Press hound

We had a lazy start. Yesterday's rain had blown away, and it was a lovely, clear morning. Once I was showered and dressed, I went out to check the car with the expectation. that I would have to take it for a drive to clear the warning messages. As it happens, there were none. So I could confidently let Diane take the car to Pilates.

I walked to Zoe's to join the trek to school. I didn't head off for my usual walk, however. I went home for breakfast. I had decided that I would make the most of the morning and walk to Bognor and spend the morning in the library. It was a wonderful morning for walking, and it took me about 40 minutes to get there. I may not have used the shortest route, but I was trying to stick to the quieter side roads so that I could listen to my audiobook in peace.

Once I had arrived at the library, the assistant showed me to the public PCs and helped me get started. I soon registered for my free access to the British Newspaper Archive and spent the next couple of hours searching for articles that referenced various relatives. As I found each article, I downloaded it to the USB drive that I had taken with me. I will process these over the coming days at home.  All in all, I was quite impressed with the service but frustrated by how slow the PCs and their network were.

I packed up my notebook, my USB drive and my library card, and walked home. As I arrived, Di called to say she was just leaving Angmering, and Tim Empson called to ask some questions regarding tracing a relation. I did what I could to help, but fear there is insufficient base information to get to the bottom of his quest.

Emails arrived for the garage that I dealt with yesterday. They forwarded the full diagnostic report, gave me an estimate for the fix, and confirmed the appointment to do the work. I'm very impressed.

We managed some Kindle time in the warmth of the Orangery this afternoon. It was bright, sunny, and pleasantly warm. Di went to meet up with Zoe and collect Ellie from football practice. Zoe was absolutely buzzing. Today was meant to be her day off, but she got a call to say the auditors had arrived to do the store audit. She dropped everything and went to work. At the end of the audit, they had scored 100% with no "advisories". She is delighted, having achieved that two years in a row.

That's Better

It was a very wet night, and it looked as if the rain had set in for the day when I got up. I was up early to greet Ellie, but she ran straight upstairs, got into bed with Nana, and went back to sleep. We left her until 7:30 before waking her. Despite the rain, Diane came on the school walk with us, but went back home afterwards. I set off on my morning walk. The rain pelted down, and I was not surprised when I saw very few walkers.

Once I had returned home and stripped off my waterproofs, I grabbed some breakfast. Then I returned to yesterday's problem regarding the car. I called a local independent specialist. I explained why I was calling, i.e. the problem I was facing with the car, and mentioned the problems I was having with Richmond Skoda in Bognor. He chuckled and then apologised, explaining that there is another Skoda on his forecourt and the owner has also had problems with Richmond. Back to business, he asked where I was and offered to fit me in for fault diagnosis this morning, while I wait! I leapt at the offer and was there within 20 minutes. He plugged in the diagnostic tool, and we then went and sat by the computer to go through the results. The problem turns out to be the front offside ABS speed sensor. I paid for the diagnosis (it was £60 cheaper than Richmond), booked the car in for rectification, and drove home. I was back within an hour of my phone call. Unless anything changes, he will have the problem fixed and back with us (yes, he picks the car up from the house and returns it) a day before Richmond could even start the diagnosis. I am really looking forward to cancelling my appointment with them.

The afternoon followed the usual pattern. We sat in the lounge reading our Kindles until it was time to collect Ellie. As it was still raining, I left Diane at home, collected Ellie and took her home to Zoe so they could get to Chichester for Ellie's dental appointment.

Incandescent

 I was up early to greet Ellie when she was dropped off. Ellie, however, was in too much of a hurry to snuggle up to Nana and ran straight upstairs. Grandpa's greeting would have to wait. Other than that, we followed the usual morning regimen. The only addition was that Ellie was taking some flour, milk, and butter to school so she could make some scones! That's the sort of classwork with real benefits.

Dropping Ellie, I made the most of the dry morning and set off on my walk. I was back before ten and grabbed my breakfast before retiring to the study for some work on the family tree. I was intent on filling in more facts, supported by articles from the press, regarding various close relatives. When I had exhausted the articles that I downloaded at the weekend, I started to think about the regional press. Their archives are held in the British National Archives. I logged on and saw that there were various subscription models. The question I struggled with was "Would I use these archives enough to warrant the subscription?" I concluded that I wouldn't, but wondered if they were accessible through the West Sussex Library Service. They are. You can access them online, but only from a public PC in the library. I'm perfectly happy with that, so I will set aside some time for a trip to the local library.

After lunch, I enjoyed some Kindle time until it was time to collect Ellie from school. We brought her home, and we all tucked into her yummy scones. Zoe arrived to collect her just as we were finishing. We returned to our Kindles. The phone rang. It was the local Skoda dealer. Their only Skoda technician has just decided to take a holiday, and tomorrow's service has to be rearranged. Again. I was incandescent. They play me up every time I book the car in, they shift dates, they don't have the parts, there's always one problem or another. I said to the guy, "Is it safe to drive?" (Laying it on a bit thick). His response was "If you've got breakdown cover, give them a call if you have a problem". That impressed me, not. There's not a lot I can do immediately, so I rebooked the car for next week. Meanwhile, however, I have done some research and have found an independent VW Group specialist near the vet's. I will give them a ring in the morning (the garage, not the vet).

Brackets

 It was very wet outside when I woke up. The rain had been pounding down for a while and continued for several more hours. I decided that there was no need to get wet, as the forecast suggested a dry period towards the end of the morning. I drank my coffee and read the news before making my morning porridge and enjoying a second cup of coffee.

With breakfast over, I went to the study and opened up my genealogy research. I picked a few people at random and delved further into the archives to fill out more details of their lives, where possible. The subscription I took out a few weeks ago gave me access to the newspaper archives, and I was able to add some newsclippings to some of the leaves on the family tree.

I looked up from my research and realised the sun was shining and the rain had stopped. I grabbed my walking shoes, jacket, and AirPods and set off for a walk. After nearly three kilometres, the morning's coffee had created a distraction. I returned home to check the plumbing and then set off again for a second walk. I looped around the estate a couple of times, adding a further four and a half kilometres to my day's total.

After some lunch, I returned to the study to file away some of the press clippings I had found during the morning. I looked up from the computer to see that it was thrashing down with rain again. My walks had been neatly bracketed by the inclement weather.

I managed some Kindle time during the afternoon while Di worked on her sewing project. I managed to complete another book and already have another lined up for bedtime.

Publish and be damned

After a superb night's sleep, I greeted the day just before seven. Though it was still dark, I could see that it was dry and fairly clear, so unlikely to rain. Checking the forecast, I could see my conclusion looked correct. I enjoyed my morning coffee and took a tea to Diane in bed.

After I had showered and dressed, I had my Zoom call with the cousins. It was interesting that Chris, in eastern Turkey, had also had a lot of rain over the last few days, though maybe not as extreme as Devon. The small trickle in the creek by his apartment had swollen in a matter of a few hours until it was over 4 metres deep and swamping the car park. It has subsided now, but has left a thick coating of red mud.

I spent some time reading the social media and then set off for my walk. I headed for the medieval highway to Shripney. I wanted to see if it was passable, as I may need it on Tuesday when I take the car for some attention at the garage. This route would be my preferred way home on foot. I managed to get quite a way before coming across standing water across the road. With more rain forecast for Sunday and Monday, I suspect I will have to select another route.

When I arrived home, Diane was cutting out a pattern for her latest sewing project. I retired to my study and finished the second edit of last year's journal. I uploaded the journal to Lulu.com, then started working on the hardback cover. This takes a lot of effort as I have to edit a saved PDF cover from a previous year. This took me an hour or so, but finally I was able to upload it and finish creating the book. I sent it off for printing, and can expect the finished article in about a week. 

Satisfied with the book, I set out on another walk. I limited myself to two laps of the estate (about 4km). This has taken me to a total of 198km for January (I really should have walked another 2km), but 123 miles for the month is more than adequate. Once home, I settled in the lounge with Diane, and we had some Kindle time until Zoe called for a chat, and I went to prepare dinner.

Do Not Disturb

 It has been an immensely quiet day. I was up soon after 6:30, but there was no particular hurry. I grabbed some coffee and read the overnight news. I have always been sceptical of "news" items in social media, but I must say that it is getting to the point that I always assume them to be false unless I can corroborate them in the grown-up press or media.

I went to Zoe's to accompany them on the walk to school. Leaving Ellie as she walked into class, I set off for my morning walk. I was halfway through my first lap when my audiobook ended. I immediately triggered the next book and enjoyed the rest of the walk with a new storyline and new dramatis personae.

I was surprised to find that Diane had arrived home before me. She was meant to be at Cardiac Rehab. Jackie, who runs it, had come down with the flu and forgotten to let Di know. We sat and chatted while I finished my breakfast. The rest of the morning was occupied with some research for a staff scheduling problem Zoe had raised, and general admin. Di got on with some ironing.

After lunch, we settled down with our Kindles. As the time ticked towards pick-up time for Ellie, the rain started. I told Di to stay put, climbed into my waterproofs and headed off to school (clutching Ellie's umbrella). Her dance lessons finished on time, and she was soon outside sheltering under the brolly as we walked home. She was with us for about an hour before Pete arrived to take her for the weekend.

Pottering

 We had a gentle start to the day. It had been cold overnight, and cars wore a fine layer of frost. I had my morning coffee and wandered through the overnight news before walking to Zoe's to join the trek to school. Leaving Ellie as she walked into class, I strode off for my morning circuits of the estate. My audiobook is drawing to a close (only 20 minutes to run), and I was delighted to find that I had correctly determined the murderer. I look forward to the last 20 minutes to tie up some loose ends.

Once home, I grabbed my breakfast and some more coffee. Because of the problem with the car, we had arranged for Sainsbury's to deliver our shopping this week. This worked out well and saved us a lot of time and any concerns regarding the car.  Once the shopping had been stowed away, I updated the accounts and set off for the village, where I shed my superfluous locks.

Once Lottie had finished her blitz upstairs, Di went up and pottered around. I, similarly, pottered around downstairs until I made lunch. The afternoon was dedicated to Kindle time, where I finished my 13th book of the year.

There's not much else to report.

Nile Fever

 We had another gentle start to the day. Zoe's shifts have been quite benign this week. Before I went to Zoe's, I checked the car as Di was planning to go to Pilates. I switched on and received the whole panoply of warning messages and warning lights. I let the engine run for a few minutes, switched it off and back on. I got the same result. I reported to Di, and she decided she wasn't willing to risk it. I set off for my school walk and pre-breakfast walk.

Back home, after some breakfast, I decided I would try to give the car a run. I dropped Di at the Post Office and drove to Sainsbury's to fill up with petrol. The first kilometre was accompanied by all of the warning bells and alarms, but then they shut down, and the car behaved perfectly for the rest of my trip. I even timed it well enough to collect Di on the way home.

The afternoon saw our usual Kindle interlude before we collected Ellie from the after-school football. Once home, I looked through various websites to find some new walking shoes. My current pair have been very comfortable but has worn down at the heel. I looked at several options but decided to get another pair of my current shoes.

Zoe collected Ellie soon after five, and we had a quick dinner. We had planned an evening out. We drove (without warning messages or alarms) to the Chichester Festival Theatre. We had tickets for Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile.

We had brilliant seats, centre stage, near the back of the theatre. The auditorium was packed. Regular readers will know that I am not a great lover of theatre, generally. This, however, was excellent. It flowed well, was well-crafted, and was immensely professional. If all theatre was like this, I would be tempted to go more frequently.

We were back at the car soon after 22:00 and home well before 22:30. (Again, the car behaved impeccably).

It had been a really enjoyable evening, but after the shenanigans on the Nile, I wonder if our planned river cruise is safe?

Excursions

We had a gentle start to the day. After my morning coffee, I donned my waterproofs and wandered around to Zoe's. The edge of ~Storm Chandra had hit us overnight, and it was raining heavily. We took Ellie to school, and as Zoe left to go to work, I set off for my walk. The rain continued throughout my first lap, but lessened and stopped during the second lap. By the time I finished the third lap and headed home, the clouds were thinning, and it was drying up.

SAGA released the list of available excursions to accompany our spring river cruise. We spent several hours working our way through the options and deciding on our choices. I sent the list on to Trevor, and then booked them.

Talking of Trevor, today is his birthday. I hope he's had a wonderful day and that recognition of his age hasn't hit him too hard.

We collected Ellie from school, and she came back with us until Zoe finished work. She certainly had an appetite tonight. She had all of the usual savoury snacks, several shortbread biscuits, and a plate of egg noodles with frankfurter sausages and raw red peppers. I suspect she'll ask for toast when she gets home.

Ton up

As Ellie stayed overnight, there was no need to get up early. She had set her alarm for seven, but I was making my coffee by the time that went off. She reset the alarm for 7:20 and went back to sleep. It was a bit cooler this morning. Only by a degree or so, but the damp atmosphere made it seem chilly. We dropped Ellie at school, and I set off for my walk.

I arrived home an hour or so later. I checked my watch and found that I had broken the 100 mile mark for the month. Feeling chuffed, I sat down with my breakfast.  Di had a call with her friend Marilyn, so while she chatted on the phone, I started on my second pass through last year's journal. I managed to review the first six months before I started to go boss-eyed.

There were several minor domestic chores to fill the rest of the morning, and after lunch, we settled down for some Kindle time until we had to collect Ellie. We took her straight home to Zoe, who was waiting to whisk her off to Chichester for her appointment.

It was a very quiet day.

Beat the Weather

 I had a pleasant lie-in, not getting up until 07:15. I had to deal with a foul-smelling package that Jasper had graciously left for me in the litter tray, but then I could make some coffee and take Diane a cup of tea. I sat and read the overnight news and was appalled at the latest murder by Trump's Gestapo in Minnesota. Di pottered downstairs, which was the cue for me to get washed and dressed and set off for my morning walk.

It was important to have an early walk. The weather forecast predicted rain by late morning, and I wanted to avoid that if possible. I suspect this was on many of the neighbours' minds as my usual route was quite busy with fellow walkers and dog-walkers. It turned out to be a good decision. By lunchtime, it had started to rain, and it continued, on and off, all afternoon.

When I arrived home and had finished my breakfast, I headed for the study. I returned to editing last year's journal. After an hour or so, I finished the first pass. I will have to go back to the beginning and work through the year once more to ensure I haven't missed anything. At the moment, the journal stands at 263 pages (including the index).

While I was editing, Diane was chatting to Denise on the phone. She had been preparing to shower when the phone rang, so she was sitting on a stool in her dressing gown, chatting away. I took her a cup of tea, and was quite expecting to take her evening meal in several hours. This did not prove to be necessary.

We managed to enjoy some Kindle time during the afternoon. This was interrupted by Ellie (with her "new" phone). She had to send us some messages and also call us. She even popped in to see us and to show us the phone cover she had got. We have managed to lock this phone down. She can take photos, use FaceTime, use the telephone, see maps, and see the weather. Nothing else will work, and communication is limited to the contacts in the phone - and only Zoe can add contacts. It does, however, broadcast its location, so we can keep track of where she is. She will be sleeping here tonight so that she doesn't need to get up early with Zoe.

WiFi

After a superb night's sleep, I wandered downstairs for a coffee at 07:15. Di followed me down about 30 minutes later. Being Saturday, the first scheduled event was the Zoom call with the Empsons. Having told them, last week, that Zoe had bought us this smart kettle that could be controlled by Alexa, they took it in turns to yell, "Alexa, turn on the kettle." How droll!

While the early morning coffee was percolating through, I spent some time reading the social media and looking at some of the astonishing photos and videos from Storm Ingrid and the devastation she was wreaking along the East Devon coastline. 

Finally, I was comfortable and set off for my walk with a new audiobook accompanying me. I passed Ellie on my walk. She was out with some friends and stopped to give me a cuddle before we both marched on. I wasn't out quite as long as usual, but I still managed a pleasant 5km. I hadn't been home for too long when I got a message from Zoe. "Is there anything you can do to improve my WiFi signal?" It appears that she had installed a "smart" bulb in Ellie's bedroom, and Alexa was having trouble staying connected. "Ah ha!", though I. I have just the answer. I used to have 3 BT Whole Home WiFi devices, which create a WiFi mesh across the house. These became redundant when I switched to an EE hub. I grabbed the devices and headed for Zoe's. A little while later, the mesh had been activated, Alexa had been swapped onto the mesh, and Ellie's TV and iPad were also swapped. Success.

I headed home for a quiet afternoon with my Kindle. Upstairs, Diane was sorting out some of her drawers, so she was unlikely to join me.

I started on dinner, and as soon as I had the hob and the oven running and food cooking, Zoe phoned. She was providing a relay between an Apple help desk agent and me while trying to set up an old iPhone for Ellie. The idea is that this would effectively be a dumb phone (providing virtually no apps or access other than location services and telephone calls to known numbers. I was involved as the manager of the family account. Rushing back and forth between the hob and the MacBook, I managed to get the rudimentary account set up, but I have no doubt there will be more to do later.

Charging

 Zoe has another day off, consequently there was no need for me to get up early. I lazed about in bed until 06:50, then wandered downstairs for a coffee. Di was up soon after as she needed to have an early breakfast before heading out for her Cardiac Rehab session. I walked to Zoe's and accompanied Ellie to school. Last night's forecast predicted heavy rain throughout the morning. Clearly, nobody had told the local clouds. Though I was dressed in my waterproofs, they were entirely superfluous.

Leaving Ellie at school, I set off on my morning walk. I followed the newly crafted route that I had used yesterday. It was while I was walking up one of the new diversions that I saw Di drive past and wave. As I arrived at the top of that road, she was parked and waiting for me. Again, the car was spewing out warning messages. I looked at what was happening and assured her that it should be perfectly safe, so she drove the last 200 metres to the Community Centre, and I returned to my walk. By the time I arrived home, I had about 10 minutes to run in my latest audiobook, so I allowed it to finish while making breakfast.

A major task this morning (major, in terms of importance, not time or effort) was to pay the balance for our upcoming river cruise. With that complete, I updated the accounts and then had a chat with Ian regarding the warning lights on the car. I thought he may have a diagnostic probe, but whilst he did have one, he has mislaid it during the house move. He did suggest, however, that our problem was most likely a failing battery. It makes sense to me. I went to Halfords and picked up a battery charger and conditioner. I attached it to our battery and left it to charge and condition for a few hours. I'll have to see if it makes a difference tomorrow.

After lunch, we had some Kindle time in the Orangery. The sun was out, and it had warmed up nicely. Soon after three, the sun had disappeared behind cloud and the temperature was dropping. We moved to the lounge, though Di had to go to Zoe's and join her in collecting Ellie after dance class.

Talking of Zoe, Ross (the heating engineer) called and was able to fit a new pressure sensor to her boiler. She has heating and hot water again, at last.

Lights Out

Theoretically, we had a lazy start to the day. The problem with theories is that they may not hold true. So it was that soon after 6 am, I was wide awake and wandered downstairs for a coffee. I had slept well, but I was wide awake. I read the overnight news and was appalled at the speech from the clown Trump in Davos. In contrast, I was immensely impressed by the 16-minute speech from Canada's Prime Minister, Carney. He is a true statesman. How I wish he were our Prime Minister.

I walked to Zoe and joined the walk to school. Ellie was carrying her project in a plastic bag so that it wouldn't get wet. (Actually, it wasn't raining, so it wasn't a big risk.) I set off for my morning walk, incorporating a couple of diversions to the normal route. I think that I will keep them as part of the route for the future.

I arrived home for breakfast just as Diane was preparing to go to the hairdresser's. I checked the tyre pressures on the car (with the current sensor problem, I wasn't confident that the Tyre Pressure Monitor was reporting correctly. Pressures were just fine, so I went and made my porridge.

Lottie turned up soon after Di left. She got on with the cleaning downstairs, and I went up to my study to do some more editing on last year's journal. I have now completed the first edit through to the end of November. I was about to start on December when Jasper started yowling, then deposited a rather unpleasant package in the litter tray. I was cleaning that up as Diane arrived back.

We had some lunch, and then completed the week's shopping list for a lightning raid on Sainsbury's. I must say that early afternoon on Thursday seemed like a good time. There was no evidence of the usual zombies shuffling up and down the aisles. I dropped Di at Zoe's on the way home so that she could go to collect Ellie from school. Meanwhile, I unpacked the shopping and stashed it away.

We managed an hour of Kindle time before dinner.