How things change

 When the Gorse Fox got up this morning, he commented to Ellie what a lovely sunny start we had for the day. Well, that didn't last. 

By the time the others emerged, it had started to rain. Then it started to rain heavier... and heavier. Animals had started to line up two-by-two in the space across the road and Noah phoned to ask if we had room for an ark.

Urban-Cub had to take Ellie across to Pistol Pete for the weekend, the Silver Vixen settled down with some sewing, and the Gorse Fox spent some time climbing the family tree as the rain battered the house.

By early afternoon, the rain had stopped and soon the clouds were blown away and we had bright sunshine. It really is amazing how quickly things change. The Gorse Fox decided that he needed some exercise so set off for a walk. A playlist of great music from Santana, The Moody Blues, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd drowned out the sound of the traffic for the first part of the Shripney loop(*).

Once on the old highway he could turn the volume right down. All the background noise had gone. It was beautifully peaceful. He slowed his pace to make the most of the silence. As he turned back towards Bersted, the low autumn sun reflected off the wet ground and the huge puddles. It was quite blinding at times.

Once you get off the main roads, it really is very nice round here. The walk only took about an hour, but it was nice to stretch the legs.

Since getting back we have had several groups of kids coming on a pumpkin hunt. We have put artificial pumpkins in the windows and a bowl of sweets in the porch for them to help themselves. It seems to have been quite popular so far. Let's hope the sweets last.

(*) The Shripney loop is a route from Bersted across to the A29, then up the A29 to Shripney and then back along the old 14th Century highway between the villages. It's one about 5.5km, but a good stroll.

Service

 The Gorse Fox had a quiet 45 minutes before Ellie stirred this morning. This gave hime time to chop the chorizo, bacon, chillies, and spring onions ready for some breakfast egg fried rice. Yummy!

As everyone else emerged the Gorse Fox showered then headed off into Chichester. It was time for the first service on the Silver Vixen's Skoda. He dropped the car off and then headed into town. About twenty years ago he bought a Berghaus "Mera Peak" jacket and a fleece that zipped inside it. After twenty years of hard work, the drawstrings on the jacket are beginning to perish and the the zip on the fleece has developed a mind of its own. The idea was to stop in "Black's" and "Cotswolds" to see if the fleece could be replaced. "Black's" had a few Berghaus fleeces but none of the size the Gorse Fox needed. He went on to  "Cotswolds" but they were closed. He leapt on the bus and headed home.

The Gorse Fox then spent several hours looking at various fleeces through online shops - Berghaus, North Face, Jack Wolfskin, and so forth. The question that kept nagging him was whether any new fleece would actually zip into a 20 year old jacket.

A video came through from Skoda. The car had been given a clean bill of health. In fact the comment was that it was "like new". Soon after, the text message arrived to say the car was ready. The Gorse Fox got his old Berghaus jacket and headed for the bus. As he approached the stop the bus came along so he waved it down. The bus driver looked at him and sailed by. This reminded him of being a schoolboy and seeing bus drivers sail by the stops because they were late and couldn't be bothered to stop. He smirked, and thought that the joke was on the bus driver. He thought he was inconveniencing the Gorse Fox; whereas the Gorse Fox couldn't have cared less. He just stood and waited for the next bus.

In Chichester,  he stopped into "Cotswolds", which was now open. They only had a single Berghaus fleece, but it was enough for the Gorse Fox to check that it zipped into his jacket - it did. They only had it in black however, and that was apparently, the only colour they would have this year. The Gorse Fox didn't want black, so said his goodbyes and headed for Skoda.  With the car collected, he headed home.

Back home he logged on to Berghaus and ordered the fleece that he wanted - now certain that it would fit in his existing coat.

All Hallows

We are approaching Halloween. Ellie is excited by the spectacle that it has become, but won't be with us at the weekend. She'll also be out with Urban-Cub visiting the Princess tomorrow, so Urban-Cub and the Silver Vixen decided that we had to bring things forward. 

After a fairly typical Thursday morning, dealing with Ocado, the Accounts, then a trip to collect some medicines from the pharmacy and a top-up at Sainsbury's we headed home and settled in for the afternoon. The Gorse Fox spent the afternoon on the computer. Not because he had anything specific to do, but in order to stay clear of Urban-Cub and the Silver Vixen as they decorated the living room for Ellie.

They clearly had fun as the noise wafted through the house and Ellie occasionally shouted from the bottom of the stairs "Grandpa we need help". The Gorse Fox helped, then retreated again.

They have done a pretty good job, all things being considered. We have illuminated pumpkins strung in the windows.

 We have spiders and webs strung across the bay 

And the Silver Vixen has been making some spiders and webs

All great fun... and the Gorse Fox is sure that anyone searching for the Giant Pumpkin will at least look at our place for clues.

Damp

 Well, it wasn't as wet as yesterday. In fact, when the Gorse Fox first came downstairs, it wasn't raining at all. The morning had a promising look. It was a fairly typical Wednesday with the Silver Vixen getting ready for her trip across to Angmering for Pilates, Urban-Cub taking Ellie to the child-minder and the Gorse Fox getting ready for football.

It had started to rain as the Gorse Fox approached Worthing. Typical, he thought. By the time he arrived though, it had stopped. We kicked off with some seriously uneven teams. It was very much a case of attack versus defence. This meant that Gorse Fox was going to be up against it, but at least he had ex-professional, Ian, alongside him to hold the fort. Well at least he did have for about 10 minutes. Then Ian twisted awkwardly and hurt his back. He had to go off. The other team took immediate advantage and the Gorse Fox felt like the boy who put his finger in the dyke in Holland... trouble was we didn't have a dyke, we had a colander. On top of that, it started to rain again. Not sure what the final score was, but the Gorse Fox thinks it was about 7-2. Pah!

Back home, Urban-Cub was back in bed. She explained that she was feeling rather sick and had been since the very early hours. The Gorse Fox made sympathetic noises and volunteered to collect Ellie from the child-minder at the end of the day.

The Silver Vixen came home early afternoon. She had followed up the Pilates by going for a coffee with her friends. Once she was back, we had a quiet afternoon before the Gorse Fox started preparing the vegetables for dinner so that they were all ready by the time he got back from collecting Ellie. You'd almost think he was organised!

Wet

 Today was, by any measure, wet. Very wet.

The Silver Vixen was meeting a friend for coffee near Worthing, Urban-Cub had to take Ellie to the child-minder (after what can only be described as a disturbed night), and the Gorse Fox had football.

The Gorse Fox was signed up for two sessions - the first hour was the usual walking football, the second hour was over-40s (running) football. As he prepared himself, he started to question whether he was properly attired for the conditions. Should he have fins and a wet suit? Would a scuba tank be required? The rain blasted horizontally across the pitch. There were times when it was so heavy that you couldn't make out the faces of the players by the other goal. The Gorse Fox was wearing 4 layers, to no avail. Water had seeped through and trickled down his front, his back, his legs, and into his boots. Drips formed on the end of his nose before being whipped away by the wind. The wind, meanwhile, made sure that the utmost effort was put into making everyone cold to the core.

The first hour was a mixed bunch. A win, a draw, and a loss. Not really too much on which to comment. Nobody was playing slick football in those conditions.

At the end of the first hour there was a change of personnel as the wimps left and a few new faces joined us. The rain continued to pound the pitch and an ark floated into view. Seals frolicked in the penalty area, and a French fishing boat appeared on the running track. 

We kicked off. The sides were somewhat lopsided. In fact, we were carved apart and the Gorse Fox gave up trying to keep count of the score. One player, taking pity on us, swapped sides halfway through. It made little difference. As the game ticked towards the final whistle, the Gorse Fox sent out a dove, which returned with a twig in its beak. Clearly, there was dry land somewhere. 

He headed back to the car. He had a warm fleece on the back seat. Stripping off his four top layers he pulled on the fleece and dropped into the car. Heating was cranked up and he made his way home with his track suit leggings stuck to his legs. Urban-Cub had a cup of tea waiting for him as he went up for a long hot shower. All his kit was washed and dried this afternoon and his boots are still in the airing cupboard. Hopefully they'll all be ready for the morning (and hopefully it won't be as wet).

More Success

It has been another successful day at the code face. 

The old word-processing directives(*) that the Gorse Fox had used were similar enough to HTML to allow him to do a simple edit to convert the old directives to something that a web browser could handle. This enabled him to process all the files at once, look through the web pages created, and save them as PDFs... job done.

The other set of files that needed attention were the FFT files. These were already formatted as they were "Final Form Text". For the Gorse Fox's needs all he had to do was strip out the printer directives and convert them to text files. Done.

As usual, when developing code, the Gorse Fox learned several new things, hit several brick walls, and found circumventions for all the issues he uncovered.

There was a bit of a panic when the list for tomorrow's football was full and the Gorse Fox was placed on the waiting list. He decided that he would go and use the running track if places didn't become available. Fortunately, they did. Just as he was preparing supper an email arrived to say that a place was available, so the Gorse Fox leapt at the smartphone app and slotted himself into the session.

(*) The Gorse Fox should probably point out that this scripting language was designed to take text in, what was essentially, punch card format and format into documents that looked properly typeset. Why? Because when it was first written, there was no Microsoft Word, AmiPro, WordPro or whatever. Remember the Gorse Fox has been developing solutions since the early 1970s... long before there were PCs or even screens that did anything other than emulate 80-column punched cards.

Success

 With the clocks going back overnight, the Gorse Fox had to force himself to stay in bed until a sensible hour this morning.

He has spent the day in the study. He had returned to yesterday's conundrum with some fresh insights. He fired up "eagle" and successfully installed the back-level of VirtualBox. Tick. 

With that running, he then installed a Windows 98 image. Tick.

Finally, he installed the Amipro software files that he had downloaded yesterday. They worked. Tick.

He was 3-0 up and it wasn't even half time! He started to look through the old archives for the Amipro files. There are hundreds of them. He has mad a start. Each is loaded the saved as an RTF file. The RTF file is then processed on "condor" and saved as a PDF. It's slow going, but it works and it has been reviving the files one-by-one. He will do a few at a time until they are all cleared.

While doing this he also noticed that he had a vast number of ".scr" and ".fft" files. The former were files destined to be formatted by a home-written word processed that the Gorse Fox created back in the 1980s. It is long gone. This has provided him with another little project. He needs to rewrite this so that, again, he can create text files which san be saved and viewed sensibly. Finally, there is a large tract of ".fft" files. These were "final form text" files and contained all the codes to instruct the printer how to format and print the text. These may not need much attention, but it is another possible project.

Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit popped in for a cup of tea this afternoon. It was nice to see them, but it is a shame that Cousteau-Cub's back is clearly giving her a lot of trouble again at present. 

Alone Again (Un)naturally

 It's been a mixed day weather-wise. Certainly not a day that encourages you to go out. The Gorse Fox and Ellie were up first for our usual quiet hour before everyone else emerged. After breakfast Urban-Cub got Ellie ready and took her across to stay with Pistol Pete for the weekend. For much of the rest of the day Urban-Cub was in and out.

The Silver Vixen spent the day with here sewing. The tapestry-like advent calendar is nearly finished.

The Gorse Fox spent most of the day in the study. He had returned to an old conundrum. How can he resurrect some old files that were written in a word processor called Amipro. He has managed to find some install files for Amipro but obviously needs an operating system on which it will run. He played with DOSBox but couldn't get a successful old Windows system running. He tried WINE and got as far as running the Amipro installation - but that failed halfway through. He then thought of VirtualBox, but needs a back-level version of that because he has to run a 32-bit system on it. He couldn't find one that would run on his iMac. This can wait until tomorrow.

Urban-Cub went out to see a friend in Angmering and stay overnight. This left the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen home alone. As the title says, Alone Again (un)Naturally!

Goodness, it's quiet.

Sorted

 Just before seven, Ellie stirred and demanded attention. Urban-Cub convinced her that it was too early, but despite this she only settled for a few minutes. The Gorse Fox started to get out of bed, but the Silver Vixen offered to take control. The Gorse Fox acquiesced, thanked her, and then dropped back off to sleep for 30 minutes.

The morning lacked excitement. The Silver Vixen did her YouTube Pilates, and the Gorse Fox went to Sainsbury's. Urban-Cub went to see Cousteau-Cub, who was suffering with back spasms. The Gorse Fox  he sloped back to the study for a bit of internet surfing.

This afternoon Ellie had her flu spray, so Urban-Cub took her across to Rustington while the Silver Vixen went through her fabric collection looking for Christmas themed colours. The Gorse Fox went across to help Old Bill with his new iMac.

As recommended, he had gone through all the basic processes, and some YouTube videos, himself. He had done a good job and the system seemed to be well framed. The Gorse Fox was there to help with the movement of some old Windows files and the setting up of TimeMachine. It didn't take too long, but presented the opportunity to show him a few shortcuts, hints, and tips.

Fix

 It's been dry and bright throughout the day. It would have been the perfect day for a long walk but the Gorse Fox had a couple of things that had to be cleared and the Silver Vixen and Urban-Cub had to go into Chichester.

The Gorse Fox has mentioned that he has had a problem with his backup system. The developers came through with a set of suggestions, so the Gorse Fox had to try them out and see if everything returned to normal. It was a six step process but at the end it looked as things were there. They weren't. Closer examination showed the software, while able to see,  was unable to access the various backup volumes. The Gorse Fox looked at the various privacy settings. They looked correct. When in doubt, try a clean re-boot. He did. Everything burst back into life. The problem was solved... clearly their six steps should have been seven.

Old Bill collected his new iMac. He's already run into trouble which may require a reset, but he's given up for tonight. The Gorse Fox stands ready to parachute in and help. Talking of iMacs, the Gorse Fox's iMac (Condor) has ticked along happily since 2012. He has started to think about a replacement, but notices that all of the new models seem to come with only 256GB or 512GB of SSD as standard (though larger configs are supported). He decided that he should consider what the options are for using an external SSD in addition to the standard configuration. Various options seem suitable, and can connect to the Thunderbolt 3 port on an iMac. There's no panic, but it would be interesting to see the impact on price of Black Friday on such devices, next month.

Rain stopped for play

 There was heavy rain overnight and it was still pouring down when the Gorse Fox and Ellie got up this morning. The sky was a heavy grey and it looked as if the rain had settled in for the day. 

Urban-Cub was first off the mark, taking Ellie across to LA. The Silver Vixen had cancelled her Pilates in case she was needed to look after Ellie, so she set up the living room, did her Pilates using YouTube, then went for a walk on the running machine. The Gorse Fox had football.

He headed across to Worthing and bumped into a fellow footballer in the changing rooms. He had just got out of the shower and his phone rang. He cancelled it. It rang again. He cancelled it again. This continued for a few moments. He then explained it was his daughters on a Zoom call - and given that he was in a public changing room, and still dripping wet, it would have been a bit of a surprise for them if he had taken the call. We continued to chat and he commented that as far as he could tell, the Gorse Fox has got faster during lockdown. This was good news, but he still needs to up his fitness.

Just as we strode out to the pitch, the rain stopped. It was still grey, and still windy, but at least the rain had stopped. The sides were a bit uneven today. The Gorse Fox was playing for the yellow-bibs. We concluded we were in for a pounding so two of us set up at the back to repel all comers. We almost survived the first half, conceding a single goal in the last few seconds of the half.

In the second half the Gorse Fox suggested his fellow-defender pushed up further. This had a positive effect as we started to drive them back. We won a free kick about 10 yards outside the area. A slick interchange of passes saw the Gorse Fox in wide open space and the ball was passed back to him. He blasted it and it swung right before curling left back into goal. All was even. Slowly we edged into the lead, and in the end, managed to finish the game as 5-3 winners.

This afternoon the Gorse Fox has been helping Old Bill who had a problem with the security settings on his iPad. After a bit of fiddling, it was suggested that he bring the device over and see if the message persisted on the Gorse Fox's network. It didn't. In the end, the Gorse Fox concluded that his router was broadcasting WPA as well as WPA2 security, and the WPA needed to be switched off. His router is remotely managed by his internet provider, so he'll have to phone them up and get it changed. His new iMac is due tomorrow, so he may need some more help then.

Defence

 The morning started with a quiet Ellie/Grandpa hour. This is becoming the norm. The Gorse Fox doesn't mind as it's nice to have some quiet time with just the two of us. Once everyone was on the go, the Gorse Fox grabbed his bag and headed into Worthing. There was football to play! The forecast had suggested that rain was possible, but fortunately it held off.

The games went well. The Gorse Fox was in the centre of defence, as usual. We shipped a goal fairly quickly, but then got to grips with the positioning and pushed forward. In the end we won 5-1. The second game was another win (2-0), but the the last game was a 2-0 loss. That was the first hour finished.

The Gorse Fox had booked for the second session. This is, as he has explained before, full running football. This was a hard fought hour and, to be honest, the Gorse Fox doesn't remember the score but he thinks that we just edged it, overall. Over the two hours he had managed to run about 8km... and didn't feel too tired. Hopefully, the fitness is beginning to return.

Back home, Urban-Cub has been working on the job hunt but took time out mid-afternoon to take Ellie to the park. Ellie's been very good throughout the day and we were pleased to hear from the child-minder that the other child who had been tested for Covid-19 had received a negative result. Ellie will be able to go back to LA tomorrow.

The Gorse Fox heard from Old Bill. He's bitten the bullet and order his iMac. He should collect it on Thursday. The Gorse Fox has offered to help him if he has any queries.

All together now

It was still quite dark as the Gorse Fox and Ellie came down this morning. She made herself comfortable and instructed the Gorse Fox as to where her fruit juice should be placed. She then settled down to the cartoons while he made his coffee.

The Silver Vixen had an appointment during the morning. Urban-cub and the Gorse Fox took the opportunity, as Ellie was being inquisitive, to check the manual for the new car and see if we could crack the conundrum of how to play music off of her iPhone through the car's entertainment system. The answer is no, we couldn't. She now has it on her list of things to do to pop into a dealer and ask for some guidance.

This afternoon Urban-cub had an appointment, so the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox took Ellie down to the play area at West Fields. It was extremely blowy as we got out of the car, but the play area is well sheltered by the trees so it wasn't too bad. 

We had great fun for an hour or so. To begin with, we were the only people in the play area, but as the school day ended, more children started to arrive.

Ellie charged from swing to slide, slide to rocking horse, rocking horse to zip-line, zip-line back to swing, and so it went on. We had a brief interlude where the Gorse Fox bought some ice creams, but as soon as they were finished the circuit started again.

Today looks to be the last dry day of the week so the Gorse Fox is glad we got out. He has football scheduled for tomorrow and Wednesday and expects to get very wet.

Tyres and Piers

 It was another quiet start to the day. The Gorse Fox had a challenge. An automatic software update had screwed up his backup system and he thought he should check the logs to see if there was anything obvious that he could do. An hour or so of reading logs convinced him that it was their fault, not his (though being an auto-update it really was unlikely to be his problem). He is still waiting for a response.

Urban-Cub had a problem. The new car was reporting tyre pressure problems. She chatted to a friend and was told the tyre pressure was on the side of the tyre. She went to the garage and blew them up to 40psi. When she told the Gorse Fox what she had done, he pointed out that the pressures were clearly labelled on the driver's door pillar. Pressures were reduced to 30psi and 32psi front and back respectively. Sensors have been reset and hopefully all is now correct.

The Gorse Fox needed to stretch his legs, He went out for a walk. He headed west, then dropped down toward Aldwick and eventually the beach near West Fields. 

He turned east and walked along the esplanade. The sea was as calm as mill pond, even with the tide fully in. He carried on past the pier and up towards the Town Hall. He cut up through the Town and back towards home. 

It was a pleasant walk of just over 5 miles.

Pistol Pete dropped Ellie home just before six. We had heard from her child-minder that members of her family had been tested for Covid and were awaiting their results. After a brief discussion we concluded that Ellie should stay at home until the tests showed negative results. Even though Arun has the lowest infection rate in the whole Country, it would be silly to take any chances.

So quiet

 With just the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox at home, it was very quiet this morning. Urban-Cub did pop back for a while, but then went out to collect cousin Mask from the railway station and headed on to Chichester to meet with the Coventry Hobbit and Cousteau-Cub.

The Gorse Fox caught up on the accounts and collated the photos from yesterday, now that the official images have come through. It took a while, but it was worth the effort.

While doing this, he noticed his backup system wasn't running. It appears that an update was applied automatically, yesterday. Now the system won't start. He has raised a ticket with the vendor and eagerly awaits their response.

The Silver Vixen headed into the from garden to do a little tidying up but ended up chatting with various neighbours for a couple of hours before she got started.

The Gorse Fox headed off for a walk. This took him along the main road towards Sainsbury's then north along the A29 into Shripney before looping back along the 14th century highway back to Bersted. Led Zeppelin accompanied him on the walk - helping keep the pace up. (Note to self: remember to take headphones next time).

In a smallholding near the by-pass, a couple were doing some maintenance on their sheds. A couple of goats had escaped and were standing outside the enclosure. The first one was standing on its hind legs munching leaves from a tree. The Gorse Fox was too slow with the camera to capture this. By the time it was freed from his pocket, the goat was back on all fours. Meanwhile, the other was watching imperiously as the Gorse Fox approached. As you can see from the photo, there was a definite attitude of "What'choo looking' at?"

The Gorse Fox marched on, across the by-pass and up into Bersted and back home.

Happy Christmas

It was a prompt start for the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox this morning. Not ridiculously early, but we did need to get going. Cousteau-Cub had purchased an "Experience Day" for the Gorse Fox for Christmas last year. Because of the pandemic, today was the first opportunity to use it. So i t was that the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen headed out through the Arun Valley and up into bandit country (Surrey), finding ourselves pulling in to the Top Gear track at Dunsfold.

When the Gorse Fox worked at British Aerospace, Dunsfold is where they would do the flight testing for the Harriers. Assembly would take place at Kingston, then the planes would be transported to Dunsfold for testing. That's by the by.

We were meant to arrive at 10:30 but pulled in about 15 minutes early. It was obviously very busy as we had a very long walk from the car to the check-in. The queue for check-in was long and very slow. In fact it was about an hour before the Gorse Fox got logged in and handed his credentials for the day. 

The Silver Vixen made her way off to watch the proceedings and the Gorse Fox entered the drivers' paddock. First one the agenda was a sighting lap whereby you are taken round in a 4x4 by someone who knows the track and gives you a briefing on the various aspects of the drive. It was just as well. In various places on the course chicanes had been indicated with traffic cones. It was not very obvious, however, where the route was meant to take you through the chicane. Many cones had been knocked over where earlier drivers had completely missed the correct route.

Back in the drivers' paddock the Gorse Fox waited to be called. It was 12:15 before his name bubbled to the top for a couple of laps in an Aston Martin Vantage V8. Gingerly he lowered himself into the car. It was a lot lower than he had expected. He checked that his backside wasn't actually touching the ground. There was a bit of a faff trying to unknot the seatbelt, then he fired up the engine. It gurgled and burbled. He had to move the seat though. Eventually he was ready and comfortable. His id tag and USB were inserted into the dash board and and eased himself onto the track with the instructor keeping an eye on the traffic. As he moved out of the "pit lane" he gunned it. He was pinned to the back of the seat as the car rocketed up through the gears. The chicanes came and went and he was encouraged to drive through the bends much faster than he would have dreamed. In moments (it seemed) the first lap was over and the car (at least he hopes it was the car) was screaming into the second lap. He could get used to this, he thought, and in his confidence he missed a gear change. No harm done, he just cornered more slowly than he intended. All too soon, it was over and, with a huge grin on his face (hidden by his COVID mask) he returned to the paddock. 

The Gorse Fox didn't have long to wait. Next on the agenda was the Aston Martin DB5 (Bond) car. After about 15 minutes his name was called. He went out to car and wandered around taking some photos. It really was a beautiful classic. Inside it even had the radar-like map in the centre console and a "bullet-proof" screen behind the seats. Again he turned the key and punched the start button. The beautiful old engine burbled into life and we were off. As before he took a cautious line as he moved out of the pits. The steering on the DB5 was so heavy - having no power assist. Once he had its measure and joined the track he hit the accelerator and took-off. This was a refined machine; immensely comfortable; fast; and completely docile. The Gorse Fox loved it. Again he had a couple of laps scheduled and this time, with a better knowledge of the track, he pushed the car a lot harder. He has no idea how fast he went in either car.  There was too much to take in without glancing at the speedometer.

That was it. All done. It was time to collect the Silver Vixen from her vantage point, go and claim the official photos and videos, and head back for the Skoda and a leisurely drive home.

It was a fabulous day, and a fabulous Christmas present.

All change

The Gorse Fox was first up, but Ellie followed him downstairs. Again, she settled down with a drink, some cereal, and the morning cartoons. The Gorse Fox worked his way through his first coffee and the day's news.

There was no real hurry today. As usual, Ocado would deliver our shopping, and the Gorse Fox had to take Urban-cub and Ellie up to the bandit country of Surrey. After all, she had to collect her new car! The Silver Vixen stayed at home, but we pottered up through Chichester and Midhurst and pulled into the dealer's car park. Paperwork was done, the new car seat was fitted, and we headed back onto the Queen's Highway.

Back home there was a trip to Sainsbury's and then the Gorse Fox fitted the new car seat to our car. All done. 

Mac

It was a cool bright morning. Ellie joined grandpa downstairs before anyone else emerged. She had her water and some toast; the Gorse Fox had coffee. She watched a cartoon, he read the papers online. This is becoming "our time".

The Silver Vixen was next to come down She had Pilates this morning so needed to get underway. She was also dropping E~llie at the child-minder on her way through, so Ellie needed to get washed and dressed. Urban-cub arrived and took control.

The Gorse Fox watched all of the chaos and then started on the week's Ocado shop. The Silver Vixen and Ellie had gone by the time he finished, and Urban-cub was upstairs getting dressed. She would spend the rest of the day completing her CV and send it off to all and sundry. The Gorse Fox had football.

The game was a pleasant and good-natured 7-a-side. It was clear from the outset that the Gorse Fox was destined to be on the losing team. The selection had been grossly lop-sided. We did what we could, and by half-time were only 1-0 down. The Gorse Fox was under concerted pressure and hardly strayed to the half-way line, let alone beyond. In the end, we managed to keep the score to 4-2. It had been a good hour's exercise.

This afternoon, the Gorse Fox went across to see Old Bill. He wants to buy an iMac. He had done some research and narrowed it down to one of four. The Gorse Fox helped him work through the options and finally select the most appropriate model for his requirements. Now let's see if he goes ahead!

Urban-cub and the Gorse Fox popped across to Halfords to get the new child car seat for Ellie. This is a nice model and is currently tucked in the boot of the Gorse Fox's car ready to be fitted in her new car tomorrow.

Double up

 There had been some rain in the night but by the time the Gorse Fox got up, the sky was clear and the paving was dry. Ellie was first to wake and join the Gorse Fox downstairs. She started the day with fruit juice, toast with ham, and and the Paw Patrol cartoons(*).

As the Gorse Fox was playing football today, he took Ellie to the child-minder on the way. There were a few tears at first but the Gorse Fox pulled himself together and we had a very quick ride across to LA. From there he moved on to Worthing and the Leisure Centre. He was chosen for the Light Shirts (1) team and, though we fought hard, we only drew the first game. We lost the next two games badly. From his point of view, it was a success as he's got the distance covered up to something semi respectable. He decided that he would stay on for the second hour.

The second hour was not walking football. It was, quite specifically, running football. He was concerned that after an hour of playing he would be too tired to give it a go. Despite his fears he played. Again we lost. Not badly, but we did lose. In the end the Gorse Fox had run over 8 km and was still feeling moderately human. Things are looking up.

It was a quiet afternoon with the Silver Vixen working on the Advent project, and Urban-Cub working on her CV. Late afternoon we went across to LA to collect Ellie. 

Supper done, we can now settle down for a quiet evening.

(*) The Gorse Fox is still worried about Paw Patrol. Where does Ryder get the money to create all of these vehicles? Where did the puppies learn to talk? Why does Adventure Bay rely on a kid and his menagerie for its security and rescue services? The public want to know!

Carless Whispers

The day started with the most spectacular red sunrise. The sort of celestial light show that lifts the soul and makes it soar. The Gorse Fox was expecting Ellie to follow him down - but no, she was still fast asleep. In fact it was Urban-Cub that came down next. She had a busy morning planned. In fact, when we discussed it it became obvious that the timings were not going to work. The Gorse Fox volunteered to take Ellie to the child-minder. This changed the schedule in such a way as to give her time.

The Gorse Fox disappeared off with Ellie and while he was gone, Urban-Cub set off for Portsmouth. She had looked online for a valuation of her existing car. Evans Halshaw came up with a good price, contingent on an inspection. Well, she had spent most of yesterday ensuring the car was pristine. She went across and they didn't quibble, offering her a valuation right at the top of their suggested range. They only deducted a small amount because it need a service and new tyres. (The tyres alone were worth at least four times the value of the deduction). She accepted the offer and the deal was done there and then. Log book was handed over and she was (whisper it quietly) carless. Her friend, the Princess, who lives nearby, collected her and they had a few hours and lunch together before the Gorse Fox drove across to Port Solent to collect her.

The Silver Vixen has spent most of the afternoon working on an advent calendar. The sewing machine has been at full revs.

The Gorse Fox had a quiet afternoon before taking Urban-Cub in to collect Ellie from the child-minder.

Decision

 It was a quiet morning after yesterday's late-is night. Having eaten later than usual, neither of us slept particularly well. No matter, there wasn't a specific plan for the day. As it happens, the Silver Vixen spent most of the day switching from her summer wardrobe to her autumn/winter wardrobe and storing the summer clothes away until next year.

Cousteau-Cub turned up at breakfast time, having dropped the Coventry Hobbit at work and taken Tyson for a walk. She was collecting the Urban-Cub so she could retrieve her car from Chichester, where she left it last night.

The Gorse Fox spent some time working with old photos, some time updating the family tree, and some time helping Urban-Cub. We did finally make a decision on the car seats. These are now on order.

Urban-Cub was cleaning her car ready for valuation tomorrow. This, for her, was a labour of love. She loves cleaning cars. Two Hats got involved and helped by removing a couple of tiny dings in the bodywork. The finished article looks as good as new. Tomorrow she will get a valuation and, depending on that, will relinquish the car or contact Kia and tell them to take it back. Hopefully, the valuation will be good because she will end up in profit.

The short ribs have turned out to be a big hit. The sauce, like yesterday's rub, had no quantities specified, so the Gorse Fox did it by guesswork. The ribs were then cooked in sauce for 4 hours. The Gorse Fox wishes he could have bottled the aroma that suffused the kitchen during the cooking process. It was sensational.

Car Seat

 Ellie has now reached the age and size whereby she can transition to the next size of car seat. As usual, such decisions are complex. Which has the best safety rating, which has the correct fittings, which makes are recommended for Urban-Cub's new car, and which for our car? After several hours we seemed to have narrowed it down, but Urban-Cub then went to Halfords and saw another model that she liked. We are currently on pause!

While she was at Halfords, she did manage to pick up a new Dash Cam mount for the Gorse Fox. His current suction mount keeps dropping off. She has managed to get an adhesive mount - and better still, they didn't charge her.

Urban-Cub went off to spend the evening with Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit. We stayed put as the Silver Vixen's Brighton cousins were coming to see us. We had a lovely evening and enjoyed another excellent take-away from Habib in the village. We caught up on all of the family news and heard about their recent camping trip (and its associated dramas and excitements). It was, as usual when we meet with them, a super evening.

More looking

 It was a lovely bright, if a little cool, day. The Gorse Fox heard form J&T that all was going well in Sidmouth, so far. From what he could see of the photos, they too had lovely bright weather.

The morning was a bit of a rush as Urban-Cub prepared everything for Ellie to take across to Pistol Pete for her weekend stay. She planned to go straight onwards to look at another car. The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox decided that we would go along for the ride. Dropping Ellie at Pistol Pete's on the outskirts of Worthing, the journey took us up through Storrington, Pulborough, Midhurst, and on to Fernhurst in Surrey. Nestling along the High Street was a nice little garage with some lovely cars... and some absolute classics (old Mini Minor, a Mark 1 Cortina, a Marcos, loads of Mercs and Land Rover Discoverys etc.) The Cortina caught the Gorse Fox's eye. It was for sale at over £15,000 which must be about 15 times the original price. Urban-Cub had come to see another 1-Series BMW. This one was bright red, sport trim,  and had her name all over it! She took it out for a test drive while the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox went across the road for a coffee. She came back with her mind made up. When we got home, she phoned up and paid a deposit - by the end of the week it will be hers.

Back home, The Gorse Fox had a trip to Sainsbury's  to pick up a few items that were out of stock when he did the Ocado order. He also had to pick up some herbs and spices for a dry rub he was going to use on some beef short ribs. (This is a Tom Kerridge inspired recipe... but whilst he has the video, there are no quantities suggested so it will be done by guesswork).

Just Looking

 The day started very early. Ellie was awake soon after three... but fortunately she amused herself in her bedroom until the Gorse Fox got up at seven. She then charged down the stairs with him and demanded fruit juice, cartons, and toast with ham. The Gorse Fox obliged, then staled down with his coffee.

Ocado turned up with the weekly shopping at their allotted time, then the Gorse Fox played with Ellie until Urban-Cub and the Silver Vixen had showered and dressed. Next on the agenda was a car. With Urban-Cub's change of circumstances and expensive PCP car is not a sensible outlay every month. The question was what should be the replacement. Urban-Cub had seen a couple of BMW 1-Series that interested her. One was nearby in Chichester. We took Ellie with us and went and had a look. Would the child seat fit? Would the buggy fit? Yes. As it happens, they did. She took the car out for a test drive and liked it.

Leaving the garage we then went on to look at some further dealerships, but nothing caught her eye at the price point she had set. The Gorse Fox supposes that with a BMW, at least the indicators have probably never been used. Back home she checked the status of her PCP and found that she was far enough into the contract that she had no penalties for relinquishing the car. That was good news. She's going to look at another car tomorrow. So let's see how it goes.

The Gorse Fox also had time to go along and have a complete overhaul at the barber's.  For once, all the seats were in use and there was someone queued before him. He watched as the others we sorted, then it was his time. He had the full works (with the exception of the nose-wax), and then wandered off into the afternoon sun.

Tom Kerridge recently featured a short-rib of beef on his BBQ Series. This was dry rubbed and left for 24 hours before being slow cooked for about 4-5 hours. The Gorse Fox got the short ribs in this morning's delivery. He has now reviewed the video and noted all the ingredients for his dry rub and his sauce. Tomorrow will require a trip to shops, and then he will start on preparing these short ribs for Sunday.

Fight back

 Ellie was awake at six this morning. She was asking if Grandpa was downstairs... No he wasn't. He was pretending to be asleep still. She settled with her iPad for an hour and Grandpa managed to go downstairs and start on his first coffee before she emerged.

The Silver Vixen was off to Pilates, and Urban-Cub was taking Ellie to the child minder. The Gorse Fox had a quiet hour before he had to head off for football.

The Gorse Fox found himself playing for the yellow-bibs today. AT first sight this was going to be a hard game, and we had little chance of a win. By half time we had clawed back a 3-1 deficit to 3-3. Our movement and passing was beginning to give us the edge. By the end of the second half we had managed to win 6-3. 

It looks as if football will be changing. Jason, who runs the Walking Football, has resigned and is taking up a new role at Worthing Football Club. It's not immediately clear what will be happening about our regular sessions - though in the longer term we will probably transfer to Worthing Football Club.

When the Gorse Fox got back at lunchtime Urban-Cub had just heard that she hadn't been selected for an interview for an alternative role at Gatwick. She is, obviously, pretty devastated and is now trying to work out what her next steps will be. We will obviously help where we can, but we do feel for her as 2020 has been a bit of disaster for her. She has a feedback call on Friday so we will be interested to hear the excuses that will be used (bearing in mind she knows some of the poor performers who have succeeded, and some of the top performers who haven't - this is clearly a case of who you are mates with).

Too Ambitious

Firstly, the Gorse Fox should point out that today is Agent Mulder's Birthday. The Gorse Fox has spent a while today on WhatApp chatting with him nd catching up on all of the news. Certainly his first year of retirement has been a little more constrained than that of the Gorse Fox.

Ellie went off to the child-minder and the Gorse Fox, soon after, headed off to football. It was a full house today. Four teams of 6. The Gorse Fox was in "Light One" (one of the two teams wearing white shirts). We started well with some lovely passing, but actually lost the first game 3-2. We stuck to our strategy of pass-and-move and comfortably won the second and the third games. This left the Gorse Fox in a dilemma.

Was he feeling fit enough to stay on and play another hour. This hour was full running football. Well?

No chance. He still isn't up to that level of fitness... maybe next week.

There's another game tomorrow. Let's hope he pushes the fitness just that little bit further.

Drone Fairy

 Ellie joined the Gorse Fox for a quiet 45 minutes this morning before anyone else got up. We sat and enjoyed Match of Day's summary of the massacre at Old Trafford. Despite Pistol Pete, she will be brought up properly to appreciate Spurs.

Once everyone else was up, and sorted Urban-Cub took Ellie across to LA and the child-minder. The Gorse Fox spent the morning steam cleaning the hard floors and helping Urban-Cub go through some aptitude tests. They were a challenge, in that no answers were incorrect, it was only a matter of interpretation as to which answers they were looking for.

This afternoon, the Silver Vixen had her hair done and the Gorse Fox spent some time reading and preparing for Ellie's return. The Royal Mail had been, you see, and delivered a new toy that the Gorse Fox had ordered. The toy is a pink fairy. Not just any pink fairy. Oh no. This pink fairy was, in fact, a drone. Once charged it would fly (fairly randomly) until it crashed or ran out of charge. It took some practice, but in the end we could get it to hover, to dip and climb, and stay clear of obstacles. Needless to say, when Ellie goy home she loved it (and we are already charging it for the third time). The fairy has been named "Poppy". 

Visitation

 It was wet. It was so wet. The Gorse Fox was not going walking today! The day started with Ellie coming down to join the Gorse Fox while he had his morning coffee and to sit with him to watch her cartoons. As everyone else started to emerge, the Gorse Fox went up for his shower and by the time he returned,  Cousteau-Cub had arrived. She had dropped the Coventry Hobbit off at work, and had stopped off to join us for breakfast. She stayed for a couple of hours and then headed off for some shopping.

We had a very quiet day. Ellie played well for most of the day and spent some time doing "crafts" with the Silver Vixen. This culminated in her multi-coloured cat mask and a couple of pipe-cleaner spiders.  

Urban-Cub sat in the Gorse Fox's study developing her submission for another role in Gatwick. Fingers and toes are crossed, but it does appear that there has been a very large number of applicants.

Cousteau-Cub came back in the afternoon to join us for dinner, and hung on until the Coventry Hobbit was ready to be collected from work.

The day should not go go by with a mention of Spurs superb 1-6 score at Old Trafford. Let's hope this is an indication of how the rest of the season will proceed.

Jabbed

 There was some torrential rain overnight, and it was still raining heavily for the first part of the morning. Urban-Cub and Ellie were planning to go to see Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit to (belatedly) celebrate the Cousteau-Cub's birthday.

The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox had plans too. We were due to have our annual flu jabs. (Who says that oldies can't have fun?) Jabs done, we then treated ourselves to a quick spin round Sainsbury's. As before, we timed this well. When we arrived we went straight in. By the time we left, some 20 minutes later, there was a queue all along the side of the building.

The rain had cleared. The clouds were still looking pretty ragged and threatening, but the forecast suggest that there would be a few dry hours before the next front hit. The Silver Vixen had things to do, but the Gorse Fox decided to go for a walk. He headed down to West Field and then walked along the esplanade up past the pier,  on past Butlins and The Lobster Pot, and on towards Middleton. Then, turning on his heels he walked back the way he had come.

Perhaps one of the key things the Gorse Fox misses from Kingston Gorse is the ability to walk out of the door and onto the beach, or into the countryside and then walk for hours in relative peace. Walking along the front today was like that, but yesterdays walk was disturbed by the constant roar of the traffic.

Highways

 It was very wet overnight and the morning was a complete wash-out.

The Silver Vixen, Urban-Cub and Ellie went in to Chichester for some shopping. The Gorse Fox stayed at home and updated his knowledge of "Six Sigma" and "Lean". Not because the Gorse Fox is venturing back into the realms of work, but rather to help Urban-Cub. The department that she is applying to join have need of these skills and it would be beneficial if she can at least speak the the lingo!

After lunch, with everyone back home, Ellie was eager to do some baking. This seemed like a cue for the Gorse Fox to go out for a walk. He decided on a 5km loop. He passed the school on the estate, then down along North Bersted Street. This is the route of an old pre-14th Century highway between North Bersted and Shripney. It is now bisected by the Bersted by-pass and only open to walkers. It's a long time since the Gorse Fox last walked this route and he had forgotten how many lovely "chocolate box" cottages line the old road. Once at Shripney, the Gorse Fox looped back down the A29 towards Sainsbury's, then back across Aldingbourne Rife and back home.

When the Gorse Fox got home Ellie and the Silver Vixen were in in full "Bak-Off" mode. We now have a biscuit tin full of gingerbread men. Very tasty they are too!

Strolling

 Thursday has been very much part of a pattern. The Gorse Fox was up first, and was busy drinking his first coffee before he heard Ellie stirring. Usually she goes straight in to see the Urban-Cub but this morning she came down and joined the Gorse Fox. Cartoons were displayed on the TV as she sat on the Gorse Fox's lap and read the paper with him. Her analysis of the US (non) presidential debate was scathing.

Slowly, every one else emerged and the Gorse Fox went and got washed and dressed. Ocado turned up with the week's shopping and the Gorse Fox packed it all away. The Silver Vixen needed to top-up her meds so the Gorse Fox used the dry weather as a good excuse for  5km walk there and back to the pharmacy that handles her prescriptions.

This afternoon Urban-Cub took Ellie to a play centre to meet with one of her friends. This left the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox to have a quiet afternoon with their fabrics and spreadsheets respectively.

Throughout the day Urban-Cub has been preparing to submit her application for a different role within the airport. She has received a lot of helpful guidance and is scheduled to speak with someone else in a similar  role tomorrow. Application have to be in by Monday, interviews are on Wednesday and decisions on Friday. At least this won't be a long, drawn out, process.