Extraction

 I was up and about soon after seven. I consumed the overnight news and a decent coffee to start the day. Di came down just before eight, so I went to perform my morning ablutions.

I took my breakfast and a coffee to my study and logged in to the weekly call with my cousins. It was a chirpy call with plenty of chat and banter. Tim and I exchanged some observations regarding our EVs and also the local and central planning authorities. I always find it troubling when we agree on political issues!

As I wandered downstairs after the Zoom call, Zoe called Di. Ellie hadn't stayed at Lily's overnight. She came home just before midnight. To fill in some background, Ellie had fallen on the stairs mid-afternoon yesterday. In doing so, she had bent her little finger back, and it was very painful. We had given her Arnica and a cold compress, and she tried to ignore it. She went to Lily's, and they ended up on a bus replacement service to Brighton as a result of a line fire near Arundel. They thoroughly enjoyed the concert, but the trains were not back to normal by the time they left. Lily's older brother came over to collect them. By the time they had stopped for a McDonald's, Ellie was feeling sore and wanted to go home.

This morning, it was clear that the finger was quite swollen. A trip to A&E was needed. I took Ellie and Zoe to St Richard's and left them there, not knowing how long they would have to wait.

I went home and continued developing the code and exploring the data I could extract from the car. Progress was slow but steady. Just as I broke for lunch, Zoe called. They were finished at the hospital. I headed back to Chichester and collected them. The X-rays had shown that Ellie had fractured her pinky in two places. They strapped it up and referred her to the fracture clinic. It wasn't clear how long that would take. I ran them home and left them to it.

Once home, I did some more exploration of the data that I could (and couldn't) access from the car. I'm so close to having what I want, but I'm not quite there yet.

We had some quiet time in the Orangery before dinner,

The Codeface

I was up soon after six. I had slept well, but was wide awake and in need of a coffee. I pottered downstairs with the elegance of a ballet dancer, in bare feet, walking on LEGO bricks. When Jasper had finished laughing at me, he went upstairs to disturb Diane (which I had studiously tried not to do). I worked through the overnight news and decided that there was no specific intervention required from me.

Once we were both up and about, I opened up the MacBook and started to write some code. Bit by bit, I explored the API that gave me access to. data from the new Skoda Elroq.  Some of it was extracted quite easily, but that was data that was easily available anyway. The more complex information proved a challenge. Over the course of the day, I made progress, but the data I really wanted remained elusive. My ultimate objective is to be blessed to extract data into a spreadsheet, allowing me to create various cuts of the data to understand the performance and cost of the EV.

Just after lunch, Di had an appointment at the Opticians at the same time that I had to take Ellie to Angmering for a night out and sleepover with her friend Lily. Zoe took Di to the Optician, and Ellie (on her booster seat) sat in the front of our car with me as we headed across to Lily's. The traffic was dreadful, but we arrived in plenty of time. They are off to Brighton (with Lily's mum) to see K-Pop Superstars (or something like that) at the Brighton Centre.

I arrived home just before Di and made us both a cup of tea. It turns out that she does need stronger glasses and so has a new pair on order and is having new lenses put into some of her old frames. ~

The rest of the afternoon was quiet.

Progress

 It was another clear morning. I was up by seven and enjoyed my coffee while reading the news. I probably should have gone for a walk, but I had a few things niggling on my mind. Once washed and dressed, I opened up the MacBook and started to investigate some ideas. 

The electronics in new cars seem to record vast amounts of information. Some of this is revealed through the car's partner App on the phone, but not all of it. It would be nice to get more granularity regarding trips, battery consumption, mileage, efficiency, and so forth. I was pointed to a set of libraries that contain APIs for the Skoda. It looks as if I can get all of the data I want. All I have to do is write a program to mine the data from the car. I can feel a little programming in my future.

We did our usual Sainsbury's trip to stock up for the week. As we finished unloading, Elli turned up with Aryana. Zoe had an important video call and wanted some peace while it progressed. The girls arrived and took themselves upstairs to Ellie's bedroom. They weren't here for long before Zoe called to say the call was over and could we come round for a briefing. We did as we were told. It turns out that Zoe's knee problem was not a ruptured ligament. It is actually a large cyst on the iniscus. They gave her a lot more detail, and promised they would get back later today with an appointment for her to see the consultant at the Chichest Nuffield. Things are moving at last, and it sounds as if the treatment is not major. Zoe called back later to tell us she has an appointment on Friday, the 5th.

We grabbed some lunch and started to think about a break for next February. We considered Malta, Cyprus, and Sicily, but eventually home in on Madeira. We haven't booked anything yet, but we have somewhere bookmarked.

Di wanted to do some shopping in John Lewis. I had been looking for a replacement TV for the kitchen/family room. This seemed like an ideal opportunity. We whizzed off and strolled around the store. After discussions with one of the colleagues, we chose a TV which had a significant discount, free delivery, and free installation. Result! That should arrive next week.

DI received a call while we were in John Lewis. It was the Consultant's secretary from the Nuffield. She has now fixed the date for her knee replacement, on 22nd June. (I wonder if we can get a family discount).

Expecting

 I was up early. I was expecting several deliveries throughout the day, and I wanted to get a walk in before Di had to go out for Pilates. So it was that I set off for my morning walk at 6:50. The skies were clear, and it was comfortably warm. It was a lovely time to be out and about. I arrived back home soon after 8:00 and settled down with a coffee and some porridge. It was already heating up, and we had the back doors open and the blinds drawn. It's easier to keep the heat out than to try to cool the house once it's warm.

Di set off for Pilates. It was an abortive trip, as the instructor, Liz, had arranged for a stand-in today. Di was not willing to chance her joints on a new instructor, so after a chat with her friend Kathie, she came home early.

Meanwhile, I had completed some admin and worked through the outstanding ironing.

I'm a bit of a wally. I had ordered a holster for the car charger, so that the plug would be protected. That was the first of today's deliveries. I took it outside to work out where best to install it. That's when I noticed that there is already a holster built into the unit. Doh! At least it wasn't expensive.

The next delivery was the fresh salmon steaks from Edinburgh. They came beautifully wrapped in iced gel packs and surrounded by an insulating layer of wool. I soon had them unpacked and tucked away in the freezer. My curry sauces are due before 20:00, but haven't arrived yet.

We spent some time with our Kindles during the afternoon, sheltering in the cool of the living room.

Assessment

 We had a gentle start to the day. The skies were crystal clear, and the temperature was already climbing. I had my early morning coffee, then as soon as I was washed and dressed, I headed out for my walk before it got too hot to enjoy.

After a quick breakfast, I took Di to the Nuffield. She had an appointment, which was the first stage in her admission for knee surgery. Traffic was very slow, and we were a few minutes late arriving. (We had phoned to warn them.) I dropped Di at the doors and went to park. By the time I got back, she had already been whisked away. I sat and read, but she was soon out and ready to go. There will be another pre-admission appointment, but it is clear she is on a countdown.

Back home, we got on with some domestic chores before settling down for some Kindle time during the afternoon.

Di received an email. Things are picking up pace. She has an appointment for next Tuesday for the pre-admission appointment, which is expected to take a couple of hours.

We had an early dinner so that I could attend Ellie's football training. She had insisted on going and asked Zoe to come and watch. I grabbed the picnic chairs so Zoe could sit down, and I met them there. Once there, Ellie suddenly seemed to lose interest, and Zoe really had to cajole her into playing. It was clear that her heart wasn't really in the game. She just drifted back and forth, without really getting involved. Oh well, it was a nice evening to be out and about.

Hotter

 I was up soon after seven, though I had been entranced by the birdsong just after five. It was clearly going to be another hot day, and I opened up the doors in the Orangery to get some airflow through the house. Once Di was up and about, I went to wash and dress so that I could set out on my walk before it got too hot. My audiobook has me totally hooked and, despite the heat, I was completely engrossed in the story. I was particularly pleased to note that I had correctly identified two of the clues from earlier in the book,

Once back home, I grabbed some breakfast before taking Di to the local nursery. (It was nice to use the feature that allowed me to fire up the air conditioning from my phone to ensure the car was at a comfortable temperature when we were ready to leave.) We wandered around Brickkiln Nursery until Di had found the plants that she wanted. We then took a detour on the way home so that we could pick up some white wine for tonight's pasta from Sainsbury's. We hadn't been home for too long before we were called to Zoe's. Hers and Ellie's beds both needed to be made, and a new paddling pool needed to be pumped up and filled. We were not there for too long, but the chores were completed.

Ellie has clearly had a wonderful time in Hastings with her friend Lilly. I'm not sure how much sleep they got, but they had great fun.

I know it seems bizarre, it is, after all, only a few days since we last saw Ellie, but she seems to have grown while away.

Back home, we had a quiet hour or so with our Kindles before our usual Monday night dinner of Salmon and Prawns in a white wine and cream sauce, with tagliatelle.

Oh well, that was Bank Holiday Monday. Back to work tomorrow. No wait... I'm retired, for me, tomorrow is another holiday! (I still cannot get used to this.)

Hot

 It's been a hot one!

I had a lazy start, not getting up until 7:20. It was already 20 °C, and it was clear the temperatures were only going to climb. I had my first coffee, then after morning ablutions, headed out for my walk before it got too hot. My audiobook is progressing well, and had one of those minor crescendos just as I was approaching home. Rather than leave it mid-story, I stopped the book just at the right time. Tomorrow's walk will start with this revelation.

After some breakfast, I did something I haven't done for 12 years. Di was going to Zoe's to help with some cleaning, so I tagged along to mow her lawn. Yes, for the first time in 12 years, I handled the lawnmower and smartened up her back garden. She was thrilled, because it had been looking a bit bleak. When I had finished, it was quite smart.

The rest of the day was spent with our Kindles in the cool of the living room. I waded through several chapters of my latest book, then spent some time looking for, and eventually buying, a holster for the car charger. Once that was done, I looked at some options for a new TV in the Kitchen/Family room. As we are getting older, we are finding it harder to see the TV from a distance. I was looking at a new 65 in model that we should be able to see fairly easily. The old TV will be repurposed in Ellie's bedroom.

I was delighted to see that despite my worst fears, Spurs managed to avoid relegation from the Premiership, and in doing so, sent West Ham down.

Neighbours

Jasper was getting noisy at 05:30, but having made sure we were both awake, he settled back down.  I woke again at 06:00, but managed to stay in bed until just before 07:00. It was clear as I walked down the stairs that Jasper's noisy interlude had been him boasting about the foul-smelling package he had delivered, ready for me to dispose of when I arose.

After the early morning waste disposal, I managed to sit down with a coffee and reflect on the meaning of life. It occurred to me that Jasper's overnight emission was no more toxic than the effluent that spews from the White House day in and day out. In Jasper's favour, at least he isn't orange, and he seems to have an IQ at least equivalent to his paw size.

My overnight experiment with the E.On app controlling the car charging activity worked well. I will stick to this in future as it should optimise the charge procedure even more than the Ohme app.

After the morning call with the cousins (which followed the usual pattern), I settled down to wade through some admin and do some research regarding our new Skoda Elroq, and the options for charging when away from home. This became a bit of a quest, and I ended up diving down several rabbit holes as I worked through my options.

Di, meanwhile, was pottering in the garden. When she wandered to the front garden, she was accosted by Colleen and John, our new neighbours. We had a lovely chat and took them into our back garden for a look at the landscaping and the Orangery. We only chatted for 30 minutes or so, but we all seemed to hit it off well.

We've had lots of photos arrive from Ellie's weekend away in Hastings. She's clearly having a great time.

Scam

I was up at my normal time. It was already a warm and beautiful morning. Jasper was asleep on a sofa in the Orangery, but stirred when I fired up the coffee machine. At 8:20, we wandered to Zoe's to collect Ellie. She was full of the joys of Spring as it was the last day before the half-term and she was going away with her friend Lilly for the weekend.

We dropped her off at the classroom door, and Di went home while I set off for my morning walk. It really was very warm, and the walk was most enjoyable. On the second loop of my usual course, Di passed me in the car on her way to Cardia Rehab. I completed my walk and settled down for breakfast. Di returned just as I was finishing.

Zoe was due at Goring Hall Hospital for an MRI. I went along to pick her up and drive her across to Goring. We arrived in plenty of time so that she could complete all of the paperwork. The appointments were running a bit late, but we didn't have to wait for too long. I managed to finish another book while she was being processed. Once the imaging was done, we returned to the car and made our way home. I dropped her off, then went home for some lunch and a quiet afternoon in the Orangery.

We collected Ellie from the after-school dance class and took her home. She had a nicely laminated award for her participation in the athletics meet on Wednesday. Bartons School came 3rd out of 15, so it did really well. Back home, Ellie would wait for Pete to collect her and take her back to Lilly's in Angmering. Then they were off to Hastings.

During the afternoon, I received a message:

BARCLAYS: We've placed a hold on a payment of £xxx.xx to HSBC account ending in NNNN. If this was you reply, Y, and your payment will be processed. If you did not make this transaction, please call us on 020 nnnn nnnn

At first, I was concerned. Had someone tried to spend money on my account? Should I call the number? Then a cooler head took over. 

• Don't call the number given, look up the number, 
• and then, do I have a BARCLAYS account? No. 
• Should I panic? No. 

I left it as a reminder to myself that thieving trolls will try any trick they can to steal information, and subsequently money. There seems to be a concerted campaign at the moment, and I would bet that many people get caught.

Charger

 I was up early to greet Ellie as she was dropped off at 6:35. It was around 6:35 when I got a message from Zoe that she had overslept and would be late. At least I didn't have to panic. Ellie was duly dropped off, and Zoe disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

We took Ellie to school and then came home for breakfast. We had received notification that Di's meds were ready to be collected from the Chemist's, so I deferred my walk until later, intending to collect the meds then.

There was some early morning admin after breakfast, and then I crafted the week's shopping list. We timed it badly this morning. The Zombies were obviously away on holiday, but we had a bus-load of utter morons turn up instead. What a joy! Nevertheless, we got the shopping done fairly quickly and soon had it packed away at home.

As lunchtime approached, I went for my walk and collected Di's meds on the way through. The temperature had really climbed compared with yesterday. I suspect I will need a sun hat tomorrow, as it is forecast to get hotter still over the weekend.

After lunch, we collected Ellie and took her to Chichester for her weekly appointment. We sat in the sunshine, outside a cafe, and enjoyed a coffee and a slice of cake while waiting. When the appointment was over, we took Ellie home and then came home ourselves.

Currently (you see what I did there?), there seems to be some confusion between the EV Charger apps. There is an app on the car, an app from the Electricity supplier, and an app from the charger manufacturer. The Energy supplier suggests I use theirs to ensure I get the best tariff. This, however, seems to get confused because of the app from the charger manufacturer. I phoned the helpline, and after a lot of discussion, the specialist decided he couldn't help and has escalated the problem. I now await a call from their 2nd-level engineer. We'll see what happens.

Lunch

 I had a gentle start to the day. I was up before seven, but had woken in my own time. We wandered around to Zoe's in time for the school run, walking Ellie to the classroom, as usual. She had a 4-way athletics meet this morning and was looking forward to that.

We headed home for breakfast and to prepare for our lunch trip. We were meeting up with Jane and Trevor at "The Refectory", near Godalming. Mid-morning, we set off, taking a brief diversion to drop some papers off at the Vet's. Our new car whizzed us silently over the Downs, up through Petworth and on. We pulled into the car park just before midday, and after a comfort break, settled down for a coffee with Jane and Trevor. This is when I admitted we had a new car, and we then spent a while talking through the whys and wherefors.

We had a lovely lunch, as usual. Diane had a coronation chicken, while I had a Malaysian seafood curry. We chatted for a couple of hours, discussing the recently booked river cruise for next year and possible ocean cruises for 2028. This latter subject will require further thought and research. We also covered all of the usual family news.

After a "show and tell" on the new car, we said our goodbyes and hit the road. It was only as we got down towards Chichester that I realised that there must have been something in the curry that didn't quite agree with me. I felt decidedly gripy. By the time we got home, I realised that it was having much the same effect as "Drano". 

I collected Ellie from football and took her home. She had enjoyed the athletics meet this morning, coming 7th in the 400m, 3rd in the sprint, 2nd in the throwing and the long jump. We're very proud of her and are already looking for a display cabinet for her future trophies and medals!  

I wandered back home, then settled in for the evening.

Premium Bonds

 I was up and about soon after six. I was delighted to find that Jasper had left me a foul-smelling package in his litter tray. This required immediate attention if I planned to breathe through my nose over the next hour. Having sorted out this early morning gift and sprayed the downstairs with copious amounts of air freshener, I finally settled down with a coffee.

We walked to Zoe's and collected Ellie for the stroll to school. Leaving her as she charged into the classroom, we both went home. There was no early morning walk as it was pouring with rain, but it was scheduled to stop mid-morning. I decided to wait. After some breakfast, I attacked the pile of shirts that required ironing and then, with the weather dry and breezy, set out on my walk. My second coffee of the morning called an early end to the walk, but I had been out for an hour.

Diane has been having trouble logging on to the site where she buys Premium Bonds for Ellie. We tried to resolve this a while back, but we were unsuccessful. I decided this was not going to be a problem any longer. I set up a separate user account for her on my MacBook, and using that account, we logged on to NS&I correctly (the issue, it appeared, was the expectation of her user name being in capital letters, not mixed case). Anyway, the problem is now resolved, and a backlog of payments has been paid into Ellie's savings account.

We had some Kindle time after lunch, before collecting Ellie from school. Having taken her home, we returned home for a quiet hour before I had to take Ellie to football training with the boys of Sussex Rangers. Again, she did well, but didn't get stuck in quite as much as she did on Saturday. It will come as her confidence increases and she realises that she is just as quick as the boys. I must say that by 19:00, when the training finished, I was beginning to feel quite chilly, and even Ellie was complaining of the cold.

Oops, we did it again

 I wasn't sure whether Ellie was being dropped off or not. I got up at 6:30, just in case. From then on, the usual playbook unfolded - other than the fact she wasn't being dropped off. We walked around to Zoe's and took Ellie to school. She was quite excited as they had a chap coming to teach them about cricket today. We left her as the classroom door opened, and Di headed home while I started my walk.

I have started a new audiobook, the 4th in a series of mysteries taking place in Venice. The previous books were narrated by Richard Armitage, but this has a different narrator; I was disappointed. It's not that he wasn't a good choice; it was more the case that I associate the stories with Richard Armitage. Anyway, the first hour or so of the book has been excellent.

After some breakfast, I got on with some admin and some domestic chores while Di was ironing. She received a message saying that she had a parking charge violation that she hadn't paid. It was concerning, so she showed me. I did a bit of digging and became suspicious. The alleged date was the last Bank Holiday, when we had just returned from our river cruise and stayed at home (other than collecting Jasper), it gave no hint as to where the alleged offence took place, and it didn't display our registration number. It did, however, have some very convincing web pages that looked exactly like some of the gov.uk pages. The smell test told me this was a scam. The message was deleted.

After lunch, Kim dropped in. She had delivered a presentation at the University this morning, and was feeling relieved that it was over (and fairly pleased with the way it went). We sat and chatted for a couple of hours until she had to leave for a hospital appointment.

While this was going on, and after consultation with Jane, Trevor, and Di, I accidentally booked another river cruise for this time next year. This one starts in Mainz and works its way downriver to Rotterdam. It should be fun as we will be on the same ship as this year (and, indeed, in the same cabins).

Chichester

 I was up at my usual time. Jasper had woken us, so I offered to bring Di a cup of tea and then leave her to get up when she felt like it. This was acknowledged as a good idea, and so, a gentle morning began. 

Once we were both up and behaving like functioning adults, we climbed into the car and headed for Chichester. The idea was to do some shopping, stroll around for a bit, and maybe grab some lunch if anything took our fancy. There was a car boot sale in progress at the Cattle Market Car Park. We already had a car boot, so we ignored it and strolled into the city. There was a bit of a buzz today. There were some street markets, and they were preparing for a gathering of motorcycles for the Distinguished Gentlemen's ride. We were too early to see this, but we certainly heard it later on.

After some shopping, we diverted from the main streets and took a stroll around the Bishop's Palace Gardens. It was pleasantly warm, and fleeting changes in colour as the clouds scudded across the sky made for a very beautiful interlude.

We walked back into the city and went to look at a new food hall, "Ghost at the Feast", which hosts a number of different food vendors. It wasn't really suited to a Sunday lunch, but would certainly warrant a return trip at some stage.

In the end, we dropped into "The Ivy" and settled down for brunch. Di had some sourdough bread, and followed up with Eggs Royale; I had some crispy salt and pepper squid, followed by Eggs Benedict. It was very good and very satisfying. We certainly didn't need to eat again today.

Once home, after a bit of a clear-up after Jasper, we settled in the Orangery with our Kindles for the afternoon. We also took the opportunity to look at options for a river cruise next spring. We will discuss the various options with Jane and Trevor when we meet for lunch on Wednesday.