Breathe In, and out

 The Gorse Fox has been a little under the weather since yesterday evening. Quite suddenly he was getting some pain near his shoulder and it was preventing him taking a deep breath. This got worse during the evening and overnight was a bit of a problem.

When he got up this morning the discomfort was still there, and a little more widespread. First order of the day, after making the coffee, was to wade through the NHS web site checking that a) these weren't ~Covid symptoms, and b) find out what they were. Well, the good news was that it it does not remotely match the symptoms of Covid; the bad news, however, was the he couldn't identify any particular diagnosis that seemed to fit.

He took a couple of paracetamol and decided to have a quiet morning. By lunchtime the symptoms were easing and this afternoon he has been out for a couple of mile walk. He still has to force a full lung-full, but at least it doesn't hurt any more. At the moment he is still planning to play football tomorrow.

Urban-Cub and Ellie spent most of today out with Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit. Ellie has returned, very tired, and very defiant.

Ooops, he did it again

 Further examination of the November prices for the hotel, convinced the Gorse Fox that it was too good to miss. He phoned, requested "our" room, and booked back in for a few days over the Silver Vixen's Birthday weekend.

While on the subject of booking, the Gorse Fox has booked for Tuesday morning's football session. This will be the first game back with the "Worthing crowd". It'll be nice to see them. He doesn't think he's fit enough to book for two sessions back-to-back yet, but hopes to get back to that quite quickly.

Commission

The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen should be on a commission. This coming week Old Bill and Lady Penelope are off to The Victoria Hotel on our recommendation and, after a chat with his esteemed brother-in-law, he and the Gorse Fox's sister are now booked in for early October. That forced the Gorse Fox to look at the current rates. It may be necessary for us to return in November for the Silver Vixen's birthday.

Talking of the Silver Vixen, she has spent much of the day in the garden tieing up the climbing rose that now dominated our pergola. She's done a good job and it's looking very nice.

The Gorse Fox has had to modify the spreadsheet that we use to keep track of Ellie's childcare. Now that Urban-cub has a date for her return to work, and with the changes to her shift pattern, there were adjustments to make. The engineering is now done, it's just up to her to fill in the details.

The Instant Pot is about to activate. The Gorse Fox has had it set on a delay timer. The plan for tonight is pulled pork, but he is combining a normal slow-cooker recipe with the pressure functions of the IP. He hopes it is a successful exercise.

Nada

Well that was a non-day.

What did we do?

Nothing!

The closest that the Gorse Fox came to excitement was a trip to Sainsbury's to get some cat food for Jasper. The Gorse Fox did, however, bump into Two Hats and Tinkerbell while he was at the store. It was the first time since March that Tinkerbell had ventured to the shops.

After that, the Gorse Fox spent the rest of the day, with the Silver Vixen, reading in the Orangery.

Sorry there's not more to report, but it was an immensely relaxing (i.e. lazy) day.

Neighbours

 Today seems to have been focussed on neighbours.

After Urban-Cub took Ellie across to spend the weekend with Pistol Pete, we had a visit from a neighbour. He runs a landscaping company and we had invited him along to provide some advice and to get an further ideas for or deck-replacement plan. He's ever so nice and spend a lot of time with us, He's now going off to prepare a quote. We'll see what he comes back with.

This afternoon we were invited to have tea with Old Bill and Lady Penelope. They wanted all of the low-down on Sidmouth as they are off on Tuesday and are booked into "our" hotel - and in fact, "our" room. As usual they were immensely hospitable and we had a lovely afternoon.

Urban-Cub is out tonight with girlfriend from Barnham so we have a night top ourselves.

The Gorse Fox was pleased to hear back from our builders. They are sending an operative around on Wednesday to sort out the trim that came off during the storm. The Gorse Fox hadn't really expected them to help out, so he is pleasantly surprised that a very polite email to their customer services operation did the trick.

Piers

It was a bit grey this morning, but the forecast rain held off until early afternoon. The Gorse Fox started the day by handling a batch of requests for his new software. It's nice to see that there is an interest!

Once that was out of the way, we all went into Bognor to blow some cobwebs away at the beach. The car park was surprisingly busy and there were lots of people about. With a Bank Holiday weekend on the horizon, it's hardly surprising.

Down at the front the esplanade was closed to vehicles as they are busy setting up all of the rides and booths for the Bank Holiday Fun Fair. It is always impressive what a well-oiled machine this process is, as the riggers and drivers manoeuvre everything into position and construct all of the rides.

We started off at the little play park at the beach. Ellie loves it there and had a great time on the swings and slides and, as usual, made a little friend. From there we moved back towards the pier and the little rides.

There she played for a long time on the bouncy castle and then on the roundabout where she was intent on driving the Disneyland bus. It was clearly great fun, but it was getting a bit chilly standing around watching. Once she was done, we headed back towards the town for a few bits of shopping. It was just starting to spit with rain as we got back to car and we were home before the heavens opened and the real downpour began.

This afternoon the Gorse Fox has been adding a couple of features to his software ready for the next release.

Back to some semblance of normal

 After yesterday's gales and last night's adventure with the uPVC panel, today was bright and sunny and the wind had dropped to a pleasant breeze.

Urban-Cub took Ellie to meet with a friend in the park while the Silver Vixen did her Zoom Pilates and the Gorse Fox prepared to go to football. 

Yes! Today was the first game since February or March. It was lovely to get back together with the lads. We gathered outside the sports centre where we were added to a register for Covid-19 tracing, should it be necessary. Then, following the one-way system we looped through the sports centre to the football pitches. We had a proper referee who monitored the game and intervened if the ball was touched by anything other than your football boots. He would rush onto the pitch, spray the ball with a sanitiser, and restart the game.

The rules had been tweaked. We had to limit ourselves to 3 touches of the ball, and were not allowed to tackle, only block. We were also expected to stay at least a metre from any other player. It sounded complicated, but actually worked very well and the independent referee really helped. The Gorse Fox was clearly rusty. Several times he completely mistimed a ball and it went straight under his foot. He did, however, mange four shots on goal. One hit the left post, one hit the right post, and one hit the cross-bar. The other shot was a beautiful curling ball that just snuck round the outside of the right hand post.

He suspects he may suffer for this tomorrow. It's not as if he is match fit, and his recent coding exercises have not done a great deal to keep him in shape.

Bang

There we were, sitting in the lounge watching the late night local news. The gales were still blowing, but other than that it was peaceful and we were winding down ready for bed.

There was an almighty crash and something hit the front wall of the house. The Gorse Fox's first reaction was to assume it was one of our tall plant pots. He went and opened the shutters. There was the plant pot, exactly where it should be. This warranted further investigation.

The Gorse Fox ventured out into the night. An arc of uPVC panel, about 8 feet long, was nestled against the house. 

The Silver Vixen came out and we debated where it had come from. The first assumption was that it had blown across from the building work being completed on Sonning Place. It was not evident, however, where such a shape would have been fixed. As we turned to go in, the Gorse Fox glanced up. There, above our bedroom window and below the soldier course, was an arc of brick and blockwork that he had never seen before. This was clearly the home of the errant uPVC panel.

The adhesive has clearly failed in the high winds. Now he has to get it fixed.

Refund

 At last.

The bulk of the refund for our cancelled holiday to Jamaica finally arrived in our account today. It's been 119 days. This is somewhat longer than the 7-14 days that it is meant to take, by law. The Gorse Fox is not  worried, however, he was lucky enough that he could afford the delay and got the money eventually.

There's still the deposit refund outstanding but that'll probably arrive in the next few days.

Storm

Another named storm is hitting us today. Again, we have been lucky. There has been very little rain, but the wind has been relentless.

The weather meant that we were pretty much confined to barracks. The Urban-Cub and Ellie did pop round to Sainsbury's at one point, but they weren't gone for long. The Silver Vixen has been preparing the Ocado shopping list and a couple of week's of menus.

The Gorse Fox returned to yesterday's little conundrum. It occurred to him that the most important date for photos and videos (whatever their source) was the original creation date. A neat little tool called "ExifTool" can extract all sorts of information from a media file., including the original creation date. Now, if he could call up that information in his existing filer program, he can check and if necessary reset the file date. It took a little fiddling about to determine the right logic, but soon the program was humming away processing media files whether they arrived from Google Photos or from Mac's Photos application. Job done.

Answers

The Gorse Fox was working in the study. It was clear that Urban-Cub was a) in full flow, talking to the Silver Vixen, b) was getting towards the end of her tether with Ellie, and c) being interrupted for the nth time.

"I really don't know why, when I'm talking to other people, you keep interrupting!" came the exasperated cry from Urban-Cub.

Calmly, Ellie responded "I do".

The Gorse Fox is not sure but there may have been a strangled scream at that point.

Photos

The Gorse Fox is temporarily troubled. A feature of Google Photos that he uses a great deal seems to have become a bit flakey. He should explain. He uses Google Photos as and aggregator for all of his photos from various sources. He has learned over the years that he should never trust a single supplier or repository. As a result, on a regular basis, he selects all the recent photos that have accumulated in Google Photos and downloads them to the iMac (Condor). This has worked pretty seamlessly for months, if not years. Of late, however, it has started to barf when asked to download more than a single photo at at time. That is no use to the Gorse Fox who regularly takes many tens of photos. Today, for example, he had 132 photos to download. He was not going to do that one-by-one.

Once the photos are downloaded they are picked up by a program that inserts them into a folder structure based on the date on which the photo was taken. (This date was set by Google and respected in download process).

He then saw an item online saying that in the latest updates to Google Photos you were limited to a single photo at a time. That is not acceptable.

The Gorse Fox started to look for a Plan B. As it happens, all of the photos being taken are available in the Mac Photos app. He can export them from there. Well, he can but though the internal metadata is correct, the file date and time is set to the when you download them, not when they were taken.

This has taken an inordinate amount of thought. The Gorse Fox suspects that he is now focussing in on a solution based on the extraction of the EXIF metadata - but a chunk of code needs to be cut.

Meanwhile, the Gorse Fox returned to Google Photos and tried one more time to download a couple of weeks of photos. Blam! It worked. The Gorse Fox is confused and irritated. He thinks that he will write the code for Plan B as a backup solution.

Ruby

It is an important day. Today sees the 40th Anniversary of the wedding of the Silver Vixen's cousin - big Trevor and Sue. Their son, Fireman Jon, had arranged a surprise BBQ/Garden Party for them up in Faringdon.  

So it was that the Silver Vixen, Urban-Cub, Ellie and the Gorse Fox found themselves motoring across country into the Oxfordshire countryside. 

The SatNav had chosen a ridiculous route and took us on numerous side roads to get there. In the end the journey took two and half hours. Having said that, Ellie was as good as gold the whole way and we saw some lovely countryside.

When we arrived it was all a bit emotional (but then we have that effect on people). 

We sat and chatted with family and with some of their old friends. The children played and the BBQ started to heat up. Clouds scudded across the sky, and we had a few drops of rain. It didn't come to anything and we didn't even seek shelter. More people arrived, including cousin Beck. 

It was lovely. Everyone seemed to have a really good time and the BBQ was excellent.

We started to say our "goodbyes" and when it was time to go the Gorse Fox selected a different route home. It added about 12 miles to the route, but saved about 40 minutes on the journey time. Ellie had slept most of the way home, so we allowed her to stay up for a bit to let off steam. The Gorse Fox took the opportunity to upload and share the photos and videos from the day.

A degree of normality

 With the exception of the fact that Urban-cub and Ellie were staying at Cousteau-cub's overnight. We were back to normal. The Gorse Fox was up first and then after breakfast, he retired to the study to catch up on various bits of admin, while the Silver Vixen dived into the week's laundry

The admin was interesting in that part of it was a response to Virgin Holidays to ensure that their repayment went to the correct account. The countdown is really on! Once that was handled the Gorse Fox moved on to Barclaycard. The refund he has been expecting from Jamaica still hasn't arrived so he started on the official dispute process. This meant filling in their dispute form and providing loads of documentary proof of the claim. This had to be posted and as it was a heafty wedge of paper, the Gorse ~Fox had to run it round to the post office. The last item of admin was a form from the local Police. Their evidence officer had determined that the USB stick on which the Gorse Fox submitted some CCTV evidence of an attempted vehicle break-in was no longer needed. The Gorse Fox could come and claim it, or sign a disclosure allowing the police to dispose of it. He chose the latter option.

This afternoon we had a bit of shopping to collect for a family celebration tomorrow. That done, we settled down to await the return of Urban-cub and Ellie. We didn't have long to wait before the peace was shattered and everything returned to what passes as normal in this house.

All Done

What a night. 

The gales blew relentlessly across the Devon coast. The Gorse Fox slept through the storm but at one point the balcony furniture was upended with a crash that woke the Silver Vixen. When we got up this morning the gale was still full of fury as it whipped up the waves and hurled them against the breakwaters and beaches.

Today was check-out day. We had most of our packing done before breakfast. That way we could take our time and enjoy a leisurely feast before setting off. That was another lovely break at the hotel that is rapidly becoming one of our real favourites. The Gorse Fox has no doubt that we will be back before too long.

He should mention the lengths to which the hotel have gone to protect their guests and staff from Covid-19. As you enter there is a sanitiser station and the reception desk is protected by a large perspex screen. All of the staff wear face screens. Wherever you go in the hotel you must wear a mask (though you can remove it if your are sitting down to eat or drink), and further sanitiser stations are available on entry and exit of every public space. Meals are taken in three sittings to enable social distancing. In the suites, you have to ensure that all personal items are packed away before leaving you room so that the staff can service and re-sanitise the room. As you occupy any table that contains a blue "sanitised" label, the label was removed and swapped for a red "Requires Sanitisation" label. As you left the table (be it in restaurant, the bar, or one of the lounges) the staff descended on the area and sanitised the table and the chairs, then replaced the blue "Sanitised" label. It really was a very well-oiled machine.

Finally, with the car loaded, we hit the road. The car's SatNav suggested it might take about 3 hours. The car's SatNav needs to get its act together! It was a Friday in August. The traffic was going to be foul... and certainly was! Bridport, Dorchester, West Moors, and Ringwood were all snarled up. Even Chichester had almost gridlock on the bypass. The Gorse Fox nipped round the back, through the town, and out the other side. It probably took us less time than it would have to get to the first roundabout. That was a result, but even still the whole journey had taken us about four and a quarter hours.

It was nice to get home and have Ellie leap on us. She was clearly very pleased to see us and was very chatty and playful. She and Urban-Cub are off to stay overnight with Cousteau-Cub tonight so the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen have the place to ourselves.

Drying Weather

Today has been, what Nan Mac would have called, good drying weather. A stiff wind has swept the cobwebs from every nook and cranny throughout the day. It has meant that clouds came and went in quick succession. When the sky was clear.it was lovely and warm, but when there was cloud cover the wind felt a bit cool.

The question for the day was “What should we do?”. We decided that we would start by walking off breakfast with a wander up to the Connaught Gardens. The gardens have, year after year, won awards for Britain in Bloom (or something similar). The Gorse Fox noticed that it hasn’t won for the last two years. It was not really surprising. Whilst it was still nice for a stroll, and offered some wonderful views, the gardens were neat and tidy but hardly a riot of colour. 

We sat for a while, looking out over the beach to the west as families set themselves up for the day, and frolicked in the edge of the surf. As you look west you can see a number of stacks that have been created by the sea breaking through the soft Triassic mudstone (which also accounts for the reddish brown colour of the sea). 

We wandered back along the Jacob’s Ladder walkway. It was clear the beaches would be well used today. We returned to the hotel to get the car.

The Gorse Fox had an urge to explore Seaton, about 10 miles to the east. He had a vague recollection of driving through it once, many years ago. We found our way across and parked in the short stay car park. The village seemed rather quaint as we made our way down to the promenade. 

The sea was totally different at Seaton. Obviously there was a pocket of chalk, and the sea was no longer discoloured. The wind continued to blow and cast a fine spray across the pebbles as we walked along the front. Deciding after a while that there was very little else to see, we turned back and looked for somewhere to get a coffee.

Seaton has a tramway. This drew us to find out more. There is an impressive tram terminus where you can get tickets for a 25 minute journey along the banks of the Axe, through the wetlands, to Colyton. We thought about taking the return journey, but there was a bit of a queue and it did look a bit “cosy” on the tram. Whilst masks were mandatory, there really was no opportunity for social distancing. We decided this would be a trip for another time.

Overall, there are parts of Seaton that were quite pleasant and the seafront was quite nice, but it seemed to lack the charm of Sidmouth. We hopped in the car and returned.

We had planned to sit on our balcony and soak up the sun. As soon as we got settled, the clouds swept across again and it was too cool to stay out in shorts and light t-shirts. We are now sitting in “our” prime position in the lounge enjoying an afternoon cream tea.

Anniversary

At least the weather was lovely 47 years ago when the Silver Vixen was silly enough to marry the the Gorse Fox. Today it should have emulated that day, but no. Today we are locked in the horned of Storm Ellen (the remains of Tropical Storm Kyle). The rain is almost horizontal as it it blasted across the the beach and into East Devon.

We had a hearty breakfast at the hotel and then decided that we needed to find an indoor venue for the morning. Several years ago Barney Rubble took the Gorse Fox to an impressive farm shop in the area. The Gorse Fox could not remember where, but looking back through old photos from that trip, he found a relevant photo that had been GPS tagged. A minute later the SatNav was programmed and we were on our way to Dart’s Fram. I seem to remember it as being a bit larger, but it was still impressive. We wandered round the Cotswold Outdoor shop first, but we didn’t buy anything. Then we went to the main entrance to the farm shop and joined the queue to go in. (They were managing the flow of people in order to maintain some social distancing). We found an interesting bottle of Coconut Rum so had to grab a bottle to try.

We headed back to Sidmouth then wandered down into town. The rain had let up, but not stopped. The wind, however, had really picked up. Once we left the Esplanade and headed into the lanes we were well sheltered. We started with a coffee at Costa, which because of the Government Eat Out to Help Out scheme only cost £2.75 for the two of us. We then wandered around the shops, stopping finally at Crew Clothing where we finally had a suitable credit card melt-down.

Back at the hotel it was time for afternoon tea as we sat perched in to prime spot of the lounge looking both out to sea and down across the town.

Time passed and the Silver Vixen wanted to shower before dinner so we returned to the room (showering in the Lounge is frowned upon). The Gorse Fox spent a quiet hour reading until she was ready and then we pottered down to the bar for a pre-dinner drink. Dinner, at our usual table, was excellent. The Silver Vixen had prawns to start and then plaice, the Gorse Fox had mackerel to start and then liver. For dessert we both had panna cotta which was served up on plates with “Happy Anniversary” scribed in dark chocolate. A nice gesture.

Rain

The rain has been hammering across the seafront all morning. What a change from yesterday when we arrived.

Back in Sidmouth

The Silver Vixen spent the morning packing and then we headed off to Chichester where she had a dental appointment. The Gorse Fox waited in the car until she was finished and then we headed west for a short break in Sidmouth.

It was a very easy drive across and whilst Google suggested it would take three and a quarter hour, we were there in an easy and relaxed three hours.

The Covid precautions that the hotel had put in place were excellent, even to the point of ensuring the pen we signed in with was taken by the Gorse Fox from a sanitised envelope and then given to him to keep. Everything is sanitised and then as soon as it is touched or used, it’s red flagged for sanitisation. We unpacked in the room and then headed out for a walk along the Esplanade. (The forecast for the next few days is dreadful, so it was good get out while the sun was still shining).

The Gorse Fox took lots of photos as we strolled around. It was good to see people enjoying the beach and swimming in the sea. The Silver Vixen commented that she wouldn’t be in the slightest bit tempted. The water near the shoreline is a browny-red from the underlying rocks, and there was a fair bit of seaweed. Neither would encourage her to dip her toes in. Similarly, neither would stop the Gorse Fox.

We returned to the hotel and sat on the terrace in the afternoon sun. It seemed like the ideal time for a rum & coke and glass of beer.

Returning to our room, we changed for dinner and headed down to the bar. In a change from previous trips, they actually took our dinner order while we were enjoying a pre-dinner drink. We had a prime table at dinner, and our waitress from a previous trip, which was nice. The food was, of course, excellent and we are now sitting in the lounge enjoying an after-dinner tea/coffee.

A short break

It's nice to be back in genteel Sidmouth for a few days. Weather forecast isn't great but we'll make the best of it.

At Last

The Gorse Fox has just heard from Virgin Holidays. They have just started to process our refund. It should be with us in the next couple of weeks. It's been a long wait, but it will be nice to get the money back.

Preparation day

 (It's a bit like Celebration Day, but getting ready for it).

It had clearly been wet overnight and was quite grey at first. It soon got its meteorological act together and brightened up. In fact it got quite hot. The Gorse Fox started today's activities with a trip to get some petrol ready for tomorrow's journey, and to get some sacks of cat litter. Once home and the cat litter stored away it was time to clean the inside of the car. It's not that it was too bad, but there was dust and debris in the boot from our trip to Winkworth a couple of weeks ago.

While out there, Pistol Pete arrived with Ellie. It is always lovely to see her after she has been away. She was lovely and chirpy and was very pleased to see us. She had had a good time with Daddy, but wanted to see Nana. With that she charged indoors. 

Tinkerbell came out for a chat while the Gorse Fox was cleaning the car. She is having a bit of a tough time at present and her cataracts have been deteriorating. She can, however, get no sensible response from the hospital regarding when they can see her. The Gorse Fox mentioned the Hampshire Eye Hospital that the Silver Vixen had visited three years ago. Tinkerbell was interested in perhaps taking the private route, so the Gorse Fox went got the details for her.

The rest of the day has been fairly low key, making sure that all the right technology, cameras, and all the charging cables were prepared and the suitcases were readily available. In the end, the Gorse Fox to pack  his suitcase. There's something nice about preparing for a short break, but knowing that the house will still be occupied and that Jasper is being looked after.

(Just as an aside: today would be the Gorse Fox's mother's 94th Birthday).

Monsoon

Monsoon may be a bit of an exaggeration. It has rained a bit, however. That's two days running. If we had wanted rain we'd have moved up north, for goodness sake.

It's been another quiet day. The Silver Vixen has been sorting her wardrobe and checking she has everything ready for our forthcoming trip. Urban-Cub has also been sorting her wardrobe and Ellie's and taking some stuff to the lockup.

The Gorse Fox has done a little coding but has then switched to spreadsheets and has been refining a sheet that he keeps such that out automatically adjusts and prints nicely even when new items are added. It's funny how quickly you forget some of the more obscure (but useful) functions you need to use when reformatting. Never mind, the Gorse Fox now has a working version, though he would like to refine it further. The problem is that the command he wishes to use keeps throwing an error. He'll sleep on it.

Now it's time to start on the roast dinner.

No fun refund

It's grey and damp today, but that's a small price to pay for the exceptional weather of the last few weeks.

The Gorse Fox received an email overnight. He had chased "VIP Attractions" in Jamaica for the refund he had requested 142 days ago. This morning's email assured him that they had processed said refund at the end of July. Well it hasn't arrived on his B/card. They commented that it could take 5 business days to go through and he assumes that as it's international that may take a little longer. The Gorse Fox has concluded, however, that it has been long enough. He will be phoning B/card on Monday.

Urban-Cub has taken Ellie across to spend the weekend with Pistol Pete. The Silver Vixen is still working on her sewing project, but it's nearly finished now. The Gorse Fox has been doing some more coding. Other than that, it's been a fairly quiet day.

On the Edge

The last few days have seen some spectacular rainfall in parts of the country. Even the M25 and M23 were closed for a while yesterday, due to flooding. We are clearly right on the edge of it. We had some rain this morning, but whilst heavy, it didn't last too long. It's now very humid but the temperature has dropped.

It's been a fairly uneventful day. The Silver Vixen has been sewing, and the Gorse Fox has been coding. (His friend in Austria pointed out that he could improve the program with a deeper analysis of certain types of program statement - this kept the little grey cells spinning all night, and today he completed the task). He must say that he's very satisfied with the program.

Urban-Cub took Ellie out to the park to meet with her friend from LA. It clearly wore her out as she has come home and crashed out on the floor of the Orangery. 

Let's hope that she doesn't sleep for too long so that she gets a good night's sleep tonight. She's off to spend the weekend with Pistol Pete in the morning.

Stalking

These tropical nights continue. Some of the larger predators are nocturnal. As we lie under our mosquito nets we have to keep watch to make sure the camp fire does not die down. Some of our beaters keep watch at the edge of the camp to ensure we stay safe. The howling of some of the hyenas as they close in on their prey is quite eerie.

The Gorse Fox is sorry. It must be the heat. What he meant to say is that the CCTV round the corner caught a theft from a car, our CCTV keeps watch over us, and some little twerp with a noisy motorbike or scooter keeps disturbing our evenings. This morning we had a PCSO patrolling the Crescent so the Gorse Fox went out to say hello and to introduce himself. (It's so nice to see a beat police presence).

We had a fairly typical Thursday with our shopping arriving with the man from Ocado. Once that was stashed away the Gorse Fox had a load of admin to complete before returning to his code. The code has taken up much of the rest of day.

Urban-Cub took Ellie to Chichester for some shopping during the afternoon. Then, after dinner, Cousteau-Cub popped round with Tyson and to take Ellie out for a walk around the lake.

 

Big Five

The heat continues. A couple of safaris were launched in the area. We have the CCTV set up so that if any of the big five go past we will get pictures.

Urban-cub took Ellie to see the Princess today and to have lunch at Gunwharf Quays. The Silver Vixen made the most of the time and had her Zoom Pilates session. The Gorse Fox retired to the study. As usual, on diversion lead to another and the program he had set out to write just ended up as a testbed for some other programs. In the end, he was at the code-face most of the day.

After lunch, the Gorse Fox did whizz round to Sainsbury's. He was pleased to see that the mask-wearing hasn't worn off. The only dissenters were some knuckle-dragging, slack-jawed youths. The sort who think it appropriate to wear singlets when shopping. The sort that you might expect to see when they are sentenced.

Urban-cub and Ellie got home late afternoon. The latter has been a little "challenging" since dinner, but is up in bed now.

Serengeti

The heat continues. Again, the temperature has been hovering in the low 30's. At lunchtime a vast herd of wildebeest(*) wandered past the front of the house looking for a watering hole(**). Jasper was intrigued and spent some time deciding whether any of them would make a decent lunch. In the end he yawned, turned over, swished away some flies, and went back to sleep.

Urban-Cub has been out since mid-morning and is not expected back until the morning. G-Force had stepped in to take care of Ellie. We kept her out of the sun and amused and she has been an absolute  charm all day. As the Gorse Fox writes, the Silver Vixen is just giving her a bath. From the study, all the Gorse Fox can hear is laughter and the sound of splashing.

There was an incident a couple of nights ago when several cars were, again, targeted overnight. Again, the perpetrator was caught on CCTV and then caught using the credit cards she had acquired. The police checked the evidence, arrested the perpetrator, and she appears in court tomorrow morning. It is immensely satisfying that the police have acted so swiftly, but unfortunate that the person in question was the same person that attempted to get into our car last year. Clearly, her brief imprisonment was not sufficient deterrent to overcome her habit.

At this time when so many of the "woke left" are so eager to pillory the police, it's nice to be able to provide some support.

(*) That may have been an exaggeration, but there was a chap with a pushchair.

(**) The nearest watering hole is probably the Pink Pub, but they don't serve wildebeest

Celebrating

 It's Urban-Cub's Birthday. It's one of those events we don't forget. Not just because it was a moment of joy when she came along, but also because she has had the habit, in her formative years, of reminding us every few minutes that her Birthday was approaching. She no longer needs to do this as it is so ingrained into our collective psyche that we have started to remind her!

The plan was for us to go out for lunch together. While the girls were getting themselves together this morning, the Gorse Fox took the opportunity to nip round to the village and get his hair cut. It was almost the full McCoy... clippers trimming, scissors cutting, razor cleaning up, blowtorch singeing, and hair wash dripping. 

It was at that point he said "Nose wax?" the Gorse Fox declined. 

"It is all part of the service" he insisted. The Gorse Fox firmly declined. Upset at not being able to induce pain, he shrugged and wrapped the Gorse Fox's face in a red hot towel and started to massage his delicate features. Finally, released from what he was convinced would become water-boarding, his hair was blow-dried (a totally fruitless exercise), smeared with some perfume, and he was released. It was a very pleasant and relaxing 30 minutes.

We headed into Chichester. We had a booking at Giggling Squid. We were shown to a corner table, away from anyone else. Ellie was very good throughout the meal, though she didn't really eat much from her plate. Urban-Cub enjoyed her Chicken Penang and some cocktails, the Silver Vixen had her usual Thai Red Curry, and the Gorse Fox had Chicken Gra Pao (with an extra bowl of chillies). It was excellent, as usual.

This afternoon, Urban-Cub had to meet up with Pam from the Sales Suite on the development. It was time for her to make her kitchen choices for the new house. The Silver Vixen went along with her (and Ellie). It didn't seem to take too long, but she's very happy with the choices she has made and proudly took the Gorse Fox through the photos of her selection.

Sizzling

The temperatures were, again, sizzling in the 30s. It was a cracking day. We had a BBQ planned so that Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit could join us to celebrate Urban-Cub's birthday (a day early).

The Gorse Fox started by preparing a marinade for some pork steaks and then squirrelling them away in the fridge while he invented another marinade for the chicken, Again the chicken was set aside in the fridge to pick up the marinade. Then he started to retrieve the sausages, the burgers, the bacon, and the salmon ready for pre-cooking. (The Gorse Fox always starts the food in the oven before finishing it in the BBQ). Next on the agenda was a huge bowl of fresh salad and then the Gorse Fox went and plugged in Metal Mickey.

Metal Mickey is a George Forman electric BBQ. Once plugged in in rapidly acquires the required temperature and then we just transfer the almost cooked meat to be finished on the BBQ. This started well. The chicken and sausages sat and sizzled. The meat probe confirmed that we had fully cooked everything and the first batch of food hit the table. Metal Mickey was loaded up again. It was soon after this that the Gorse Fox noted that MM was not coming back up to temperature. All was not well. Our normal George Foreman grill was retrieved from the drawer and plugged in. A few minutes later, the first batch of burgers were done. The feast continued and almost everything got cooked. Everyone ate their fill and we cleared away quickly to avoid inquisitive flies.

The afternoon was spent sitting and chatting in the garden and playing with the paddling pool. Ellie came back from Pistol Pete mid-afternoon and took control of the pool festivities. It really was a lovely start to Urban-Cub's birthday celebrations.

Hot or what?

The Gorse Fox must report that today is, officially, hot. Even here, near the coast, the temperature has hovered between 33 and 34C for most of the day. It's been lovely, not that the Gorse Fox is one to sit in the sun. He does, however, love the heat. 

We have a BBQ planned for tomorrow as it's the closest we can get to the Urban-cub's birthday where Cousteau-cub and the Coventry Hobbit can join us. The Gorse Fox needed to check the BBQ (known in the house as Metal Mickey), but that got a clean bill of health and is all set for tomorrow. Then he had to hit Sainsbury's - sausages, chicken, pork steaks, bacon, beef burgers, rolls, and some drinks were required. He had to queue to enter for the first time in many weeks. It wasn't too busy inside though, which was nice.

During the afternoon the Silver Vixen has been working on her sewing machine and Urban-cub has been helping Cousteau-cub dye her hair. Now finished, it looks very nice and is certainly a lot brighter and blonder than it was.

Sunny

The forecast was for high temperatures.  People flocked to the coast. People ignored the concept of social distancing. We stayed put and had a quiet day in the garden. During the morning Urban-cub and the Gorse Fox finished cleaning the last batch of cobbles for the rill, rinsed them, and returned them to their watery home. It was a bit messy, but it had to be done. 

Urban-cub had pumped up the paddling pool and topped it up. Ellie spent much of the day go in and out of the pool. This afternoon Cousteau-cub and the Coventry Hobbit came round and sat in the paddling pool with Ellie while enjoying the sun. 

By mid-afternoon, some cloud had bubbled up and provided cover for the rest of the afternoon. It's very still and muggy. Though none is forecast, the Gorse Fox wouldn't be surprised if we had a thunderstorm.

Cousteau-cub and the Coventry Hobbit left late afternoon. We did some tidying up and prepared tea for Ellie (which she didn't eat) and then Urban-cub took her off to Pistol Pete's for the weekend.

A Tale of Two Cities

Thursday has been a tale of two cities (hmm, that would make a good title for a book... but what the Dickens?). The Gorse Fox was up early, quickly followed by Urban-Cub. She had an early appointment in Angmering, but the Gorse Fox had cadged a lift to Bognor Regis station. He was, again, heading for the Apple Store.

The trains were busier than last week, but only two people failed to wear a mask. Both youngsters, of course. Like last week, the Gorse Fox headed down Queen's Road from the the station and diverted into Greggs for a bacon roll before continuing down to Churchill Mall. Again he was confronted by the phalanx of Apple drones and their security detail (SWAT squad). Again he had his temperature taken and was told to wait until called. Fortunately, he only waited a few minutes before a drone collected him and presented him with his MacBook with its brand new battery duly installed. It had all been nicely cleaned as well, and looked like new. Money was exchanged for the service and the Gorse Fox left.

He strolled back up Queen's Road with no particular train in mind, however, like last week, he strolled onto the concourse to see a train scheduled to leave in 3 minutes. He wandered up to a sparsely occupied carriage, sat down, and the train left. Perfect (if accidental) timing.

Back home there time for a coffee, some coding, and some lunch before the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox headed back out. This time Chichester was the destination. The Gorse Fox had to see the podiatrist for his regular check and the Silver Vixen wanted to get some cards, some presents, and some haberdashery. We were only there for just over an hour, but it was noticeable how much more busy it had become since our last trip (though everything is relative).

Loosening up

Today has been a very pleasant change from the general progress of the lock-down. Urban-Cub and Ellie went out to meet with one of Ellie's little friends in LA. The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox had other plans.

At lunchtime we headed into Chichester and met up with Old Bill and Lady Penelope at Giggling Squid. It was so nice to go out for a meal after so long. We were greeted by the manageress like long-lost friends - though to be fair we have got to know her fairly well over the years. The food was excellent as usual, and the company was great fun. It was just a real shame that Tinkerbell is still so anxious about going out and that she and Two Hats couldn't join us. 

This "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme that the Government has developed is great. The bill for the four of us came to less than £40 all together. This is well worth exploring further.

Back home, the Gorse Fox did a little more coding, then he and the Silver Vixen took Ellie along to the local play area to let off some steam on the swings and roundabouts before bed.

Chaos resumes

The Gorse Fox started the day with a couple of coffees and a quick trip to Sainsbury's. Young Jasper was getting low on food and the Gorse Fox thought he's better remedy the situation. In and out in a couple of minutes thanks to their Smart Shop App.

Urban-Cub returned from her couple of days away soon after the Gorse Fox got home and by lunchtime Ellie had joined us, too. We were all back together and the normal day-to-day chaos resumed.

Cousteau-Cub has been having significant problems with forms of carpal tunnel pain. Today she had an appointment to get some treatment. Unsure as to whether she would be able to drive, the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox went across to Chichester to collect her and, in the case of the Silver Vixen, accompany her to the surgery. Let's hope the various injections that she was given will have the required effect.

The Gorse Fox has heard from Apple. His MacBook has been fixed and is ready for collection. He's not sure when he'll get the chance to collect it, but it's likely to be Thursday or Friday.

The rest of the day has been occupied with some coding. The Gorse Fox has cleared all of the known bugs in the code, but has realised there is a set of conditions that still needs some development. The problem is that, at this moment, he has no idea how he will handle them. He suspects he will have to sleep on it, but at this stage cannot perceive of a pattern that will unambiguously identify the condition.

Rubbish

It's been another very quiet day with both Urban-Cub and Ellie away. The Gorse Fox was wide awake by 05:30 this morning but managed to lie still for an hour before giving up and getting up.

The morning had the usual domestic items to address but once that was done the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen prepared the various piles of stuff that needed to be dumped. The Recycling chap arrived late morning and got stuck in. Some 30 minutes later everything was cleared and the Gorse Fox made use of the moment to move the cars so that he could squirrel some things away in the garage loft.

The rest of the day has been spent writing code. It's over 1500 lines long now but still remarkably quick. He's sent the latest copy to his Austrian friend (the Gorse Fox was wrong before, he is isn't German) for some further shakedown. (In saying that, the Gorse Fox has just thought of a condition that he hadn't catered for... that's on the "to do" list for tomorrow or later in the week)

Peace

Gosh it’’s peaceful. Urban-Cub slept-in then after a brief bit of scurrying around she settled down in the garden for a few hours before heading off to a friend’s until Tuesday. Cousteau-Cub popped in for a few minutes, but wasn’t here for long. That left the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox.
The Silver Vixen is working on a pattern for a blouse. It’s proving complex, but she’s now started to put the various pieces together, so the Gorse Fox suspects that it will be finished this week.
The Gorse Fox returned to his code. Reviewing some of the recent observations and returning to the language manual, he realised that there were several cases that he could handle in a different and more efficient way. This resulted in several hundred new lines of code being developed throughout the day. There are still several cases that he needs to consider and suspects that Monday will see some horse coding.
The Gorse Fox observed that today was a popular day in our extended family. He has no less than four cousins and aunts whose birthdays fall on August 2nd.

No much to report

It was a quiet day. Urban-Cub took Ellie to Pistol Pete's for the weekend, then came back to have a quiet time in the garden. The Silver Vixen got on with some sewing. The Gorse Fox returned to his code. He decided it was time to enhance the basic analysis to include identification and reporting on numbers that were expressed in exponential notation. This turned out to be a little more complex and more work than he had expected. He cracked it after a couple of hours and the code has gone back to a German colleague for testing.

Urban-Cub went to see Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit in the evening for a BBQ.