Knees Up

 oe was off work today, so that meant we had a leisurely start. We nipped around to collect Ellie for school.  She was not her usual chirpy self, and by the time we were ready to leave, she burst into tears. She knew Zoe was due at the hospital for her knee procedure, and she was worried. We calmed her down, and by the time we got to school, she was calm and, whilst not chirpy, was at least ready for the day.

There had been some debate over whether Di was going to Pilates. The issue was that she was having some meds delivered. They phoned at nine and said they would be with us between eleven and twelve. That quashed any hopes for Pilates, as I would be at the Nuffield with Zoe. We adjusted the day's schedule and sat down for a quiet coffee.

I collected Zoe and took her to the hospital. We had to wait for a little while, but she was soon called through to radiology. There, they used ultrasound to guide the procedure. The cyst was aspirated, and steroids were injected into the site. Fifteen minutes later, she walked out (on crutches) and declared, "That's it. Let's go home." She chatted to Diane on the phone the whole way home, and I helped to get her settled.

Back home, Di's meds had arrived, so we had a gap in the schedule until we had to collect Ellie. I used the time to return to a problem I had been having with the new network monitor I had installed. It took about an hour, but I finally got to the bottom of the issue, and the monitor seems to be running well now.

We had some Kindle time, and I finished another book, then we went to collect Ellie from football. We took her to her friend, Poppy's, where she will be staying overnight, going straight to school from there in the morning. (We did leave Poppy's mum our phone numbers in case Ellie had a wobble, in which case she could come back here.

Molar Mining

 There was no need for the alarm clock this morning, partly because Jasper had started yelling at us at five, and also because Zoe had a late start.  At the appointed hour, we trundled off to Zoe's and collected Ellie. We dropped her off at school, then headed home for breakfast.

There was no early walk today as I had a dental appointment. I enjoyed my morning porridge and then drove into Chichester. Surprisingly, the dentist was running to time, so I was dragged in and strapped down while she checked all of my teeth. This included a set of X-rays. I had pointed out a tooth that had lost its filling back in January. She examined it and decided it needed some attention, so I have been booked back in for late July to have the tooth rebuilt.

There was a lot of stress this morning. Some injections that Di has to start taking had not been delivered. Worse still, when she chased them, the pharmacy (at Haywards Heath hospital) said they only received the request yesterday (though it was marked as urgent). This is a process that Di started on the 1st of June. Anyway, after much to'ing and fro'ing, the situation now seems to be under control. The meds should be delivered tomorrow.

Talking of meds, Di also had a batch waiting for her at the local pharmacy. I used this as an excuse for a walk. I'm glad I took a large shopping bag with me, as she seemed to be refreshing the whole stock.

We had some quiet time after lunch. I then went to collect Ellie from school and take her home. I was going to take her to football practice this evening, but she has decided not to go.

Ache

We could have done without an early start after the very late night last night. That's not how life works, however. So it was that I was up at 6:30 to greet Ellie when she was dropped off. Everything went fairly smoothly until Ellie had finished breakfast and started complaining of a tummy ache. In the end, she was quite distressed, so we kept her out of school for the morning. Fortunately, she felt better after a while, and we were able to take her in at lunchtime.

We heard from Maureen. Chris had been operated on during the night and would have a further operation today. He was being kept sedated in the meantime.

I went for my morning walk, and by the time I got back, Diane was on one of her regular phone calls with her friend Marilyn. Ellie was watching some TV, doing some drawing and even playing some chess. It was clear that she would be fine to go to school later.

We deliberately had a quiet afternoon with our Kindles. We might even have succumbed to a nap. We collected Ellie from athletics club and took her home. The doors are now locked, and we don't expect to emerge until morning.

A&E

 We had a nice, lazy start to the day. There was nothing significant on the schedule; we could just please ourselves.

Diane pottered around, but was interrupted by Zoe calling for a long chat. In the end, it was nearly midday before she managed to get upstairs to wash and dress. I, meanwhile, had settled in the study. I fiddled some more with the NetAlertX monitor and completed the documentation for its build. I then set about installing (via Docker) a product called "PiHole". This sits on the home network and takes over the role of DNS server, but in doing so, it checks a list of blocked domains and discards any data from them. This has the effect of discarding the vast majority of advertisements that usually populate many websites. Once installed, I tested it from the MacBook and iPad and also Diane's iPad. I will leave it for a day or so, and assuming no problems arise, I will implement it across the home network. With that finished, I documented it, then performed a full system backup of "snowyowl".

During the afternoon, Di pottered in the garden while I had some Kindle time.

As we were finishing dinner, we got a call from Maureen (our neighbour). Could we take Chris to A&E? Well, of course. The trouble was I had had a couple of beers, so Di had to do the driving. Chris (who had had significant surgery a couple of years back) was in absolute agony. We got him to the hospital as quickly as we could and wheeled him into A&E. As soon as he was taken through (as an emergency) we left, giving Maureen instructions to call us when she was ready to come home.

Back home, we settled down and watched the World Cup football and several follow-on programs. In the end, it was gone 1 o'clock before Maureen was ready to come home. They were going to operate on Chris, and there was nothing she could do until morning. She had called one of their sons, and he was coming down to be with her overnight and take her back to the hospital tomorrow. We climbed in the car and collected Maureen to bring her home. 

It was nearly 2 o'clock before we got to bed, but at least Chris was in good hands, and Maureen was safely home.

Bandit Country

 After a decidedly lazy start to a glorious, sunny morning, I unplugged the car, which had been charging overnight. I ran my little program and found that the car is still averaging out at 2p per mile. Long may this continue.

At nine, I had the call with the cousins. There was no general theme for the call, but we did hear a lot about Sam's trip to see Paul Young and how she became really emotional when she had the opportunity to meet him. It did make us chuckle when Helen started to refer to her as Mrs Young.

Once the call was over, set up the feeder for Jasper and headed off for the day. We went up to Odiham to visit Jan and John. It would be the first time we had seen them for months. The traffic was a bit slow around Chichester, but other than that, we had a good run. I noticed when I parked the car that it almost filled the parking space, and it is clearly a bit wider than the Karoq had been. 

We settled down for some coffee and an initial catch-up. We were eager to hear about their recent river cruise along the Douro in Portugal. They commented on how different it was from the Moselle. It was quite rocky, and most of the stops required a coach to get to the various locations. They also commented on some of the engineering, with one lock raising the ship by 115 feet (it is the deepest lock in Europe and one of the highest in the world). They were not as lucky with the weather as we had been. Overall, they enjoyed the cruise (and have booked two more), but think the Moselle was the most scenic.

We drove across to "The Falcon" in Rotherwick for lunch. It wasn't as busy as it had been on our last trip, but that could be because it's Saturday rather than Sunday. We had a super lunch. Di opted for the Sea Bass while I started with a Caesar salad, and followed up with local sausages with colcannon mash. We didn't linger over a dessert as Jan had some Tarte au Citron and strawberries waiting back in Odiham.

We chatted all afternoon, shared photos, and reminiscences. We talked about plans, diet, exercise, and ailments. We finally said our goodbyes and headed into the early evening sun. We had an excellent trip home, taking about 70 minutes. I plugged the car in for an overnight charge, and we went in to be greeted by Jasper, who was delighted to see us and followed Diane around like a shadow.

No Hospital Trips

 We were up early. Zoe dropped Ellie and her friend Poppy off with us just after 06:30. To be fair, they were no trouble at all, and the morning ran smoothly. I walked the girls to school while Di got ready for her Cardiac Rehab session. Having left the girls in class, I set off for my usual walk.

Once home, I spent some time examining the MetAletrX software I had installed on "snowowl". I realised that there was far more that I could do with it than the raw data displayed when first installed. I took the opportunity to conduct an inventory of the switches I have installed around the house. I decided to change one of them for a "managed" switch to see if I could get additional information regarding our network. The nice man from Amazon should deliver this later this evening.

I had to take Di to the local surgery for a blood test at lunchtime, and we stopped off at Sainsbury's on the way home. After some lunch, ~Di headed for the Orangery with her Kindle, while I vacuumed the car and gave it a wash. (I'm not sure what came over me... but I've probably got it out of my system, now).

I joined Di in the Orangery and managed some Kindle time before we went to collect Ellie from dance class and take her home.

Monitor

We had a gentle start to the day (unlike Zoe, who found out that the fridges and freezers had gone down in the store overnight). We wandered around at the usual time, collected Ellie, and we walked her to school. Though it wasn't forecast for several more hours, it started to rain. I wasn't dressed for it, so I skipped my morning walk. 

Back home, I decided that I would spend the morning updating the documentation on the "snowyowl" build and extended this to include the installation of a network monitor that can look across our network and highlight any machines that have dropped offline. It took a while to get going, but now it seems to provide an excellent dashboard for our home systems.

This afternoon, we had to go to the hospital again. Di had to see the anaesthetist to discuss her medical history and determine if the procedure could be done at the Nuffield, or whether the risk was such that she needed to be at St Richard's. Fortunately, she was given the all-clear, and the procedure can be performed at the Nuffield.

Dovetails

 Ellie was dropped off soon after 06:30. She was already dressed and ready for school. She had a cuddle and quick chat with me before heading upstairs to see Nana. When the time came, we escorted her to school and dropped her off at the classroom. Di headed home to get ready for Pilates, and I set off on my walk.

By the time I arrived back home, Diane had already gone. I settled down with some breakfast and then worked through my mental list of things to do. None of these items took long, and I was just finishing up when ~Di arrived back home.

We had a quick lunch and then set off for the hospital. The first appointment of the afternoon was for a blood test. Then we had a short wait before "Joint School". This wasn't quite what I expected. I had been hoping to get some lessons on making sliding dovetail joints and box joints. I was disappointed. It was a 90-minute presentation discussing replacement knee joints. We had the opportunity to examine one of the implants and had a very thorough discussion regarding what to expect, how to prepare, and the recovery process from surgery. The session was run by one of the physios and demonstrated many of the exercises that the patient would have to do post-op and during the recovery. It was a very good session, and as Diane said, it is so much better to know what to expect, rather than speculate and guess.

Because of the session at the hospital, Zoe had to collect Ellie from football. Ellie went off with her friend, Poppy and Zoe came round to see how Di had got on, and tell us that she now has a date for her treatment. She will be going into The Nuffield next Wednesday. The treatment is only expected to take about 20 minutes, but she has to assume she will be very tired for a couple of days afterwards. So within the next two weeks, both of the family's flaky knees should be on the mend.

Up Town

We had an early start. We both needed to get up, dress, and have breakfast before taking Ellie to school. We had a day out planned. We walked Ellie to school as usual, but then, as soon as we got back home, we hopped in the car and drove to the railway station.

We made ourselves comfortable in the 1st Class compartment and began the trip to London Victoria. The train was slightly delayed, but it was a comfortable trip to the capital. We dropped down into the Underground and took the tube to Oxford Circus. From there, it was only a 5-minute walk to "Vasco & Piero's Pavilion Restaurant."

Paul, the owner, greeted us like family, and we were shown to a table where we could have a coffee and sit and wait for Paul and Cathy. We had only been there for about 10 minutes when they arrived. They are on their way to Poland, where, along with Ellen and Mark, they hope to explore some of the villages and towns from whence the family came originally.

We sat and chatted, catching up on the family news from across the pond... Laura's engagement and pregnancy, Michael and Emily's Eloise, and Andrew's new girlfriend. We also heard about their "bolt-hole" in the Eastern townships of Quebec. The photos Paul had on the phone brought it all to life. We had a lovely lunch, and sat chatting for a couple of hours or more. (In fact, we had been so busy chatting that I forgot to take any photos). Eventually, we stirred and headed back towards Oxford Circus. Paul and Cathy wanted to visit Marks and Spencer, and planned to go to the Royal Albert Hall this evening. We dropped back into the tube network and found our way back to Victoria. We had ourselves comfortable in the 1st Class compartment again, and headed back to the coast.

It had been a lovely day, and it was so nice to catch up with the family for a few hours.

Wet through

 It was decidedly damp, but not raining this morning. We trotted around to Zoe's to manage the school run. Dropping Ellie at the classroom, Di headed home, and I set off for my walk. It was important to catch up with Lisbet Salander, and I was tempted to do an extra lap of my walking route, but the early morning coffee put an end to that.

Once home, I settled down for breakfast as Di prepared to visit Specsavers to collect her new glasses. Once I had cleared away, I set off to the barbershop to get my hair cut (and listen to another chapter of my book). I also tried to drop off some expired meds at the pharmacy, but they would not take them because they contained needles. Once I had been papered in the barbershop and was looking like a film star (Bell Lugosi), I headed home, and as I left, it started to rain. By the time I was halfway, it was pouring, and the bag in which I was carrying the meds had disintegrated. By the time I arrived home, I was soaked through and had to get changed. (You can't beat the British Summer... at least not without escaping to Portugal).

After lunch, I returned to yesterday's exercise regarding cruises. I faffed about looking at various options, various routes, and various cruise lines. In the end, Di and I home in on one and I sent the details to Jane and Trevor. Would they be interested? Should we consider it?

The way things worked out, we have accidentally booked a 14-night cruise to Norway and Iceland on Arcadia during the summer of 2028. We have also managed to book the aft corner suites with the wrap-around balconies. Now, other than paying for it, we just have to wait for 2 years!

Stuff

 There was no real theme to the day. I was up soon after seven and read the overnight news. Di came down sometime after eight.

The morning was focused on rewiring the man-cave. ~Fortunately, the crucial panel was attached with a French cleat, so once everything was unplugged, I could remove it and take it to the kitchen to work on. It took a while to make everything neat and tidy, but once it was back in place and switched on, everything burst back to life. 

With the man-cave sorted out, and bearing in mind we had to move a large picture to mount the new TV, I rejigged the pictures in the Orangery so that the homeless landscape could nestle on the wall in the Orangery and the pictures that had been in there were remounted in a vertical stack by the door.

I experimented some more with the photo gallery function on the new TV, adding a new batch of photos to the collection. Later in the day, I added more still. The afternoon was fairly quiet. We spent a lot of time looking at possible cruises for 2028. One particular cruise has caught our attention, so I sent a link to Jane and Trevor to see if they were interested, but given that they were en route to their hideaway in Portugal for the next month, they may not have seen it yet.

We have a busy week coming up.

Stats and cables

We have been under a yellow weather warning for high winds. It certainly was incredibly blustery throughout the day, and the rain has swept through with vengeance on and off throughout the day.

After my usual start to the day, I had the Saturday call with my cousins. I don't remember how we got onto the subject of bands and performers we have seen, but I ended up making a list. It is still expanding as my addled mind dredges up another performance from the distant past.

The rest of the morning was spent sorting out the cabling for the new TV and the EE set-top box and trying to make it as invisible as possible. Everything is now working remarkably well, and with that in mind, I grabbed the paint pot and touched up the various scuffs on the wall. All of this consumed the whole morning and the early part of the afternoon. I was going to sort out the power distribution in the man-cave, but decided to leave that until tomorrow.

We had a quiet hour with the Kindles before I started on tonight's dinner. With that finished and the dishwasher loaded, we have a quiet evening planned, though there is an England vs New Zealand football match on at 21:00.

Hospital Taxi Service

 It was a blustery, but bright start to the day. Zoe didn't have an early start, so we wandered around to collect Ellie and walk her to school when the gate opened.

Back home, we had breakfast, and I spent some time trying to work out what options there were for using the new TV to display artwork when it isn't in general use. Some of the options looked very good but incurred a monthly charge. They can forget that. I then looked at options for using a curated selection of our own photos. I got this working, but I will have to return to it when I have edited the photos to 16:9 format.

Late morning, I took Di to Zoe's, where she was going to do some cleaning, and collected Zoe to take her to the hospital for her appointment with the consultant. She spent quite a while with him, and his conclusion was that she should have a steroid injection, and he would try to aspirate the cyst that is causing the problem in her knee. We just need to await the appointment.

Back home, we had a quiet hour or so before going to collect Ellie from dancing. Then we had to go to St Richard's for Di's Echocardiogram. We arrived early; it seemed that there was nobody on the roads at 17:30 on a Friday, so we had to wait for a while. The procedure took about 20 minutes or so, and the report will be sent to the Nuffield in time for Di's appointment with the anaesthetist next week.

Once home (again, the roads were empty), we had dinner and settled down for a quiet evening.

Testing

 I was up early again so that I could greet Ellie as she burst through the door at 6:30. She was already washed and dressed, ready for school. Once the early chatting was done, and she had some breakfast, she settled down with a pile of paper, some coloured felt-tipped pens, and a ruler and spent a quiet 40 minutes working on some crafts. During this time, the rain hammered down, and it looked as if we would get very wet going to school. It stopped just before we left, thank goodness.

Dropping Ellie, we returned home. Di got on with some phone calls and some chores, while I assembled the latest Raspberry Pi "snowyowl". Over the following hour or so, I installed the operating software and a program called "iperf3". I then installed the whole kit and caboodle next to the EE Router in my man cave.

I returned to my MacBook and then, plugging it into the network points in the house, one after the other, ran "iperf3" in client mode. This came back and told me that I was achieving a bandwidth of about 1 Gbps. This was what I wanted to see. It would have been pointless trying to speed up the network in the kitchen or the lounge if the distribution point wasn't achieving the speeds I wanted. Over the next few weeks, I will test the various endpoints in and about the house to see if any are throttling performance. This may mean switching old Cat 5 cables for new Cat 6a cables. (This would give plenty of headroom.)

Di and I discussed the aesthetics of the cabling for the new TV. We now have a plan, and I have ordered the first few cables to implement that plan. It will probably be a busy weekend.

Talking of being busy. I have to take Zoe to the Nuffield in Chichester tomorrow lunchtime so that she can see the consultant. Then late in the afternoon, I have to take Diane to St Richard's for an Echo Cardiogram prior to her meeting next week, with the anaesthetist.