Day 2

 Unusually, Ellie had a disturbed night. Getting up to go to the loo a couple of times, and having a dream that had her calling out in her sleep. This meant that the Silver Vixen also had a disturbed night. The Gorse Fox, however, had a far better night's sleep that the night before. By later evening, he had a niggling dry cough, so decided to have a drink of hot honey and lemon. This seemed to settled the cough and he had no problems overnight.

Today, C19-Day2 he feels fairly chipper. The cough has re-surfaced, but other than occasional sneezing, the Gorse Fox feels all right. We had our usual delivery from Ocado during the morning but decided not to do the top-up in Sainsbury's as there was no rush.

The rest of the day has been pretty quiet. The Silver Vixen had an appointment at the hairdresser. Urban-Cub has just dropped off Ellie as she will be staying overnight again.

The Knack

The Gorse Fox had an uncomfortable night. He had the hot dry throat that is, so often, the harbinger of a cold. By the time he went to bed, he had an unpleasant catarrh. Sleep was not forthcoming. When he did drift off, a bought of coughing would wake him. When he finally got up, he felt a bit under par and decided that football would not be a good idea. A quiet day at home was re-planned.

The Silver Vixen and Urban-Cub were going out for a day at Haskins Garden Centre. The Gorse Fox used the time to do some further refinements to his photo filer. He also took a Lateral Flow Test. The instructions say you should wait 30 minutes to see the results. The Gorse Fox's result had stabilised in about 5 minutes... "Dooby dooby do do...my Corona" (as The Knack once sang). Having avoided it for two years, he has finally succumbed. To be fair, he doesn't feel too bad... he still has his sense of smell and taste, he has a dry cough (but not all the time), and just feels a degree or so under the weather. He will, however, isolate at home until he is clear. (This meant cancelling our planned lunch with the Silver Vixen's sister and brother-in-law on Saturday).

We have Ellie with us over night, so the Gorse Fox will have to try and stay clear.

Birthday

 It's Ellie's fifth birthday. This meant that we both had to go round to see her before school and wish her a Happy Birthday and see the presents that she opened. She was very excited, but not to the point of being silly. We dropped her off at school and headed home. The Silver Vixen had arranged to go shopping with Urban-Cub. The Gorse Fox had football.

He headed across to Worthing. The forecast was not encouraging and it was spitting with rain as he left home. Actually, it had stopped by the time he had arrived and got changed. It was a bit chilly though. He was picked in a fairly good team again this week. Again, it was a team that moved well and worked hard. Despite that, we lost the first game 1-0. Our other full-back had stopped when the ball went out. The problem was that the ref didn't think it had crossed the line and allowed the game to continue. The Gorse Fox tried to get across from the other wing to intercept but wasn't quick enough. The second game was also a 1-0 loss, but we can't complain. It was a good, well-worked goal. The final game (against a team that'd just won two games on the trot 4-0) we seemed to come into our own. We were 3-0 up until the final kick of the game, when the finally clawed one back.

The Gorse Fox thinks he has mentioned a medical emergency that occurred on the pitch a few weeks ago. The victim came in to see us and to thank everyone for their intervention and support and explain what had happened. Apparently, his heart muscle was fine, his valves were fine and his veins and arteries all looked very healthy. He was fit, and he had no warning signs. As he said "One minute I was enjoying a game of football and the next thing I knew I was in the back of an ambulance" (and that was 90 minutes later). It turns out that he had the same syndrome that caused Christian Ericsson to collapse during last Summer's Euros. The electrical impulses that drive the hear "short-circuited". He now has a form of pacemaker and defibrillator in his chest and is well on the mend. He won't be returning to football, however.

This afternoon, we decorated the family room ready to have a little family tea party for Ellie. We had several presents here for her, and it was chance to celebrate with Urban-Cub and Cousteau-Cub. 

Silver Vixen and Urban-Cub collected her from school and Cousteau-Cub arrived just as they were getting home. She opened her presents and having played with the items themselves, also decided that there was mileage in the boxes in which they were packed.

There were lots of snacks and nibbles, some scones, some sausage rolls, and some cake. We had a lovely hour or so. They have all gone home now. Silence has descended and we have just finished clearing up and tidying away the decorations

Photos

A nice easy start to the day. The Gorse Fox went round to take Ellie to school and then hung on to see the parents of Ellie's friend Tyke. It's his birthday today and we had a little present for him. They were clearly running late and in the end the Gorse Fox brought the present back home. It could be handed over at the end of the day.

The Gorse Fox retuned to the photos. He tidied up and simplified the code and started to test. The code seemed to do everything that was asked of it during the testing. Then, he ran it against a real download of photos for the library. It started but then hung. He tried to fund the culprit. Eventually, he tracked down a small cluster of files that caused the problem. But why? After some digging about he realised these photos didn't have any "exif" data. They had originally been sent via social media, then uploaded by Urban-Cub. The trip through social media (WhatsApp) had stripped all the useful information. This was a case for which the Gorse Fox had not planned. In the end, the code was changed. These files are now reported and no attempt is made to file automatically. These will require manual intervention.

Mothers' Day

 As it was Mothers' Day we had no football today. Instead, the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen had a quiet morning. The Silver Vixen pottered in the garden and the Gorse Fox returned to the study to file away some of the recent photos. This latter task revealed some anomalies. The way that the original information regarding the photo "jpg" had been stored was not being extracted as it should. The Gorse Fox had to return to his code. It took a while to track down, but eventually the problem was resolved. ~When he gets some time he will return to the code and retest all of the variations.

We were scheduled to go out for lunch mid afternoon. The Gorse Fox went and collect Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit so that they didn't have to worry about the car. 

Urban-Cub and Ellie came round and then we all headed off to "Fino" at Felpham. It was a super Italian restaurant run by acquaintances of Zoe's friend. We settled down at the table and waded through the menu. The Silver Vixen started with the tomato and mozzarella salad, followed by lasagne. The Gorse Fox started with a (frito mixto) sharing platter of fish, then had the pepperoni pizza. The Coventry Hobbit and Urban-Cub also had pizza, while Cousteau-Cub had sea bass. Ellie had chicken with chips. It was an absolute feast. Clearly, we were not the only ones who thought so, as the restaurant was packed and remained so all afternoon.  

It really was a very lovely afternoon, having the whole family together to celebrate this special day.

Party Time

The Gorse Fox started the day with the customary cousins' call. 

Today, he chose this as his Zoom backdrop. It was, after all, a chance for the cousins to see his potting shed in the garden!

The call went well and we had the usual banter, which always makes the call worthwhile.

With the call over, the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen prepared for bedlam. Today, Ellie and her young friend Tymek were holding a joint party to celebrate their impending birthdays. 

We arrived in plenty of time and those present were Uber-excited. The Gorse Fox was beginning to wonder if ear-defenders would have been appropriate headwear. 

It was a little disappointing that several of the friends couldn't make it, but this that did had good fun in the soft-play area and at the table. Certainly everyone was on a sugar-rush by the time they left. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, which is what counts. The Gorse Fox took plenty of photos and videos and has shared them with those that matter.

The Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen had a quiet afternoon in the garden, enjoying the sun and the peace.

Multizone

 We had the usual start to the day, with Ellie being dropped off at about 7:15. After she had enjoyed breakfast, Grandpa had to join her upstairs to play with Peppa Pig toys until the Silver Vixen was ready to get her washed and dressed. We dropped her at school without incident.

The Silver Vixen had a day out with Cousteau-Cub scheduled. She headed off and left the Gorse Fox to his own devices. In this case they were the iMac (Condor) and Nest thermostats and Smart plugs. First on his agenda, however, was to book for the upcoming Over 65s' Lunch for the Old Columbans.

That done, the Gorse Fox delved in to the mysteries of the the Nest thermostat. He determined that he needed a multilane device - not just dual zone. He watched various videos and read what he could find. In the end, he phoned a chap that had been recommended by a neighbour because his own conclusion was that this would be an expensive change that would reap few (if any) benefits. The chat with the Nest engineer confirmed his own conclusion. For a house, like ours, with five separate thermostats and zones, this would be an extraordinary outlay and would be unlikely to break even, let alone save money. Plan B was required. The Gorse Fox is now trying to develop said plan.

While researching, the Gorse Fox saw a description that he liked. It was of "vampire devices". These are electronic devices that consume energy even when you are not using them or needing them. The Gorse Fox has a number of these devices and now that, as a rule, the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox are by ourselves, we can predict our usage of such devices. He spent some time looking for some smart, programmable plug sockets that he can set to power down when they clearly are not needed. The nice man for Amazon should bring some tomorrow and the Gorse Fox can start experimenting.

Finally, the Gorse Fox sought some further backdrops for Zoom for tomorrow's cousins' call. Several have been downloaded and he will choose in the morning.

Now that was lazy

 Though Ellie leapt into bed with us just before 6:00 this morning we licked her out by 6:30 as she would lie still. We managed another 30 minutes before starting the day. Everything seemed to run like clockwork, and we were one of the first at the school.

Back home we had had a lazy breakfast waiting for Ocado. They turned up towards the end of their delivery slot so we were running a little later than usual when we headed off to Sainsbury's. Once we had completed the top-up, the Gorse Fox went back to SpecSavers to look for some sunglasses. His old pair were alway too tight and now that he has a new prescription, it was worth changing them. He tried on several pairs. Some were too tight, and some didn't feel right. In the end he found a pair that he liked and of which the Silver Vixen approved. The assistant took the relevant measurements and card was flashed. In 10 days, the Gorse Fox should have a nice new pair of sunglasses.

Back home, the accounts were the top of the agenda, followed by some lunch, and then a quiet hour in the Orangery with the Silver Vixen. She went off with Urban-Cub to collect Ellie from school. Meanwhile, the Gorse Fox returned to Polish parish records. Ninety minutes later he was going boss-eyed and hadn't found any relevant records. He's beginning to wonder if he needs to search further afield.

Park life

The Gorse Fox walked round to Urban-Cub to escort her and Ellie round to the school. The Silver Vixen was meant to have an appointment with her hairdresser, but Covid has intervened so the appointment slipped to next week.

The Gorse Fox headed off to Worthing for football. His legs felt heavy after yesterday, but he soon got moving and loosened up. It was a hard game. Our team really only had two mobile players. Jamaica Mark led the attack, and the Gorse Fox managed the defence. The other stood like statues at various parts of the field. The Gorse Fox found himself filling in the attack then shoring up the defence. By half-time he was really feeling it. Scores at half-time were 2-2. As the second half began, the other team seemed to spread their play better. This, however, meant that they were leaving gaps. The Gorse Fox exploited these and three times managed to thread the ball to front for one of our number to slot it away. Final score was 5-2 to us.

We had a quiet afternoon until we collected Ellie. We took her to the park by the school and let her play with her school friends for a while to let off steam. Once we got home we did some numbers (simple arithmetic) and some reading with her. She really is progressing well.

HMCS Ontario

 The Gorse Fox's father was in the Royal Navy and was assigned to HMCS Ontario as his first ship. As a result he spent at least a year or 18 months assigned to the Canadian Navy. The Gorse Fox wrote to them before Christmas asking for details of his posting. They have finally got back.  

Nada. 

Not a thing. 

As far as they are concerned they have no records of his, or his twin's time on board.  This is deeply frustrating. It seems that even the Gorse Fox has more knowledge of the Minotaur class light cruiser and its first mission in the Far East than the Canadian Naval records.

Early

 Jasper decided to yowl just after 5:00 this morning. The Silver Vixen told him to be quiet. It was no good, the damage was done. The Gorse Fox was awake. He forced himself to stay in be until 7:00, but should really have got up immediately. He get a bit stiff and aches if he lies in.

Ellie was dropped off and we we followed the usual schedule. Once she was at school, the Gorse Fox changed into his football gear and headed for Worthing. Th Silver Vixen was meeting up with a friend in LA so we were sorted.

The teams were selected slightly differently today. It worked well. They seemed to be more even than usual. The Gorse Fox was on the green team and took up his usual position at the centre of defence. It was a hard game requiring plenty of blocks and interceptions from us at the back. Meanwhile, our attack had managed to score and the game finished 1-0. The second game was also hard. We scored a couple of times, but they responded each time. We got the final goal, hover to finish the game 3-2 winners. The final game was "all in". This means that we don't play this 3-touch nonsense and can get on with some real football. Agin, it was hard fought. Again, as we scored our first, they responded. Then the Gorse Fox got a chance to surge through the middle and from a lovely cross, bury the ball in the back of the net. We had control, and this time we didn't let it slip. We finished off with one more goal as the final whistle blew. 3-1. Over all it was a very good session and immensely enjoyable.

Nine

 It's an important day. Not only is it the beginning of Spring, but it also Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit's ninth wedding anniversary. An auspicious day by any reckoning. The Gorse Fox tried to call them, but they are obviously out and about. He just hopes that they have had a wonderful day.

Messages

 We have long had a problem. The Silver Vixen's iPhone would not sync and would not handle iMessages from the iPads to Android devices. The Gorse Fox has looked into this on numerous occasions and every solution he tried failed. He tried again. He found a different suggestion on Google and followed that. Two check boxes later and everything burst into life. At last.

It's been fairly quiet today. Ellie was dropped off before school and we went through the usual morning process and then took her to school. The Silver Vixen was out at an appointment for much of the morning. The Gorse Fox pottered about with some household chores. As he completed those he found a problem with the mesh network. It wasn't linking to the internet router correctly. He went into debug mode. It didn't take too long and restart was all that was needed.

We collected Ellie from school and gave her dinner, Then we took her home to get ready for bed. Urban-Cub arrived a few minutes later.

Up and Out

 Some might expect the Gorse Fox to have a lie-in after last night's dinner. Not a chance. The Gorse Fox was up, showered, dressed and packed soon after 7:30. The hotel breakfast sitting wouldn't start until 8:00, so it was time for another walk.

He headed straight for the Abbey. The peel of bells provided a background to the wonderful morning. The precincts were almost empty and the Gorse Fox could wander round in utter serenity.

The Gorse Fox loves St Albans.

As the bells chimed 8:00, the Gorse Fox headed back to the hotel and settled down for breakfast. The room quickly filled up. The hotel, small as it was, was clearly full. After the full English, he checked out and got on the road.

The journey home was a lot quieter than yesterday and he was home by 10:30.

This afternoon we were invited round to Urban-Cub's for Sunday Lunch. Urban-Cub doesn't do a roast lunch by halves. Huge trucks were brought in to provide the potatoes, the parsnips, the cabbage, the peas, the pork, and the crackling. A tanker delivered the gravy. It was a feast and it was absolutely delicious.

Reunion

 Well, yesterday's school reunion was a splendid evening. The Gorse Fox took a taxi from the hotel and arrived just as another group went in. Once signed in, he was offered a tour of the school but having done that a couple of years ago, he declined.

The Gorse Fox made his way through to the Alumni Hall and started to chat with all and sundry. Some, from his class, some from the years above him, and many from the years below. Beer and wine were on tap to ensure everyone was kept hydrated.

We made our way through to the canteen and settled down for a feast. The Gorse Fox chose a starter of Smoked Salmon & Mackerel Scotch Egg, Horseradish & Herb Salad; this was followed by Herb Crusted Salmon & Horseradish Beurre Blanc; and to finishSticky Toffee Pudding & Butterscotch Sauce (after all, it was a school meal).

It was lovely to sit and chat for two or three hours and to reminisce about our school days and catch up on the inventing 52 years.

Everything started to break up around 11 p.m. The Gorse Fox was offered a list by an old friend and was back at the hotel by 11:15 and in bed by 11:30.

He would certainly make the effort to attend any further event of the same type.

Up North

The day started quietly. The sun was shining and there was no sign of any clouds. We had wall-to-wall blue. It was perfect.

The Gorse Fox had his cousins’ call. It was time for another windup, so he searched out a suitable Zoom background and then presented himself in a huge open plan living room with panoramic views across Table Bay. When Tim saw it, he commented on our Filipino maids wandering into shot. The Gorse Fox explained they had strict instructions that he should not be disturbed and should remain below stairs until the call was complete.

The Gorse Fox also explained that he had to head up north. It is, after all, the school reunion for his and the two subsequent years (thanks to Covid). He headed off soon after lunch and a couple hours later he was checked into one of the smallest hotel rooms he has ever been in. In fact, in the en suite the ceiling is so low that his head brushes it if he doesn’t duck. (The bath has been sunk into the floor to allow room for a shower).

The Gorse Fox has wonderful memories of St Albans and, by arriving early, he had time to wander around. He remembers how, after getting off the bus at the top of Holywell Hill he would walk (on nice days) down past the Cathedral. Usually, at the time he went by, the choir would be practising. It was wonderful. The entry to the Cathedral through Sumpter Yard is directly opposite his hotel. That was first stop. As if they knew he was coming, the choir was there practising. It brought a lump to his throat.

After touring the Cathedral (the Gorse Fox always things of it as the Abbey, not Cathedral for some reason) he wandered into the town up past French Row and into the market square where there was a full Saturday market in progress. He stopped every now and again to try and remember the old shops (now replaced) and chat with some of the older market stall holders. He headed back down St Peter Street to where he would catch the bus. The old Cinema, in whose foyer he would shelter in bad weather, has long gone and been converted into a number of shops.

He headed back to the park surrounding the Cathedral and tried to retrace his route to school. He found the path down to “Ye Olde Fighting Cocks” (reputedly the oldest Inn in England having been occupied sine Roman times) then along towards the lake and then school. He couldn’t complete the old walking route as they have now built an athletics track and a golf course across the old fields and footpaths he would use.


He is back at the “The White Hart” and has a couple of hours before he needs to head to school.

Vomit

Ellie didn't stir until 6:45. Even that seemed early, given the disturbed evening we had with her. Lesson: don't allow her to drink coke after swimming.

Urban-Cub arrived in time for her and the Gorse Fox to escort Ellie round to school. By the time he got back, the Silver Vixen was heading out to the Optician in order to collect he new glasses. The Gorse Fox used the time to catch up on the accounts and write to the landscaper about some work we want done in the garden.

Later in the morning we headed in to Chichester. The Silver Vixen wanted to look at some shoes and the Gorse Fox had an appointment with the chiropodist. The Silver Vixen was unable to find any shoes that she liked. She did, however, have her feet scanned and analysed in Shuropody. This was very interesting and showed that she rolled one of her feet as she walked.

Lunch was next on the agenda. We stopped at Crispin's. It is always good value and excellent food. The Silver Vixen had a huge Belgian waffle whilst the Gorse Fox enjoyed a Chicken and BLT.

Back home, the first order was to deal with all of the cat vomit. Jasper had clearly been unwell. He had left his outpourings in the hall and all over the living room. (In fact later, the Gorse Fox found that he had also "blessed" the Silver Vixen's sewing room). This was no small "gift". This was epic. The Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen spent the next 30 minutes trying to return the carpets to an acceptable state. Suufice it to say, that there was more to come later in the day... and will will clearly have to monitor him.

Old Bill and Tinkerbell arrived back from Jamaica. We had their security fob, so they popped in to see us. The Silver Vixen was out collecting Ellie from school with Urban-Cub. The Gorse Fox dealt with them and heard their analysis of the holiday, some of which was a little concerning for the future of SRP... greed, however, tends to overtake good taste and refinement. Time will tell whether their plans will work. 

Talking of fish

 Well, Ellie slept through until just before 7:00. In fact the Gorse Fox was about to get up anyway. The morning followed the usual agenda with the exception that Urban-Cub managed to pop in to walk with us to school. She had already done several hours work, and would be going to work later.

After breakfast we had the usual shopping delivery and then headed off for the top-up shop at Sainsbury's. The school is doing a collection for Ukraine, so while we were at the shops we picked up a load of additional items that we could donate.

Once everything was packed away, the Gorse Fox had to do something about our corner of the Sahara. He hoped the hose would be enough, but that proved totally inadequate. Out came the jet-wash. Slowly, the patio reverted from a pinkish covering of sand to the black porcelain that it was designed to be. Once the patio was done (and the patio furniture), the Gorse Fox headed out to the front to give the cars a good hose down. Soaked, but satisfied he tidied away.

This afternoon we had to collect Ellie from school then take her to her swimming lesson. She did really well. She was able to put her head in the water, to go under, to move round on her back though not quite float. SHe's not quite a fish yet, but she'll get there like Urban-Cub and Cousteau-Cub.

Goodbye and thanks for all the phish

As yesterday evening wore on, a message came in. 

Barclays: A payment attempt of £489.49 to Apple Inc was declined, if this was NOT you. Please visit: https://barclays....

The Gorse Fox did a double take. Why would his card be declined? What had he bought from Apple (this time)? 

Then it occurred to him... this is a phishing scam. But he still had nagging doubts. In the end, the Gorse Fox called the Barclaycard fraud line and chatted with them. They do not send out texts. There was no attempted activity on his card. This was an attempted fraud. The Gorse Fox was delighted that a) there was no attempt to use his card, and b) he recognised an attempted phishing scam.

Today has been fairly typical for a Wednesday. The Gorse Fox headed off to Worthing where we played 5-a-side football. The match was very one-sided. Unfortunately, not in our favour. This was predictable from the outset, but the organiser had set the teams wasn't in a mood to change them. In the end the Gorse Fox claimed that should he visit the Alamo again, he would scratch his name in the monument as he now understood how they felt.

There is a plume of Saharan dust high in the atmosphere. The rain we have had today has deposited several dunes and a small oasis on the car. It is pointless trying to clean it until the plume has cleared the country.

Ellie is with us again tonight. Urban-Cub's week goes from bad to worse as the break-in is followed by several more of her staff going down with Covid (on top of those already off with it). The problem is that Lidl run lean and mean and there is nobody to take up the slack or step in. 

Urodzonych

 Well that was an interesting night. Unusually Ellie did not sleep through. In fact, at 1:28 she came and plonked herself in our bed. The Silver Vixen determined that she was cold. After a while, once warm again, the Silver Vixen took he back to bed and tucked her in. She slept through from that point.

She was the lucky one. Soon after 2:00, Urban-Cub received a call from the alarm company. Her supermarket had been broken into. The police were on their way and she had to ge and meet them. So it was that he day began many hours earlier than scheduled. The worst part was, other than the damage, the whole incident was for the theft of a few bottles of vodka, several of which got dropped and broken in the escape.

We had no idea this was going on. It was only when we were sorting Ellie's breakfast that we got the call from Urban-Cub to tell us. There was nothing we could do, so we continued the usual morning protocol and got Ellie off to school.

With Old Bill and Lady Penelope returning from Jamaica in the next 48 hours, the Silver Vixen went and retrieved their milk from the freezer and left it to defrost slowly, so that they could make some tea when they got home. The Gorse Fox, meanwhile, sorted himself out and headed across to Worthing for football.

Football was interesting. It was clear from the start that our team was the weakest. We fought hard but lost the first game, 2-0. The second game was a similar score. The worrying part was that our attack hadn't had a single shot in either game. The Gorse Fox, however, had had four our five shots, coming through from defence. (They were all saved, or off target). In game 2, the Gorse Fox turned to find a player on all fours. The play had not been close to him. He was suffering a dizzy spell. We stopped the game and forced him to leave the pitch - refusing to restart the game until he had gone. The silly so-and-so sat out the next few minutes but then rejoined the action in the 3rd game.

The Gorse Fox played a few minutes in goal, during the last game. He saved several blistering shots, but also let a few in. The problem was that our team were tiring and there was, quite literally no defence. It was encouraging that as the Gorse Fox took one thunderbolt in the chest, his watch switched into emergency mode and checked that he hadn't fallen, and was all right. If he hadn't;t cancelled it, it would have called emergency services.

Bay home this afternoon, the Gorse Fox has been looking at Polish parish records (particularly birth - urodzonych- records). Fortunately, many are written in Latin, which the Gorse Fox can interpret moderately well. The Polish ones, however, are another matter. The problem he has is that the specific records for which he is looking are remaining hidden at this moment

(The Silver Vixen has been out with a friend all day. They went up to an exhibition at Ramster Gardens and she only got home at about 17:15).

Sad news

 The doorbell rang during breakfast. It was Tinkerbell. She was clearly distraught. Apparently, her next-door neighbour (on the other side) had passed away overnight. It was not unexpected, in that she was suffering from terminal cancer. Expected or not, it is always a sad time for the family and they will need a lot of support over the coming weeks.

Success

 It was a quiet start as Urban-Cub wasn't due into work until a bit later. This meant that the Gorse Fox could wander round to escort them to school at about 8:30, but could chill until then.

Once breakfast was over, the Silver Vixen disappeared upstairs and the Gorse Fox pottered round to the barber shop. The Kurdish barber (who speak excellent English) was on a 3-way call with his father (who doesn't) and their energy company. He was busy prompting his father through the various menu options until they got to a customer service agent. At that point he dropped off and left his father to it. The Gorse Fox suspects that was a difficult call for the agent.

As usual, the Gorse Fox received the full treatment from the barber and left feeling renewed. (Though it was a bit chilly round the ears).

The Gorse Fox put an entry on a Polish Genealogy forum. Within the hour he had a very useful response and copy of the certificate that he was seeking. This afternoon, he delved further. Several further certificates were forthcoming. Agent Mulderski's family is beginning too make sense (but only beginning).

We collected Ellie from school. She will be staying with us overnight.

Under Seige

The Gorse Fox had a quiet start to the day but by 9:00 he was heading across to Ford for football. It was just as well that he left early. The car park was already filling up and the last thing you need is to be searching for places to park.

The Gorse Fox forecast that he was in for a torrid time. The way the teams had fallen, he knew that he would be on the wrong end of a tonking. As is so often the case, it started well enough. Their best player started in goal. We managed to hold things at 3-2 for half time (one of those goals being from the Gorse Fox). In the second half, their best player came out onto the pitch. All hell broke loose. Goals were flying in all over the place. The Gorse Fox was trying to defend and to help attack. He almost doubled his usual caloric burn for the session. In the end, we lost 13-9. It could have been worse, but not a lot!

The Gorse Fox has had a very lazy afternoon. He spent most of it sitting in the Orangery and some of it reading the fine print on the inside of his eyelids.

A quiet day

 The Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen have had a quiet day. There was the usual cousins' call at 9:00 but nothing else sullied the schedule. On the call., it was good to hear that one of the Aussie cousins has got his flights booked to attend their reunion. The Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen will also be there, and it will be nice to meet them all in person. Zoom, somehow, doesn't quite make the grade.

The Silver Vixen was intent on tidying up the front garden. The Gorse Fox doesn't get too involved, unless there is something that demands his intervention. Today his focus was on unwrapping the back garden. Chairs and tables were moved back into position, and waterproof covers were laid out to dry and then folded and stowed until next winter.

The rest of the, glorious, cloud-free day was spent working on the ancestors of Agent Mulderski. The Gorse Fox has to conclude that he (Agent Mulderski) has far more cousins than he could have imagined. The biggest problem remains that facts that a) access to Canadian vital records is crap; and b) there is even less online access to Polish records.

On a completely separate note, the Gorse Fox has football in the morning and having run his team selection algorithm, he has no doubt that he will be on the losing side tomorrow.

Conundrum

 Urban-Cub dropped Ellie off this morning, soon after 7:15. Unfortunately, Jasper had been awake and prowling all over us from about 6:00 so we were awake earlier than necessary.

There was a craft day at school today, so Ellie didn't have to wear uniform - they were likely to get mucky. As we have had a lot of rain today, she got wet as well. Anyway, we dropped her off at school and headed home for breakfast.

Once we were suitably caffeinated and fed we popped around to the community centre to drop off some more supplies destined for Ukrainian refugees in Moldova. The collection didn't seem as busy today, but it was good to see that people were still contributing.

Back home the Silver Vixen returned to her sewing project and the Gorse Fox to his research in Agent Mulderski's family. He has come across a conundrum.

We have a conundrum regarding the Mulderski family at the time of their emigration to Canada from Britain.

What we know

John Mulderski’s memoirs (written in 1941) tell us about their stay in England and Scotland (1876-1884):

1. A baby, Mary, was born while they were in Cheshire. She survived and ended up in Chicago.
2. A second child was born, but died soon after being baptised.
3. The family moved to Leith, Scotland
4. Another child was born, and Christened Magdalena
5. A further child was born but did not survive and is buried in Leith

Why we are confused:

1. The UK General Register Office (GRO) has a birth registration for MARYA MAGDALENA MULDERSKI in 1881 and a death registration under the same name, the same year (same quarter); this would correspond with event 2, above
2. Parish register for Middlewich, Cheshire shows the baptism of a MARGARITA MULDERSKI in July 1881. (This is the same quarter in which MARYA MAGDALENA was born/died).
3. No further registration or baptismal information is evident from the GRO or Parish Registers in a 5 year period.
4. Were MARYA MAGDALENA and MARGARITA, in fact, the same child. Registered with one name, but christened with another? Or did MARGARITA become known as Mary?
5. Where does Mary (latterly of Chicago) come into the equation?
6. As mentioned in 4, above, the Scottish Public Record Office (PRO) has a birth registration for MARGARET MAGDALENA MULDERSKI in 1883, in Leith.
7. No further records can be found for the baby mentioned in 5, above.
8. The passenger list for the Steamship Lake Winnipeg shows 2 infants in the party: Margaret, and Maria - the assumption is that this Margaret was the child born in Leith… and Maria is the Mary who became a resident of Chicago

The Gorse Fox is not quite sure what his next course of action will be. It is not uncommon to reuse the names of infants who had died… but the sequence seems wrong.

Plywood

Ellie slept in a bit later this morning. It was nearly 7:00 before she arrived in our bedroom and threw herself onto the bed. 

Despite such a relaxed start, the morning schedule worked like clockwork. When it was time to leave for school, we headed off clutching Ellie, her book bag, her water bottle, a box, and a sheet of plywood. The box contained items for their craft day on Friday, and the plywood was also destined for that. They have a "wild" area in the grounds and the objective seems to be to allow the children to get creative in this outdoor area. We look forward to seeing what comes of it... but somehow the Gorse Fox suspects it won't be featured on Chelsea, this year.

We had our usual shopping delivery and top-up run, but the rest of the day has followed the usual pattern. The Silver Vixen pottered and the Gorse Fox researched. No huge Polish breakthroughs, but several conundrums that need more attention.

Goal

 This morning's start was much as yesterday. The Gorse Fox went round to Urban-Cub and escorted her and Ellie to school then headed home. There was a quick change and then the Gorse Fox headed off for football.

We had a very relaxed 7-v-7 today. Some good football was played by both sides. The Gorse Fox marshalled the back line and we held out until about 5 minutes from the end, when we finally conceded a goal. It was just the one, though, and we were already 2 goals ahead (one of which was scored by the Gorse Fox). There were some wild shots today. We lost 3 separate balls over the fences and onto adjoining pitches. We were running out of spares. (At the end of the game all the balls were retrieved.)

This afternoon the Gorse Fox spent about 30 minutes on the Polish links. He suspects that he has identified Agent Mulderski's 3rd and 4th greta grandparents. This, however, can only be verified by getting access to some Polish certificates. He must find out out if there is a good way to do this.

Ellie is with us overnight, tonight.

Oh Canada!

 As someone who spends an unholy amount of time researching family records, the Gorse Fox would just like to go on record to say how appalling the Canadian records are. There seems to be nothing equivalent to our access to vital records (births, marriages, and deaths).

As if to highlight the problems with Canadian archives, the Gorse Fox wrote (months ago) to the military archives in Canada seeking information regarding his father's time in the Royal Canadian Navy. Today, he has received a response to say that the request has been received. It also went on to say that they are still dealing with requests from 2018... and blamed it on Covid-19. The Gorse Fox makes no judgement... but would pint out that he's 70 and is concerned he will time-out before the information is released. (At least this email was straightforward - the previous email had be signed by some wokeflake who insisted on defining the pronouns by which he/she/it should be addressed).

Burning

The Gorse Fox's knee joints were burning overnight. He decided that football would not be a great help, so cancelled his original plans. He wandered round to Urban-Cub and escorted her and Ellie round to school.

Once home he had some breakfast as the Silver Vixen went off to the optician. She had some shopping to do once that was finished, so the Gorse Fox had the morning to himself. It was good to hear that she got a clean bill of health for her eyes, like the Gorse Fox did. She did, however, need a new prescription. As she can't wear varifocals, this meant two pairs of normal glasses (short and long sight) and two pairs of sunglasses. That was a painful expense for her account.

The Gorse Fox spent the morning reading an initial translation of the memories of Agent Mulderski's great grandfather. It was very g=hard to read as the quality of the typescript was poor and the scanning process had hardly enhanced it. Many pages later, the Gorse Fox had a new understanding of the tribulations of  the family in the Prussian parts of Poland. It was riveting reading and, bit by bit, the Gorse Fox was able to fill-in more blanks in the family tree. He even found that two of the family we born ere. One in Winford, Cheshire, the other in Leith, Midlothian.

This afternoon G-Force have helped Urban-Cub. Firstly she needed some car-sitting in case Autoglass turned upon while she was collecting Ellie from school. Then she needed some Ellie-sitting while Urban-Cub went to the parents' interview with the teacher. The Gorse Fox did the first one, and the Silver Vixen the second. The feedback from the parents' evening was excellent. It is clear that Ellie is doing really well at school and is very kind, and very helpful, and everybody likes her. This is good, since at least two of the boys in the class want to marry her. (It would probably be as well to wait until after her 5th birthday party).

To było interesujące

Mmmm.... that's made you think!

We had a quiet star to the day, but once the Gorse Fox had been round to escort Urban-Cub and Ellie to school, we were able to potter about.

Overnight, the Gorse Fox received and email from Agent Mulderski containing more information about his Polish ancestors. This was very interesting and allowed the Gorse Fox to fill in more details in the database. It did, however, come to halt when we got back as far as Poland. It was then that the Gorse Fox started to deep dive. He finally found reference to the marriage of Agent Mulderski's 2nd gt grandfather in Mikstat. The problem was that the certificate was not online. It was just an entry in and index. The entry did, however, say where the document was. The Gorse Fox chased the link to some Polish archive in Poznan. Then with the data he already had and using Google translate he wrote, in Polish, requesting a copy of the certificate. Heavens knows what will happen, but he is making some progress.

Interestingly Agent Mulderski's Gt-grandfather was schoolteacher in Canada. He wrote his memoirs. These, apparently run to several hundred pages of beautifully handwritten Polish. The heritage centre in the village where the family first settled has acquired these and back in 2015 was trying to get them translated and published. The Gorse Fox has also written to the lady who was in charge of that to see if it was ever completed and whether he can get a copy.  

Poles Apart

 What a splendid, lazy start to the day. The Gorse Fox got up after a lie-in at 7:30 and the Silver Vixen, after reading in bed, came down after 9:00. That is a good start to a Sunday.

After some basic chores, we both set about our hobbies. The Silver Vixen disappeared into the sewing room and the Gorse Fox into the study. The focus for the Gorse Fox, today, was the Polish side of the family and their migration to Canada. Firstly, they came to England, landing in Hull. Then after a few years they set sail from Liverpool to Canada. Bit by bit he unpicked the information. This was not helped by the huge variation he found in the spelling of the Polish names once they were recorded in English and French in Canada. In some cases there must have been 5 spellings of the same name for the same person and they weren't even consistent when written on the same day for the same event. Anyway, bay by bit he has started to unpick the history of that side of the family and, as usual, found some huge inconsistencies and errors in other people's research.

This afternoon, the Silver Vixen went round to spend the afternoon with Urban-Cub and have a mother-daughter afternoon. The Gorse Fox spent the time cooking a lovely joint of pork that virtually fell apart when it was time for dinner. (This was a very inexpensive joint from Lidl and the Gorse Fox cooked it at 170C for two nd a quarter hours in a sealed pan - it really was sensational).

Butcher

 With a title like that, this could so easily be a monologue on Putin, the Gorse Fox will, however, resist. Whatever polemic he can produce will be of no value and have no impact on the situation.

It was a leisurely start to the morning for the Gorse Fox. The Silver Vixen, however, seems to have been the subject of multiple "interventions" from Jasper throughout the night. She was not amused.

The morning started with a walk around to the butcher's truck. He is there every Saturday morning and delivers some wonderful meat. The Gorse Fox wanted to get some of his bacon and some Lincolnshire sausages. For a change, there was a very short queue. Several kilos of bacon and sausages later, the Gorse Fox stumbled home to restock the larder.

The morning was occupied with the cousins' call and some chores. The cousins' call was fun. Comrade Cousin, who lives in the Midlands (far North) is a bit of a champagne socialist. The Gorse Fox tends to tease hime about how much better it is in the South. Comrade Cousin's opening gambit today was that he had only just got out of bed. The Gorse Fox's response was that he had been up for hours as we had a busy day ahead. It was, after all, the first day of the year on which we would take our yacht out. There was a bit of spluttering from the other end. "Are you just pottering around in the harbour, or going further afield?" The Gorse Fox explained that as it was the first outing of the season, we would stay in and around the harbour/marina. It was just a bit of a shake-down to check everything had survived the winter, after all! Comrade Cousin then asked how big the yacht was. The Gorse Fox had to admit that it was only 8-berth, but it suited us. The other cousins on the Zoom call kept quiet. The other cousins had been briefed that this was a wind-up. There were knowing smiles, but nobody gave it away.

Later in the morning the Gorse Fox wrote to Comrade Cousin

I thought you might like to see some photos of my yacht….

Then I remembered that you may not approve…
…and then I remembered I don’t actually have a yacht and it was a wind-up (your sisters knew).

After that bit of fun the Gorse Fox returned to the Canadian/Polish side of the family tree. This occupied the rest of the day. It revealed that Agent Mulder has far more cousins that he thought he may have and also that Candian online research is pathetically supported. To research within the last 100 year in Canada really limits you to Newspaper and Church archives. Fortunately, Agent Mulder also had some documents and certificates that he forwarded on. The most interest was a page of recollections from his Great-grandfather both his own life, starting in the Russian part of Poland, migration to England, then a few years later migrating on to Canada. Riveting stuff.

Long countdown

 It was a quiet start to the morning. Ellie was at home, so the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen could get up without any specific time constraints. The Gorse Fox did pop round the corner to escort Ellie and Urban-Cub to the school but then wandered home for breakfast.

After taking our donations round to the collection point for the Ukraine, the rest of morning was spent on chores and some admin. The winter had clearly taken its toll on the paintwork round the front of the house. It was really quite grubby in a way not seen before. Ladder, bucket of soapy water, and sponge in hand, the Gorse Fox attacked the ceiling of the porch, the soffits, the window trims, the supporting pillar and everything else that was grubby. An hour later it looked as good as new. Job done (and Gorse Fox soaked).

Two Hats called. He needed help fixing an awning over his French doors in the back garden. The Gorse Fox grabbed his ladders and went round to do his bit. He realises that these awning have to be sturdy but was surprised by just how heavy the awning was. It didn't take too long to fit and looked quite good when we unfurled it to the check it was ok.

Next was the admin. The Gorse Fox continued to work through the plans for the summer's cruise. He contacted the chauffeur service we have used in the past. They came back with a quote that was not just competitive, it was cheaper than the alternative of taking our own car and parking for the duration of cruise - let alone the additional cost of an overnight stay. Chauffeur is booked. Having sorted that out, he contacted the travel agent. After all, the balance of the fare was about due. He timed it to perfection. Balance was paid over the phone and now we just have to sit back and wait.

We collected Ellie from school this afternoon. She was a bit hyper, but wanted to do some maths on her Numbots. She did well at first but was soon getting over-excited and making silly mistakes. The Gorse Fox pulled the metaphorical plug. We sorted out her dinner and, just as she finished, Pistol Pete arrived to collect her for the weekend.

I can see clearly now...

 Ellie acted as our alarm call at 6:35. There was no chance of a further 20 minutes of peace. Today she was AWAKE, and we too were expected to be. We went through the usual morning protocol and eventually delivered her to school.

Back home, the day was filled with admin. The Silver Vixen was dealing with washing and we were both seeking out suitable clothing donations that could be taken to the nearest collection point for Ukraine. It is not much but, hopefully, it will help someone.

During our top-up shopping trip to Sainsbury's, the Silver Vixen went along to SpecSavers to book an appointment. The Gorse Fox tagged along in the hope they may be able to fix his broken glasses, not knowing how much longer the new glasses may take. The chappie there really didn't seem interested and fobbed the Gorse Fox off. He did check on the progress of his new glasses, however, and provided the very helpful update that they were "in the process".

Back home the Gorse Fox returned to his study. There were accounts to update and he wanted to dig out any further information regarding the cruise. This latter task proved frustrating as the particular bit of information that he sought was nowhere to be found. A phone call is probably the best solution, but that can wait until tomorrow. He also spent some time looking at the John Lewis website with a view to changing our gas hob to induction. Now, there are electrical considerations which have to be checked, but first he needed to determine what size hob was needed and whether it would fit within the void currently occupied by the gas hob. Initial measurements are not filling him with warm fuzzy feelings. This too needs a return visit and some more accurate measurements.

The phone rang just after lunch. It was a lady with a strong Eastern European accent. She worked at SpecSavers and was calling to report the new glasses were ready for collection. (So much for "in the process"). The Gorse Fox hot-footed it round to the store. A nice lady presented him with two pairs of glasses and made sure that a) they met his prescription and he could see; and b) that they fitted him properly. He is delighted. He can now see clearly again... and as he thanked the young lady and turned to walk out the store he had to make a huge effort to stop himself from blowing a raspberry at the chappie from this morning.

Incident

 Ellie slept well but decided to throw herself into our bed at 6:30 this morning. She was pretty good and didn't really start to fidget for a good 20 minutes. After the usual start to the day, we took Ellie to school and headed home. The first order of play was the car dance. The Gorse Fox was heading off to football before the Silver Vixen was heading for Chichester and the shops.

The Gorse Fox met up with the lads. He was sorry to hear that there had been a bit of an incident at Tuesday's game. One of the players had collapsed, about 10 minutes into the game. Assistance was called, and the Sports Centre started to work on him until the ambulances and paramedics arrived. It would appear that between them they worked on him for about 90 minutes before he was stable enough to be moved to the hospital. He has subsequently sent everyone a photo of him sitting up in bed, well on the mend. He thanked everyone for saving his life. A sobering incident.

Today's football was incident-free, thank goodness. We just had a good game. The Gorse Fox was playing in yellow and we won, 3-1. No goals from the Gorse Fox but he did deliver 2 assists and forced two good saves from the goalie.

As the Gorse Fox left the Sports Centre, he received a text from Darren (Urban-Cub's friend). He had been round and had re-fixed the roof tile that had been dislodged by Storm Eunice - and also cleared the gutters while he was at it. The Gorse Fox was very thankful and called him immediately to express his thanks. He must take him down the pub to express it more forcefully!

The afternoon has been spent thinking about the logistics for the June cruise. Should we stay overnight, the night before? Should we take our car and park at the port or hotel? Should we get a chauffeur driven car? The research has started, but no decisions made at this point.

Ellie is back with us tonight.

Tariff

 With the impending raising of the cap on energy prices, the Gorse Fox was alerted yesterday evening by a Tweet from Martin Lewis. He was recommending a particular tariff from E.On (our energy supplier). The Gorse Fox decided the morning was better spent investigating this than playing football. So it was that he logged in to his E.On account. He was immediately bounced out. He tried again. He was bounced again. This carried on for nearly 30 minutes. He went off and read some emails.

He tried E.On again. This time he got on. He searched for the recommended tariff. Ppppphhhht! It had gone. It was clearly too popular and was closed down at midnight. After some consideration, the Gorse Fox chose the replacement tariff. It was 15% more expensive, but it was still cheaper that the variable tariff was likely to become when the cap is raised. The Gorse Fox feels desperately sorry for those who can't afford such a huge uplift.

The Silver Vixen was out with a friend for much of the day, so the Gorse Fox pottered around on various inconsequential tasks. Urban-Cub has just dropped Ellie off with us for the night. She has an early start in the morning.