Scratch it and start again

Jasper, once again, provided the impetus to get me out of bed. To be fair, it was just after seven, so I had had my lie-in. Coffee was brewed along with tea, and the tea was taken up to Diane.

Overnight, my subconscious had been processing. It dawned on me that there was a better way to organise the new photo library. I discussed it with myself and with ChatGPT and concluded that I would scratch the library manager I had built yesterday. I would then split the actual library into smaller chunks (a technical term) and then rebuild the library manager. So, for example, all the years from 1890 to 1989 are now clustered in a folder "Photos1890-1989", and there are similar clusters in 10-year and 5-year groups (depending on the quantity of photos). This now makes the management much simpler, and the library manager doesn't have to treat the many thousands of photos as one huge set. I set this plan in motion, and then got my breakfast. Various aspects of this have been running all through the day, and are still running now. I am confident they will all be finished by morning.

Di has enjoyed the sunshine and been pottering in the garden again. The garden waste bin is nearly full of all the trimmings and prunings.

We did manage some Kindle time in the Orangery this afternoon.

Heroes

 There was no need to be awake early. Jasper, however, had different ideas, and after he regaled us with several bouts of yowling and shouting, it seemed pointless to stay in bed any longer. So it was that I was up just before seven, and Di was up not long after.

Being Saturday, I had my usual call with the cousins. It seemed like a wide-ranging chat, but we did spend time talking about Tim's trip to Istanbul and the places he should visit. Obviously, Chris could provide ideas based on his experience, whereas the rest of us had to rely on travelogues and TV travel programmes.

Today was a day for heroes. Trevor and Lel took part in a 25 Km walk in London to raise money for Prostate Cancer Research. I sent them a "Good Luck" message, and another message during the walk. 

I must say that they had a nice day. Unlike recent weeks, the temperature had cooled off a bit, and though we have had some rain this week, it stayed dry.

Trevor sent this photo through showing the heroic couple at the finish line, and I know that they beat their fundraising target.  As I commented on Facebook, not all heroes wear spandex and have capes.

Well done.

Meanwhile, back here, I had re-run my program against the photo library. This time, it showed no data anomalies. This was good news as it meant that yesterday's exercise had corrected all of the thousands of anomalies that were in the library. (These anomalies were predominant where old photos had been scanned and had no date information other than the scan date - they had, however, been filed in the correct folder for the year they were taken). Confident that the library was now ok, I connected it to Immich and left it to run. Immich will now go through and create its database, identifying every photo, creating thumbnails, looking for faces in photos, and clustering faces together. This will run for hours... and is currently running all 8 processors on my iMac at 100%.

While the computer was busy, I decided (in a fit of uncharacteristic activity) to clean the car. There was debris from the New Forest in the footwells, and the outside was grubby from the recent rain. It took me an hour or so, but it looks very smart again now. Meanwhile, Di was pottering in the garden. She wanted to have a bit of a tidy-up and do some pruning before the wet and windy weather, which is forecast, sets in this coming week.

Driving Again

 Ellie was dropped off just after 8:30.  We were obviously up and about by then. It was another landmark day. Di was returning to her Cardiac Rehab sessions, so Ellie and I drove her to the Community Centre and left her to do her exercises. Back home, I made some breakfast for Ellie, and while she was eating, I ran the last few tests on my project.

Ellie came with me when I went to collect Di. This was another landmark as Diane took the keys and drove us home. This was probably the first time she had driven for about 3 months. She had been a little nervous about it, but she was absolutely fine, and it has given her the confidence and independence to plan a trip to Pilates next week.

Ellie spent most of the day in the lounge. She was cycling between her phone, the TV, and an iPad. Other than occasional hunting trips where she sought food, we heard little from her. I moved on from my testing to the full scan of my whole photo library. I ran the scan in separate chunks, but it still took the whole afternoon. I now have to consider when I should connect the library to the new Immich library manager, and when I should start to process all of the facial data I have extracted. Another aspect of this project is the retention of "albums" that were created in Google Photos. The photos are already in my library, but the collection of these into meaningful albums is not something that I currently have in my library. I think that I have a rudimentary plan for how to manage this, but I can feel some more code bubbling in the back of my mind, and a small test case is already sitting in my test library.

Zoe finished work earlier than planned and picked Ellie up at about 16:00. We had a quiet hour before I started preparing dinner.

Run, run, run

 I was up soon after six. There was no real need, but a message from my bladder suggested that some intervention was required. It didn't seem worthwhile going back to bed, so I made some coffee and read the overnight news. Di came down soon after seven. Zoe has the day off, so Ellie wasn't with us at all today.

Once we were properly up and about, I returned to my coding for a bit, adding some additional cross-references in the reports. Then I shut things down for the rest of the morning. Di had an appointment with the hairdresser, so I drove her to the salon, then stopped off at Sainsbury's for the weekly shop. By the time I had finished, driven home, unloaded the car, and put the shopping away, I received a call from Di to say she was ready. I whizzed into the town and collected her,

Early afternoon, I returned to my code and ran the first program against my whole photo library (in 10 separate runs). As I finished, it was time to take Di into Chichester for her dental appointment. I went up to the dentist's waiting room with her as the stairs are very steep. She introduced herself to the receptionist, and I announced that I was her security detail. While she was seen by the dentist and then the hygienist, I sat and read my Kindle.

It was 16:30 by the time we arrived back home. I had a quiet 15 minutes before starting on dinner. Tonight was gammon, egg, and chips (it's one of Di's favourites).

Anniversary

Today is our 53rd Wedding Anniversary. It's a day that is worthy of celebration. I can never really understand how I got so lucky all those years ago, and how we have been blessed ever since.

Talking of blessings, Ellie was dropped off at 6:30 and went up to have a cuddle with Nana in bed. Outside, it was raining. This is the first rain of any consequence that we have had for many weeks. I suspect that the ground is too hard to really absorb it, but the forecast suggests we will have a fair bit of rain over the next week, so hopefully it will do the fields and gardens some good.

During the morning, we had to go and collect Jasper from Mark (the Cat Whisperer). Ellie was intrigued by the whole setup and stopped to greet all of the cats and kittens in their runs. Jasper was soon tucked in his carrier and started to complain the whole way back home. As usual, he leapt from the carrier and did a full circuit of the house to ensure nothing had been changed.

Ellie was very good throughout the day. She was clearly tired after the day with Natalie yesterday. She spent most of the day playing quietly in the living room. I managed to get time to make some significant progress on my coding challenge, and I'm now ready to run some serious tests before letting the code loose on the whole photo library.

Ellie was collected soon after three. We settled down for some quiet time with the Kindles before getting ready to go out.

An upmarket Italian restaurant, "Piccolino's", has opened in Chichester. I used to eat at their outlet in Bristol when I was working down there, and always liked it. It seemed that on a day as auspicious as today, it was an ideal opportunity to try this local establishment.

We were shown to our table in the plush surroundings. Despite being early evening, there was a buzz about the place. We settled down and examined the menu. Garlic Focaccia with rosemary and sea salt made a good shared appetiser. This was followed by bruschetta gamberini for both of us. Then Di selected a dish with meatballs (mixed beef and pork), and I had chicken Milanese. We both finished off with gelato. The food was exceptional. This was definitely a location for special occasions - and we will be back.

We were home by eight, and settled down for quiet evening.

Codeface

Ellie stayed with us overnight.  Zoe was on an early shift, and Ellie couldn't be bothered to get up early. She was still fast asleep when I got up at seven, and Di was snoring quietly as well. I snuck downstairs and made a coffee, then sat and read the overnight news. The sleepy heads emerged at eight; I went to wash and dress and headed off for my morning walk. I took a slightly different route today, but it added up to the usual distance.

Once I was home, I grabbed breakfast and chatted with Ellie until her friend Natalie knocked. She was with us for the rest of the day. This was Ellie's first exposure to other kids since she came down with chickenpox. She was somewhat overexcited, and two excited nine-year-old girls can squeal at a pitch that would send bats mad and make dogs howl from several miles away.

I settled down with my little coding exercise, which had been on the back burner since we went away last week. Various bright ideas had percolated up through my consciousness, and today I got the chance to implement them. I would say that this particular part of the project is two-thirds complete, but this last third should be fairly quick to write, but a little longer to test.

I got on with the ironing after the girls had their lunch. There wasn't a huge amount, and I was soon finished. By mid-afternoon, Zoe had arrived to collect the girls. We waved them off, and then settled down with our Kindles in the Orangery for an hour or so before dinner. (I did manage to finish another book and start on a new one).

Walking again

 We were up just before seven. Ellie was due to be dropped off at 8:30, but we got going early. In fact, once I was washed and dressed, I headed out for a walk. This was the first proper walk since before Di went into hospital. The first ten minutes or so were spent with my brain trying to get the context back for the audiobook I was listening to. I still have 3 hours to run in the book, but slowly and surely the little grey cells put everything back into context. Now, I can't wait for the next episode.

I charged the car overnight. People talk of "range anxiety", but these few days away have eased any such concern. I charged the car to 100% before we went away. We struggled with traffic; we whizzed along motorways; I pottered through the forest, and yet I still arrived home with about 50% charge. It gives one a little more confidence in the EV.

By the time I arrived home from my walk, Ellie had been dropped off. We will be taking care of her for the next two weeks, until she returns to school. (As a side note, I am sure that my school summer holidays were at least 8, if not 10, weeks - but maybe that was a benefit of going to school run by Americans). 

We had a quiet afternoon with Ellie. She is still recovering from her chickenpox and coping with it well. She has gone home with Zoe for some supper, but is coming back to sleep here tonight so that she doesn't have to get up at the crack of dawn when Zoe goes to work.

(I have updated the blog entries for the last few days so that they include the photos I had originally curated for inclusion, but was stymied by the poor WiFi at the hotel.)

Home again

 After a decent (though not exceptional) night's sleep, we rose soon after seven. I showered, then made the tea and coffee that would keep us going until breakfast. We managed to get the packing finished and then headed down to the restaurant. Di concentrated on the continental breakfast, while I enjoyed a couple of poached eggs on some brown sourdough toast. 

Back in the room, I grabbed the cases and ferried them to the car, stopping to pay the bill on the way back. We started the car just after ten and headed out through Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst towards Cadnam and the M27. It was strange as we headed eastwards on the M27, with no westbound traffic. The road was, of course, still closed as a result of the fires. As we approached the last open junctions, it was clear that the tailbacks were significant and I was very glad we were eastbound.

The route home was, otherwise, unremarkable and even the Chichester traffic seemed benign. We unloaded and, after a cup of tea, unpacked. I then whizzed around to Sainsbury's to get some lamb shanks for dinner.

The afternoon has been spent quietly reading our Kindles in the lounge. Zoe phoned while I was preparing dinner, but had finished the call by the time I served up. I think we will be having a quiet evening before Ellie descends on us tomorrow morning.

Jekyll and Hythe

We were up soon after seven. Again, chemical influence helped Di sleep well, and I had a fairly good night also. After a shower and an early coffee and tea, I read the news while Di prepared for the day. We had booked for breakfast at nine, and set about deciding on the day’s agenda as we broke our fast.

The first stop of the day was Bucklers Hard. We had visited before, but when the girls were young. The location was an old shipbuilding slipway, where wooden ships were hewn from local oaks to serve in the Royal Navy. Some 55 ships were built there over the years, including Nelson’s favourite, Agamemnon. They have been doing further archaeological excavations there this year, and though they have now closed down, there was a marquee showing what they have achieved. It was quite gripping.

After a coffee, we returned to the car and headed to Hythe, on the west bank of Southampton Water. We parked up and walked down towards Hythe Pier. This is 700 yards long and one of the longest in the country. It is also home to the world’s oldest continuously running pier train. We paid our £1 entrance fee and walked out over the water. To the north-east of us, we could see P&O’s Iona in port along with Celebrity Cruises’ Apex and another smaller ship. I must say that it was quite tempting. I felt that a cruise would be quite pleasant right now! 

As we walked along the pier, there were several plaques explaining some of the local history - the Supermarine factory, the home of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), the berths for the Empire Flying boats, and so forth. Hythe was also home to Sir Christopher Cockerill, who invented the hovercraft. It was really very interesting. When we had finished on the pier, we had a stroll through the town and then stopped in a pub for a drink before continuing today’s explorations.

Leaving Hythe, we headed back towards the hotel, but drove straight past in order to go to the Blackwater Arboretum. This is just 3 miles from the hotel and tucked in an area of the forest with the most amazingly tall trees. That may sound a bit obvious, but much of the New Forest is wide open clearings with gorse and heather; then there are wooded areas with moderately sized trees, but nothing I would consider tall. Then we arrived at Blackwater and found one of the rails marked as “The Tall Tree Trail”, and this was fair and truthful advertising. We didn’t follow that trail, but even at the trailhead huge cypress trees and sequoias were soaring into the sky. Offhand, I can’t think of any other arboretum or even woodland that I have visited in the UK that has quite such a collection of huge trees. 

We actually followed a different trail. This took us round the periphery of the arboretum and gave us a chance to see the wide variety of trees that the Forestry Commission tends in this part of the Forest. Though there were other people about, they were few and far between, and our walk was immensely tranquil.

We spent a quiet couple of hours in the hotel garden. We were accompanied by some lovely cold drinks and our Kindles. I finished the book I had started yesterday, and started on a new one. Soon after five, we returned to our room to get ready for dinner. Like yesterday, we skipped the main dishes on the menu. We both made do with a starter, while we sat and chatted.

With dinner finished, we returned to the garden with our Kindles and sat in the warmth of the evening, enjoying our books until it started to get dark. It was the last full day of this short break, and it had been lovely.

Out and About

 We slept well, despite the heat. (There is no air conditioning in this old hotel.) We surfaced soon after, and while I showered, Di dozed waiting for me to make some tea. With tea and coffee on the go, I returned to the conundrum of the Internet connectivity. I can connect easily enough to the hotel’s WiFi and can access the Internet on my iPhone, but cannot get through to the Internet on the MacBook. Every idea that I have come up with (and AI has suggested) has failed. I decided I would try again after breakfast when I was closer to the WiFi hub.

We went down for breakfast. Di chose Eggs Benedict, while I went for a “Lite English Breakfast”; this was like a full breakfast but skipped the baked beans, the tomatoes, and the hash browns. Once that was finished, we went to the bar, and I resumed my battle with the Internet—which I lost. I did, however, manage a “Plan B” whereby I did a copy and paste from the MacBook (where I had written the post) to the iPhone and then emailed the blog post to the blog. This is all very fine, but it does mean that there are no photos embedded in the text on the day it is posted. I will have to retrofit the photos when I return home (or maybe post them individually).

While I was struggling with this, Di was chatting with a lady who sat nearby. She had a small dog which she was raising with a view to it becoming a companion dog for people who need some emotional support. She was a very nice lady, Polish originally, but living in South West London while working remotely (in tech) for a Norwegian company. She, like us, is staying until Sunday, so we will probably see more of her before we leave.

We decided that we would visit Milford-on-Sea. It was only about 25 minutes away, and we followed the SatNav down to the car park at the beach. It was really quite delightful. Having paid the fee (more about this later), we walked along the promenade towards Hurst Castle for about 100 metres, then turned and walked the opposite way.

Across the water, there was a good view of The Needles, at the tip of the Isle of Wight, but in the other direction, we could see across to Mudeford and Hengistbury Head. Though it was hot, there was a lively breeze, so it seemed very comfortable. Clearly, the sea was a big draw, as many people were enjoying the water and swimming between the breakwaters. We did an about turn and stopped off for a coffee and a snack. Di chose a Dutch Apple cake, while I had a rock cake with clotted cream. It was a good snack to see us through until dinner.

We returned to the car and programmed the SatNav. The next stop would be Exbury Gardens. We had visited before (in 2009), but the gardens warranted another visit. The gardens were laid out by the de Rothschild family and are quite spectacular (even if a little stressed by the continued hot weather). 

It was while we walked through the gardens that my watch “pinged”. I had a message, ostensibly from RingGo, the parking company. It claimed that I had an outstanding payment and demanded I log on to the website they quoted and provide my car registration and my payment details. I smelt a rat. I checked Apple Pay and could clearly see that my payment for this morning’s parking had gone through. I also checked where the message had originated, the Philippines. I think not. The message was ignored, but clearly RingGo has a data leak.

We drove back to the hotel. Di’s needed to lie down and elevate her knee. We headed for our room and I went in search of cold drinks. We had a couple of hours with our Kindles before getting ready for dinner. We weren’t too hungry, so both limited ourselves to just a starter, before retiring to the garden for a few more quiet hours with the Kindles. 

New Forest

The day started around seven. We both slept well, though in Di’s case, chemicals were involved. Though we are off for a few days’ break, there was no hurry to get going. We had a very leisurely breakfast and then pottered around until Lottie arrived. We were then distracted by the latest disasters and tales from her family.

I had charged the car to 100% overnight. This was the first time I had successfully done this. When I unplugged the charger, it estimated that I had a range of 368 miles. When, however, we set out some time later, the estimated range had increased to 406 miles. There’s no way the car would achieve that, but I admire its optimism.

I finally loaded the car, and we set off at about 11:00. It was not a smooth journey! After 35 minutes, we were still on the Chichester bypass, less than 6 miles from home. Further on, we hit the traffic filtering off the M27 because of the A31 closure (caused by the recent fires which have destroyed the equivalent of 240 football pitches in the New Forest). From that point on, we were in a slow-moving convoy all of the way to Brockenhurst. It was gone 13:00 before we arrived at the Forest Park Country Hotel. We were too early to check in, but sat in the bar with a beer and snack.

Refreshed, we went for a short walk to see the ponies who were sheltering from the blistering sun alongside walls and under trees. They were quite content and very happy to hold up traffic when they were in the mood. Being on foot, this didn’t trouble us. 

We returned to the hotel and checked in properly. I fetched the cases up to the room, and we unpacked. Then, we retired to the garden and sat in the shade of a large parasol and made the most of the glorious afternoon.

We had an early dinner, then went out for a walk in the forest. We found a quiet spot in an open area and sat down to call Ellie and see how she was faring. She hadn’t slept well last night, and spots were still coming out, but she was feeling okay in herself.

We returned to the hotel and settled in the garden with our Kindles. I spent some time writing this blog post, only to find that I couldn’t get connected to the Internet. Pah!

A Break

We were up soon after seven. Di had not slept well, but that seems to be par for the course at present. She will be taking some Oramorph tonight to help dull the ache from the knee replacement. 

While we had a leisurely start, we were surreptitiously gathering Jasper's stuff together. By mid-morning, it was time to drop him into the carrier and take him to see the cat whisperer. Mark, at Treetops Cattery, was his usual caring self, and Jasper was immediately feeling at ease. He now has a quiet week's Spa break with Mark to look after him. I dropped off 10 boxes of cat food to ensure the flavours that Jasper has been ignoring were put to good use.

We had timed the trip well. By the time we headed home, the traffic coming towards us was queued for several miles (for no apparent reason). Once home, we did a full clear-up before stopping for some lunch. I then cleared out the fridge and filled the food-waste bin with food that will be out of date by the time we get home from our upcoming trip.

We had some Kindle time during the afternoon and managed to get our cases packed. It's not that we have an early start; it's just nice to get it done and out of the way. I plan to charge the car to 100% overnight in the hope that we may not need to recharge while we are away on our short break

Ellie is still feeling rotten as the spots continue to come out. Chickenpox is no fun, particularly in this heat.

We were going to take her out to watch this evening's eclipse, but have decided that it is not a good idea. We will go round to Zoe's and watch the feed from the BBC.

We'll have to wait until 2090 and watch the next one with her. (She might have to hold me up as I will be 138 by then.)

Damned Poultry

 The early part of the morning followed its usual path. Coffee and tea were consumed, breakfast was eaten, and we made ourselves ready to address the day.

I updated the accounts, and then we drove into the village so that Di could return some packages, post some letters, and collect her meds. Once home, I waded through a small pile of ironing. It was during this exercise that Zoe and Ellie dropped by. Ellie had a few marks which she put down to mosquito bites and also a sore arm that she put down to all of the cartwheels she had been turning. Zoe had arranged an appointment at the doctor's.

After lunch, we sat in the cool of the living room and enjoyed some Kindle-time. It was during this that Zoe phoned. It turned out that Ellie had a dose of chickenpox and was feeling particularly sorry for herself (as you would expect). At least she has a couple of weeks to get over it before returning to school. In the meantime, we can play "join the dots" on Ellie's tummy!

We are due to go away later in the week. We are staying in the New Forest - if we can get there. This week's dreadful heathland fires are blocking many of the obvious routes to our destination. It is pointless trying to second-guess what will happen over the next couple of days, but hopefully the Fire Brigade will manage to get things under control.

In and Out and Celebrate

 Today has been a bit of a yo-yo. We were up and about soon after seven, and the day started in its normal fashion. (I am assuming, here, that taking Jasper to the vet is a normal exercise, now!) We got him to the vet in time for his 10:00 appointment, but he wasn't seen until 10:30, by which time he was getting somewhat stressed. He seems to have stabilised after his recent troubles and isn't now due back until next month.

Back home, we cracked on with various domestic activities and even managed some Kindle time. Mid-afternoon, however, we were back in the car and heading for Chichester. Di had her appointment with the surgeon to review her progress. The appointment went well. He was delighted with her progress and signed her off. She was told the joint would continue to improve for the next 6-8 weeks, and then more slowly for the next 18 months. After that, it will be as good as it will get. His comment was that she can now do anything she feels comfortable with, and that there will be days when it aches because she has pushed too far, but not to worry that she has done or could do any damage. This was excellent news, and we are delighted with the outcome.

Today was also Zoe's birthday. She's changed a bit over the years!

Kim had been round to see her during the day, and they went out with Ellie and Poppy to Hotham Park.

We met up in the early evening and took them to Fino's in Felpham. We had a lovely meal, with Di choosing the Lasagne while I chose a Tagliata (beef slices on a salad).

Everyone dined well, and we had a lovely time. We took the birthday girl home just after eight.