'A Knyvett Legacy' & 'Resolutions' - by J.E

A Knyvett legacy

                                   by J.E.

Marie Antoinette gazed from the grimy barracks window at the restless crowd below. The sound they made reminded her of a herd of wild beasts. She was under no allusions regarding her fate.

The guards entered and hustled her out of the dirty cell. She had only seconds to remove the remaining ring from the fourth finger of her right hand, now wet with perspiration.

Thrusting it into the hands of her weeping maid, she closed her eyes and prepared herself for death.

My family have no knowledge how that maid survived the horrors of the French Revolution. 

Somehow the beautiful emerald ring came into the possession of the Knyvett family – my forbears.

Edward Knyvett, with wife Emma and 11 children landed in Nelson in the year of our Lord 1838. The ring was in Emma’s possession.

Exhausted by child-birth and illness, Emma died eight months after her arrival in New Zealand

.

Last week I was privileged to be shown Marie Antoinette’s ring at a reunion of the Knyvett family in Morrinsville, New Zealand.

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Resolutions

                         by J. E.

In this year of our Lord

Something’s just struck a chord

I’ve resolved NOT to make resolutions

Resolutions suck.

I’ve never had any luck.

In fact, they leave me quite bored.

In 2008 I resolved to lose weight,

Work harder, be kinder to neighbours.

But all turned to custard

It did not cut the mustard,

For reasons I refuse to belabour.

So resolutions be damned!

One should just do one’s best

In the words of my dear old Mum,

“Just let life flow, dear,”

She said to me gently,

“And give life a kick up the bum!”