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.

Training Day

 I was up at my normal time. There was no reason for an early start, but my body clock intervened, and I was downstairs drinking coffee well before seven. I worked through the overnight emails, the news, and the social media before Diane stirred. I showered, dressed, made some breakfast and then prepared for my call with the cousins. There were several cousins missing, but we still had a quorum. We had a good chat covering various aspects of the geo-political situation, the passing out of Maggie's grandson at Plymouth, and were just about to talk about the family history book when the Zoom call expired.

I changed my footwear and put on a jacket (needlessly) and headed for the training ground where Ellie was doing her football training with the boys. She has already improved. She has more confidence and is getting involved. The coaches were very supportive, and it was clear that they boosted her confidence. She is the only girl in the team, but she is starting to hold her own. (She's certainly as quick as any of the boys). It was clear that she really put in the effort, and it was plain to see that she was quite flushed from the exertion by the end of the session. Unfortunately, she will miss next Saturday's training  (as she is going away with a friend), but she should be there on Tuesday.

Once I was back home, I cracked on with some admin that filled the remainder of the morning. I grabbed some lunch, and then Di and I retired to the Orangery with our Kindles for the afternoon.

Upper Sixth

 The early part of the morning followed the usual pattern. Maybe the only variation was that I dressed up a little more than usual... and dug out my school Alumni tie (which I didn't end up wearing). We walked across to Zoe's and collected Ellie for the walk to school.

Once home (there was no walk today), I gathered my things and climbed into the car for the drive up to St Albans, and my old school. The roads were wonderfully benign, and there were no delays as I cruised along the A27, A3, and even the M25. Trips like that can lull you into a false sense of euphoria. I arrived at St Columba's College at 11:00. It had taken me 2 hours for the 100-mile trip. As I walked out of the car park, passing one of the technology blocks, I was greeted by the head of the sixth form and taken in to meet some of the 47 other speakers, grab a Danish, and a cup of coffee.

We had been invited to speak at an "Inspiration Day" for the sixth form students. We represented a wide spectrum of careers and industries, and the students could pick and choose. Some sessions had 10 attendees, others only a single interested student. I had two students in my session, "At the Codeface", which talked about the trajectory that my career took and what was interesting and stimulating about such a career. I also touched on the impact of AI, containerisation, outsourcing, and cloud computing.

It seemed to go down well, but the time flew by. After the talk, there was a buffet lunch for the speakers and students, and I got the opportunity to chat with a number of students who hadn't been at my talk. The questions they asked were insightful and made me think about changes I would make to the presentation should I have to deliver it again.

I said my goodbyes and got back on the road at 14:00. This morning's travel euphoria soon wore off as Google announced various delays... 19 minutes, 9 minutes, 6 minutes, and so it continued. This morning's 2 hours turned into 3 hours by the time I approached home. A glass of rum and a glass of Doom Bar were the perfect antidote.

Health

 I was up soon after six. Ellie was being dropped off at 6:30, but I had woken early and decided a coffee would kick-start the day. E~llie burst into the house and, after a cuddle, went upstairs to torment Nana. The next hour or so followed the time-honoured pattern, and we walked Ellie to school as usual. Di headed home, and I set off on my walk. The sun was shining, but some angry clouds were gathering. By the time I started on my third lap, I was concerned that I would get wet, but fortunately, the rain held off.

Once home, I found that we were boxed in by tradesmen's vans. Di had already asked them to move one, but it wasn't until I got home that they condescended to get out of the way. 

After some breakfast, we finished the shopping list and headed to Sainsbury's. Zoe, incidentally, has now invoked the private medical cover that she gets through work. She immediately got a Zoom consultation, and the Consultant has ordered an MRI. We are just waiting for a date. At least things are moving.

The Sainsbury's trip (and stop at M&S and B&Q) took a while, so no sooner were we home than we had to grab some lunch before going to collect Ellie for her weekly appointment in Chichester. We dropped her off, then went for a coffee where Di read her Kindle, and I reviewed my slides for tomorrow's Inspiration Day at St Columba's. While we were drinking our coffee, Di received a call from The Nuffield to set up the first of a series of appointments to get her ready for the knee replacement. It is amazing how quickly this works once you are in the system.

Spring Lunch - Attrition

Ellie had slept here overnight, so there was no need to get up for 6:30. We all got up and got ready at a leisurely pace, then walked Ellie to school. Di then gave me a lift to the station, and I grabbed the 09:26 to Victoria. 

I had arranged the spring lunch for the Band of Brothers. This was booked for The Betjeman Arms at St Pancras. Originally, I booked a table for 7. At one stage, the attendee list grew to 8, but I held my nerve with a booking for 7. In the last 24 hours, Charlie has had to drop out because of a hospital appointment.. While I was on the train, I had two further drop-outs due to health issues. I suggested on WhatsApp that I could change the venue to a phone booth, as the numbers dropped.

I arrived at Victoria and dropped down to the tube, taking the Victoria line to St Pancras. In our carriage, we had the usual entertainment of a "Peace and Love" preacher shouting his philosophy, then breaking into a tap dance every so often. In true English style, nobody batted an eyelid. He gave up and moved to another carriage at the next stop. Arriving at St Pancras, I walked through the various walkways and tunnels to get to the mainline station. I was 45 minutes early, so I had a slow wander around before presenting myself at the Betjeman Arms.

Andrew Mower arrived soon after I sat down, then Brian, and finally, Mike. We then sat and chatted for a couple of hours over lunch and some beers. We talked about everything from holidays to health and our families. In between, we had the usual school reminisces and general life updates. It was a lovely couple of hours (with some very good food).

As we left, I looked out of the windows and guessed there was a quicker way back to the tube. Sure enough, I walked out of the nearest exit, crossed the road, and dropped straight down to the platform. It was so much quicker and saved about 10 minutes of weaving through the walkways. I was soon back at Victoria and managed to get on the 16:05 train back to Bognor Regis, where Di was waiting in the car to drive me home. (It's lovely having such an accommodating chauffeuse.)

Training

 A normal start to the day. The sun was up, but it had been cold overnight. There were some overnight automated tasks that I had scheduled, and they didn't work. This meant a little bit of debugging with my morning coffee. I think I have cracked it, and will test again overnight tonight.

We walked to Zoe's to collect Ellie for school, only to hear that she had left her cardigan in the park last night. Grandpa turned around and headed for the park. The cardigan was hanging in the fence (so it hadn't got wet or damp), and it was soon on its way back to Zoe's to be hung up ready for use. We dropped Ellie at school, then went back home for breakfast. There was no walk this morning as I had a load of minor activities to complete.

Di drove to Yapton to see Ian and Trudy (who used to be our next-door neighbours). A parcel had been delivered for them, so we said we would drop it in. I left Di to it.

After lunch, we had some Kindle time until we had to collect Ellie. We took her home to Zoe, but Ellie has decided she wants to sleep at our house tonight, rather than get up early in the morning. 

Ellie had dinner with Zoe, but came to us afterwards, and I walked with her and Oscar to the football training session. 

She is the only girl in the group, but she seemed to enjoy it and certainly participated throughout the hour. They had various ball skills exercises and team exercises. She seemed to enjoy it and did well. She is asking to carry on for now.

The session finished at 19:00, and we headed home. As I write this, she is upstairs having a bath and getting ready for bed.

Knees Up

A certain degree of normality returned this morning. I had the alarm set for 6:30, and ten minutes later, Zoe arrived with Ellie.  She obviously went straight upstairs to get into bed with Nana. We soon clicked into the old pattern of activity and were ready to walk Ellie to school at 8:30.

Di headed home, and I went for my morning walk. It was very chilly to start with, but I soon warmed up. Once home, I grabbed some breakfast and then spent a morning doing some admin and refactoring several parts of my financial spreadsheet.

Di, meanwhile, was getting her information together for an afternoon appointment at the hospital. We drove to the Nuffield and were seen by a charming Consultant. He reviewed Di's description of the problem and her previous medical background. Then he showed her X-Rays and explained what was visible. He talked through the options, and she decided that the full knee replacement was the sensible option. That's it. The die is cast. We just have to wait for a date, but that is likely to be 2-3 months hence.

After some Kindle time, I left Di to rest while I went to collect Ellie from Athletics. It appears she has a "meet" on Wednesday afternoon, but we have no real details yet.

Rain and Drizzle

I was up soon after seven (another lazy start). Though it was grey, it was dry, but that was not destined to last. By the time Diane came down for breakfast, the rain and drizzle had started and lasted most of the day.

I didn't have any firm plans for the day, but decided that I would spend some time filing the photos from the holiday. This wasn't so much a filing exercise as a cross-referencing task. I went through 471 photos and processed the facial recognition. The computer identified the faces, and in many cases allocated the correct names. This, however, is a job that requires a human eye to ensure everything is correct. It took several hours in all, but it was very satisfying to complete the job.

Though I sent the presentation off to St Columba's yesterday, I ran through the slides again. I will probably do this several more times throughout the week.

I heard from cousin Paul this afternoon. He is coming to London in June on his way through to Poland. We have arranged to meet up for lunch while he is here. We also hope to hear more about Laura and the fact that she has a baby due in November.  The family must be very excited.

GPS

I managed another lay-in. It was nearly seven before I stumbled to the kitchen and made some coffee. There was no hurry. The day started with the usual reading, and when Di emerged, I went to shower and prepare for my morning call with the cousins.

We had a couple of absentees this week, but the call was fun. We heard about Tim's holiday in Calahonda, and the trials and tribulations of the Australian contingent as they drain their pools for the coming winter. (There was very little sympathy expressed by the gallery.)

I went to Zoe's. She has recently switched to EE for her mobile phone, broadband, and TV. She hasn't, however, installed the equipment. I went to help out. The new Smart Hub 7 installed very easily, then it was a matter of reconnecting and testing everything. The WiFi Mesh was soon active, but the security system took a little bit longer. We reset each device, and they burst into life. Finally, we installed the EE TV mini box. This took longer than everything else. Not because it was difficult, but because we had to type in the 96-letter password using a TV remote and an on-screen keyboard. (Ok, it may not have been 96 letters - but it seemed like it.) It finally burst into life and gave Zoe a quick breakdown of how it works. With everybody happy, I headed back home.

Last night, I sent an email to the Cat Whisperer to ask if he had any availability during the summer months. This morning, he responded with a few dates, so I immediately booked Jasper for a week in August. I'm not sure whether we'll do anything, but at least Jasper gets a holiday. We are a little constrained until Diane has seen the Consultant on Monday, regarding a knee replacement. We don't know when it is likely to be done or the recovery time. Once we know, we may book several days away.

I had problems during our river cruise with the software that adds GPS tags to the photos from my camera. I spent a while this afternoon trying to get to the bottom of this. Well, I did, and I didn't. I managed to apply all the GPS tags to the photos... but never worked out why it didn't work while we were away.

Disrupted

Firstly, I should point out that I had a brilliant night's sleep. Indeed, it was halfway through the morning, at 06:45, that I awoke and leapt into action. Being so late, I got washed and dressed immediately before joining Diane downstairs.

Normally, we would walk to Zoe's to collect Ellie for school. Today, I left that to Diane. I had to wait for the chap to arrive and take the car away to be valeted. He ended up being delayed by some early morning light rain (though it doesn't affect the washing of the car, he does try to ensure the upholstery doesn't get wet. The car was taken at 09:00. I had a short walk before returning for some serious admin. Diane, meanwhile, headed off to the local community centre for her cardiac rehab session.

Once she was home, Di spent several hours sorting the wardrobes and the sealed packs of summer clothes. I stayed well clear. I didn't want to end up in a vacuum bag stuffed under the bed.

We had some Kindle time after lunch and went to collect Ellie from her dance class at the appropriate hour. She was very pleased to have been presented with the "Star of the Week" for Maths. I will have to laminate this award for her to go with all of the others.