We went to Anglesey to carry out vital research. Well actually it is more accurate to say that we went to enjoy ourselves. Graveyards can be an unattractive proposition when it is raining but in the pleasant weather we had, it was very nice to stroll around and read the messages our ancestors had left for us. It may have been February but it was dry and the countryside around us was pleasant, with a definite hint of spring. The roads were clear and the towns and villages slowly emerging after their winter hibernation. It felt as if North Wales was ours. It is exactly the right time of year to escape the urgent concerns of everyday life that can be so insistent. And for me, of course, that involves seeking out the slumbering stories beneath the stones.We drove over the Menai Bridge, negotiated the roadworks and made our first stop in Beaumaris. It was lovely, the beau marais (beautiful marsh) that the Normans identified, with fantastic views over the incoming tide to the Great Orme. It was a pleasure to arrive and to taste the hint in the air that spring was just around the corner.We went to the Triple 8 coffee shop for lunch on Church Street, in a distinctive building that had been a Wesleyan Chapel and then a fudge factory. The tiny kitchen produced an excellent soup velvet smooth sweet potato and red pepper and we had a chance to explore the art gallery in the same building, which had excellent pictures of glass by Jean Bell.But then of course it was off to work, to the parish church a short distance up the road. We wanted to see the tomb of Siwan, the illegitimate daughter of King John and the wife of Llywelyn Fawr (Llywelyn the Great). Hers is an absolutely fascinating story and one I really want to write up as soon as I can. The tomb is easy to find, for it is just inside the church. But the great thing was that we found another tomb, a superb chest tomb, by the door. Thats the thing you see. No matter how much you prepare and plan, you must still be receptive to the unexpected, even if it threatens to take you in a completely unexpected direction.We found this inscription.Here in hope of a joyful resurrection lieth John Hughes, gentleman, descended from the worthy family of Plas Coch. The loss of his sight from nine days old, God was pleased to compensate with some inward illuminating gifts. So good and gracious is God! His knowledge in the Holy Scriptures, poetry and music was wonderful. He sung in seven several languages, composed in some as well as sung. Thus blind and musical like Homer he pleased himself and diverted others. He knew the revolutions of the moon, the feasts and fasts of the church, whether backward or forward for sixty years. He was interred here the tenth day of December 1710.What an unexpected pleasure. How can anyone say that snooping around cemeteries is grim and morbid when you come across unexpected pleasures like this?And how many of us today would merit such an obituary?