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Monday, March 18, 2024

Just Stuff

 The alarm was set, and I had to be up in time for Ellie to be dropped off soon after 07:00. She seemed a bit grumpy when she first arrived, but a cuddle with Grandpa and then with Nana snapped her out of it. After eating, washing and dressing, she came downstairs to sit with me and practice her handwriting. She will need to improve how she holds the pencil and places the paper. At the moment she is blocking her view of the words as she writes. This will need some attention but I have no doubt she will get it.

After we dropped Ellie at school, we returned home for breakfast before getting on with our various domestic chores. I also had to order some more coffee and arrange for the collection and recycling of the used pods. This latter task took an inordinate amount of time as Nespresso had outsourced the pod collection to Royal Mail and each bag of pods needed to be separately entered into the system. It was a salutary lesson in how not to design a user interface.

I stuck my Airpods in my ears and headed off for a walk, listening to Bosch as I looped around through the village. The book already has me hooked and I was tempted to walk another complete circuit so that I could listen to more. I resisted. It is an incentive for my next walk.

After lunch, we had our Kindle hour before collecting Ellie from school. She did some more handwriting practice and some work on the times tables before running out of steam. We'll pick it up again when she is dropped off tomorrow morning.

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Multi-tasking

 I was very slow to get going this morning. It was wet and miserable and did not endow me with a spring in my step. By mid-morning the rain had died away. By lunchtime, the sun was peeping through the clouds.

I did venture out, briefly. The car would need petrol this week, so I sorted that out rather than wait until it was too low. I should have gone for a walk but kept finding excuses to do something else instead. After a light lunch, I settled down with my Kindle in the Orangery. Another book bit the dust and yet another was started.

When it came time to start on dinner, I switched off the Kindle, inserted my Airpods and fired up a |Harry Bosch" book on Audible. True multi-tasking. One book and one audiobook on the go while preparing dinner.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Crew

 There was a gentle start to the day. Caffeine was absorbed and porridge was consumed. I settled in the study for my call with the cousins. The call seemed less boisterous than many, but it was fun to chat and to stay in touch.

I spent some time looking at specifications for various new cars. I'm not seriously considering a purchase but I'm aware that the road tax changes for April 2025 will impose Tax on EVs. Now, currently, there is a luxury vehicle tax on any car over 40K and this is payable for years 2-5 after purchase. Most EV's that we would consider cost well over 40K - but as long as we get one before April 2025 we can avoid these taxes. As I said, I'm not seriously considering a purchase, but I thought I'd do the research. (If you are interested, the two cars that I configured were the Skoda Enyaq 85 and the Hyundai Ioniq 5).

What we didn't know, at this point, was the total meltdown that was underway at Sainsbury's. IT systems had failed, taking out the online deliveries, the tills, the Smartshop, the headsets, and everything else that makes the stores tick. Zoe was at the heart of this in her store, trying to keep the place running. She phoned us in the early evening and was still on an adrenalin high as she related the story.

Oblivious to the drama at Sainsbury's (not that we could have done anything to help) we went into Chichester with Chris and Maureen. We met up with Ian and Trudy at The Giggling Squid for a long-awaited Sonning Crew lunch. It was ostensibly to celebrate Maureen's birthday (last week) but really was just a long-missed get-together. We had a lovely meal, though Ian was suffering a bit from colitis which rather stymied his choices. We sat and chatted for several hours before paying the bill and heading home.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Stab Vest

Being the Ides of March, I have been wearing my stab vest all day. I may not be Emperor of Rome, but I am not going to take any chances.


There had been rain overnight, but it was drying out by the time I walked to Zoe's for the school run.  Being "Red Nose Day" Ellie could wear her own clothes but despite having a themed t-shirt, she decided to wear her own gear, rather than submit to the peer pressure for Red Nose regalia. That's my girl!

It brightened up during the morning and I took the opportunity to have a swift walk around the area. I ventured down North Bersted Street and saw that the flooding had not yet subsided. I trust the homeowners of these last two houses have big 4x4s or their own kayaks.

Back home, I got on with some admin and then settled with the Kindle for a while. Zoe had forgotten to pack Ellie's laptop with her stuff for the weekend with Pete, so I wandered around the corner (between showers) to grab the technology and thus allow her to stay on top of any homework that may be assigned.

Pete has just collected Ellie and we have finished dinner. A quiet evening is planned.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Update

 It was mild and dry when I got up this morning. The usual coffee jump-started the day and at the appropriate time, I went to provide the school escort service. Back home, a second coffee was required, along with a bowl of porridge before we started the day.

We had the usual Sainsbury's trip. For some reason, we spent far more than usual, and I'll bet there were things we forgot (despite maintaining a shopping list throughout the week). Once everything was packed away, I had to make a second run to the shops to get the cat litter that wouldn't fit in the boot after the Sainsbury's raid. When I got back, I did manage to complete the online forms that allowed me to update my Will.

The afternoon saw us enjoying the Spring warmth of the Orangery while reading our Kindles. Di headed off to join Zoe and collect Ellie. They were caught in the one and only shower we saw all day... and it was torrential (but fortunately short).

Di's been on the phone with Denise while I prepared dinner. I have also tentatively booked a hotel in Stowmarket for Di's cousin's (once removed) wedding. We are not sure we will be able to make it, but can cancel the room if necessary.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Pixie

The weather had dried up overnight. Ellie slept through, and though awake at 06:30, only disturbed us when gone 7 a.m.  We followed the normal procedure and once fed, washed, dressed and prepared, we took her to school.

It was a fairly quiet morning. I had some admin to get through and Diane had a call with one of her girlfriends. (She had an appointment at the hairdresser later, preventing her from going to Pilates). Once my admin was complete, I headed out for a walk. It was grey but bright and there was a strong breeze from the South-West.

I got home just as Diane was preparing to go to the hairdresser. I grabbed a bite of lunch and then settled down with my Kindle until she returned. Collecting Ellie from school, we stopped off at the park so that she could let off some steam before coming home. Zoe came to collect her soon after 4 p.m. and plans to take her along to the Parents' Evening at the school this evening.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Wet Again

Heavy rain set in during the early hours and continued well into the morning. It was wet enough that I wore my waterproof trousers when walking to Zoe's to provide the school escort service.

Back home I settled down with the news, some coffee, and some porridge. When I finally stirred myself I decided to follow up on a recent campaign by Martin Lewis (the Money Saving chap). It appears that some finance companies paid discretionary bonuses to car salesmen. These bonuses were financed from the contracts they were selling. This was not disclosed to the customers and is now being examined. We had three agreements in the window of time from 2007. I dug out the agreements, checked the reference numbers, and used the MSE online tool to construct a letter to VWFS to register my interest. I am not convinced it will come to anything - but if you don't ask, you won't find out.


At lunchtime, despite the rain, I headed for school. Ellie needed to have her ear spray administered. After that was done I continued for a brief walk around the estate and the lake. It wasn't too far, but it was exercise. There were plenty of dog walkers sloshing through the puddles, but nobody else had ventured out.

The afternoon followed the familiar pattern of an hour or so with the Kindle before heading off to collect Ellie from school.

Ellie is staying with us overnight.

Monday, March 11, 2024

Booked

 I didn't sleep well last night - but Diane did so we balanced each other out. I was up soon after 7:00 and started the caffeine infusion while reading the news. Zoe had a 9:00 start, so I walked to her place and provided my usual escort service to the school.

Our friends, Jan and John had asked if they could come away with us on one of our short breaks. There is no real opportunity to do so this year, but we agreed to do a short break next May (2025). I waited on tenterhooks for confirmation that the Cattery could accommodate Jasper in his usual suite. With that booked, I contacted the Carlyon Bay Hotel and booked a room. We heard this afternoon that John has also made contact to book their room. So, it's all booked and in the diary.

I went for a short walk before lunch and then settled down with my book until it was time to collect Ellie. She seemed a little distracted this evening and made heavy weather of her homework. She didn't seem focused. 

I prepared sufficient "Manzo Picante" for Zoe to take some home with her. She's just been to collect Ellie and her Red Cross parcel. That way, we can be sure she'll eat.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Mother's Day

We had a quiet start to Mother's Day. No imperative forced us to get up, but my body clock insisted that I was out of bed by 07:30. Coffee and breakfast were taken at our leisure, and then I started to prepare for lunch. At this stage, it was unclear who would be here - Kim, Zoe, and Ellie were definite, but Darren and his daughter Millie were possible, too. In the end, Darren and Millie didn't come.

Kim turned up first. She had been at home watching her Mother-in-Law's funeral as it was streamed live from Spain. (Jon was attending in person). We had a quiet 45 minutes with her before Zoe and Ellie arrived. The leg of lamb that I had roasted was excellent and everyone seemed to enjoy it along with all of the trimmings.

When lunch was over, we chatted through the afternoon until Kim had to leave. Soon after, Ellie was seriously flagging, so Zoe took her home and left us to a quiet evening in front of the TV. It had been a nice celebration of Mother's Day.

Saturday, March 09, 2024

Stitch up

We had a gentle start to the day. There was no need for an alarm, but I woke up at 07:00 anyway. I snuck downstairs to make coffee and read the news, leaving Diane to sleep for as long as Jasper would allow. At 09:00 I had the usual call with the cousins. This was fun as there had been a suggested theme of "meat-related" sayings. The theme petered out quite quickly but it did stir discussion of Kate's forthcoming trip to the UK, whether you can use the reactor on a nuclear submarine to cook (when the microwave breaks down), and whether you can protect against meat pilfering with a burger alarm.

Though rain had been forecast for late in the day, it was a bright morning, scoured by a chilly wind. Diane wanted to do a Spring Clean in the front garden. The leaf blower was retrieved and the leaf vacuum was fired up. Working in tandem (and ably assisted by the east wind) we soon dislodged the fallen leaves from last Autumn and those not removed by the wind were soon vacuumed up. Our lesson from this was to always deal with the leaves on a windy day when nature provides the optimum assistance. With that done, Di continued to tidy and prune the flowers and shrubs and I washed down the paintwork. It was a very successful exercise.

After lunch, as I was finishing my latest book, I received a message from Trevor. They had been due to travel to Seville for a few days. He has tested positive for Covid, however, so the trip is on hold. Let's hope he recovers quickly.

Audible is a service, now owned by Amazon, which provides audiobooks. I have probably discussed it in the past as I have used it extensively, particularly when I was still working and needed some entertainment while commuting by car or train. I no longer subscribe, but I still have a significant number of titles in my library that I haven't yet listened to. As the weather is now improving and I am hoping to get some more walking in my weekly routine, I thought it the ideal time to select the next unread book in my library. It was not that easy. The "app" through which I used to listen is now suggesting that I need to accept a "Free Trial" which then morphs into a payment of £7.99 a month. I don't think so! What a stitch-up!  I spent a couple of hours tracking down a way to access my library and downloading the books. Then I managed to load the books into the "Books" app on my MacBook. Now I need to find a way of synchronizing the books across all my Apple devices. This last bit is proving problematic at present, but I will continue to investigate.

Friday, March 08, 2024

MOT

There was a bitter wind scouring the South Coast today. It was bright and sunny, but very chilly in the wind. I provided my usual escort service to get. Ellie to school and then returned home for breakfast. Diane sloped off to the Community Centre for her Cardiac Rehab while I did some chores and completed some admin.

A few weeks back, I mentioned that I had been called for an MOT at the doctor's surgery. The results of my blood tests are now back and I have received a report card saying, basically, "must try harder". It would appear that my cholesterol is higher than it should be and if it doesn't improve, I will be up before the headmistress and force-fed statins. I spent much of the morning navigating various online questionnaires which probed my diet and lifestyle to make some suggestions as to how I can reduce the cholesterol. The main conclusion was that, from a diet perspective, we don't need to change much. I should have some fish one more day each week than I currently manage and should eat nuts (that's not going to happen, as I'm allergic to them). I think the most sensible approach will be to reduce my portion sizes.

Diane went out with Zoe. A local garden centre was calling! I warned her that dinner would be ready by 17:00. That gave her 5 hours to browse and talk to everybody in the garden centre. I settled down with my Kindle.

The doorbell rang. I put down the Kindle and wandered to the door. I was greeted by what I can only describe as a gnome (female). She was dressed in dungarees, boots, a bobble hat (without a bobble), and a yellow scarf. She grasped a bike and a satchel containing leaflets for the Lib Dems. "Hello, Andrew" she began. That threw me. How did she know my name? Anyway, she then started to talk to me about voting and whether she could interest me in her candidate. My mind wandered. Where was the nearest care home for people having a mental health crisis... I snapped back into the moment. I was very polite but explained that I would vote, but it was unlikely my vote would go her way. At least she wasn't one of the psychopaths trying to peddle the Labour Party.

Thursday, March 07, 2024

The Eyes Have It

 Ellie slept through and, though awake, didn't disturb us until I was moving about. For World Book Day, she had to take her favourite bedtime story to school and wear her pyjamas. It was fun to see that all the kids turned up in their PJs - and find that the teachers had joined in.

We had our traditional Thursday trip to Sainsbury's and managed to accost Zoe while there.

We had a couple of quiet hours with our books before Di set off to collect Ellie. I stayed put as Chris was due at the eye clinic at Whitely, and I had volunteered to take him. Despite warnings of traffic, we whizzed through and arrived with 30 minutes to spare. He went in to see if they could see him early and I stayed in the car with my Kindle. He was in the clinic for just over an hour and the laser did its job. He came out and declared he felt great and could have driven home (though it wasn't permitted). The journey home was not as straightforward. We hit traffic as soon as we joined the M27 and sat in a nose-to-tail jam until we cleared Portsmouth. It took well over an hour to get home.

Because of the time, when I got in we ordered some fish and chips for dinner and I popped around the corner to collect them (I'm not keen on deliveries as it eats into the profits of the provider and can be a bit soggy by the time the food arrives). 

Wednesday, March 06, 2024

Promenade

No imperative forced me to get up early, today. Well, no imperative other than the stress of a full bladder. So it was that I was up at 6:40 and, once relieved, enjoying a coffee as I read the news before 7:00. At the allotted time, I strolled to Zoe's to provide the daily school escort service. The sun was out, it was cool but the forecast was good.

Back home, Diane was preparing to head out for Pilates and I settled down for breakfast. She headed off just before 9:30 and I followed soon after. I picked up the bus at the end of the road and headed to Bognor High Street. The plan was to enjoy a walk by the sea. 


To start with, I headed east. Unlike recent walks, I was not deterred by the huge emergency outflow pipes. I clambered over the pebbles and leapt the pipes. They were still discharging huge volumes of water into the sea.

I made my way past the pipes and back onto the path to the Lobster Pot.  It was very quiet and I was tempted to stop for a coffee, but decided that I was there for exercise, not caffeine.


I strode onwards along the promenade towards Middleton-on-Sea. At an arbitrary point, I turned and headed back the way I had come.

I headed back, passing Butlins, and the pier, and then turned back when I got as far as the sailing club. As I arrived at the High Street, my bus was waiting and I was home in just a few minutes.

Diane had a good session at Pilates but commented on how bad the traffic had been. After we had some lunch, she went to do some pruning in the garden (making the most of the afternoon sunshine). When she finished, she joined me in the Oranger for a quiet couple of hours with the Kindles.

As Zoe had a day off, she collected Ellie from school but has just dropped her off to us. She is staying with us tonight as Zoe has an early start (and Darren is away overnight).


Tuesday, March 05, 2024

Do Not Disturb

Zoe's plans had changed so I was up, showered, and ready for Ellie to be deposited at the door just after 07:00. Her trainers were missing and were needed for today's PE lesson. So it was that once Ellie had eaten breakfast, I strolled around the corner and started a forensic search of Zoe's house, searching for the trainers. It only took me a couple of minutes to find them. They were in the shoe cupboard (who would have thought?) under one of Zoe's coats. We dropped Ellie at school (with the correct items of uniform for the day) and headed home for breakfast.

There wasn't a fixed plan for the day. I updated the accounts and then returned to the 1990's journal. This is going to take a lot longer than anticipated. It is not just the fact that it is sparse, it is more the case that key family events were not highlighted in the journals of the time and my only record is my photo and video library. It is already looking as if the final book will be well over 200 pages. I do need to be in the right mind frame, however, to make more progress.

The early afternoon was spent with our Kindles, ploughing through our latest books. Soon after 3 p.m. I went to the school to collect Ellie. She was her usual chirpy self and once she had demolished a snack she settled down for some maths homework. When that was complete, she finished off a present that she had been making (with Nana) for the upcoming Mother's Day.

Ellie had dinner with us this evening and has just been collected by Darren.

It's been a nice quiet day.