Excursions

We had a gentle start to the day. After my morning coffee, I donned my waterproofs and wandered around to Zoe's. The edge of ~Storm Chandra had hit us overnight, and it was raining heavily. We took Ellie to school, and as Zoe left to go to work, I set off for my walk. The rain continued throughout my first lap, but lessened and stopped during the second lap. By the time I finished the third lap and headed home, the clouds were thinning, and it was drying up.

SAGA released the list of available excursions to accompany our spring river cruise. We spent several hours working our way through the options and deciding on our choices. I sent the list on to Trevor, and then booked them.

Talking of Trevor, today is his birthday. I hope he's had a wonderful day and that recognition of his age hasn't hit him too hard.

We collected Ellie from school, and she came back with us until Zoe finished work. She certainly had an appetite tonight. She had all of the usual savoury snacks, several shortbread biscuits, and a plate of egg noodles with frankfurter sausages and raw red peppers. I suspect she'll ask for toast when she gets home.

Ton up

As Ellie stayed overnight, there was no need to get up early. She had set her alarm for seven, but I was making my coffee by the time that went off. She reset the alarm for 7:20 and went back to sleep. It was a bit cooler this morning. Only by a degree or so, but the damp atmosphere made it seem chilly. We dropped Ellie at school, and I set off for my walk.

I arrived home an hour or so later. I checked my watch and found that I had broken the 100 mile mark for the month. Feeling chuffed, I sat down with my breakfast.  Di had a call with her friend Marilyn, so while she chatted on the phone, I started on my second pass through last year's journal. I managed to review the first six months before I started to go boss-eyed.

There were several minor domestic chores to fill the rest of the morning, and after lunch, we settled down for some Kindle time until we had to collect Ellie. We took her straight home to Zoe, who was waiting to whisk her off to Chichester for her appointment.

It was a very quiet day.

Beat the Weather

 I had a pleasant lie-in, not getting up until 07:15. I had to deal with a foul-smelling package that Jasper had graciously left for me in the litter tray, but then I could make some coffee and take Diane a cup of tea. I sat and read the overnight news and was appalled at the latest murder by Trump's Gestapo in Minnesota. Di pottered downstairs, which was the cue for me to get washed and dressed and set off for my morning walk.

It was important to have an early walk. The weather forecast predicted rain by late morning, and I wanted to avoid that if possible. I suspect this was on many of the neighbours' minds as my usual route was quite busy with fellow walkers and dog-walkers. It turned out to be a good decision. By lunchtime, it had started to rain, and it continued, on and off, all afternoon.

When I arrived home and had finished my breakfast, I headed for the study. I returned to editing last year's journal. After an hour or so, I finished the first pass. I will have to go back to the beginning and work through the year once more to ensure I haven't missed anything. At the moment, the journal stands at 263 pages (including the index).

While I was editing, Diane was chatting to Denise on the phone. She had been preparing to shower when the phone rang, so she was sitting on a stool in her dressing gown, chatting away. I took her a cup of tea, and was quite expecting to take her evening meal in several hours. This did not prove to be necessary.

We managed to enjoy some Kindle time during the afternoon. This was interrupted by Ellie (with her "new" phone). She had to send us some messages and also call us. She even popped in to see us and to show us the phone cover she had got. We have managed to lock this phone down. She can take photos, use FaceTime, use the telephone, see maps, and see the weather. Nothing else will work, and communication is limited to the contacts in the phone - and only Zoe can add contacts. It does, however, broadcast its location, so we can keep track of where she is. She will be sleeping here tonight so that she doesn't need to get up early with Zoe.

WiFi

After a superb night's sleep, I wandered downstairs for a coffee at 07:15. Di followed me down about 30 minutes later. Being Saturday, the first scheduled event was the Zoom call with the Empsons. Having told them, last week, that Zoe had bought us this smart kettle that could be controlled by Alexa, they took it in turns to yell, "Alexa, turn on the kettle." How droll!

While the early morning coffee was percolating through, I spent some time reading the social media and looking at some of the astonishing photos and videos from Storm Ingrid and the devastation she was wreaking along the East Devon coastline. 

Finally, I was comfortable and set off for my walk with a new audiobook accompanying me. I passed Ellie on my walk. She was out with some friends and stopped to give me a cuddle before we both marched on. I wasn't out quite as long as usual, but I still managed a pleasant 5km. I hadn't been home for too long when I got a message from Zoe. "Is there anything you can do to improve my WiFi signal?" It appears that she had installed a "smart" bulb in Ellie's bedroom, and Alexa was having trouble staying connected. "Ah ha!", though I. I have just the answer. I used to have 3 BT Whole Home WiFi devices, which create a WiFi mesh across the house. These became redundant when I switched to an EE hub. I grabbed the devices and headed for Zoe's. A little while later, the mesh had been activated, Alexa had been swapped onto the mesh, and Ellie's TV and iPad were also swapped. Success.

I headed home for a quiet afternoon with my Kindle. Upstairs, Diane was sorting out some of her drawers, so she was unlikely to join me.

I started on dinner, and as soon as I had the hob and the oven running and food cooking, Zoe phoned. She was providing a relay between an Apple help desk agent and me while trying to set up an old iPhone for Ellie. The idea is that this would effectively be a dumb phone (providing virtually no apps or access other than location services and telephone calls to known numbers. I was involved as the manager of the family account. Rushing back and forth between the hob and the MacBook, I managed to get the rudimentary account set up, but I have no doubt there will be more to do later.

Charging

 Zoe has another day off, consequently there was no need for me to get up early. I lazed about in bed until 06:50, then wandered downstairs for a coffee. Di was up soon after as she needed to have an early breakfast before heading out for her Cardiac Rehab session. I walked to Zoe's and accompanied Ellie to school. Last night's forecast predicted heavy rain throughout the morning. Clearly, nobody had told the local clouds. Though I was dressed in my waterproofs, they were entirely superfluous.

Leaving Ellie at school, I set off on my morning walk. I followed the newly crafted route that I had used yesterday. It was while I was walking up one of the new diversions that I saw Di drive past and wave. As I arrived at the top of that road, she was parked and waiting for me. Again, the car was spewing out warning messages. I looked at what was happening and assured her that it should be perfectly safe, so she drove the last 200 metres to the Community Centre, and I returned to my walk. By the time I arrived home, I had about 10 minutes to run in my latest audiobook, so I allowed it to finish while making breakfast.

A major task this morning (major, in terms of importance, not time or effort) was to pay the balance for our upcoming river cruise. With that complete, I updated the accounts and then had a chat with Ian regarding the warning lights on the car. I thought he may have a diagnostic probe, but whilst he did have one, he has mislaid it during the house move. He did suggest, however, that our problem was most likely a failing battery. It makes sense to me. I went to Halfords and picked up a battery charger and conditioner. I attached it to our battery and left it to charge and condition for a few hours. I'll have to see if it makes a difference tomorrow.

After lunch, we had some Kindle time in the Orangery. The sun was out, and it had warmed up nicely. Soon after three, the sun had disappeared behind cloud and the temperature was dropping. We moved to the lounge, though Di had to go to Zoe's and join her in collecting Ellie after dance class.

Talking of Zoe, Ross (the heating engineer) called and was able to fit a new pressure sensor to her boiler. She has heating and hot water again, at last.

Lights Out

Theoretically, we had a lazy start to the day. The problem with theories is that they may not hold true. So it was that soon after 6 am, I was wide awake and wandered downstairs for a coffee. I had slept well, but I was wide awake. I read the overnight news and was appalled at the speech from the clown Trump in Davos. In contrast, I was immensely impressed by the 16-minute speech from Canada's Prime Minister, Carney. He is a true statesman. How I wish he were our Prime Minister.

I walked to Zoe and joined the walk to school. Ellie was carrying her project in a plastic bag so that it wouldn't get wet. (Actually, it wasn't raining, so it wasn't a big risk.) I set off for my morning walk, incorporating a couple of diversions to the normal route. I think that I will keep them as part of the route for the future.

I arrived home for breakfast just as Diane was preparing to go to the hairdresser's. I checked the tyre pressures on the car (with the current sensor problem, I wasn't confident that the Tyre Pressure Monitor was reporting correctly. Pressures were just fine, so I went and made my porridge.

Lottie turned up soon after Di left. She got on with the cleaning downstairs, and I went up to my study to do some more editing on last year's journal. I have now completed the first edit through to the end of November. I was about to start on December when Jasper started yowling, then deposited a rather unpleasant package in the litter tray. I was cleaning that up as Diane arrived back.

We had some lunch, and then completed the week's shopping list for a lightning raid on Sainsbury's. I must say that early afternoon on Thursday seemed like a good time. There was no evidence of the usual zombies shuffling up and down the aisles. I dropped Di at Zoe's on the way home so that she could go to collect Ellie from school. Meanwhile, I unpacked the shopping and stashed it away.

We managed an hour of Kindle time before dinner.

Four for Dinner

We had another lazy start as Zoe wasn't due at work until 9 am. I walked around in the pouring rain to provide the school escort service before diverting off to enjoy my morning walk. The rain was relentless as I clocked off the miles. At least my waterproof gear kept me dry, and my audiobook kept me entertained.

Di had already gone to her Pilates session by the time I arrived home. I settled down for breakfast and to get on with some admin. One of the important items on the list of admin was to capture the IMEI and other details of our new phones. This was something I had forgotten to do when the phones first arrived. Admin occupied most of the morning, though I did manage some editing of last year's journal before I stopped for lunch.

The afternoon was fairly quiet. We sat in the lounge with our Kindles until it was time to collect Elli from after-school football. Needless to say, the heavens opened just as I was getting ready, so I quickly changed into wet-weather gear and headed back out. I have noticed that my hat isn't as waterproof as it implied, so I have ordered some nanospray from Germany to improve its ability to shed water.

When Ellie got back, she and Nana worked on her "room in a box" project. They managed to finish it, so Ellie will take it to school tomorrow. 

Zoe arrived from work. She and Ellie were staying for dinner, but left as we finished clearing up.

Warning Lights

Zoe had a late start, so I didn't have to get up too early. I wandered around to her house and joined the walk to school before diverting off for my morning walk. It was a mild morning, and every now and then, the sun popped up to show its face. I was quite hot by the time I arrived home.

I had to move the car as we thought Kim might pop in (she didn't). As I started the engine, there was a cascade of error messages and lights across the dashboard. I powered off, then restarted the engine. Again, there was a cascade of warnings, but fewer than last time. This was not good news. I took the car to the dealer and explained the problem. Their engineer is away, moving house. There was nothing they could do immediately. They did suggest it may be an ABS sensor, and I should monitor it and book the car in, should it not rectify. I started the engine. Everything was completely normal, with no warnings. Typical. I drove home, resolving to check again later.

Back home, I made us some tea and then went to edit some more of last year's journal before lunch. After lunch, I got involved with the project Ellie had been working on with Nana. A door and some windows needed to be cut out of the shoe box. As this involved a sharp knife, I was deemed expendable. With that done, I settled down with my Kindle until it was time to collect Ellie from school.

With Ellie back with us, she sat down with Nana and continued to work on her project. Zoe was due soon after five, and they worked right through til her arrival. They were staying with us for dinner this evening so that they could eat and then use our hot water for a bath and shower. (The heating/hot water is still not working).

With everyone fed and clean, Zoe and Ellie drove home and we locked up. That was it for the night.

Feeling Hot

I was up early for Ellie's drop-off. She went straight upstairs to get into bed with Nana and go back to sleep. I eventually woke her at 7:30. Once she was fed and watered, washed and dressed, we took her along to school. It was spitting with rain, and I hadn't dressed for it, so I skipped the early morning walk and went home for breakfast.

I spent most of the morning editing last year's journal. I managed to complete the period that encompassed out Canaries cruise. Taking that as a good breakpoint, I set off for my proper morning walk. By this point, it had dried up, but I took a hat and some gloves, just in case. I was out for just over an hour. Once home, I made us both some tea and prepared some lunch.

I returned to the study and resumed editing the journal. After an hour, I again bookmarked where I had reached and went to the lounge for some Kindle time. It was while I was reading that Zoe phoned Diane. "Could we step in and take Ellie to her appointment in Chichester, after school?" Of course, we could, but why? Well, it seems that an articulated lorry had pulled into the yard behind the store and its trailer had caught fire. The Fire Brigade were called, and Zoe hit the "evacuate" button for the store. The Firemen admitted that if they had been 5 minutes later, then the store itself would almost certainly have caught fire.

I collected Ellie from school, and we took her to her appointment in Chichester. While she was there, I got a call from Zoe to say that everything was under control and she was just leaving. She would be home in time for us to drop Ellie off on the way through.

We dropped Ellie off, then went home. We've just finished dinner and are planning on a quiet evening.

Journal

It was gone seven before I pottered downstairs. I had enjoyed a wonderful night's sleep and been entertained by some bizarre dreams. They seemed important at the time, but now, when I come to write about them, they have faded from memory. We enjoyed a pleasant breakfast together as we consumed the overnight news and checked "the socials".

I headed to my study. It was time to return to the editing of last year's journal. I had become distracted by family tree stuff and lost sight of the journal. I worked on it for an hour or two and then went for my walk. As I looped by the lake, I passed Chris and Maureen chatting with John and Liz. I waved and marched on. As I started the second lap, they were still there, so I waved again and told them I had a further lap to complete before I finished. I saw them again on my final stretch, but they were out walking by then, and there was no sign of John and Liz.

It was lunchtime when I arrived home. I finished the remains of last night's curry in a wholemeal wrap, then returned to the study. I was well into September by this point, and we were about to embark on our cruise. I edited for a further hour or so, then settled in the lounge with Diane and our Kindles.

I switched off the Kindle and returned to the kitchen to finish cooking tonight's dinner (chicken, new potatoes, carrots, carrot and swede mash, and courgettes). We have finished eating, and everything is cleared away. I foresee an evening with Netflix or Amazon Prime.

The Press

 It was a typical start to a Saturday morning. After consuming some news and some caffeine, I went to wash and dress before sitting down to breakfast while chatting with the Empson cousins on the weekly Zoom call.

After the call, I dug into some family tree research. I took the time to subscribe to "Newspapera.com", which provides a searchable archive of newspapers stretching back hundreds of years, though it isn't complete as publications are still being ingested. My first focus was on the Empsons, as they had stimulated the idea of updating the Family Book. I managed to find a couple of relevant articles very quickly. I should have been more disciplined and searched person-by-person, but I started to skip around through the families. I have found a number of press articles and downloaded them for later.

Late morning, I set off for my walk. It was dry but quite grey. It was, however, a very pleasant temperature for walking, and I enjoyed a pleasant 75 minutes marching around the neighbourhood to the accompaniment of my audiobook.

When I arrived home, Di was having a blitz in the kitchen. Old spice jars were being emptied and ditched, drawers were being reorganised, and everything was cleaned within an inch of its life.

After some lunch, we settled down for some Kindle time before I started preparing dinner. Everything is cleared away now, and we will probably watch a couple of films this evening.

Boiler

I enjoyed a lazy start, not rising until 07:00. Di was up soon after as she had a Cardiac Rehab class this morning (the first since last March). The weather forecast looked mixed, so I erred on the pessimistic side and dressed in my waterproofs before walking to Zoe's. Her heating was still not working, but she had managed to warm the house with a couple of fan heaters.

We walked (or should I say chased) Ellie to school. She seemed to be particularly eager this morning. We dropped her off at the classroom, and I headed off for my walk. I was beginning to regret the waterproofs as it was getting quite warm under all those layers. Then, a sharp shower struck, and my choice was justified. There were several further showers before I finished my route, so I may have arrived home hot, but at least I was dry.

Just as I finished breakfast, Kim dropped in. Unfortunately, I couldn't hang about, so I left her chatting with Di. I had to get to Zoe's so that I could be there when Ross (the heating engineer) arrived to give a quote for replacing the boiler. He took a look at the installation and the flue before examining the existing boiler. He said he would be happy to change it, but didn't feel that was necessary. He diagnosed the current problem, and we managed to restart the boiler temporarily. We have agreed to have a full strip-down service and replace any parts necessary.

Back home, having explained to Di what had been agreed, I went to my study. I revisited the problem that I had experienced with FBC earlier in the week. I bit the bullet and bought a new license. Everything burst into life, and I am now ready to develop a new version of the family book I had developed for the Empson cousins. I just need to wait for the latest updates from Sam.

We had a quiet afternoon with our Kindles. I managed to finish another book (The Shadow of the Northern Lights, by Satu Rämö) and prepare the next one, ready for bedtime tonight.

Very, Very Wet

We were delighted to be woken just after 02:00 by Jasper yowling for more food. I had put out the usual ration of supper, which he had cleared and licked the bowl clean. He was yowling, waiting for the breakfast bowl to open. In the end, I got up and circumvented the timer. As the lid opened, he dived straight in. We didn't hear another murmur from him. It didn't mean, however, that I was able to drop back off to sleep. At best, I dozed.

I was up just before 07:00. I needed coffee to kick-start the day. I was reading the overnight news when I was conscious of a lot of crashing and banging from outside. I felt quite smug as I realised it was the refuse collectors emptying our bins and I had remembered to put them out last night. The clattering from the refuse truck woke Di, and she pottered down for a cup of tea. Just as I went up for my morning ablutions, Zoe messaged us. Her heating had failed, and she had no hot water. Could she shower here after dropping Ellie at school? Of course, she could.

Waterproofs were an absolute necessity today. I sloshed my way to Zoe's to join the walk school, then continued around my usual route for the morning walk. By the time I arrived home an hour later, my outer layer was drenched, but I was dry underneath. I started a new audiobook on the walk. This is another of the Alex Delaware novels by Jonathan Kellerman. It seems intriguing so far, but there is a long way to go. (Interestingly, I received an email from Audible to reveal that I had listened to 34 books last year; in total, this consumed 268 hours).

Once home, with breakfast finished, we completed the shopping list and headed for Sainsbury's for our weekly outing. It was lunchtime by the time we had arrived home and unpacked. We had a quiet hour in the lounge before I set off through the rain to collect Ellie. Once home, Ellie and Nana sat on the floor and worked on a project for school. They are making a room in a shoe box.

With Zoe's heating failing for a 3rd time this week, I contacted Ross, the heating engineer who replaced all of our heating system. I have asked him to call and provide a quote for replacing Zoe's system, which, frankly, has caused problems since day one.

Very Dry

 Ellie was dropped off at her usual time. She was already dressed, and her hair had been styled for the day. After some breakfast, she settled down to do some puzzles and some colouring. At the last minute, she realised she had left her reading book at home, so we had to divert on the way to school in order to collect it. Dropping her off at the classroom, I set off for my walk. (Diane was off to Pilates for the morning).

It was a cold morning, but it was crystal clear, and it was a pleasure to be out. My walk followed the normal route, and my audiobook chatted on until the book was finished just after I arrived home. I grabbed some breakfast and then spent much of the rest of the morning working through a pile of ironing.

Di arrived home just as I was preparing some lunch. She had enjoyed a good session even if her friend Pauline seemed a little put-out by Di's ongoing knee problem. We spent a quiet afternoon with our Kindles until it was time to collect Ellie from football. Di went around to the school with Zoe, and they took Ellie home. 

We have just finished dinner and expect to have a quiet evening.