Lights

 The day started with the Gorse Fox's usual call with the cousins. This week, cousin Tim has set us a challenge based on the theory of 6 degrees of separation. Each of us was given a target. In the case of the Gorse Fox it was Maria Vane Der Zyl, Chairman of the Jewish Board of Deputies. Now the Gorse Fox has to work out how he would, through contacts (no more than 5), get message to her. A little brain teaser.

Once the call was over we swept into pre-Christmas mode. The decorations were retrieved from the garage and the loft. The Gorse Fox managed the external lighting and the Silver Vixen did what she does best. She worked here way round the tree, the living room, the kitchen, the orangery, and the hall and, bit by bit, the house was transformed. It still seems at least a week too early, but it is done.

Talking of being early, the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen are a tad late with our Christmas cards. While she was busy with the decorations, the Gorse Fox retired to the study and dug out the instructions that he had so carefully written last year. The idea was that these instructions would ensure that the printing of address labels would go smoothly this year.

A great theory.

Microsoft had clearly made another minor change to MS Word. The simple creation of the labels went smoothly, but the suppression of blank address lines again caused problems. With reference to Mr Google, the Gorse Fox is heartened to see that a) he is by no means the only person to have been affected, and b) there was a solution. Having got to the point of printing the labels, he then found that he had insufficient labels remaining. The nice man from Amazon should rectify that tomorrow.

Just to close the loop, the Gorse Fox has updated his instructions on label creation in preparation for next year, by which time Microsoft will, no doubt, have updated Word and changed the damned process again.

To close another loop, the Gorse Fox's cousin Sarah has filled in a document that gives the Gorse Fox permission to get the full detail of his uncle's RAF service history. The Gorse Fox has completed his part of the document and returned it to the RAF.