A week!!!! I've been researching since 1981 - this was pre-internet so research meant going to a record office and scouring fiche and film, no indexes. Took forever. I was brought up in my fathers home town - Ipswich -so needed Ipswich Record Office. However, I was married and lived in Essex then so my research was crammed into a Saturday once a month when we visited my parents. You could make a list of all you wanted to check, scan the records all day and come away with nothing! Most frustrating. Plus, to complicate things further alot of the early parish records are virtually unreadable. Nowadays it is so much easier, thank heavens.
My mother was Scottish and tracing that half of me was so difficult then but thanks to the internet have found out more in the past 5 years than the preceding 23!
Sounds like your interest stems from your grandmother and it was the same with me. Although she had died before I started researching I remembered all the chats we used to have about family - I was the only one of her grandchildren who loved to listen to them. I have been involved in a One-Name Study of her maiden name - SCOPES - and like to think she'd be proud of what I have uncovered over the years. You are lucky that your Gran is happy to talk about her family so treasure it all.
It certainly is addictive but in a good way since you can find 'new' relatives, share information, receive information, and even make new friends. People on this site are generally very helpful and can often break down peoples 'brick walls'. Sometimes just reading the various posts can give you an insight into something you might not have considered. I like to visit at least once a day and scan through the 'unread' posts since my last visit. Sometimes something catches my eye (like yours) and I will help if I can. As you gain more experience you'll no doubt do the same in due course.
Annette
