Dave and I played a for old time sake game of US Ticket to Ride last night before I switch my allegiance to euro rails. I started strong, but had to rethink some routes after he blocked me between San Francisco and Los Angeles. As the game was nearing the final round, I had completed 5 middle value routes worth 51 points. That’s respectable. With all routes in hand completed the usually course of action (assuming you have a few left over trains and a colour cards) is to grab one last set of 3 route cards in the hopes that with so many train segments already on the board you may with the addition of just a couple trains be able to complete an extra route and pick up a few extra points that might clinch you the game. I had just two trains to spare and one card in hand, but I couldn’t be sure I had Dave beat, so I decided to risk it and grabbed three cards.

My worthy opponent

To my astonishment, I could complete two of them (both high value routes) with the addition of just one train piece between Seattle and Vancouver. And the third route I already had. I took an extra 49 points in two turns! When we counted up at the end Dave came in at 146, normally a winning score. But I was sitting on 68, and with 49 + 51 points, that was a round 100, which meant, with the scoring marks round the outside of the board running only 1-100, I had done a whole other lap and my marker stayed put. We had planned to play a second round, but this was the game to end on. A stunning victory for yours truly!

Watching Dexter (series 2). Such a guilty pleasure.

Century old mystery even more solved

Two months ago I declared a century old mystery solved. Well it turns out there's more to the story.

Having found the marriage of my grandmother's cousin Edith Ward (whose father had run off to Canada under an assumed name with his son-in-law's sister), I ordered up the microfilm with births and baptisms for Montreal. I found Edith and her two sons, which actually pointed me back to some online records which I had already searched with no results. Turns out the indexing doesn't include first names, so now I had the church they used from the microfilm, I pulled up all the Ward records for Grace Anglican Church of Montreal.

I found the burial of my auntie Flora May and the full register entry for Edith's baptism. And as there were only 30-odd records for the period in question, I had a peek at all of them. Working my way back from 1940 (the last record available online) to 1909 when my great-great grandfather Arthur Woodcroft now known as Albert Ward arrived in Montreal, I was looking for a marriage for Albert and May, but I found something else. The burial on 27 Aug 1910 of a little girl named Isabel, parents: Albert Arthur and Flora May Ward. Her birth date was noted as 27 Feb 1910, four months after Albert arrived in Canada. So here was a part of the story I wasn't even looking for. Arthur and May had left England because there was a child on the way. They weren't fleeing scandal - May's sisters all had children out of or very shortly after wedlock - I'm inclined to think they really wanted a family together. Arthur had left behind a unhappy marriage, but May's family was a happy and tight-knit bunch. She could easily have returned to them after the loss of Isabel, but she didn't. She stayed with Albert and they had another daughter seven years later.

It was an exciting find, but the best bit was telling Mum what I had discovered. There are still a few things left to wrap up - Albert's death, May's ship's passenger list - but more importantly, with the baptisms of Edith's two sons I now have their full names. They are my parents age so most likely living, and I found two iterations of each name in the Canadian phone directory. I've been practicing a little speech. I'm not a huge fan of genealogy cold calling, but I hope the accent and little bit of much-rehearsed charm will keep them on the phone long enough for me to establish if there is a connection. The rewards could be big: fingers are crossed for a (otherwise non-existent) picture of my great-great grandfather, and of course the last few details of a story that has intrigued my family for a century. Wish me luck!

It's official

I have given notice at my job and am moving back to England. I've been obsessed with genealogy for nearly six years now and it's time to go learn more and do it full time. England is the best place to be for that and I've dreamed of going home ever since the day I arrived here in New York. I'll be staying in the city through April, then dropping all my stuff off with my sister in Atlanta - she'll mind it in case I decide to come back - and then heading to England. It's strange to be leaving New York, but I've been thinking about it seriously for the last few months and now is the right time. Even my Dad agrees, and he's put the stops on some crazy ideas I've had over the years - like spending several months in Wisconsin in the winter!? - so it must be a good idea. I've always missed England and I can't wait to get there.

I can't wait to live in a flat with it's own washing machine again! I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate going to the laundromat. Six flights of stairs and I have to pass the posh sushi place looking like a bag lady. Sit in the cold waiting area. Can never concentrate on my book.

Back in the day, when Lauren lived with Lexia I used to accompany her to the very same laundromat. I remember watching (rather appropriately) the diving and swimming competitions at the Athens Olympics. So some happy memories.

But now I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate it!

Who Do You Think You Are? - US

I've just watched the first two episodes of the US version of WDYTYA. I was afraid they'd make a horrible mess of what in England is a perfect show. I feared excessive sentimentality and oppressive voiceover. But I was pleasantly surprised. There is very little voiceover, and I liked that most of it is done by the celebrities themselves. I thought they got the tone pretty right as well. My only grumble is the coming up next highlights and the recap that sandwich the commercial breaks. It's such a terrible waste of time and meant that they only had time to cover one side of person's family. It also meant it's impossible to get the element of mystery and anticipation that works so well in the English version. "Coming up later in the program..." No, I'm sorry that just doesn't fly. As far as the stories themselves, Emmitt Smith's tale of mixed race slave ancestors is something I've seen already in Ainsley Harriott's UK episode. But Sarah Jessica Parker's Salem witch trials connection was truly fascinating.

I've also been able to watch three episodes online of Prof Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s series for PBS, Faces of America. I've heard some grumbling about this show, that is has a strong message of America's intolerance towards immigrants and that Gates himself is too prominent. I decided to give it a shot anyway, and enjoyed it. Instead of focusing on one person's lineage at a time, the four programmes each have an overall theme and incorporate elements of the 12 participants family histories. I really liked his attempt to tell their stories in the wider context of the building this extraordinary nation, however flawed.

Jonathan was academic bowl team captain for one round this weekend. They trounced the other side by 70 points. Next stop University Challenge!