Genealogy requests

It seems like the statistics and the reality didn't agree much this year. We have the number of weekly requests saved from previous years, and it didn't follow the trend this last two weeks. The work load hasn't been as bad as expected. We are certainly not complaining, we are lagging behind with so many things, so we are able to keep very busy anyway. It was a rather normal week, except for the fact that I didn't get any desk duty. The weather also caused some problems during the storage round, it was raining/snowing and unfortunately the books got wet (I didn't notice that someone had removed the plastic cover that is supposed to be in the car).

The library is now open also on Sundays. I'm lucky not to work during weekends. I was thinking of perhaps visiting there on Sundays for private errands, but I really shouldn't be at the workplace seven days a week. People already think that I don't have another life than the library.

Yesterday was of course spent at the archive, and I think I can deliver the last three genealogy files to the people who asked for them soon. There were two "ordinary" requests and one very special. The very special one qualifies in the category Tragic Life Story multiple times. It's a request that I have had on file for years, without finding the answer. When I finally cracked it, and saw the result of a search on the computer screen, it was a great relief. However, it immediately raised a whole lot of questions no one will be able to answer now. This happens often in genealogical research. Finding one answer means that you ask more questions. One other thing I have noticed is the fact that you almost always start asking about the family legends too late. When you get around to asking, the relatives who would have known are usually dead and gone. In this last case, the questions are forty years overdue. It's really sad.

I noticed that some of my neighbors have started to decorate for Christmas, so I made an effort today and got the fake tree down from the attic. I will not decorate it until next weekend, though.