Pooh!

 I was up at 6:15. I needed to be available for Ellie's drop-off, and was aware of aroma infusing the house. I went downstairs in the dark (a mistake I won't make again) and found that Jasper had been generous with his presents overnight in the litter tray. It took a while to clear this up, and then I awaited Ellie. She arrived, full of the joys of Autumn. We had a chat and cuddle, and then she went upstairs to see Nana. I took some tea up, then returned to the kitchen. 

It was only when Ellie came back down (with the light on) that she spotted the fact that Jasper's generosity had spread to the hallway. He had left a deposit on the doormat which, unfortunately, Zoe had stepped in and spread through the hall as she brought Ellie's clothes through to the kitchen. Out came the pooh bags and the Dettol wipes, and the next 10 minutes were spent cleaning up. The doormat was moved to the back door for treatment later.

After I was washed and dressed, I was preparing to go for a walk when Rllie had a nuclear meltdown. It was all about nothing: whether she had her hoodie, whether her shorts were too tight, and goodness knows what else. As she stomped around and bashed things about, I had to yell at her. I then went to get the missing hoodie and some alternative shorts... she didn't end up bothering with any of them. Zoe ducked back from work and took over. In the end, we got a very sheepish apology and a kiss and cuddle before she headed for school.

I got the hose out to deal with the doormat, and Di got on with some laundry. I also caught up with the accounts for the first time in a week. We were both pleased to see some nice winnings on the Premium Bonds this month. With the accounts in order, I transferred some money into Diane's ISA, and I will transfer some more tomorrow.

I took the opportunity to go out for a walk, but had to cut it short at the 4.5km mark as my bladder was suggesting that my morning coffees had not yet fully drained away.

The rest of the day was spent tidying up some code to manage the automatic extraction of information from this blog into my private blog. By the end of the afternoon, that was finished, tested,  and put into production.

A Pinch and a Punch

 Another month begins. I was up late this morning. It was nearly seven o'clock. Coffee was taken, and the news was read before Diane came down. We had both slept well. It was a good start to the day. Once I was washed and dressed, I headed out for my walk. It was a nice day for walking. The sun was bright (if rather low in the sky), clouds gave the sky some decorative contrast, and the temperature was cool without being cold. I still haven't required a coat for my morning walks... and long may that continue.

Once home, I grabbed breakfast and completed the usual Sainsbury's shopping list. We had to make a stop at the local charity shop on our way to get the shopping. Diane had culled four bags full of clothes and other items that were no longer required. We dropped all this off, then spun around to raid Sainsbury's. We were a bit later than usual and, whilst not busy, the aisles were choked with Zombies and the nearly dead. I reflected on Boudicca's chariot as I entered the melee. I wondered whether scythes could be added to a Sainsbury's trolley and fantasised about charging down the aisles... but I digress.

Back home, Lottie was finishing her session, so I made myself scarce and returned to my latest coding project so that I could stay out of the way. In fact, that has been the focus of the rest of the day for me. Di, meanwhile, has been in the front garden tidying up and weeding. She tells me that there is a task for me so I will have to get on with that in the next day or so.

Anonymity

 Another early start due to an overachieving body clock, rather than any need to get up early. I grabbed my first coffee and sat down with the overnight news. Jasper pestered for a while, but he had been nil by mouth since 04:00 this morning. Eventually, he wandered away. Di managed to sleep in for a while, but once I had heard her stirring, I made he some tea and waited for her to come down.

There was no walk for me this morning. We had to get Jasper to the vet, and I wanted to make sure that I was around to help. We dropped him in the carrier and drove to the vet's. He was there for a scan to try to reveal why he is losing so much weight while eating so well. We left him at the surgery and drove home to await their call.

I took the opportunity to go for a walk, and while out, I posted some cards and collected the prescription meds that Diane had requested. While I was out, we heard from the vet and had to return at 14:00. I just had time to get home and have some lunch before we returned for the latest news on Jasper. It turns out that the old chap has some form of inflamed lymphoma. After a long discussion, Di decided that he would be treated to keep him comfortable, but recognised this is just a temporary reprieve in his final decline.

Back home, I was working some more on the code I was developing. I was surprised I couldn't access one of my servers. When I investigated, I realised that the switch to the new broadband route had effectively anonymised my various systems by ignoring their names and just revealing the address of their networking hardware. Very helpful... NOT! I now have to waste time sorting that out, instead of testing my new code.

Shades

 I was up at my usual time, but left Diane fast asleep. We didn't have Ellie this morning, so we could get on with things at our own pace. Once Di had emerged, I headed out for my morning walk. I was halfway round my first loop when I finished my audiobook (Ironwood, by Michael Connelly). I already had another lined up and leapt from Catalina to Stockholm and Moscow as I started on the next book in the Millennium series.

Though it was quite overcast, it was very warm, and I was quite hot when I arrived home. I settled down for some breakfast and a coffee while Di went up to prepare to meet the day!

When we visited the Weald & Downland Museum last week, Diane mislaid her sunglasses. We tried to phone to see if they had been handed in but couldn't get any answer on the switchboard. She sent an email, but received no response, so we decided to drive up there and ask in person. Sure enough, the glasses had been found, and she was soon reunited with her shades.

We wandered across to the cafe and settled down on the deck overlooking the lake and enjoyed (another) morning coffee as we sat and watched the ducks diving, chattering, and laughing at each other's jokes.

We didn't stay for long and were soon home. Di had some admin to do. Her Driving License is up for renewal, and this meant that she needed to get her government ID verification app installed and working. This didn't take as long as I expected. When I did it a year or so back, it seemed to take forever, but we got Di's sorted in about 20 minutes.

I spent most of the rest of the afternoon writing some code.

Air Freshener

 Neither of us slept well, for some reason that neither of us has determined. I was up just before 6:30 so that I could be ready for Ellie's drop-off. As they arrived, I was just finishing the removal of a rather unpleasant package that Jasper had left us overnight. A lot of air freshener was needed to make the air breathable again!

Whilst Ellie had arrived in her usual chirpy mood, she morphed into a bit of a nightmare after I had left for my walk. None of the anger really made sense, but Nana was still upset by the behaviour when I arrived home.

Diane got on with a couple of loads of washing while I finished my breakfast and then made some phone calls. The first was to EE to ask about the WiFi extenders. Sure enough, they should have been sent, but were missed. The agent assured me that this was now sorted and they should arrive in the next day or two. The next call was to the Insurance company to make sure that the veterinary treatment Jasper is having this week is all covered. It is, so that's a relief.

Di went to meet her friend, Angie, for a light lunch at the Oystercatcher. I spent the time refining some code I had been working on, and then settled down with my Kindle. Di arrived home just before 16:00, and we sat and chatted in the Orangery until it was time for me to start on dinner. I expect we have a quiet evening ahead.

Deliveries

 It was a bit grey this morning, and noticeably dark when I wandered downstairs for my morning coffee. Di was still fast asleep, so I didn't take her a tea. There was no firm plan for the day, but we were expecting a delivery from Sainsbury's.

Around the delivery, I spent some time revisiting the code I had written back in June to extract data from the Skoda. With the help of Gemini Notebook, I developed a small Python stub that injected all of the data into a stream that could be read from a Rexx program. This gave me a lot more flexibility for extracting and reporting information. I'm not sure how I will use it yet, but I have several ideas at the back of my mind.

Di spent much of the day switching her wardrobe, taking the Autumn/Winter collection out of storage, and packing the Spring/Summer collection away. At one stage, I was not convinced there would be room to get into the bedroom to sleep tonight, but somehow it all got squirrelled away somewhere.

After lunch, I took the bull by the horns and installed a new SmartHub-7 broadband router. This is the latest box from EE and includes better tri-band WiFi. It went remarkably smoothly because I renamed the built-in ID to match the old hub and changed the WiFi password to match. Everything just reconnected and worked immediately. The only problem I have encountered was the fact they forgot to send out the replacement WiFi extenders to replace my old ones (which are not compatible). I can make do for now, but will have to call them tomorrow to get it sorted.

A Quiet Day

 It has been a quiet day. I was up before seven, took Di a cup of tea, and settled down with a coffee and the overnight news. Di wandered down at eight, and I went to shower and dress. I had my call with the cousins at nine. The call was sparse today. With Tim and Sarah away on their cruise, it seemed remarkably quiet! 

After the call, I got on with a few chores, then buried myself in the study. I had been struggling with the number of photos in the new library system that had lost their orientation. They needed to be rotated by 90, 180, or 270 degrees. I could find no way to identify them automatically, but came up with the idea of creating 3 separate albums (one for each correction), Then, as I came across any photo that needed to be rotated, I just dropped it into the relevant album. Finally, I wrote some code that examined each of the albums and applied the corrections to each of the photos in the album... and then removed them from the album. It works like a dream, and I have already applied several hundred corrections.

I managed to go out for a walk after lunch, and finished my audiobook within the first 100 metres. I already had another lined up, so I switched to the new one and continued on my way.

Mugged

 Another bright start to the day, and after my initial coffee, I went back to wash and dress and headed out for my morning walk. There seemed to be more dog walkers around and about this morning, but I was happy as I dodged them and listened to the last part of my audiobook. It isn't quite finished, but I suspect there are only 10 minutes or so left.

By the time I got back home, Di and Denise were sorting out their breakfast. I made my porridge and settled down with them as they planned the day. Denis had brought with her a kit which provides two white mugs and a set of paints that you can use to decorate them. Then, the decorated mugs are placed in the oven to bake the paint onto the surface.  This was clearly going to take a while, so while they pottered, got dressed, and prepared everything, I hid in the study and spent the morning coding and refining the photo library. (Most of the coding is finished, and now the main task is verifying that all the images are being reflected properly in the timeline.)

It was ominously quiet downstairs. Clearly, the levels of concentration required while painting were disrupting the usual chat pathways. Now and again, I heard the odd exclamation about how well something was working or how good a particular design was evolving.

I came down to check on progress and make use of the silence to get a word in edgeways! I grabbed some lunch and made them some tea, then retired to the Orangery with my Kindle, while they got on with the painting.

It was early afternoon before the mugs were ready for baking. They were placed in a cold oven; then, with the temperature set at 150 C, they were baked for 30 minutes and left to cool down in the oven.

The rest of the afternoon was spent chatting and gathering Denis's bits together. She left here at about 18:00 (though I didn't check the time) and texted a little while ago to say she had arrived home safely. It was lovely to have her here, and I hope she comes back to stay with us again soon.

Out and About

 Jasper was yelling at 01:15 this morning. In the end, I had to get up. For some reason, the beef he had been eating for weeks was no longer satisfactory, and he wanted the timed feed tray opened so that he could tuck into the turkey. I wandered downstairs, cursed a lot, opened the timed feeder, and went back to bed. I finally emerged from the duvet at my usual time and went down for my coffee. Once Di had emerged, I went to wash and dress and then set off for my morning walk.

By the time I got back, an hour or so later, Denise was also up, and so we made more coffee and warmed some croissants, which we ate with some cheese. Once everything was settled and cleared away, we headed out. Today's venue was the Weald and Downland Museum at Singleton.

We started our tour with a visit to the brick drying sheds, the bakery, and the watermill. The baker and the miller were incredibly interesting as they explained the process and the history of their buildings.

We carried on to the barn that hosts "The Repair Shop". I was amused to see that the sign that advertises the venue is in serious need of repair, as the introductory "The" wouldn't illuminate.

We carried on and looped through the market square and then on to a number of cottages, a schoolroom, and a farm. It was really quite delightful, very peaceful, and the ideal venue for today's trip.

We stopped at the restaurant for a coffee and a sandwich (or slice of cake) and then returned by way of the shop. 

We headed home to ensure we were in before Ellie came out of school. Once she had arrived, she spent the next couple of hours grazing on every food group she could think of. She also, to be fair, came to help me prepare dinner. Zoe turned up soon after 17:00 and took Ellie home. It was timed to perfection, as our dinner was just coming out of the oven and the air fryer as they left.

Honoured Guest

Ellie was dropped off first thing. After the usual cuddle with Nana, she got on with her morning routine before taking herself off to school. I went out for my morning walk and returned just as Di left to collect some meds for Jasper from the vet. She wasn't gone for long, and as soon as she returned, I took the car for a quick raid on Sainsbury's. The rest of the morning was a flurry of domestic chores.

At lunchtime, Denie arrived. She is staying with us for a few days. We settled down to lunch of baguettes, cheeses, and cold meats, spending an hour or so just chatting and catching up. It was also an opportunity to give Denise her birthday present, albeit a few days late.

By the time we had cleared away, it was mid-afternoon, so Di and Denise walked around to Zoe's so they could have a catch-up with her and Ellie, and see Zoe's recently landscaped garden. I stayed at home.

Early evening, we put on our glad rags and headed for the bright lights of Chichester. Avoiding the paparazzi, we snuck into The Giggling Squid for dinner. They have had a major rework of their menu, and the selections were very enticing.

We carried on chatting as we enjoyed the dishes we had selected. We must have been there for about 3 hours before strolling back into the night and heading home.

It had been a very nice evening, and we must return to the Giggling Squid again soon.

A big one

 

First things first. Today was Kim's "statement" birthday. She had to be at the University all day, but hopefully she won't be too late getting back. I hope she has had a brilliant day (like this one on the beach in North Devon).

I was up at my usual time. It is noticeable that I need to switch on the kitchen lights when I first come down, but then Autumn starts tomorrow, so what do we expect! Once Diane was up and drinking her tea, I headed out for my morning walk. There was a slight nip in the air, but not enough to warrant a jacket or a thicker sweater. Soon after I arrived home, Di left to go to the hairdresser's. Once I had finished my breakfast and cleared away, I started on a pile of ironing, which occupied most of the morning.

Di arrived home just as I was contemplating a snack for lunch. We chatted for a bit, but then I followed her lead and went to the barber's. After all, I can't live with her hair even shorter than mine.

Once home again, I got on with some code while Di squirted some noxious substances on various weeds in the front and back gardens. After that, we both settled with our Kindles in the lounge (it was too hot in the Orangery).

Oving

It was a moderately quiet day. I was up early so that I could greet Ellie when she was dropped off, soon after 06:30. She went up to see Nana, but once they were stirring, I made Ellie some breakfast and sorted out Di's first coffee. 

Much of the morning was spent tidying everything away after yesterday. Once that was done, I sat down and updated the accounts and the statistics for the car (it is still averaging 2p per mile, but I expect that will rise during the autumn/winter period).

Late in the morning, I had to go to Chichester for my six-monthly checkup with the dental hygienist. This is not something that fills me with joy. She has the gentle touch of a gorilla standing on a piece of Lego, suffering from a toothache, while being thrashed with a bramble. Once I had escaped her ministrations, I drove home for some lunch and then spent the afternoon with some code before heading off with Di to take Jasper to the vet. While Dia and Jasper were with the vet, I took a walk around the village, I was very pleasantly surprised. It was an utterly charming old Sussex village.

Early Celebration

 I was up early again. I hadn't slept well and have no idea why.

The family were all arriving to celebrateKim's birthday. There was much to do. We worked through our mental checklists and, slowly, everything came together. Banners were put up, the table was prepared, and I worked out the timings for lunch preparations. Wine and beer were loaded into the fridges. We were poised and ready.

Zoe popped by to drop off some stuff, and then disappeared again. Kim and Jon turned up, so the celebrations were on the starting grid.

Once Zoe and Ellie returned, we were ready to launch. 

We had sourced an inflatable frame for the photos and had great fun as we all took our turns with the birthday girl.

I particularly liked this photo with "my girls". Don't get me wrong, Jon was there too, but (like me) he isn't quite as photogenic as the girls.

By mid-afternoon, everyone had gone. Di and I settled in the Orangery with our Kindles (which were not heavily used).

It was nearly seven before we stirred and moved ourselves to the lounge.

It had been a lovely day.

Frenzy

I did not sleep well. In Fact, I was tempted to get up at  5:00, but managed to lie still until just after seven. Di, meanwhile, was out for the count. I grabbed my first coffee and settled down to check that some of yesterday's changes had rippled through to the new photo library. They had, but I soon saw more changes that were required.

I had my usual call with the cousins. This included a cameo appearance from Tim and Sarah, who were on a coach tour as part of their Mediterranean cruise. Fortunately, we were on "silent", so the fellow passengers couldn't hear us. Time, however, was not on mute, so we could hear the commentary from the tour guide as they made their way through the foothills of the Italian Alps.

I spent the next part of the morning dealing with the anomalies I had discovered in the photo library. When these were finished, I spent some time clearing some of my detritus from the Orangery. I then made the most of a clear hour or so to go and have my walk.  With that done, I popped around to Sainsbury's to grab some extra wine for tomorrow, then returned to what had clearly become a cleaning frenzy, the like of which I hadn't seen since the evening before Kim was born! I tried to offer help, but stay out of the way at the same time.

I spent the afternoon buried in my code. I managed to learn a lot during this session, and it will certainly impact the way in which I develop code.