Trivia Tuesday: The Apothecary

Following on from the popularity of my 'genealogical trivia' theme for the A-Z Challenge, I am going to continue on.  Not at the frantic pace of the Challenge (a post a day, following the alphabet), but a post per week.  I started by looking up the word 'trivia' - Wikipedia insists it means "obscure and arcane bits of dry knowledge", but I hope that the trivia I choose will not be 'dry'.

www.morguefile.com

Do you have an apothecary in your family tree?  These were the forerunners of today's doctors, and used medicines, perfumes, spices, herbs, comfits, antidotes, aphrodisiacs, antiseptics, tonics, purgatives, laxatives, emetics, astringents, and general cure-alls [The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History, David Hey].  So you can see that you went to the apothecary for more than just the common cold! They even dispensed something called "Dragon's Blood"...


And, in case you thought anybody could 'set up shop' as an apothecary: the apprenticeship for this profession took five years and you had to be licensed.

© 2016 Ros Haywood. All Rights Reserved

A-Z Challenge 2016: Reflections

These stats just keep getting better and better! After I wrote my 'Reflections' post for The Writing Desk (which included the stats for the A-Z Challenge in April), I took a look at GenWestUK's stats for the A-Z Challenge.  Similar to the other blog - Over 2 thousand views.  4.4 thousand views to my Twitter feed (shared with The Writing Desk and the Murch Blog, of course).  My Google+ account has shot up to over 92 thousand views.  But with one special extra: GenWestUK crept up to top 49,000 views - and I am grateful to the A-Z Challenge for a huge chunk of them.

Each year, although the concept of the Challenge is attractive, the benefits far outweigh the sweat.  By which I mean: I know there are times when you curse yourself for being an over-ambitious/insane/foolish {delete irrelevant adjective - aw heck, leave 'em all in, why not} kind of fool for doing what you're doing, and some people are actually quite hysterical by the time April finishes.  But the sense of achievement if you made it! If you didn't manage to post every day - your dentist will be truly amazed as you grit those teeth and determine to do it next year.  And the backlash of energy you receive in May!

You can do anything!

© 2016 Ros Haywood. All Rights Reserved

A-Z Challenge 2016: I'm a Survivor - Are You?

© 2016 Ros Haywood. All Rights Reserved