Ice, ice baby

 Today didn't quite pan out the way we had thought. It wasn't so much that we had specific plans; it was more a case of "we didn't see that coming". But I should start at the beginning.

It was about seven before I got up. I had slept well, but I needed to move about. I made my coffee and cleared up the package that Jasper had, so kindly, left for me overnight. Di had not slept so well, and it was a while before she came down. I then went to wash and dress before breakfast.

As I was finishing my porridge, Di observed: "There's water under the freezer".  That is never good news. Usually it is a blockage in the ice maker. Not this time. We opened the freezer to find much of its contents defrosting.  The next hour or so was spent clearing out the food that had defrosted, draining it, and bagging it up for food recycling. Other food that was still frozen was moved to the other freezer. Water was wiped up. The freezer was cleaned. The door was closed, and we decided to observe for an hour or so to check that it was freezing properly. Meanwhile, I started researching options for a replacement if things didn't work out.

Things worked out. The unit is freezing again. The only conclusion is that I probably failed to close the door properly when preparing yesterday's dinner. There's a lesson there.

The rest of the day was spent updating my documentation and, as I went, turning the individual documents into web pages. I have several weeks' work ahead before this is complete. There is no hurry, though.

I managed to get some Kindle time in this afternoon. It was too cold to sit in the Orangery, so I settled in the lounge while Di continued with her new sewing project.

Clocked

 The clocks changed overnight. This means that, in theory, we got an extra hour in bed. To make sure this worked, we spent some time before bed explaining the concept to Jasper. He may not have taken it all in, but he did leave us alone until I got up. It was 6:15, but I was happy that yesterday, this would have been 7:15.

It was a while before Diane came down, but we had enjoyed the quiet and lazy start. After breakfast, Di got on with a few chores while I continued working on my documentation. Indeed, this has been the focus of the day for me. It has not been the authoring of the text that has kept me busy, but rather the conversion of the finished text into well-formatted web pages. The basic process is simple: take a written document, pass it to "pandoc", and it squirts out a web page. The next stage is to provide some style, so I developed a style sheet that gets applied to the web page as it is created. Finally, I must manipulate the original document's links so that they work for the web pages. It is this stage that has caused the most work. Having said that, I think I am just about there. I'm sure that after a couple of hours tomorrow, I will have a working version. (Then, of course, I have to finish writing the documentation for all of the rest of the system.)

It's half term this week, so Ellie is away with Pete. We have a quiet week, in theory, but it has been "suggested" that we make the most of it to clear my study!

Rainy and Stormy

 It was nearly 7:45 before I emerged from bed. I was taken aback. I had not planned to sleep in, but I did not set an alarm. I stumbled downstairs to make coffee and tea. By the time I was ready to sit down and drink mine, Di had also emerged.

I had the usual call with my cousins this morning. I'm not sure if it was weather-related, but several of them were having connectivity issues and kept dropping offline. As usual, we covered a multitude of general trivia, but didn't really get into any one subject for long.

After the call, I caught up on the accounts and finished a small pile of ironing before returning to my study.

I was now ready to complete the rebuild of "falcon". This could have been quicker than it actually was, but I was determined to automate as much as possible and use my configuration engine to complete the task, and document it on the fly. This worked well, and "falcon" is now running beautifully. It did highlight several small bugs that I have introduced into my other Raspberry Pis. They are not serious, but they do need addressing. I'm sure a few hours tidying these up tomorrow will have it all sorted.

The winds we experienced yesterday have died down a bit. They have, however, been replaced by significant rainfall, which has been incessant throughout the day.

Stormy

 I was up soon after 6:15 so that I could open up and make sure Jasper had left no surprises for the arrival of Ellie and Poppy this morning. It was the last day of this half of the term, and they had a 'wear something pink' day for Breast Cancer Awareness. They turned up with their bags of clothes, played for a bit, had some breakfast, then went to get changed. It came as no surprise that Ellie wanted something that she had left behind. So it was that I was changing into my waterproof gear to venture out in the storm and select her pink swimsuit, instead of the black one she had with her.

Di and I both had a quiet morning. Di did some ironing. She was preparing some new fabrics for her next project. I spent the time doing bits of research and documentation. Late in the morning, I ventured back out to the village. I had a parcel of old equipment to return to EE, and Di had a birthday card that needed posting. It was deeply unpleasant out there.

During the afternoon, I did some coding and then settled down to finish my book and start a new one.

Hostile

 I was up before seven. I left ~Diane gently snoring and snuck downstairs for my morning coffee. I didn't bother with her tea until I heard her moving about. It was a cloudless morning, and it presaged a fine (if cool) day.  Judging by the forecast, this is the calm before the storm, as Storm Austen is scheduled to hit tomorrow.

We were moderately quick off the mark and hit Sainsbury's earlier than usual. It was a remarkably peaceful visit, and we were in and out in no time. Zoe, it turns out, was in a meeting while we were there. She has been asked to switch (temporarily) to the Chichester store and whip it into shape. No doubt this is a feather in her cap, but it will lengthen her day somewhat. She has no date yet, as she is managing her store for the next couple of weeks while her manager is away on holiday.

I spent a great deal of time fiddling with the Pi known as "falcon". This keeps disappearing from the network. Diagnostics have pointed to a failing microSD card. Backups have been taken, and a new card has been ordered. I will rebuild it from the ground up when the new card arrives.

Di finished the dress project she has been working on and started a new project. I spent some Kindle time in the Orangery, making the most of the sunshine.

Experimenting

 We both slept well. I was up soon after 6:30, but I was wide awake and well-rested. Di was still snoring gently as I snuck downstairs. As we were not expecting Ellie, I left her to it and chose not to disturb her with a cup of tea. Indeed, it was an hour or so later that I finally heard her moving around, and I fired up the kettle.

There was no morning walk. It was absolutely miserable outside.

Because of her problem with her knee on Monday, she decided to skip Pilates today, rather than risk stirring things up again. We had a quiet morning, though Zoe popped in for a while to reveal her shift pattern from now until the New Year.

I spent time working on my refreshed documentation for the home data centre. In doing this, I tested out a number of improvements to my existing procedures and experimented with some new ideas. These worked well and will become part of the new instructions.

After lunch, it dried up, and the sun took control. We settled in the Orangery with our Kindles, making the most of the afternoon sun.

Just Chillin'

After the excitement of yesterday, we had a very quiet day. Di's knee had been giving her some serious discomfort yesterday. She is not sure what the trigger was, but expects it was carrying Jasper downstairs in his carrier, thus putting an unequal load on her knee. She took some medication to help her sleep, and it seemed to do the trick. Not only did she sleep right through, but her knee was feeling back to normal when she got up.

We didn't see Ellie today, as Zoe had a late start and Ellie went back to a friend's house after school. We just pottered. I booked a venue for the upcoming Band of Brothers lunch (as yesterday's venue had been ruled out). I have sent the details out to all of the attendees and look forward to seeing them in two weeks.

While Di was sorting out some receipts and invoices from the vet and the insurance company, I did some tidying up on the home network. This took a while, but I think I have now created a reproducible template for all of the modern Raspberry Pis.

We had a quiet afternoon with our Kindles. We sat in the lounge as the Orangery had not really warmed up in the rain that punctuated much of the day.

A Recce

We had a super evening yesterday. We drove into Worthing and parked at the Civic Place car park before taking a slow stroll down to the pier. It was interesting to see some new restaurants (including a couple of Japanese establishments), but disappointing to see quite a few empty units.

We strolled out onto the pier, stopping to take in the view and to look at the stained glass panels along the central windbreak. At the very end of the pier, in what was probably the ballroom, was Perch. This restaurant has refurbished the venue and has a real hubbub and style. We were shown to our table, looking out through the windows to the east, south, and west. There was a choice of 2 meals: a sharing Sunday roast, and a Vegetarian dish. We opted, unsurprisingly, for the roast. As the setting sun streamed through the windows, the waitress delivered two empty plates before returning with a huge platter loaded with roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots, shredded cabbage, peas, beans, chicken, beef, and ham hock. A boat of thick, rich gravy followed. We looked at each other, then at the platter and wondered quite where to start. Well, we didn’t manage to finish the platter, but we did some serious damage. I was excellent, and at £45 for the pair of us, it was great value for money.

With the sun now gone, we strolled back along the pier. There were a few spots of rain, but nothing to cause me to unfurl my umbrella. We arrived at the Connaught Theatre just before 19:00, with the show due to start at 19:30. Simon Evans burst onto the stage and gave us an excellent show. The first half was his usual brand of very clever comment, satire, and stand-up comedy. The second half was far more philosophical, with observations on the rise of AI and the impact of alternative realities - this he illustrated with a discussion of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his poem Kubla Khan. It was educational and very funny the way he linked it back to themes he had launched in the first half of the show. It was a brilliant show.

We were home and in bed before 23:00

This morning, I was up before 07:00. There was no Ellie today, as Zoe had a later start. Whilst there was no hurry, I did need to get ready for a trip to London, and Di needed to get ready for another trip to the vet with Jasper.

Di dropped me at the station, and I caught the 9:26 to Victoria. It was an hour earlier than necessary, but, as I said, Di had to get Jasper to the vet. No sooner had we left Bognor Regis station than I received a text from Richard. We used to refer to Richard as “Sir” at school, because he was so well spoken. I add that little aside because it has become clear that his, indeed, a Lord of Chaos. So it was this morning when his text came in. He had missed his train from Leeds by 1 minute. He was unlikely to arrive in King’s Cross before 13:00, then had to get across to Whitehall, where we planned to meet. 

I had time to kill, so I took a gentle walk up past the Palace and through St James’s Park to The Mall and Trafalgar Square. I stopped at a coffee shop on The Strand and read for a while as I finished my coffee. From there I wandered through Charing Cross to the river and then found my way to the Victoria Embankment Gardens, where I sat in the sunshine until I received a text from Richard.

I walked up to the Civil Service Club (which was next door to the original Scotland Yard complex). Richard arrived a couple of minutes later, and we wandered in. Richard had to sign in via an App which he hadn’t previously downloaded. It goes without saying that this did not go smoothly, but with the help of the receptionist, we completed the formalities and wandered into the bar. It was not what we had expected. It was busy, but it was a bit like a pub. We found a table and sat down to enjoy a beer and chat before having something to eat. (The choice of beers was limited, and most of the pumps weren’t working.) We eventually chose our meals. Richard opted for whitebait followed by scampi and chips, while I had chorizo followed by steak and ale pie. Again, the menu reminded me of a pub (not a gastro-pub). To be fair, however, the pie could not have had more meat in it if they had wrapped the pastry round a cow. It was quite delicious.

When we had finished, we asked to see the various function rooms. These were not only uninspiring, but they were also very expensive. Our collective view was that the recce had been worthwhile since we had ruled this out as a venue.

It was nearly 16:30 by the time we said our goodbyes. I headed up to Whitehall, then along Victoria Street to the station. I arrived with about 5 minutes to spare and made myself comfortable in First Class. I texted Di to let her know I was on the way. At 19:00 I wandered off the train and slipped into the car. Di then drove us home, and we settled in for a debrief and then a quiet evening.

Night Out

 I was up soon after seven, took Di a cup of tea, cleared up after Jasper's overnight delivery, and settled down with a coffee. The forecast rain hadn't appeared and was now unlikely until mid-evening. It was, however, quite chilly.

Once we had had breakfast and caught up with the usual domestic start-of-day chores, I settled down at the computer and reworked the recent programs that I had developed to capture Skoda data. The latest downloads from the app provided all the information I needed. After an hour or two, everything was done.

====================================================================================================

 MONTHLY CONSUMPTION, EFFICIENCY & COST ANALYSIS

====================================================================================================

Month    Trips  Miles Driven  kWh Used  Efficiency (mi/kWh)  Charges  kWh Charged  Total Cost  Cost / Mile (£)

-------  -----  ------------  --------  -------------------  -------  -----------  ----------  ---------------

2026-10  18     186.0         43.89     4.24                 3        79.0         £6.06       £0.033         

2026-09  36     278.0         57.75     4.81                 2        44.0         £3.54       £0.013         

2026-08  26     458.0         97.02     4.72                 4        119.63       £5.69       £0.012         

2026-07  23     183.0         33.11     5.53                 1        15.5         £0.74       £0.004         

2026-06  36     422.0         91.63     4.61                 5        114.58       £5.49       £0.013         

2026-05  32     525.0         113.96    4.61                 10       133.64       £10.58      £0.020         

Not bad, eh? It's certainly cheaper to run than a diesel at the moment!

After lunch, I got on with some reading and then helped Di lay some weed fabric on the part of the front garden we stripped last week.

We are out for dinner tonight. We are booked at Perch at the end of Worthing Pier, followed by one of my favourite comedians, Simon Evans, at the local Connaught Theatre.

Just Stuff

After a night that was punctuated by Jasper yelling, I finally got up at seven. I made coffee and tea and took the tea up to Diane before settling down with the overnight news. She wandered down at eight, and I went for my shower and to make myself look beautiful for the day.

I had the call with the cousins at nene, but it lacked spark today. Chris was travelling on a train between Cork and Dublin, Sam was travelling on a train from Huntingdon to London, Tim was suffering from a cold, Simon couldn't get his microphone to work, and Sarah was distracted by the dog that she was caring for.  Not a great call!

While this call was going on, Kim phoned for a long chat with Di, and to tell her about the first day that she had spent on the Ward in her latest University placement. The call was just finishing as I returned from the study after my call.

During the morning, I had bits of admin to complete, and some domestic chores that needed to be ticked off. The Irrigation system was disconnected and stored in the garage for the winter; the parasol was stored; the softener was topped up; and I completed the accounts. This gave me some time to play. The latest version of the Skoda App allows the user to download the "trips" history and the "charging" history. This was the information I had been extracting using the unofficial interface. Now I have an official route, but that does mean that the code I had written is no longer relevant. There was a whole new way to capture the data. I started by adapting the database where I am storing the details. Then, I captured the historical charging data that I had kept and added the new charging data for the App. This is working well, but probably needs some tidying up. The next step will be to delete and rebuild the table containing all of the historical trip data.

I went for my walk at lunchtime. When I got home, I started to prepare my lunch. Our new neighbour, Colleen, popped in to ask if I could come and look at her underfloor heating and show her how it worked. I explained that I was happy to try, but we had changed ours a couple of years ago. I went next door and was greeted by her three dogs. Once they had sniffed my hands, they settled down, and I worked through the documentation that she had. I always thought the system was the most user-hostile system anyone could have dreamed up. An hour trying to get it working reinforced that perception. In the end, I recommended Ross, who put in our heating system. There was no evidence that, even though the thermostats were calling for heat, any heat was being produced.

Back home, Di had finished pottering in the garden, and we both made the most of a lovely warm afternoon in the Orangery.

Physio

 I was up at 6:15, ready to greet Ellie when she arrived. I had expected an overnight package from Jasper, but was very grateful to find that he had not delivered, despite his overnight howling. Ellie was dropped off and went up for a cuddle with Nana.

It was wet and miserable outside. I decided that my walk could wait. I sat and helped Ellie with her project (on Ancient Egypt) until it was time for her to leave for school. Then I got on with some maintenance on my network monitor (which obviously needed some attention after the installation of the new broadband router).

Di headed off to her Cardiac Rehab session, and I continued to update the network monitor. When she got back, she told me how surprised she had been by the number of calories burned on the cross-trainer. We had a quiet morning after that. I did venture out for my walk at eleven. By the time I got back, it was time for some lunch before we headed to the Nuffield for Di's physio session.

I sat in reception with my Kindle and a coffee while she was manhandled by Dean. She has clearly done really well and is now, effectively, signed off unless she wishes to contact him with any concerns.

We had a quiet afternoon in the very warm Orangery.

I failed to mention that yesterday evening I had a phone conversation with Richard. We have agreed to meet on Monday for lunch at the Civil Service Club to see if it would be a suitable venue for the Band of Brothers meet-up at the beginning of November. I must say that I'm looking forward to it.

I Don't Think So

 I was up early to make sure everything was ready for Ellie's 6:30 arrival. By that I mean, I was out of bed, the doors were unlocked, and the downstairs lights were on. This ensured she could come in safely and go straight upstairs and get into a warm bed with Nana, while I finished making Nana's tea.

We left Ellie in bed until 7:30, and then I woke her to get ready for school. She was more chirpy this morning than when she was here on Tuesday. She strode off to school at 8:30 and seemed to be looking forward to the day. 

Once we had finished breakfast, we completed the week's shopping list, and I pottered around until Di had washed and dressed. We were earlier than usual at Sainsbury's, but despite this, we did seem to come across a lot of aisle hoggers and couples arguing over what sauce they needed for some dish or other. We managed to get around the store quickly and were soon on our way home. Lottie was busy cleaning downstairs, so I took the shopping into the kitchen and Di, and I went upstairs to our respective studies so that we didn't get in Lottie's way.

Once Lottie had left, we cleared the shopping away and grabbed some lunch.

I received a text message: "LLOYDS: Security Alert: A pending payment to “IX RENTAL” for £549.63 due on 15/10/26 has been temporarily frozen. Don’t recognise this? Call us at immediately on 02038965030". It was very nice of the sender to inquire, but NO, I don't think so. Not only do I not recognise this payment, but I also don't even have an account with LLOYDS. Another phishing attempt is consigned to the Spam folder.

DI spent the afternoon in her study on one of her sewing projects. I spent most of it in the lounge finishing my latest book before going onto Amazon and downloading half a dozen more.

I installed two WiFi extenders during the day, one in the Kitchen to cover the Orangery, and one in Ellie's bedroom to ensure the TV works and that the signal is strong upstairs.

A Quiet Day

 It was gone seven before I crawled out of bed. Ellie wouldn't be dropping in this morning. I made the tea and coffee to kick-start the day and then went for a shower. 

It was dry, but cool, at only 9C. I grabbed a fleece and headed out for my usual walk. Within the first ten minutes, the sun was up, and I was glad to have stuck my sunglasses in my pocket. At this time of year, the low sun can be quite blinding. I enjoyed the walk and made good progress in the latest audiobook.

Soon after I arrived home, Diane left for her Pilates session in Angmering. I got on with my breakfast, caught up on the accounts, and continued testing some code and documenting some installation procedures. By mid-morning, I was getting bored with documentation, so I changed gear; I dug out the ironing board and worked my way through the ironing that had piled up in the cupboard.

It wasn't long after I had finished that Di returned. We sat and chatted over lunch and then retired to the Orangery to read our Kindles. Other than the odd delivery, the rest of the afternoon has been quiet.

Motoring

 We had an early start. Clearly, Ellie wasn't ready for it. She came into the house just after 6:30 and went straight up to bed for another hour's sleep. I made the tea and the coffee, and we sat and read the overnight news. At 7:30 I went up to wake Ellie and get washed and dressed myself. 

Once Ellie had left for school, we pottered around; Di went to shower and dress, I reviewed the logs from last night's backups, then got on with some documentation. Mid-morning, we set up Jasper's timed feeder and left for a pleasant drive up through the Downs, Petworth, Chiddingfold and on to Milford. We were meeting Jane and Trevor for lunch at The Refectory.

As usual, we first checked the plumbing, then settled in front of the fire for a coffee while we waited for J&T. The rain that had been so incessant earlier had faded; the sun was out, and the skies had cleared. Jane and Trevor arrived, and we settled down at what is becoming our usual table. The Refectory was remarkably busy for a Tuesday lunchtime, and service was a little slow. It was not a problem, as it gave us more time to chat. We heard all about their recent trip to Rome, which sounded wonderful, and they clearly did well choosing a private tour guide for a couple of days.

For lunch, Di chose the hake "burger" with salad. I must say that it looked lovely, with a couple of large slices of hake in batter nestling in a brioche bun. I started with some bratwurst in sweet mustard, then followed that with Chicken Schnitzel with saurkraut and fries. We also indulged in desserts. It was four-ish before we left. We had a lovely drive back to the coast, arriving home in about an hour.

We had a quiet evening (no dinner was required!), and I perused the letters and the photo that Jane had sent back with us.