Code

 Well that's another day of decent weather that the Gorse Fox has squandered by getting engrossed in some code for the family tree website. It started off simply enough with a small tweak to yesterday's program. Then it occurred to the Gorse Fox that the same program, with an extension to the logic, could serve two purposes. So it was that much of the rest of the day was spent at the keyboard. The Gorse Fox is very pleased with the outcome and, in his plan to subsume many old pages to Joomla, this will make a huge difference.

The Silver Vixen has finished the project she had been working on. The book rack now has some custom-designed pockets that are actually deep enough to hold the books.

It has been so nice this afternoon that we have spent some time sitting out in the garden, in our shirtsleeves, enjoying the sunshine. That's not something you expect to do in February. 

Contact

 It's has been a glorious day. The Gorse Fox should really have made better use of the sunny weather and gone for a long walk. He didn't. He is still mentally wrapped up in the family tree. This was exacerbated by the wonderful Zoom call he had with his cousins this morning. It was so nice to see them all and to chat for half an hour. Obviously, as they are all siblings, there was a lot of banter but not to the exclusion of the Gorse Fox. They were all very happy with the recent updates he had published on their side of the family. They have invited him back for their next call, next weekend. 

The rest of the day was spent buried in the digital archives, trying to elaborate on some of the existing data, or find some new facts. He also spent some more time considering his online website. This website is effectively two distinct sites. The first site captures and shares information for all people with his family name.  The second site is where he publishes and shares information on his family and cousins. The former is written in "Joomla", the latter is just "HTML". It is the latter that he wants to improve and to find the best delivery method for changes. What he had forgotten was that he had already started converting parts of it to "Joomla" several years ago. This has helped him decide which target environment to use, but it does mean there are a lot of pages that need to be converted. At least, once it is done, there will be a coherent look and feel.

The procrastinator in him tells the Gorse Fox that can wait for another day!

Choices

 It has been a quiet day at home. It was very cold overnight, but we have had bright sunshine throughout the day. Urban-Cub had managed to change her shift so that Ellie was at home with her last night though she did drop off some stuff for the weekend as she took Ellie to DD.

The Gorse Fox spent most of the day with the family tree and the family website. The issue was finding a good way to update the website with data from the latest version of Family Tree Maker. In the end, the Gorse Fox decided that exporting the data as a CSV file and then writing a program to edit it the way he would want was the best solution. It only took about an hour but we now have a mechanism to take exports from FTM and turn them into web pages displaying descendant trees.

Once this was done the Gorse Fox looked at updating the website itself. Again, this took a little while and meant accessing it from the Linux machine "Eagle". The relevant parts of the family were duly changed and the website (for that family) is now up to date.

This triggered a series of thoughts in the Gorse Fox's addled brain. He is now wondering if there is a better way of hosting the family website. (Better in terms of maintenance, rather than how it is displayed). He has been experimenting this afternoon, but has come to no conclusions.

We collected Ellie from DD and, once home, she played in the garden. It was positively Spring-like out there. Urban-Cub managed to get away from work early so snuck-in to surprise her longe before she was expected. They have now gone back home, and Ellie is due to spend  the weekend with Pistol Pete.

Domestic

 It has been a domestic morning. The Gorse Fox wandered round to Urban-Cub's so that he could walk with them, taking Ellie to Dizzy Ducklings. Then Urban-Cub headed to her home to do some studying for and exam on Monday, and the Gorse Fox returned home. We had our usual Ocado delivery, then the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox went to do the "top-up" at Lidl and Sainsbury's. There were some excellent bargains and it is unlikely we will need to buy any more meat for several weeks. The freezer is groaning under the weight and its door need to be firmly pushed in order to close.

The Silver Vixen melted back into her sewing room until it was time to collect Ellie.

The Gorse Fox hit the study. He is still filling in additional research on his cousins' branch of the family. He has managed to push their part of the tree back by 3 more generations. Once he has finished this tranche of updates he'll update the website. (This, bizarrely has to be done from one of the Linux machines as the control panel used by the web host, doesn't work correctly with Apple's Safari).

Branching Out

 Ellie had a very good night's sleep, and woke around 6:30. That's not a problem, particularly when all she wants is Grandpa to switch on his tablet so she can watch YouTube Kids until she has to get up. After that the early morning went much as usual. She had her breakfast, the Silver Vixen prepared her packed lunch, she got ready for Dizzy Ducklings and we took her along to the pre-school.

Once back we had our own breakfast and then the Silver Vixen prepared for her Zoom Pilates, which would occupy the rest of the morning.

The Gorse Fox retired to the study. There was the online shopping list to submit, then the rest of the day has been spent working on various branches of the family tree. The focus has been one particular family, the Gorse Fox's 2nd cousins. He went through the backup copy that his, now deceased, cousin Mark had sent and used this as a cross-check with his own research. Where possible he brought this up to date and tried to delve a little further into the archives to glean some new data. It has been an interesting exercise.

We collected Ellie from pre-school. The teacher was having problems getting one of the kids to leave and go to his mum. The reason? He wanted to go back in and say goodbye to Ellie. The teacher explained that everyone loves Ellie and she is the most popular child in the class. Certainly, as she came out they were all calling to her, and some wanted to walk back with us!

Urban-Cub finished her long day and collected Ellie around 16:00. SHe's back home tonight, but back with us tomorrow night.

Tree Surgery

 The Gorse Fox wandered round to meet up with Urban-cub and Ellie and accompany them on their way to Dizzy Ducklings. Once back home there were several domestic chores to complete and a kiddies bookshelf to take apart. The new one that we assembled last week is useless. The pockets where the books would hang are much too small and nothing much bigger than a postage stamp could fit in them. The Silver Vixen decided to make new inserts but needed the old bookholder (which is fine) to use as a pattern.

That done the Gorse Fox retired to do some tree surgery on the Family Tree. With the chance to tie up with some cousins at the weekend, it was important to check that they had the latest information from the Gorse Fox's records. It took a little cross-checking and a few updates, but soon there was a package of "pdf" files winging its way around the world.

We are expecting Ellie later. Urban-cub has an early start, so Ellie will be sleeping here tonight and we will take her to pre-school in the morning.

Landmark... not quite

 It is the Gorse Fox's Birthday. Like a little kid he was awake really early. No, it wasn't the excitement, nor was it his bladder, it was Ellie deciding to leap into bed with us and demanding access to the Gorse Fox's tablet to watch YouTube Kids. Normally, once fired up she returns to her room but not this morning. She decided to lie between us and watch the screen and listen to the commentary. The Gorse Fox gave up and went for a shower.

During breakfast she was very helpful as the Gorse Fox opened his cards. She commented on this or that and then took them into the lounge for display. The Gorse Fox just did as he was told until it was time to take her to Dizzy Ducklings.

When we got back and had our own breakfast, the Gorse Fox started to deal with all of the messages that had been pouring in. Several (cheekily) had assumed this was a "landmark" birthday. The Gorse Fox pointed out that though he may have entered a landmark year, he was a full twelve months away from the landmark birthday.

One branch of the family (2nd cousins) made contact and asked if the Gorse Fox would like to join their regular pan-continental family Zoom call. With these cousins spread from Australia, through Switzerland, the UK, and on to Canada it seemed like a lovely opportunity to meet them at some of them other than at a funeral! The Gorse Fox will have to prepare for this by printing their branch of the family tree to pass round for updates, comments, and further data.

We collected Ellie from pre-school and soon after, Urban-Cub arrived from work. There was a pile of presents, some bunting (that Ellie and the Silver Vixen had put up) and some cake with a suitable array of candles. We had a lovely tea before they had to go... and no sooner had they gone but Cousteau-Cub phoned for a chat. A perfect day really!

Code

 The Gorse Fox has had a a stimulating day. He woke up with an idea for some code. The problem is that though there is a Linux command to do what he wants, there is no similar instruction for the Mac. He settled down at the code-face. Soon code was flying from his fingers and tests were running. An hour or so later he had achieved his requirement. The only question in his mind is whether there may be some enhancements worth coding in.

This afternoon was spent sitting in the sun, in the Orangery, reading a book about heroic mathematical mistakes. The doorbell rang. It was Cousteau-cub and the Coventry Hobbit. They had just stopped to drop-in a present and a card for the Gorse Fox's birthday tomorrow. It was nice to see them (even from a distance). When they left they were heading off to walk the dog and hoping to collect some paperwork from Urban-cub.

Urban-cub dropped Ellie off just after 6pm. As Urban cub has an early start in the morning, G-Force are looking after Ellie overnight and taking her to Dizzy Ducklings in the morning.

Support

Overall, it's been a quiet day. The Silver Vixen continued with her attack on the Orangery, made easier by the fact the dismantled wardrobe was now in the hall awaiting collection. The Gorse Fox had a slight problem on "Condor" which had been bothering him for a while. The "Finder" app which displays folder and files has a sidebar. You should be able to add or remove favourites from that sidebar, but this had not been working for a while. It was time to try and solve the problem.

The Gorse Fox attacked Google. No pertinent results. He searched in MacRumours. Nothing. He looked in StackExchange. Nada. In the end he contacted Apple support via their "chat" facility. The operative was very helpful, though did point out that the iMac in question was no longer covered by the support contract. He said, however, he would make a one time exception. The chat progressed as he went through a series of questions and suggested a number of circumventions. The Gorse Fox had already tried all of them. We had made no real progress. He then suggested restarting the machine in "Safe Mode". The Gorse Fox duly restarted, fired up "Finder", and shazam, everything worked as it should. Condor was rebooted normally and the problem has gone away. Result.

At lunchtime a neighbour of the Urban-Cub came along to collect the old wardrobe. This was a good bit of recycling.

During the afternoon the Silver Vixen did some baking. She has made a wonderful blueberry muffin loaf. It is delicious. She can do that again, as often as she wants!

Cleared

 There were several chores to clear today. The first was to clear all the tools that had been accumulating in the Orangery and return them to the garage. As the Gorse Fox has used so many tools over the last three weeks, this took quite a while.

Next on the agenda was to return several boxes to the loft. This is always a bit tricky as the loft hatch isn't really designed for someone the size of the Gorse Fox with a fixed ladder and limited space for his legs to bend. Nevertheless, everything was stored without incident. (The Gorse Fox is always nervous about returning from the loft space to go back down through the hatch).

The Silver Vixen has been busy doing some more Spring cleaning in the Orangery now that the Gorse Fox's stuff is out the way. There is still a double wardrobe (disassembled) on the floor, but after advertising on Facebook, this will be collected tomorrow lunchtime.

Screwed

 What a lovely and leisurely start to the day. There was no hurry to get going, as long as we were up and about in time for Ocado's delivery. It was miserable and wet outside, and certainly didn't encourage us to surface.

Once Ocado had delivered we go ready to hit Sainsbury's. The Silver Vixen needed a few bits and, as the store is usually very quiet on Thursday morning, we were happy to shop as a couple. Once the car had been loaded up with your purchases we went along to the new Lidl store which had opened this very morning. There was a short queue outside, but it only took a couple of minutes before we could enter. The store is very impressive (particularly in comparison with the old one). It's big, it's bright, it's wide open. We had a good nose about through the aisles and were quiet astounded at the prices of many of the items we buy regularly elsewhere. The Gorse Fox suspect that we will move some of the regular items from the Ocado and Sainsbury's lists and pop to Lidl for them in future.

After lunch the Gorse Fox went round to see Urban-Cub. She had a coat rack, some coat hooks, and a blackboard that she wanted installed, and a shoe rack that she wanted assembled. It didn't take too long and it does mean that she can now organise her cupboard more effectively.

The Silver Vixen has spent the afternoon Spring Cleaning the Orangery and our understaffs cupboard. The Gorse Fox must finish by moving his tools and off-cuts back to the garage tomorrow.

Well

 Yesterday was a challenging evening as Ellie defiantly played in the bedroom and kept calling out until gone 10. We were less than amused. At least when she did finally give in and ge to sleep we didn't hear another peep from her until nearly 7:30 this morning. There was no child minder today, so there was no hurry in getting going.

The Gorse Fox loaded yup the car with the packing from the various items of furniture that have arrived this last week. It was, again, an absolutely full load. It was nice to get it back out of the Orangery. (One more package arrived this afternoon, but the Gorse Fox was able to cut the packaging down with a box cutter and get it into the standard recycle bin.)

During the morning his new SSD arrived from Apple. It only took a couple of ticks to install it and get it going. Now the Gorse Fox needs to do some analysis and work out which files would best be moved onto the drive. He must say, it is very fast indeed.

Urban-Cub picked Ellie up and has taken her home, so the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen are by ourselves again for a few days.

Driven

 It was a a more sensible seven o'clock when Ellie woke us this morning. The Gorse Fox took her his tablet to watch YouTube Kids and then went for his shower. Again, she was due in LA this morning, so we got everything underway and managed to get away without any "discussions".

Back home, the Gorse Fox spent the day in the study. He has been looking for options for a new drive for the iMac (Condor). Should he get a proper external SSD or should he build one from the components. The latter choice would work out less expensive, but he isn't doing this as an exercise. He wants the extra space so in the end he opted for a LaCie external SSD from Apple.

The Silver Vixen is ensconced in her sewing room this afternoon.

Later, we are expecting Urban-Cub to bring Ellie to stay overnight as she has one more early start tomorrow.

It seems that all of our cohort of friends have now had their vaccines. This is very positive. We just need to see the roll out continue to capture Cousteau-Cub, the Coventry Hobbit, and Urban-Cub.

Early

The Gorse Fox was awake early. Not early compared to his working days, but early for his retirement Five o'clock should only be seen at the other end of the day. Ellie was next to stir, just after six. Again, the provision of the Gorse Fox's tablet and YouTube Kids kept her amused until we were ready to get up, at seven. She was scheduled to go to LA to spend the day with her child-minder, so we got things underway and headed off.

Once back home we both pottered about until a delivery van arrived with a small storage unit for the Silver Vixen's sewing room. It was remarkably heavy for its size so the Gorse Fox took it upstairs bit by bit. The next hour or so was spent assembling the unit. (Obviously the manufacturer read the Gorse Fox's blog - each part was labelled, and all of the fixings were packaged in separate, labelled, ziplock bags - there was no doubt what was what). The Silver Vixen's room is coming together, and with luck she'll soon be able to make full use of it.

It's been a quiet afternoon. Urban-Cub finished work mid-afternoon and went across to collect Ellie and take her home for dinner. She'll be back with us overnight as Urban-Cub has another very early start.

Just on a side note: neither the Silver Vixen nor the Gorse Fox have had any after effects whatsoever from yesterday's vaccination. We just need to let the antibodies build up in the body.

Both jabbed

 The Gorse Fox is pleased that the Silver Vixen came with him to the local vaccination centre. As she had an appointment booked for tomorrow, they were happy to give her the vaccination at the same time as the Gorse Fox, saving us a return trip in the morning. We both ended up with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The whole process was immensely slick. As we entered the centre, volunteers directed us through to reception, they took the Gorse Fox's name and directed us onwards where we were greeted by a nurse who took us straight through to a room where our details were recorded and our jabs given. As it was the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, there was no need to hang around for 15 minutes (as you do with the Pfizer jab). We were back in the car within 10 minutes of arriving.

Just stuff

 It has been a very quiet day. There was a short, but well-timed, trip to Sainsbury's. Though he walked straight in, by the time the Gorse Fox left, there was a queue all the way along the front of the store and round the corner.

Back home he put up some shadow boxes for the Silver Vixen in Ellie's bedroom and then retired to the study while the Silver Vixen pottered in here sewing room.

The Gorse Fox had received an email from a lady (let's call her Jen) who has a derivative of the Gorse Fox's family name. As such she had found his website and found herself and her family listed. Her email complained that the Gorse Fox should redact living people or people less that 100 years old. The Gorse Fox agreed, explaining that he doesn't edit the submissions, when received. It took him a while to go through and make the changes. Eventually, it was done and the updated page published. The Gorse Fox then had great pleasure in writing back to her to say that the changes had been applied... and, by the way, you were the person that submitted the original pre-formatted submission!

In other news, the Silver Vixen has now received her invitation for the vaccine. She is booked in for Monday, but will accompany the Gorse Fox tomorrow on the offchance that she can get it done at the same time.

Kids

 Ellie woke at around 6:45 and called out. The Gorse Fox went in to find out what she wanted and, perhaps, predictably, she wanted to watch YouTube Kids. He padded back and grabbed the tablet, firing it up for her. She settled down and we didn't hear another peep from her until 8:15. 

During the morning the YouTube Kids / Kidzone package on the Lenovo Tablet stopped and no form of cajoling would restart it. The Gorse Fox spent several hours trying to get to the bottom of the problem. In the end he removed the "Kids" account and re-installed. He also set up a separate account with just Google Kids Play and YouTube Kids as a fallback.

You'll have seen from the previous post that the Gorse Fox has been invited for his jab. Within a few minutes of posting that, the text message arrived from our surgery. He booked the jab using their link and is now scheduled to get an armful of something on Sunday morning. Let's just hope that the Silver Vixen get her invitation soon.

Urban-Cub came back from work to have supper with us and then take Ellie home. 

It seems like a very quiet evening!

Jab

 The Gorse Fox has just received his invitation to book his COVID-19 vaccination. The choice given is to wait for the GP to make contact, or to go online and book in one of the vaccination centres. The Gorse Fox. Decided to have a look online. The nearest offering was in Midhurst, Havant, Portsmouth, or Fareham. Knowing that our local surgery is using the Health Centre in the middle of Bognor, the Gorse Fox thinks he’ll wait.

G-Force Full Mental Jacket

 It had been very cold overnight. In fact, in parts of Scotland it was the coldest night for 25 years. Down here one the south coast it was only a couple of degrees below, but it was enough to create an impressive layer of frost on the Orangery roof.

Urban-Cub brought Ellie round before 08:00 as she had to get to work by 08:30. It all started well enough, but Ellie didn't wake at her normal time, so Urban-Cub had to bring her round in her dressing gown, still half asleep. She then set off for work, only to find that the A27 was closed and she had to find a diversion. In the end, her 25 minute journey took her well over the hour.

After the obligatory Ocado delivery, the Gorse Fox found himself on Ellie's bedroom floor doing a jigsaw with her. Then, when the Silver Vixen was ready and could take the handover, the Gorse Fox prepared to go to Sainsbury's. In the end, the take-over never occurred as Ellie decided she wanted to tag along. The trip wasn't quite as smooth as it might have been. Not because of Ellie, but because the Smart Shop app didn't seem to work. The only solution should have been shutting the app and restarting. That didn't work as it would not allow the Gorse Fox to log back in. This was all very fine, but the app also contained his shopping list. In the end he had to use the magic wand and his memory of the list. He managed to recall about half of the items on the original list. He was, however, disappointed that they had none of the cat food that Jasper likes. (Fortunately, we have another 9 days supply at home).

This afternoon, the Silver Vixen and Ellie have been making cup cakes. They used a recipe from one of the Bake-Off winners and the Gorse Fox must admit that the results were delicious.

Challenging

 Ellie was awake so came into bed with us until 0700. She was her usual chirpy self until it came to getting ready for school. Then, despite the sub-zero temperatures, she decided she was not going to wear a coat. This argument continued until the Gorse Fox put her coat on her and zipped it up. She moaned and whined as we walked towards pre-school then, halfway there, she decided she was not going. We did an about-turn.

Once home, the Gorse Fox spent the following hour loading and transporting all the piles of cardboard from the Orangery to the tip. Then, it was all of the polyurethane packing foam. With all of that gone, the Orangery looks more like a ballroom!

The rest of the morning was spent moving the floating shelf and filling all the old screw holes. Finally, it was all done. After lunch, we all took a walk to the village so that the Silver Vixen could get some birthday cards, and get the urgent one sent off. Ellie fell asleep in her buggy and woke up in a much better mood when we got back.

Surprise

 There was a fine covering of snow when we woke this morning. It hadn't settled on the grass, but the pavements and roads we cold enough for it to settle. The Gorse Fox saw some of the workmen wading into work through drifts of nearly 5 millimetres. Such dedication.

Urban-Cub dropped Ellie round to us before heading off to do a morning's training, then going on into "her" new store. We took Ellie round to Dizzy Ducklings. Though it was colder than yesterday, it didn't feel as cold as the wind had dropped. Despite the cold, she refused to wear her gloves, and only condescended to zip-up her coat after threats were issued.

The morning was essentially consumed with reading the paper and catching up on admin. The Gorse Fox was pleased to be informed of a Tax Code change which, for a change, worked in his favour (even if it was catching up on changes from last summer).

Soon after lunch, a truck turned up with Ellie's new wardrobe (flat-packed). It's construction took most of the afternoon. While this was being assembled, Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit knocked and met up with the Silver Vixen to walk round and surprise Ellie when she was collected from Dizzy Ducklings. They had the dog, Bruno, with them. Ellie was very excited.

The Gorse Fox stayed put and continued with the assembly of the wardrobe. It went pretty smoothly really. The Gorse Fox took a couple of missteps, but in both cases managed to retrieve the situation before it caused problems. (Why oh why don't the manufactures provide clearer pictures, labelled pouches of the various screws and fittings, and drawer sliders that identify left and right, front and back?). With the wardrobe built, the last problem that needed attention was the floating shelf. This was in the way and prevent siting the wardrobe where we wanted. Floating shelf was taken down. Tomorrow the Gorse Fox will re-site it.

Ellie's staying with us overnight tonight as Urban-Cub has an early start in the morning.

(The Gorse Fox's dad, and his twin, would have been 95 today).

Smoking

 There are some things that you do not expect to see up close. This is what was parked in the car park by the apartments. As we went to collect Ellie.

Drifts

 It was cold again overnight. The temperatures remained around -1C through most of the day. When the Gorse Fox opened up the shutters he could see that we da been hit by a significant blizzard (as evidenced by the attached photo).

Obviously, with snow this thick we are awaiting snow ploughs to clear the roads. We put on our winter weather gear and took Ellie round to Dizzy Ducklings. 

Back home, after a coffee, the Gorse Fox set about dismantling an old double-wardrobe. This has freed up further space in the Silver Vixen’s sewing room. The wardrobe came apart remarkably smoothly and is now nestling in the Orangery awaiting sale or disposal (we haven’t decided which yet).

We waded through the snow, by now it was nearly a millimetre thick in places, and went to collect Ellie. We have spent much of the afternoon playing her version of “pass the parcel”. This has no resemblance to any game we had played when we were young, with the exception of music that started and randomly stopped. There was no parcel. There was no wrapping. There was, however, a series of bowls containing Pom-poms that we had to pass round... and stop when the music did. That was it. 

Update

 It was very cold overnight. The "Beast from East" was threatening and snow was forecast for the eastern side of the the country. Looking at the weather maps, we seemed to be at the extreme edge of the threat. It turned out that other than a couple of snowflakes that didn't even make it to the ground, we remained clear.

The morning was a leisurely affair. The Gorse Fox was helping the Silver Vixen ditch "WhatsApp", starting by informing all her usual contacts. She has now switched over to Signal and iMessage (like the Gorse Fox). Once that was done, the Gorse Fox started to apply the latest update to his watch software. The problem is that, as before, it didn't fit. The cure is to unpair the watch, pair the watch and re-install WatchOS, then restore the backup taken when you unpaired it. This always take significantly longer than you expect. In fact, halfway through the Gorse Fox went round to see Urban-Cub.

The plan was to install the kitchen blind (a Roman blind, not roller blind), and to install her security cameras. The installation of the blind went pretty smoothly. (The Gorse Fox had bought some new, short Fischer wall plugs - which really made the difference). The security cameras weren't quite such a success. The problem is that the base station needs to be connect by Ethernet cable to her network. So far, she is relying on a MiFi, so has no Ethernet port into which it can connect. We took the opportunity to partly charge the cameras, but in the end packed everything away until her Broadband is properly connected.

Back home, the watch was just reaching the last stage of the update and Amazon were due. We had ordered another "Alexa" for the Silver Vixen's new sewing room. (The Gorse Fox had tried to repurpose the one from his study but it was playing up). That package arrived mid-afternoon, and the device was installed in no time. The Silver Vixen is very pleased.

Gone!

It's been a pretty quiet day. It was bright and sunny first thing, though a little chilly. Ellie had woken at 6:30, played in her room for 15 minutes, then came into bed with us until 7:00.

After breakfast the Gorse Fox found himself playing hide and seek with Ellie, while trying to do the odd chores. Pistol Pete came along  in the late morning and collected her for the rest of the weekend.

The double-bed frame that the Gorse Fox advertised on Facebook Marketplace during the week was snapped up. Today, after and exchange of messages, the purchaser came along to collect it. The success was such that the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen have just advertised some more superfluous stuff. We will have to see if that goes too.

G-Force

 It was a misty, but dry and mild start top the day. It was also Urban-Cub's first day back at work after the move. Ellie was dropped off after her breakfast and we took her to Dizzy Ducklings, while Urban-Cub continued to her online course.

There wasn't a vey full agenda for the rest of the day. A few domestic chores, and a few bits in the garden saw us through until it was time to collect Ellie. Once she was back here, she played quietly throughout the afternoon.

Now supper complete, she's getting washed and ready to go to bed in her new, huge, sleigh bed.

That's about it for today.

Some Assembly Required

The day started much as usual. The Gorse Fox was up first and enjoyed his first coffee before the Silver Vixen came down. Breakfast was consumed and the Gorse Fox went off to meet Urban-Cub and Ellie and walk with them to Dizzy Ducklings.

The usual Ocado delivery was followed by the Gorse Fox's weekly visit to Sainsbury's. He was a little surprised on this trip. Though everyone wore masks, and most people were careful about social distancing, there seemed to be a cohort of elderly "ladies" who seemed totally oblivious to the current social mores and had no compunction about stretching over you or standing right next to you. I don't know of they've had their vaccines and felt invincible, but unless it was more than 3 weeks ago, they haven't got their full immunity yet!

At lunchtime, the chaps arrived with the new bed.

Oh that was fun.

Firstly, it was big and heavy. It is a sleigh bed, after all (though we have to supply our own reindeer). Also the instructions were about as legible as the the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the diagrams were inaccurate. This triggered a great deal of head scratching (and the casting of spells, soto voce, against the manufacturer). In the end, we concluded that it would be best to put it all together and see what was left over. Well, the bed has now been assembled and is very sturdy and robust. There are, however, 8 large bolts, 4 smaller bolts, and 8 dowels left over. The Gorse Fox has gone back through the instructions and understands where the dowels were supposed to be. The bolts, however, totally superfluous. No holes that haven't been used, no apparent weaknesses in the structure; just a free gift from a factory in Malaysia.

Urban-Cub and Ellie popped in after school only to be summoned by the electrician who came and knocked to tell her that her fire alarms were going off again. They clearly have a problem with the alarms that needs to be solved quickly. Urban-Cub cannot continue with the alarms disabled, and random alarms are disconcerting, to say the least.

Just Pottering

 It was very wet overnight and the rain was still hammering down when it was time for Ellie to go to Dizzy Ducklings. Urban-Cub decided that, discretion being the better part of valour, she would take her in the car. The Gorse Fox’s early morning walk was “stood down”. 

We had a number of bits and pieces on the schedule, but nothing outstanding. The Gorse Fox dismantled Ellie’s cot-bed to make room for a full sized bed which is due tomorrow. She had clearly outgrown the old cot-bed. The Silver Vixen set about getting the (new) bedding for the new bed washed.

Still aware that Urban-Cub has a a big task ahead at work, the Gorse Fox spent a little more time looking for some apps that may help. He came across Trello. This rang a bell, and the Gorse Fox realised that he had seen it discussed recently by some of his old Starfleet colleagues. He signed up and installed the app. The next hour or so was spent trying to get to grips with how it works and how best it could be used by Urban-Cub. In the end he was very impressed by its simplicity of approach. He told Urban-Cub and it is now installed on her iPhone and iPad.

I popped round to Urban-Cub to put up a rack for her letters and keys. While there, the alarms went off again. Clearly, the fault was not caused by the units themselves. After the Gorse Fox left she contacted the site electrician again. We await a resolution.

The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox met up with Urban-Cub again later and walked down to Dizzy Ducklings to collect Ellie, then leaving them to go their home, we went home and had a quiet afternoon until it was time to go out to “Clap for Cpt Tom”

Mr Shifter

 The Gorse Fox went along to walk Ellie to Dizzy Ducklings this morning. She had had a late night and was a bit quiet this morning. Once home and suitably primed with coffee the Gorse Fox returned to Urban-Cub's in order to pick up some of his tools....

The Silver Vixen's move round continues. Another IKEA shelving unit was moved and placed next to the one we shifted yesterday. Once they were position correctly, the Gorse Fox fixed them to the wall. (They are big and heavy, an if they toppled they could cause a lot of damage - so they are screwed to the wall). Most of the rest of the day was spent reloading all of the shelves, drawers, and cupboards. This was predominantly done by the Silver Vixen as she needs to know where everything is stored. The Gorse Fox helped where he could.

Urban-Cub had some good news. She was contacted by work. Now, you should remember she has only worked for them for 2 months, and is meant to be doing a 6-month training. Despite that she has been asked to go into a large store near Portsmouth, with a young graduate manager, and jointly run the place. Needless to say, she is very pleased and starts in her own store on Monday.

Laundry

 The Silver Vixen didn't sleep well. The Gorse Fox got up as quietly as possible and took her a cup of tea to encourage her no to come downstairs. At the appropriate hour, he slipped out the back door (it's quieter) and went along to meet Urban-Cub and Ellie and escort them to Dizzy Ducklings (and catch up on any overnight news).

Soon after he got back the Silver Vixen emerged and we had a quiet breakfast. During the morning the old bed that Urban-Cub had been sleeping on was photographed and advertised online. It was then dismantled ready to go - or at least ready to get out of the way.

Urban-Cub rang. The washing machine and tumble drier had arrived. The Gorse Fox set off around the corner. The washing machine was quickly prepared (drum locks removed), and then shuffled across the lounge, down the hall, and into the utility cupboard. Graceful as a gazelle, the Gorse Fox leapt over said machine and started the installation. Water pipe fitted and tightened: check. Water switched on and no sign of leaks or drips: check. Waste pipe attached to wall: check. Machine levelled and legs tightened: check. Calibration run completed: check. Urban-Cub can now do laundry.

While all this was going on, an electrician was working on the smoke, heat, carbon monoxide alarms. He was kind enough, when finished, to help the Gorse Fox lift the tumble drier into position.

Today's jobs completed, the Gorse Fox returned home.

The Silver Vixen was reorganising. She has decided that she will acquire the large back bedroom as her sewing room. The old sewing room, which doubled as Ellie's room, will be emptied and a new full size bed acquired for Ellie to use when she's here. We spent the whole afternoon moving bolts of fabric, knick-knacks, books, and heaven alone knows what else. Some went to our bedroom, some were stacked up in the bathroom, some filled half the landing, and some covered the console table. (The Gorse Fox hasn't got a sufficiently wide-screen lens to show it all). Finally, the existing wall unit was empty and could be relocated to Sewing Room 2.0. It was at that point the activity ground to a halt. The unit needed to be attache to the wall... and all of the Gorse Fox's tools were round at Urban-Cub's house. That seemed like a good excuse to break for the day.