G-Force

Urban-Cub was back at work today after her week's holiday. She dropped Ellie off with us first thing. Today is an INSET day, which means the school is not open for pupils. In turn, this meant that the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox were in charge for the day.

Ellie was pretty good all day. We tried to get her to play with a spirograph, but the coordination proved too much at the moment. We switched to a jigsaw. This was much more successful. She also did painting, some craft work, and we did some reading with her as well as working on her numbers. She managed to unlock 7 more levels on the numbers app. This was a good performance. During the afternoon we took her to the park so that she could let off some steam.

Alongside all this the Gorse Fox managed to get in to the Post Office and send off his old Apple Watch for a refund and made it to the train station to reclaim the fares for the aborted trip to London for reunion he had organised and Storm Eunice had disorganised.

Clean Bill, and Sacrilege

The Gorse Fox had no football today. It was the only day where he could get an appointment with the Optician. This allowed a very slow and lazy start before he had to head off to Sainsbury's where SpecSavers have an implant. 

Because of his advanced age, the eye test was free - though and extra £10 provided a CT Scan of the back of his eye. For the sake of £10, he felt it was worth it. He was very happy. A completely clean bill of optical health and though there were signs of incipient cataracts the analysis was that it would be many years before they had any impact or needed any treatment. The Gorse Fox was very pleased, given the issues his little sister has had.

Not really too much to report for the rest of the day. The Gorse Fox spent a lot of time trying to work out why the Silver Vixen could not control, or even detect, the Sonos from her phone, but the Gorse Fox could from his. Several hours of research and several re-installs drew a blank. This is a problem for another day.

Talking of the Sonos, the Gorse Fox had a chance to listen to Beth Hart's tribute to Led Zeppelin. Wow! It may be sacrilegious but what an album. She is like a cross between Robert Plant and Janis Joplin and has a voice that is perfect for Led Zeppelin rock. The Gorse Fox is smitten. His analysis would say that the tracks are as good as the originals, and in a few cases (particularly "Kashmir") even better.

Spectacular

The Gorse Fox has managed to find an old pair of glasses. They are wonky. The short vision is the wrong prescription. They are uncomfortable. Thank goodness he has an appointment at the optician tomorrow. Another few weeks or even months without visual clarity would be quite trying. 

You win some...

 It was another lovely, leisurely start to the day. No hurry to get up so the Gorse Fox lay in until 7:30. At 9:00 it was time for the cousins' call. There was nothing much to report but one, who shall remain nameless, was clearly hung-over after a momentous session.

Urban-Cub had entered a competition with the local butcher. She won. This morning she managed to get along and collect £60 worth of meat. This was clearly too much for her, Ellie and Darren. The Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen benefited with a donation of a fresh chicken and 4 huge lamb chops (they called them Barnsley chops) which are the size of beef steaks. There we were trying to run down the freezer, but now it has been topped up again.

The rest of the day has been spent looking at the Canadian/Polish side of the family and trying to fill in more details for Agent Mulder's family. It was quite successful and additional information has now been added to the family tree.

Watch it

 The Gorse Fox allowed himself a lie-in. It was 7:40 before he found his way out of bed. Unfortunately, Jasper had decided to evacuate in the litter tray, so the Gorse Fox spent the first ten minutes sorting out a major dump and the accompanying smells. Once that was sorted out the rich aroma of good coffee overcame the residual smell of cat crap.

The morning was spent on admin. The most pressing item being the accounts, after a few days away. Everything balanced perfectly, so the Gorse Fox was pleased.

A message arrived. DHL would deliver his new Apple Watch today. Ooooh! Exciting! There was no real clue as to when it would arrive so he read the instructions for disabling the old watch and then decided to ignore it until the DHL courier arrived. As it happens he arrived by about 16:30 so the Gorse Fox is now the proud owner of a new watch and it has just finished its set-up process and restored its data from the Gorse Fox's backup.

Most of the rest of the day has been spent on the post-trip washing, by the Silver Vixen and her latest sewing project for Ellie. The Gorse Fox has been doing some family tree tidying up.

Easing back

 We have been easing back into the swing of things today. After a very leisurely breakfast we went along to collect Jasper from the Cattery. He was his usual vociferous self for an hour or so, but has settled down now. Once Jasper was home and settled, we did the weekly shop. As we now have this down to a fine art, it only took about 30 minutes.

The Gorse Fox, still looking like a pretentious prat in his sunglasses, tried to book in to get an appointment at the opticians. Even taking a cancellation, the soonest he could book was April 1st at Boots. In the end he managed to get an appointment for this Sunday at SpecSavers. It will mean missing football, but he would rather get the glasses sorted out than run around chasing blurry figures.

Talking of glasses, the Gorse Fox did notice how expensive his glasses had become using the previous online supplier. They have doubled in price. After a little digging around, he did find another company who worked out even cheaper than the last supplier. He will hang fire until he gets his new prescription.

The rest of the day has been very quiet and relaxed.

Infamy

 Today is a day that will go down in history, a day of infamy. The psychopath Putin has given the order, invaded Ukraine and started a war in Europe the likes of which we have not seen of nearly 80 years. It is a day that will be remembered. It is one of the darkest days in Europe since Hitler.

Here in England we have seen a stirring speech in defence of Ukraine from our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. We have seen a speech of support from the Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer. What is more worrying is that we have seen nearly a dozen Labour MPs sign a letter blaming the conflict on NATO and exonerating Russia. These MPs will also be remembered in history as unfit to hold office, a disgrace on the pages of history.

Too soon

 It was all over too soon. We started to pack before breakfast and The Gorse Fox even took a couple of loads to the car. At the appointed hour we met with J&T in the restaurant for breakfast. Outside, it was bright and sunny, but clouds seemed to be gathering inland.

With breakfast tucked away we finished the packing and loaded the car, Then the four of us took one last walk along the seafront to the end of the promenade and then back to the hotel. We did our goodbyes and J&T headed home via Dart’s Farm, and we headed up to Odcombe (near Montacute). It was a cross-county journey and was beset with diversions. The last of these meant that, in order to get back to the village, we had to traverse some of narrowest lanes and tracks we’ve ever been down. Fortunately the only two vehicles that were coming the other way, met us just as we passed field entrances, giving us room to slide past each other. In Odcombe, it took a few minutes to find the Mason’s Arms, but we got there eventually.

At the pub, we were meeting up with Badger and Mrs Tiggywinkle. The particular pub was chosen because it was (sort of) on our way home, and it was Mrs Tiggywinkle’s family pub. Her family used to come from Odcombe and her mother lived next door but one to the pub. They have family reunions there. It was quaint old pub that has been well cared for and nicely extended out the back.

It was lovely to see the two of them again. We must have known them since the 1980s when they too worked at Starfleet. We have kept in touch ever since. They never seem to change (nor age). As with all good friends, we seemed to pick up the conversations where we left off last time. We chatted about family, our houses (and the management committees for the developments), cars, and family trees (Mrs Tiggywinkle is an avid researcher, like the Gorse Fox).  

We had a lovely lunch but, all too soon, it was time to go our own ways. They headed back to Wellington, and we headed up to the A303 and back home via Salisbury. We finally got in just after 17:00.

The car was unloaded, suitcases unpacked, everything tidied away, and we sank into our armchairs for quiet evening and an early night. It had been a very lovely few days and the Gorse Fox had been thoroughly spoilt for his Birthday.

AMBIGRAM, Palindrome, Birthday

 Well it is an auspicious day. 22022022 a date which is: a palindrome (can be read forwards and backwards), an ambigram (can be read upside down - if you are using a suitable font), and the Gorse Fox’s birthday.

He started the day with various messages of good wishes and by breaking his spectacles. The lenses are fine, but one of the arms has sheared off. Fortunately, he had a pair of prescription sunglasses in the car… and is now wandering around looking like a pretentious prat wearing shades!

After breakfast, we all met up and drove into Exeter for the day. The prime purpose had been to see the Museum of the Moon exhibition in the Cathedral. The trouble was that all the timed entry slots were booked. We decided to go along anyway. We joined a short queue and voila… we were in.

It really was a very special exhibition with a huge model of the moon floating above the nave. People of all ages were there to see the spectacle (though not the Gorse Fox’s spectacles!) 

We wandered around the moon for a while then, cratered out, we took the opportunity to tour the Cathedral. We had a lovely hour or so there. Gasping for a drink we headed back to the High Street, but unlike Chichester, there seems to be a dearth of places to stop for a coffee or snack and those that were there were full. We found our way back to The Ship - a pub near the Cathedral - and managed to get some coffee. We strolled back towards the car, with a brief detour into John Lewis, then head back to Sidmouth.

In the hotel room, the Gorse Fox was greeted by a huge box. This contained a set of balloons. The Gorse Fox had no sooner unveiled these than J&T turned up at our door with cake, Prosecco, and some presents for the old codger. We had a lovely celebration before going our separate ways prior to dinner.

Beer

 With breakfast not scheduled until 9:15 we had a very lazy start to the day. It was a lot brighter, but still windy. By the time breakfast was over the sun started to break through and it has remained sunny for most of the rest of the day.

The Gorse Fox ventured out onto our balcony. With the weather having blown through overnight, this was the view that we couldn’t have seen yesterday.

Our room is right at the corner of the hotel, looking east over the town. It has a huge balcony (much larger than that in the Stateroom we usually occupy). It also has a brilliant walk-in rain shower. This is a room we will request again in the future.

J&T went off and Di their own thing today and we took a stroll into town, did a bit of shopping, then wandered back along the prom to the hotel. There was no firm plan, but we decided that we would visit Beer. It was only 8 miles along the coast so wouldn’t take long to get there.

The concierge at The Vic told us to visit the railway exhibition at Beer. Besides various model layouts there was a beautiful garden and an old Pullman car in which we could have lunch. It seemed like a good starting point and offered lovely views across the village.

In practice, that was all it offered.The gardens were closed, the Pullman car was closed, only the shop and the model railway exhibition remained open. We scampered round the exhibition and then returned to car and headed down into the village.

Beer was very picturesque. Much more so than the nearby Seaton that we visited last time we were down here. It was also a lot quieter.

There is an interesting break in the red cliffs. At Seaton the soft red cliffs give way to thick chalk cliffs reminiscent of East Sussex.

As you can see. The Silver Vixen was well wrapped up. In sheltered spots it was really quite warm, but unless you found such a spot you would be battered by the wind. There were very few hardy would venturing onto the pebbly beach.

We found a seat in The Anchor pub and enjoyed a coffee and a sandwich before venturing back out for a quick patrol of the village to make sure we hadn’t missed anything. Back at the car we set the SatNav to The Vic and made our way back to hotel for quiet hour or so before we head for the bar and dinner.

Brighter

 We had a lovely evening, meeting up with J&T in the bar and then going through to dinner. It was the usual 5-course feast with the girls opting for chicken main course and the boys both choosing calves liver. After a very leisurely dinner we retired to the lounge for some coffee before bringing the evening to a close.

Neither the Silver Vixen nor the Gorse Fox slept very well. The bed was comfortable enough, but we had eaten so much later than usual. It looks much brighter (though not sunny) out this morning. There are no firm plans but we will sort something out over breakfast.

All Bluster

 We were up at the normal time for a “school day”. We grabbed some breakfast and tea (not coffee before a long drive). With the car loaded we set off towards the west. We had a lovely drive across country. The roads were quiet and. Whilst windy, it wasn’t as wet as we had expected.

We arrive at The Vic in Sidmouth before midday. The Porter took our luggage and we went for quiet drink in the lounge. About 10 minutes later, J&T arrived and come to join us. We sat and chatted over some drinks and some sandwiches, watching the wind scour the promenade and a few hearty souls brave the sea.

It was time to stretch our legs so we got togged up and headed down to the prom. Walking east was no problem. The wind drove us along. When we turned back, that was another story and the Gorse Fox had to tow the Silver Vixen along. As usual, we stopped at various shops in the town and a few items of clothing threw themselves onto the credit card.

Once back at the hotel we unpacked and grabbed some tea. We are now having a quiet hour before going down for dinner.

Spa

 Despite having no reason to get up, the Gorse Fox was awake and roaming the house by 6:45. Several coffees kicked him into gear for the day. There wasn't too much planned but there was the morning call with the cousins. As usual, this was fun and provided the Gorse Fox an opportunity to poke fun a those living up north. He explained that we had had a power cut to remind us what living up north would be like... but it only lasted a couple of hours as we had our people fix it.

The next thing on the agenda was depositing Jasper at the cattery. Well, Jasper clearly knew something was afoot. He went into stealth mode. We finally found him digging defensive trenches beneath Ellie's bed. We ignored him. He eventually concluded that he was wrong and nothing was happening. He came down for a snack then went back upstairs to snuggle down in the Gorse Fox's wardrobe shelves. Got him! He was transferred to his carrier and we took him across to the cattery. Once there, he settled down immediately, knowing that his spa treatment would be worth it (the Gorse Fox had suggested to Mark, at the cattery, that he got in some champagne and oysters for Jasper).

Once home, having stopped at the farm shop en route, we had a quiet afternoon and managed to get our packing done. We should be able to make an early(ish) start in the morning.

Plans, why bother

 Storm Eunice was upgraded to Red Alert in our part of the country and across London. Flights from Dublin were cancelled (where one friend was coming from), trains were cancelled or disrupted all across the country. The Gorse Fox’s long planned get-together was clearly a non-starter. As the cancellations came in the Gorse Fox put out a notice to one and all. It was cancelled, but he would rearrange the event for the Spring. The Gorse Fox phoned the restaurant’s owner and explained. He understood and looked forward to our new date. Now the Gorse Fox just has to start the whole process again.

The cancellation was probably a good thing. The local school decided to remain closed. This was probably a sensible solution. The Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen spent the day with Ellie and working through her various exercises, She was very good, though did find it hard to concentrate at times. All of her homework was recorded on “SeeSaw” and her teacher has already seen and marked the material.

Best Laid Plans

 The Gorse Fox thought he would have a lie-in. There was no hurry to get up for Ellie as she was at home. In the early hours, he woke and remembered that he hadn't put the recycling bin out. That was the end of matters with regards to the lie-in. He had to keep waking and ensure he got down to put the bin out at 7:00.

The morning improved after that. No more rushing around and not even an Ocado delivery. As we will be away for a few days, it hardly seemed worth it. A small top-up from Sainsbury's was all we needed.

The weather forecast for tomorrow looks dreadful. Amber and red warnings are in place across the south. The Gorse Fox is meant to be going to London to meet up with his Band of Brothers. As the warning became more strident, old friends started to drop out. The original dozen is now a mere handful. The Gorse Fox still plans to go, as long as the trains are running. In fact, he went along to pick up his train ticket earlier on. With people having made the effort to get here from France and from Ireland, the least he can do is try to get to London from West Sussex.

Storm Dudley

 It was a quiet start. Ellie was back home and Urban-Cub had a day-off. Gorse Fox had a lie-in until 7:10 (there's no sense in over doing it). At the appropriate hour, he wandered round the corner to escort Urban-Cub and Ellie along to school.

Football was on the agenda. The Gorse Fox drove across to Worthing and paid his match fee. Teams were chosen and the Gorse Fox ended up on the Orange team. One look at the mix of players and it was clear that we had our work cut out for us and we would be very lucky to get anything from the game. Despite that, we had held the score to 2-2 at half time. What was nice was that Bone Crusher (Dudley) was back with us for the first time in a couple of years. He has been suffering from problems with his balance and had a great deal of investigation and treatment. He's back, and in the second half he scored one of our goals. Unfortunately, he didn't score more but the yellow team did. The final score was 7-6 to the yellows. The Gorse Fox isn't too disappointed, he felt that the had played well and with the players we had, that was a very good result.

It has been a quiet afternoon. The Gorse Fox was feeling a bit pooped from the morning so he spent much of the afternoon reading before retiring to study for 30 minutes on the family tree.

Sorted

 Ellie threw herself onto our bed at 6:30. She snuggled down under the quilt and lay fairly still until the alarm went off. She was up and about quickly and after breakfast, wash, and dressing she settled down with a large sheet of paper and started copying anything she could see written down anywhere. She is intent on writing and will copy anything she can see, even if it makes no sense.

Once dropped off at school, Ellie disappeared into class and we headed home. The Gorse Fox had decided to skip football today. He wanted to spend the time sorting out the problem with the family tree software. As it happens, that didn't turn out to be a problem. He removed the software and reinstalled from scratch. Voila, everything started to work again. He has spent the rest of the day trying to correct all of the mis-labelled locations.

Urban-Cub phoned. Her latest inventory at the store went well. It wasn't perfect, but it was more-or-less what she had expected.

The Gorse Fox received his new (Navy Blue) Passport today.

Frustration

 Ellie woke at about 6:30 and came into our room and launched herself onto the bed. We did manage to get her to lie still for about 20 minutes, but that was as far as it went. Once she had eaten breakfast she played with her Numicon number shapes and we worked on number bonds for the the number s 9 and 10. By the time that we had to leave for school her brain was properly warmed up.

After some initial admin, the Gorse Fox returned to his research. In the process of wandering through the data he noticed some inconsistencies in the definitions of places. Now the software has a facility to work through and standardise these. Well  that's what he thought. The problem was that it didn't work on the iMac  (Condor) in the way he thought it did. He switched to the Windows laptop (Merlin). It worked as he had remembered it. He then tried the MacBook (Harrier). It worked perfectly on there too. He went onto the support site. No help. He has started to debug it himself. He re-installed a backup copy of the app. No luck. He has now contacted the developer in Germany about disconnecting the software that the Gorse Fox has been testing for him. He awaits a response. It's just like the old days... working through the possibilities and documenting each step of the process.

Ellie had a play date after school. We now have her back with us overnight.

Early Celebration

 Today was a bit of a change from the usual Sunday. The Gorse Fox was not playing football. His dear Aunt and cousins had invited him and the Silver Vixen to meet them in Arundel for lunch as an early celebration of his forthcoming birthday.

The rain started just as we left home. It was a bit of a faff getting a parking spot in the car park, but we managed to get the last but one space. With the rain set in for the day, it was good that we the restaurant was only a few shops away, along the High Street. We met up in La Campania. It gets good reviews in TripAdvisor. and they were well deserved. It was a cosy little spot with a wide ranging Italian menu. The Gorse Fox chose some pancetta wrapped scallops to start, then a Penne Alfonsina as his entree. Both dishes were delightful. Others chose pizza, salmon and prawn salad, and several other dishes - they were all demolished in quick time. 

We sat and chatted (or in the Gorse Fox's case - listened) for a couple of hours. We heard about the new apartment, the fact that nobody talks to dear Aunt because they all keep to themselves, the fact that one of her neighbours invited her for tea (thus not keeping to themselves), the fact that there is only one shop in the village, then a description of at least seven shops in the village... there were several further topics (cycled round several times). It was nice to see them all, but it would have been nice to chat with the cousins.

Leaving Arundel we dropped off at Urban-Cub's house to collect some stuff for Ellie. Pistol Pete would be dropping her off to us and she is staying overnight.

Keen as

 It was another lovely dry and bright day. The Gorse Fox was up and about and ready for his weekly cousins' call. It went, much as usual, with trivia, banter and silly stories. As usual, it was over too quickly.

Betty and Barney Rubble were due, but the Gorse Fox had an hour to do some family tree research. Not much was achieved, but some tidying up was a by-product. Once Betty and Barney arrived we settled down for a chin-wag over coffee and biscuits. We caught up on all the family news and ailments and their current exercise of buying a new car. They seem to be intent on driving a good deal and downsizing to a single car. The current main (only) contender is the Toyota Corolla.

We all headed into Bognor Regis and parked on the front. We had a table booked at Mustard's. We had a lovely lunch. The Silver Vixen started with ham hock followed by fish and chips; the Gorse Fox started with Thai fish cakes followed by calves' liver and mustard mash. We sat and chatted for a couple of hours over lunch then made our way home.

Back home the Gorse Fox put on some tea just as the phone rang. The Silver Vixen answered. It was a dear Aunt. A dear Aunt who is not known for her brevity. A dear Aunt who is known for her repetition. A dear Aunt who we will be seeing tomorrow. The Gorse Fox carried on with some tea and a dessert for Betty and Barney until the Silver Vixen was able to extricate herself and rejoin us.

Time passes

Sometimes time passes without anything of great importance. It was a frosty morning when Ellie was dropped off. Breakfast and ablutions followed before the Gorse Fox was cajoled into playing a form of dominoes with Ellie in the countdown to school.

Back home the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen had some breakfast and then spent the days on our respective projects. For the Silver Vixen this was frustrating. She spent all morning resizing a pattern to make an outfit for Ellie for the upcoming World Book Week. The fabric is all ready, the pattern complete and all was ready to go.

Ding! The alert on our watches called for attention. It was one of a batch of emails from the school. The last of these emails revealed that there would be no dressing up for Work Book Week this year. What a good job the Silver Vixen hadn't got any further.

The Gorse Fox spent his time in the family tree. He had received notification of a DNA match (albeit distant). The information implied a link through his 2nd Great grandfather. He looked at the information and started to expand his own tree down that branch. Remember, only sourced, provable information goes into the Gorse Fox's tree. That's where it fell apart. This person is clearly related - the DNA says so. They are not, however, related the way they think they are. Their tree is unsourced and has a few glaring errors (like Clara's second marriage - two years after she had died). The Gorse Fox hasn't found the correct link yet, but will return to the case at a later date.

Wakeup

 Ellie was awake by 6:30. This meant that we were awake by 6:31 as she leapt into bed with us. The early start did mean that everything was done and dusted by 8:00 so Ellie sat down with grandpa and invented a card game. The Gorse Fox would explain the rules if they had ever become clear. Essentially cards were revealed and some had to have a story with them and gained a point. The others didn't have a story and if a story was forthcoming, you lost a point. The problem was that you never knew whether a story was required until Ellie had made up her mind based on how close you were to reaching her score. The Gorse Fox heaved a sigh of relief when it was time to go to school... he can't take the pressure of a 5-year-old's logic.

Ocado delivered early and then we whizzed round to Sainsbury's. Once home, the Gorse Fox grabbed the slippers that had arrived on Tuesday and took the bus into Chichester. M&S refunded the money without any problem and he looked to see if they had a smaller version that he could replace them with. No. Nothing in his size. He resolved to order online where they did have his size. 

As he left, however, he remembered that there was another shoe shop round the corner, in South Street. He wandered in. There nestling on the display was a very light trainer-style slip-on shoe. This was exactly what he had been seeking. He tried them on. Perfect. Five minutes later he left clutching some new "slippers" which are in fact casual slip-on trainers. He has worn them ever since getting home and is delighted with how comfortable and how light they are.

Yesterday would have been the Gorse Fox's dad's 66th birthday. This got him thinking about the information he has in the family tree regarding him. He went back and realised he had little information about his schooling so did some research on the school to which he and his twin were evacuated at the start of the War. Sure enough, he found some pictures of the school. More interestingly he found a school photo from 1942 and there they were. The twins were sitting near the front, right next to the teachers. The Gorse Fox was very pleased.

Touch up

It was a lovely bright and mild morning. Ellie was at home, so that meant a relaxed start with the Gorse Fox not having to wander round the corner until 8:30. Once home agin, the Gorse Fox got ready for football and headed off to Worthing.

As the Gorse Fox walked in to the Sports Centre he put on his mask and went through to the changing room. A few minutes later, he emerged and strolled towards the pitch. He checked his pocket for the match fees. Nada. The 10-pound note that he had careful put in the pocket had disappeared. He asked at reception. Nope, nothing. He walked back to car; no. He checked the boot; no. It looked as if it had gone. He walked back to the Sports Centre and then, on a whim, decided to check the changing rooms. There it was, nestling on the bench, all alone. That was a relief.

We had a good game today. It was a much more sensible 7-v-7 and the teams were pretty well balanced. The Gorse Fox managed to score a fine goal in the first half.. which ended 2-2; the second half was hard fought and very much end-to-end. The final score was 4-3 to us.

The Silver Vixen had a friend over for the day to discuss the latest sewing project ideas. The Gorse Fox went up to the study and spent most of the afternoon working with some photos received from his cousin. They were pretty poor quality but with some concerted attention the Gorse Fox has managed to significantly improve the quality.

 

Phishing

 They do try.

The Gorse Fox has received an email

Willam Brow <willambrow59@gmail.com>	14:39 (3 hours ago)
to Nortoncustomer58, bcc: me

Dear User,

 

Your 365 days plan for  NORTON 360 PROTECTION has been successfully renewed & restored.

 

The payment will be reflected within next 24 to 48 hrs. on your account record.

well the email goes on to lay out an invoice and claims that it will take 450.51USD in the next 1-2 days, giving Norton 360 coverage for a further year with automatic renewal.

There was the strong whiff of a rodent.

The Gorse Fox doesn't use Norton 360 and hasn't done so for at least 10 years.

The email has the "helpful" comment:

* If you wish to claim a REFUND then please feel free to Contact our Billing Department as soon as Possible.*

 

You can Reach us on   +1  –   (808) – (698) – (0050)

That's not going to happen. That is where they try to trawl for account details. The Gorse Fox has, however, forwarded the email to report@phishing.gov.uk

Ticking by

Urban-Cub was at home this morning so Ellie got ready for school round at home. The Gorse Fox went round at the appropriate time to escort them to school.

Once home, he did a quick change and set off for Worthing and today's football. Unfortunately there are at least 5 regulars out with Covid, so we had to make do with 9-a-side. The sides seemed well balanced, but it was clear that we had a very strong defence. So it worked out. We (the blue team) kept a clean sheet, winning 3-0 in the first game. Our passing and movement was much better than the yellow team. The second game saw another clean sheet, this time it was 2-0. In the final game, we blotted our copy book and allowed one goal in, but score two in return. A thoroughly successful session.

Once home, the Gorse Fox had a quick shower then went round to M&S to collect some new slippers and some chinos. The chinos are fine, but the slippers are huge. They will have to go back and be changed.

Ellie's at home overnight, so all is quiet.

Long to Reign

Ellie was dropped off just after 7:00. She was very excited. In recognition of Her Majesty's 70 year anniversary of accession, the school wanted the children to come dressed as Kings or Queens. Elli had been very doubtful about the whole idea and didn't really wish to participate at first. Then the wind changed and she was very eager to get involved and spent yesterday decorating a crown. She turned up to us in a onesie and coat with her costume and crown in a bag.

We had breakfast and then Ellie went to wash and dress. The Silver Vixen supervised and helped with her costume. She came back down and posed for the paparazzi. 

Finally ready, we headed off to school. It was quite funny to see all these little tots dressed up in their regal paraphernalia, and nice that the school felt that this was a good way to mark the anniversary.

The rest of the day has been pretty quiet. A few bits of admin were ticked off the list, and the Gorse Fox looked at some YouTube videos regrading the use and management of citations and sources in genealogical records. This made him realise that he has a bit of tidying up that needs doing.

Monsoon

 It was a gentle start to the day. There had been a lot of high winds overnight and a bit of rain. The Gorse Fox was pleased that today's football was indoors. As it turned out, he wasn't just pleased, he was delighted. As he headed off to football, the rain started to gather strength. The sky was black. As he pulled into the car park and saw the youngsters preparing for their games on the external pitches, the Gorse Fox remembered what that used to be like. He doesn't miss playing in the pouring rain on thick gloopy mud.

We started to gather inside, ready for our match. There was a sudden influx of youngsters, coaches, parents and siblings. The rain had become a monsoon. The ref said he was calling the games off as he could see across the pitch. There was a lot of very happy parents.

We kicked off at 10:00 with and audience watching through the plate glass. The Gorse Fox's team, in Yellow, worked our way into a commanding lead by half-time. The score belied how close the game was. The difference was that our shots were hitting the net, their were hitting the goalkeeper (and the Gorse Fox). During the break the Gorse Fox went and explained to the "crowd" that the game had slightly different rules, and that most of the players were in the 60s and 70s... so they shouldn't laugh too much. Actually, they commented how much they had been enjoying it... but if it really was walking football, at what point do we start walking?

The second half was more balanced. The Oranges scored 4 quick goals and got the scent of a comeback. The Gorse Fox responded with a goal, an then we got a couple more. In the end, the score was about 11-7 to the Yellows.

It has been a quiet afternoon on the family tree after a cousin sent some updates through for her family.

Morph

 After a lie-in this morning (well, it was 7:20) the Gorse Fox had a coffee and then when the Silver Vixen came down there was leisurely breakfast and the Gorse Fox had his call with the cousins.

It was still quite cold outside when the call was finished, so the Gorse Fox treated himself to another coffee before getting togged up and heading out to the workshop. After this week's little project, it was time to turn the workshop back into a garage. This morphing of the location didn't take as long as usual, but the Gorse Fox did have to leave a couple of batteries on charge... which reminds him; he must go and retrieve them when he finishes this.

The rest of the day has been spent travelling the family tree. The Gorse Fox thinks he has driven his maternal tree back by at least 1 if not 2 additional generations. The problem that he faces is that there is currently insufficient corroborative evidence to be sure he has got it right. The entries are caveated with a warning note in case anyone copies them without checking.

Administrivia

 Ellie wandered in to our room at 6:30 announcing that she was awake and then leaping into bed between us. We had expected her to sleep longer, having had a very active day yesterday, but that's not how things work when you are four.

We followed the usual pre-school protocol and eventually all was ready and opened the door. It was then that it started to rain. Not too heavily, but enough to make the Gorse Fox wish he had worn a hood. Ellie was dropped off and we headed home. As we closed the front door the rain changed from steady to monsoon. We had just escaped the onslaught.

The morning was spent dealing with administrative trivia. The accounts needed to be updated first. this always takes a little longer at the turn of the month. Next, the Gorse Fox had to sort out his train ticket for the lunch he has organised in a couple of weeks. Finally, the task he was looking forward to the least, he had to update his travel insurance with the Age Premium now that he is about to turn 70. As before, he tried to do it online as they recommend. As before, the process just fails. He then phoned. As before, he was added to a queueing system. Estimated wait was 15 minutes but there was an option of a call-back. He wasn't too hopeful, but chanced the call-back. He was pleasantly surprised that, before long, his phone rang and he was talking to someone who could help. Ten minutes later, the age premium was paid and our Travel Insurance is good to go.

Standards and Backups

 Ellie leapt into be between us at about 6:30. We had about 10-15 minutes of peace before she started to fidget like a Mexican jumping bean and make as much noise as a passing Mariachi band. The Gorse Fox got up - resistance was futile.

Once the usual morning routine was complete and Ellie had been deposited at school, we settled in for breakfast and coffee while waiting for our Ocado delivery. Then it was the top-up run to Sainsbury's and a diversion on the way home to the Pet Food Warehouse for some food for Jasper. By the time we got home it was lunchtime.

This afternoon the Gorse Fox got distracted by a Facebook post that talked about archival storage. He picked up on the theme and posted a response about data backup and recovery. This, in turn, triggered various questions which culminated in a short dissertation on setting up backups. Additionally, the discussion on archival methods didn't address the issue of naming conventions for various filetypes within the archive. This triggered another long post from the Gorse Fox which seems to have struck a chord with a number of people. He hopes it helps.

After school, today, Urban-Cub took Ellie for her first swimming session. From now on these will be every Thursday. Apparently, she absolutely loved it and is now back here for the night as Urban-Cub has another early start.

Complete

 The Gorse Fox managed to spray a top coat on the shelf before heading off to football. The glue had set and the little unit seemed to be quite robust. It would be all read for when the Gorse Fox got back (and Amazon had delivered the French cleat).

Football was a very pleasant hour in the mild winter sun. We had the 7-v-7 that we prefer at Worthing. The game was played in a good spirit and the Gorse Fox suspects everyone had fun. We had a sound defence today, and our attack was competent. By half time the score was 2-2. The second half was more lively, but there was only one goal... for us. A very satisfying game.

Back home the man from Amazon delivered just as the Gorse Fox was finishing lunch. This was good as it meant that he had the afternoon to finish his panel for the man-cave. In the end, it has gone together rather well. The Gorse Fox may make a few small modifications to tidy up the hidden cabling. He must also test whether, as he suspects, his Sonos bridge is no longer necessary. If it is necessary, then he will have to make a few mods to the panel to accommodate it.

Urban-Cub had a day off today, so Ellie is with her after school. She will, however, be sleeping here tonight as Urban-Cub has a 5 a.m. start.

Just an observation... at 22 minute past 8 this evening the timestamp will be 2022-02-02 20:22; the only other date coming up with a similar numerological significance is the Gorse Fox's birthday 2022-02-22 at 02:02, 02:22, 20:02, or 20:22 - then you will have to wait until 3033-03-03 for anything similar. The Gorse Fox suspects he won't remember to comment on that one.

Paint and Glue

 Ellie slept through until 6:15 when she needed a trip to the bathroom. She went back to bed, but at 6:30 when her nightlight turned yellow she pattered into our room and leapt into bed between us. After about ten minutes she started to fidget and soon after the Gorse Fox decided it was time to get up. We went through the usual regime and Ellie was ready for school early. This gave her time for a board game with grandpa... which we were still playing when Urban-Cub arrived. We walked `Ellie round to school and went our separate ways. It was the Urban-Cub'c day off but whilst feeling a little better, she was still suffering a bit.

The Silver Vixen had a day out planned. She and her friend were meeting up at West Dean gardens for a day of wandering around, chatting, drinking tea, and taking photos. The Gorse Fox waved goodbye and then got on with his plans. He quickly drew up a rough outline of the new panel for the man-cave; did some estimating and wrote a shopping list. B&Q was the next stop. Some 3.5mm ply and some 15mm ply was dropped onto the trolly along with some battening and some quadrant. Spray primer and spray paint completed the purchase. Now the Gorse Fox just had to go and created something. The garage was converted back into a workshop and the fun commenced.

Like all projects, it took longer than expected. In fact, the Gorse Fox has not finished. The panel has been cut to size and painted (two coats). Also, the semi-enclosed shelf for the broadband router has been constructed with the help of Gorilla glue contact adhesive. It too has been primed but there is no top coat yet. The Gorse Fox always forgets to factor in the curing or drying times for glue and paint. A French cleat is on order to hang the panel, but that won't arrive until tomorrow.