside.  Dad had a variety of brushes to choose from and he never mentioned how he chose which brush to choose, perhaps there was no system, maybe the one that wasn't used on the previous customer.  So after putting the apron round the customers neck, there was a quick dip of the selected brush in the hot water, a swish around the soapy stuff and then straight onto the face for the first lather around.  Then came  the hard part.  rubbing the lather into the bristles in the hope that they would be softened up ready for the cut throat razor.  Dad was of the opinion that this to help George make his razors last longer rather than for the benefit of the customer.  Then it was on to the next customer to lather up and rub in with the fingers.  Back to the first one for a second lathering and the hope that George was ready to do the shaving, otherwise another rub in with the fingers would be needed.

As well as not shaving for a week, most of the customers  didn't

change their shirts or vests either.  Imagine the sweat resulting from  a week working at the bottom of a barge heaving coal up to the dockside.  Then there were the carmen who brought in a week of working with horses and who didn't smell any sweeter than their charges.   All hard graft in those days.  Carrying a hundredweight of coal (over 50 kilos) up staircases or from the bottom of the lighterage barge up to the dockside was no joke and it was a while after finishing work before the good humour of these men returned.  And it was no joke either for the lather boy close up and personal to all this, on the go for the whole time to earn sixpence from George and whatever tips the customer would hand over.

eating out with smokers

Well not exactly eating with smokers, because we don't smoke and don't know anyone who does, but going out to eat where there are smokers is a bit of a problem.  We are on Gozo as a change from Malta and went out to eat the other night to a very nice restaurant with a roof top garden setting.  We are always aware of the fact that eating out of doors these days could be a pain if there are too many smokers around.  Here on the Maltese islands smoking is not permitted inside a restaurant, but come the summer all the tables are moved outside.  Tables inside mean that the smokers have to put on their hard done by act and go outside for a fix.  When eating outside of course they can assert their god given right to smoke as and when they please and if you don't like sitting next to them then hard luck.
Well anyway the other night we had barely sat at the table and looked at the menu before we were assailed by a positive smoke screen for two adjoining tables, so we had no alternative but to give up and leave.  The Maitre D. apologised, it wasn t her fault anyway, and said that they are not allowed to ask diners not to smoke, except that on one occasion they had asked one diner not to smoke his cigars.  I suppose it is all a question of degree, there are some who would find cigar smoke more offensive than cigarettes.  I wonder how she would have reacted to my Dad's smelly old pipe !

Still only another few weeks of summer here in the Maltese archipelago and some of the tables will be migrating back indoors.

Maltese Surnames

Most interesting article about Maltese Surnames at
http://www.geneanum.com/malte/documents/genealogie/les-patronymes-maltais.html

It is in French but your browsers translator should handle it no problem.

the article containsa table of the frequency of Maltese Surnames which shows that abhout 25 percent of the Maltese population are named Borg.


I have copied the table below:


BORG is leading the Past ... a Maltese on 25 carries this name.
Following: VELLA , FARRUGIA, Camilleri and Zammit
The table below provides the prizes for first 120 names:

1	BORG	21	CALLEJA	41	AZZOPARDI	61	BONELLO	81	CILIA	101	PULLICINO
2	VELLA	22	PORTELLI	42	Psaila	62	FORMOSA	82	CURMI	102	AXIS
3	FARRUGIA	23	GATT	43	VASSALLO	63	CASHA	83	Teuma	103	GAFA
4	CAMILLERI	24	GRIMA	44	ZAHRA	64	Ciantar	84	GRIST	104	BAJADA
5	ZAMMIT	25	Bugeja	45	Saliba	65	ZERAFA	85	BALZAN	105	Pulis
6	GRECH	26	MALLIA	46	CACHIA	66	TONNA	86	AZZOPARDI	106	Abdille
7	GALEA	27	MIZZI	47	Azzopardi	67	DALLI	87	DINGLE	107	GRECH / GREG
8	CARUANA	28	BUSUTTIL	48	MAGRO	68	CHETCUTI	88	SAyDS	108	Fiten
9	AGIUS	29	Sammut	49	MANGION	69	FRENDO	89	CAMENZULI	109	GERADA
10	CASSAR	30	ABELA	50	BARBARA	70	Darmanin	90	PARNES	110	CASSIA
11	ATTARD	31	GAUCI	51	MAMO	71	BONAVIA	91	CUMBO	111	RIZZO
12	MICALLEF	32	FALZON	52	BARTOLO	72	TANTI	92	CREMONA	112	CORDINA
13	MIFSUD	33	Xerri	53	Bezzina	73	CALLUS	93	ABEJ	113	DELIA
14	SPITERI	34	XICLUNA	54	XUEREB	74	SANT	94	CATANIA	114	Ciappara
15	PACE	35	BUTTIGIEG	55	ZARB	75	FELICI	95	CARDONA	115	Coleiro
16	MUSCAT	36	CAUCHI	56	Cutajar	76	DE BRINCAT	96	Cuschieri	116	SULTANA
17	BONNICI	37	AQUILINA	57	BUHAGIAR	77	Briffa	97	CINI	117	Bigen
18	FENECH	38	ELLUL	58	DIMECH	78	CHIRCOP	98	GALDI	118	Stival
19	SCHEMBRI	39	TABONE	59	MERCIECA	79	PISANO	99	SACCO	119	SOLTANI
20	Debono	40	Xiberras	60	BALDACCHINO	80	SEICHEL	100	REFALO	120	XIRIHA