Ditto

 Well Tuesday was a replay of Monday (without the security alerts from Apple!). Ellie was dropped off a few minutes after 7:00 but was already dressed for school and only needed breakfast and to clean her teeth. She was full of the joys of Spring and burst into the kitchen like a firework.

After we had dropped her at school and had breakfast, the Gorse Fox returned to his Guide, adding a lot more information about our network and starting on the tablets and phones. The Silver Vixen did some laundry before finally sitting down in her sewing room.

The Gorse Fox again took Ellie to the park after school but the Silver Vixen went home because it was too cold for her.

Security and Location

 It has been a lovely sunny day with temperature up to double figures. Ellie was dropped off soon after 7:00 and we went through the usual morning rituals before escorting her to school. Once home we had a quiet breakfast and then got on with our day.

The Silver Vixen returned to her sewing. project (which is nearly finished) and the Gorse Fox returned to the Computer Guide. All the normal systems have now been documented, as has the Network. It took a couple more hours but progress is steady and satisfying. When the Gorse Fox returns he will launch into the write-ups for the iPhones, iPads, and other tablets.

There was a quiet hour or so with a book before we collected Ellie from school. The Silver Vixen headed straight home but the Gorse Fox took Ellie to the park for a while. While there, he got talking to a couple that we know. They are considering some form of extension for their property so the Gorse Fox told them about our Orangery. He's also invited them to drop in an take a look if they want.

Apple's security settings can worrying when combined with BT's network. The Gorse Fox got a message that a device was trying to sign in to his Apple Id from Manchester. He immediately declined it and went into the  change password procedure. Now his old password could not have been broken by a brute force attack. His new password is even less likely to be crackable (or memorable, unfortunately). Password was changed first on iPad. Then it was changed on iPhone - and the Gorse Fox got another alert (as expected) about the login attempt. Again, it claimed it was from Manchester. This is when the Gorse Fox realised that this is because of the way BT has set up our external links. Worrying at first, but then understood and accepted.

Lazy devil

 The Gorse Fox woke up at 7:00, took a look at his watch and decided that another 15 minutes was acceptable. The next thing he knew, it was 8:20. He shot out of bed, feeling guilty about lying around for so long.

Coffee was made, the online news consumed and, once the Silver Vixen had emerged, he was ready to start the day. Well almost. He needed another coffee and some toast first.

The Silver Vixen spent the morning on the phone to Betty Rubble. The Gorse Fox hid in his study and wrote some more of his Computer Guide. It took several hours to complete the discussion of "barnowl" but now all the Raspberry Pi's are finished and there is just the laptop "merlin" to do.  

The Gorse Fox managed to get an hour or two with his book this afternoon before starting on dinner (lamb shanks tonight).

Quiet day

 Saturday has been a very quiet day. A leisurely breakfast was followed by the Silver Vixen retiring to her sewing room and the Gorse Fox continuing with his Computer Guide. This guide is coming on well. Only two more systems to document - then the storage subsystem, and the network. 

The Gorse Fox managed to manage some more reading during the afternoon.

After supper we watched the FA Cup game between Spurs and Preston North End. It ended with a very satisfying three goal win for Spurs.

Frenzy

 Ellie slept through. There was no patter of tiny feet until after the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen were up and about. Yesterday's PE at school and swimming lesson after school had clearly worn her out. Once all the usual morning protocol was complete we dropped her off at school and headed home for breakfast. There was no hurry. There was nothing specific on the agenda.

Nothing, that is except wishing Trevor a Happy Birthday as he counts down the last couple of months to retirement.

Once we stirred into action, the Silver Vixen (between laundry loads) retired to her sewing room. The Gorse Fox took the opportunity to steam clean the floors and then retired to his study. He wanted to clean up the Windows laptop known as "merlin". It would be a lot easier to write a guide for it once extraneous programs had been removed. While doing this, he also applied all of the latest Microsoft updates.

The Gorse Fox had his usual reading interlude before we went to collect Ellie from school. She was full of beans and asked to stop off in the park on the way home. As a number of her classmates were there we relented and allowed her fifteen minutes or so to let off steam.

Back home it was the usual raid on the fridge and then she played for a while before Grandpa got on with dinner.

Urban-Cub finished earlier than expected and turned up to collect Ellie just as the Gorse Fox was clearing away. She has the weekend off with Ellie and will be dog-sitting a friend's dog. Ellie is so excited that she has been working herself into a frenzy of expectation. The dog is the focus of her attention this weekend so we probably won't see her until Monday morning now.

In the swim

 It was 05:45 when Ellie wandered into our room. "Grandpa, when will my light turn yellow?" The Gorse Fox looked at his watch. "Not for another 45 minutes. Go back to bed." And she did! In the end we got up at the normal time and went through the usual morning procedures. Urban-Cub arrived in time to escort us to school before going straight on to work.

We had the customary Ocado delivery before heading out to Sainsbury's for the top up. Once we got home and everything was stowed away, the Silver Vixen returned to her sewing room and the Gorse Fox cooked some chicken breasts for later and then prepared some rice. They were quickly cooled and put in the fridge.

There was the usual interlude for some reading before collecting Ellie. Being Thursday, she had a swimming lesson scheduled. (Usually, this is all handled by Urban-Cub - but her shift didn't allow it this week). We gave her a snack and got her ready before heading out. Ellie's lesson went very well and it was good to see how much progress she is making. She was managing to do from crawl across the pool and also just kick her way across without using her arms. The teacher commented that is doing really well.

Back home, the Gorse Fox fired up a pan and added some of the curry sauce he made last week. He then carved the chicken breasts, cooked earlier, and added them to the pan to warm through. The rice was plated up and the plates microwaved. Within 10 minutes we were ready to eat.

Ellie is staying with us again tonight and is currently in the bath and having her hair washed while the Gorse Fox writes this.

Cold and damp

 It wasn't as cold as it has been, but it seemed damp today and that made it seem colder. The Gorse Fox went round to escort Ellie to school with the Urban-Cub. Then it was a quick hop back home for more coffee and breakfast.

There were several early morning chores to complete but then the Gorse Fox could return to his Computer Guide. He is now dealing with "tawnyowl" and "peregrine", which he started yesterday (or was it the weekend?) As he dropped into some of the more obscure functions provided on these machines, he realised that he had forgotten the passwords to some functions. This took a bit of hacking but eventually he got to the bottom of it and finished that part of the write-up.

After lunch, the Gorse Fox returned to his book (the Silver Vixen was still in her sewing room). He managed a couple hours before we had to collect Ellie from school. As soon as we were back (and she had raided the fridge) we sat down to complete her maths homework. It didn't take long but within an hour of uploading it, she had a response from the teacher to say it was excellent. That encouraged her and she sat down to start on some of her English homework (not due until the end of next week).

Ellie's staying with us over night

A small tip

 Ellie was dropped off at the usual time and we got her fed and ready for school. Once she was delivered, we sat down to a quiet breakfast with the online news (we have long since given up on the breakfast TV news).

Once we had finally stirred into activity, the Silver Vixen went across to the pharmacy for her latest meds and while she was gone the Gorse Fox gathered all the stuff that needed to go to the tip. There were the two old mirrors from the bathroom, some old computer speakers, the old PC "eagle", and various wires and cables. The Gorse Fox also had the old hard drive from "eagle". That was attacked with a drill to ensure that there was no way to recover any data, and then that too was added to pile.

Once the Silver Vixen was back, the Gorse Fox loaded the car and finally disposed of all the detritus at the tip.

Back home, the Gorse Fox returned to writing his computer guide. He added a lot of new information, but kept thinking of new items to add. This is turning into a monster.

After a spot of lunch, it was time to sit down and get in an hour or so with the Kindle before collecting Ellie from school.

Mirror, mirror on the wall

 

The bathroom mirror saga has finally reached a conclusion. Darren came round at lunchtime and helped the Gorse Fox mount the new mirrors back onto the bathroom cabinet. 

For the first time in several years the left hand cabinet is closed and the internal lights have switched off.

Result!

Secrets

 We we up at the standard school day time... and ready to greet Ellie when she was dropped off, soon after 7:00. She was a little moody at first, but after a few minutes she clicked into her usual happy mode. It had been a very cold night, so the Gorse Fox told the Silver Vixen not to venture out and took Ellie to school by himself.

As he was reading the news aggregators over breakfast he noticed an article regarding "LastPass". This is a password manager which integrates with all your devices and only stores your various accounts and their credentials, it also fills them in for you as you traverse the web. The problem is that they have had a breach. It shouldn't be a serious problem, but ever cautious, the Gorse Fox spent the morning looking at alternatives and watching YouTube videos discussing the breach and the alternatives. He concluded that "BitWarden" was one of the best alternatives.

The afternoon was spent downloading BitWarden to all the various devices and trying it out. Would it do what was wanted? Is the interface usable? Can he share information with the Silver Vixen? All of the answers were a resounding yes. He will now disable LastPass for a few days and see how well he gets on with BitWarden, before making a final decision. (One thing in its favour is that BitWarden is Free).

Writer's Block

 After a pleasant lie-in the Gorse Fox wandered downstairs to make the coffee and catch up on the overnight news. The Silver Vixen wandered down a while later. There was no hurry. There was nothing on the agenda. Once breakfast and coffee was over, the Silver Vixen retired to her sewing room and her latest project. The Gorse Fox retired to his study to categorize his Kindle books into collections (see previous post). Once that was done, he should have returned to his writing of the Computer Guide but, frankly, he couldn't be bothered. Instead he settled down with his latest book and spent the day reading, making tea, drinking tea, reading, and making dinner.

That's it. A quiet Sunday.

Collector's Item

 Why has the Gorse Fox only just discovered the "Collections" feature on the Kindle? It's so useful. He can now group books together by series or by author or by any other random category that he might dream up!

Doh!

Reflections

 The Gorse Fox had a fairly typical start to day for a Saturday. A leisurely coffee and some toast was followed by the cousins' call. We had both of the usual Aussies on the call today, for the first time since Christmas.

Long time readers may remember the ongoing trouble we had with the mirrored doors in the bathroom. The correct doors were finally delivered this week. Darren has offered to help the Gorse Fox get them installed. In preparation for this, the Gorse Fox spent some time installing the hinges onto the anchors that had been bonded to the glass. The first one was immensely fiddly as the Gorse Fox tried to work exactly how they are fitted. Once he's sussed it out, the other were installed in no time.

After the demise of eagle (mentioned yesterday), the Gorse Fox finished his clear-up and is proud to announce that some portions of the desk top are currently visible. It probably won't remain like that for long, but it feels good for now.

In the study he returned to the computer guide for a couple of hours. He has now progressed to documenting the Raspberry Pi based systems. After a break for a couple of hours reading in the sun-kissed Orangery, he returned and managed another hour of documentation.

No football tomorrow, we have insufficient players.

RIP

 We were up and moving about before Ellie surfaced this morning. We went through the usual morning checklist and the Gorse Fox took her round to school. (It was too icy for the Silver Vixen to venture out).

Back home we had a quiet breakfast and then got on with some chores. Finally, the Gorse Fox could return to his documentation. It was time to compose the write-up for the PC "eagle". The contents of his desk were shuffled and the keyboard pulled into the open. The power button was pressed on the screen - it hurts into life. The power button was pressed on the PC, the disk started to whir and nothing. Nada. It just sat and whirred. The Gorse Fox reviewed his options and thought about the last few times he had used the machine. There was nothing on it that was anything other than transient... it was a test machine, after all. The decisions was made. It was retired. It is no more. It is now defunct. It has joined the choir invisible. It is, metaphorically, pushing up daisies. 

The Gorse Fox has pulled it out, cleaned the desk, and dismantled the PC to remove the hard drive. The hard drive will be destroyed by drilling through it a few times then everything will be taken to the tip.

The lovely bright day meant, once more, that it was warm enough to spend the afternoon sitting in the Orangery and reading.

Quiet Day

 After the usual school delivery, the Ocado delivery, and the trip to Sainsbury's, the Gorse Fox settled down to realise that he had forgotten the eggs. They would have to wait.

The rest of the morning was spent on admin and adding more text to the computer guide. This involved firing up some old machines after searching out their various power cables. Inventory done on a couple more of the beasts and document suitably updated.

Urban-Cub took Ellie swimming after school and has just dropped her in to us for an overnight stay. (Urban-Cub is working through the night tonight).

Restless

Ellie can be a restless sleeper. This is how we found her at 10:45 when we went up to bed. She was in a deep sleep but had clearly been moving about.
 

Cosy

 Though bitterly cold outside, the sun was streaming through the Orangery windows and doors. It was pleasantly warm and the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox spent a couple of hours enjoying the sun and reading before heading out to collect Ellie.

Once home, we sat down with Ellie and encouraged her to get her homework done. This was a some self-research on the pioneer Amelia Earhart. While Ellie coloured in some pictures and wrote some sentences about her, the Gorse Fox drew and cut out a basic aeroplane made from foam board. When Ellie had coloured it and written its registration numbers on the wings, we stuck it all together ready for a short flight to school tomorrow.

Party Time

 Another sub-zero night and early morning. The Gorse Fox went round to escort Ellie to school then returned for breakfast. Normally he would be heading out for football but he decided that he had no wish to sit in huge traffic jams (A27 is still closed) so he cancelled.

Ellie has a birthday coming up in March. Urban-Cub is ahead of the curve and wants to get a venue booked for the party. With this in mind, the Gorse Fox walked round to the Bersted Park Community Centre to see if they had availability on the day in question. They have. Details of the booking administrator were given and a suitable email sent. We now await the response.

Walking to the Community Centre took the Gorse Fox past the football pitches. Looking at the state of them, he suspect they are better suited for ice hockey, or if the ice is too thin water polo.

Cold

 It was another cold day. The Gorse Fox strolled round to Urban-Cub's to walk with her and Ellie to the school, then headed home for breakfast.

The Silver Vixen had a phone call scheduled with a girlfriend followed by lunch with Urban-Cub and Darren's mum. The Gorse Fox retired to the study to do some more writing, thanking his lucky stars that he didn't have to venture onto the roads. What with recent flooding, roadworks, and collisions Bognor Regis was virtually cut off. The A27 was closed, the A29 was closed, the Lower Bognor Road was closed, Chalcraft Lane was blocked and all traffic was diverted onto the A259. It was chaos. It dawned on Urban-Cub that the planned lunch was really a non-started as nobody could get anywhere. Lunch was cancelled, but the Silver Vixen went round for tea and a chat.

Back home the Gorse Fox was delighted to finally receive the replacement bathroom mirrors. This time they look like the correct size. Darren has threatened to help install them later in the week.

Late in the afternoon, the Silver Vixen had a long phone chat with her sister while the Gorse Fox prepared dinner.

Road trip

It was very cold overnight following heavy rain. The Gorse Fox was glad he didn't have to go out on the roads first thing. Darren dropped Ellie off soon after 7:00 and we followed the usual procedure to get her ready and deliver her to school.

The Silver Vixen had an appointment so left the Gorse Fox to his own devices for a couple of hours. He spent a little while on his computer guide to start with. We had been asked if we could take Ellie along to the Urban-Cub's new store at Hayling Island after school. This meant that dinner would have to be ready when we got back. The Gorse Fox spent the rest of the morning preparing a batch of curry sauce. Some of this would be frozen for the future, and some could be heated up with some cold chicken when we got back from Hayling Island. (A batch of rice was also prepared).

After lunch we sat down for an hour of reading before collecting Ellie from school. Once she was home, and changed, we set off. It took about 30 minutes to get there and the Gorse Fox must admit that it is very impressive store - much larger than the Chichester store, where she was. We had a good wander around, and Ellie helped out on the tills for a while. Once done we all left together - Ellie went with Urban-Cub and we drove back by ourselves.

The weather overnight had caused havoc. Several main routes were flooded and this was filtering all traffic onto the only remaining road - the very road we wanted. The journey home seemed endless. From the Bognor Road roundabout to home (a distance of 4 miles) it took us and hour and 20 minutes. On a normal day this would have been about 6 minutes (a bit longer for rush hour).

The Gorse Fox was glad he had the curry all ready to heat up and serve.

More tapping

 With no football this morning, the Gorse Fox had a lie-in until boy 7:30. It was a couple of hours before we had finished breakfast and stirred ourselves into action. For the Gorse Fox this was a swift retreat to the study and some more time developing the computer guide. He is still on the first computer, but is very pleased with the progress as this is probably the lynchpin for his computer use.

The Silver Vixen got togged up with a view to tidying up the front of the house. There was some weeding, a lot of fallen leaves and some general plant maintenance. The Gorse Fox helped by washing down the soffits and the white paintwork surrounding the windows. He also cleaned up the garage door. With a cold snap forecast, we wouldn't want to do this during the week.

The Gorse Fox was summoned by Urban-Cub. She had a problem trying to print some photos. It took several tries, but eventually we found the correct incantation. The Gorse Fox left her to it.

After a bit more work on the computer guide he sat down in the lounge and got a couple of hours of reading under his belt before doing dinner.

The patter of tiny keys

 Though we slept well, we awoke to a dark morning being continuously rinsed by heavy rain. The Gorse Fox had his traditional cousins' call first thing. It was a nice 40 minutes of laughter and banter.

Most of the rest of the day has been spent in the study. The Silver Vixen was in her sewing room pottering, and the Gorse Fox was tapping frantically at the keyboard. Slowly a document is taking shape. It identifies the various devices that we have and is taking the reader through their use and their backups. It has been immensely satisfying. So far, the Gorse Fox is about 70% through the first system, the iMac condor. The document already runs to 15 sheets of A4 and there are 16 further computers to address. It's a good exercise because it gives the Gorse Fox a chance to review each system and how it is used.

No football tomorrow. We could only scrape 7 players together so it wasn't worth the effort.

Writing

Ellie was dropped off soon after 7. She was in a great mood this morning, full of the joys of Spring. Once all the usual stuff was complete, we took her to school. Though lovely a bright, there was a noticeable nip in the air.

Back home, we had breakfast and then had a fairly quiet day. The Gorse Fox got some chores out of the way, and updated the accounts. The Silver Vixen spent some time selecting paint for the downstairs cloakroom, then drafted an epistle to Mrs Tiggywinkle. We tried to pick up the paint in question at our local supplier, but they only sell this particular shade/finish online. When we got home the Silver Vixen ordered it for delivery on Monday.

The Gorse Fox started on the new documentation that he had envisaged yesterday for the "West Sussex Data Centre". It is planned to be a complete manual on the systems that the Gorse Fox has installed here, what they are, how they are organised, where they are, and how they are protected. He spent several hours on the task and is pleased with the progress and the content. This, however, is not a quick project. It will take quite a while to complete a first draft.

We collected Ellie from school and brought her back to get changed and to have dinner ready for Pistol Pete to collect her. She will be with him over the weekend.

Wakeup Call

 E~llie gave us the wake-up call at 6:45 again this morning. That's perfectly acceptable. The usual pre-school choreography took over. Breakfast, wash, teeth, uniform, shoes, coat, book bag, lunch bag.... and off.

We returned for breakfast and to await Ocado. Clearly Ocado were running a little late (though still within our delivery slot). The Gorse Fox decided to accelerate matter. He went up to the study and opened the accounts spreadsheet. This is the rain dance for Ocado deliveries. Within moments he pulled up outside and we could continue the Thursday programme of events.

Sainsbury's was next, and we took Lady Penelope with us. Though Old Bill is now driving again, the effort of wandering round the aisles of a supermarket would still be too much. He is, however, threatening to attempt it next week.

Once home, the Gorse Fox finished the accounts and then had a quiet hour or so with a new book. The book that he had been reading was the second in a 20 book series. Whilst he liked the main characters the underlying storyline was based around perpetrators who practised some for of devil worship and were threatening the main character's family. The Gorse Fox has a redline for stories, be they written or film. The family is sacrosanct. These books crossed the redline.

The new book was from a different author and was a much more cozy murder mystery (if murder can ever be cozy).

Two Halves

 It really was a day of two halves. The morning was bright, sunny, breezy and a little cool. The afternoon was dark and very wet. In fact we had some thunder and lightning late in the afternoon and the rain was so heavy that it was bubbly up through the drains on the Chichester Road.

After taking Ellie to school the Gorse Fox returned home to collect the Silver Vixen and take her across for Pilates. He carried on to Worthing for football. The sun was bright, but low in the sky and it made the identification of players on the south side of the pitch almost impossible. All we could see was shapes and shadows against the background sun..

It was a good game. Teams of 6 vs 7 with only player switching sides at half-time. It was, like the day, a game of two halves. We lost the first half 4-0 (though the Gorse Fox was not playing as a defender), but in the second half we won the half 2-0 (and the Gorse Fox was playing as a defender). The lesson is that the Gorse Fox is a better defender than he is midfielder.

After we picked Ellie up from school, the Gorse Fox was thinking about this evening's menu. He asked Ellie if she had ever had fish and chips from the fish shop. No she hadn't, but she has them on Friday at school. Does she want to try? Oh yes! So it was that the Gorse Fox ordered fish and chips for there three of us. Ellie lapped them up and said she would definitely like to have them again. Result.

Urban-Cub has an early shift in the morning so Ellie is staying with us tonight.

Like the old days

 Ellie, though a bit late going to bed and settling last night, slept through until 6:45. From then on, the first part of the morning followed the usual pattern. Urban-Cub was able to pop in and walk with us to school - but given the heavy rain, the Gorse Fox suspects she wished that she hadn't.

The Gorse Fox, having seen the weather forecast last night, had decided to skip football today. He knows he is likely to get wet tomorrow and was certain he would get soaked to the skin today. Not fancying two soakings in two days, he chickened out. Instead he spent much of the day at the computer. It was like the old days. Diagrams and documentation and now that the Backup Strategy is back up to date, he has realised that the is a more holistic way in which he could have written this had he started from scratch. This is a serious temptation.

Two Hats messaged. Was the Gorse Fox busy and could he spare some time. The Gorse Fox presented himself at the door. The migration of his old PC files to the new MacBook had appeared to go well but now he couldn't find the files. The Gorse Fox delved into the machine. The files were not there. Well, we could recopy them from the old laptop. No we couldn't - he had wiped it. He had, however, taken a second copy of the files on an SDCard. He handed over the SDCard - there were no PC file on it - only DashCam footage! We searched through his box and finally found a likely candidate. Whew! The files were there. The Gorse Fox copied them to his MacBook and then gave the usual lecture on backups. For simplicity he has suggested getting an SSD that he can attach and use as a TimeMachine repository.

Tip

 A gentle start to the day, though the temperature was a few degrees down on last week. The Gorse Fox wandered round to Urban-Cub's and escorted her and Ellie to school. 

After some breakfast the Gorse Fox grabbed the step-ladder and started stacking the Christmas crates away in the garage along with the tree and various bags. Then, feeling smug, put the car away and headed upstairs. The last few items are stored in the loft so that they don't get damp. While he was up there he finally disconnected an old NAS drive that hasn't worked for several years. This got him thinking about a review of the backup strategy... but that would have to wait.

We have been storing various items in the garage and the Orangery which needed to be disposed of at the local tip. Today seemed like the perfect day. The car was loaded and an appointment made (yes, you need an appointment to use the local recycling centre). The Gorse Fox pulled up, gave his secret reference number, and parked up. He did, needless to say, park in the spot that turned out to be farthest from all of the skips that he needed. Never mind, it was good to get rid of it all.

The Gorse Fox reviewed his backup strategy. The text was all correct but he realised the diagram was way out of date. This got him thinking (always a dangerous thing). When he was working (all those years ago) he would use Microsoft Visio for these sorts of diagrams. There isn't a version that runs directly on the MAC. There is, however, a version that run in a browser. While looking at the details (cost) he also noticed a tool called "Lucidchart". It too runs in the browser and whilst you can pay for additional features, the functions that were needed are all in the free version. Browser was pointed at the site and the Gorse Fox got stuck in. It was immensely simple to use and he created the diagram that he wanted just as quickly as he would have in Visio. The document has now been updated... and the Gorse Fox will use Lucidchart again in the future.

Urban-Cub has just dropped Ellie off. She will be staying with us overnight.

Overrun

The Gorse Fox had football this morning. We had a late drop-out so he decided not to choose the team in advance but to decide by consensus when we had all gathered. This worked out fairly well. We had the 3 of the most mobile players on one side with a less than average player. These 4 would play the other 5, all of whom were pretty good. It was hard work, playing for the yellow team of 4 but we managed to go in at half time with the scores and equal 3-3. In the second half we switched one player between the teams, but we were tiring. Slowly they started to get goals - and even more slowly, so did we. None of us had a clue what the final score was, but the assumption was that the Orange team had won by 2 goals. The Gorse Fox did manage to get 1 goal in our tally.

Back home the Silver Vixen had started squirrelling the decorations away into the various boxes within boxes within crates. It was pouring with rain by the time she had finished so the Gorse Fox stacked everything in the Orangery ready for taking to garage tomorrow.

Order restored

 After a superb curry last night and an evening of channel hopping - trying to avoid programmes that the Gorse Fox would watch with the Silver Vixen, he had an early night and read before switching the light out. Jasper had spent the evening climbing onto the arm of the Gorse Fox's chair, staring meaningfully into his eyes, and wondering where his normal perch - the Silver Vixen - was.

The Gorse Fox was up and just finishing his first coffee before going up for a shower. The doorbell rang. That was inconvenient! It was DPD with a delivery for a neighbour who had clearly not heard, or ignored the bell. It wasn't a problem - the Gorse Fox was, after all, up.

The first item on the agenda was the cousins' call. Nothing too much to report - just 30 minutes of inane banter, as usual. The Gorse Fox then returned to decorations. A final sweep to find the one item that always gets forgotten. No sight of it. It will remain hidden until everything is packed away. Then there was the annual "stuff the Christmas tree back in its box" exercise. This should be an Olympic sport as it involves a number of skills including wresting, tying, stuffing into a box, wrestling the box closed and tying it closed. This is something for which there should be a training program and points awarded for speed, neatness, and storability.

After lunch the Gorse Fox watched the FA Cup game between Spurs and Portsmouth. A 1-0 win for Spurs. He then watched the Silver Vixen and Cousteau-Cub make their way home from London by following their GPS trace online. 

The Silver Vixen is now home and the fabric of the Universe is, once more, complete. It is clear that they had a wonderful time... and recommend the Premier Inn at Wimbledon South as a good base from which to raid the capital.

Own devices

 Ellie was awake soon after 6:30. Normally she would just play in her room but this morning she needed grandpa to unfreeze her tablet. Once that was done, she went back to her room until 7:00. Once we were all up and about Ellie had breakfast and got ready for school. The Gorse Fox took her round to class and deposited her for the day. Urban-Cub would be collecting her later.

Back home, the Silver Vixen was getting ready for some mummy/daughter time. She would be leaving to collect Cousteau-Cub and they would drive up to Wimbledon. The plan is that they will check into a Premier Inn and park the the car there. Then it's a tube up to Charing Cross and a short walk to The Colosseum. The stopped for lunch at Prezzo (opposite the Colosseum) then went across for a performance of The Nutcracker. Messages exchanged during the interval indicate that they were having a great time. Subsequent messages, now that the ballet is over, inform the Gorse Fox they are off to Covent Garden now. When they have finished all their gallivanting, they will get the tube back and stay overnight at the Premier Inn.

While under Jasper's direction and watchful eye, the Gorse Fox has taken down all of the Christmas decorations. Tomorrow he start to pack them away, leaving the fiddly ones for the Silver Vixen's return.

Curry is on order for tonight.

Farewell

The morning was unremarkable. It was the usual procession of rise, breakfast, school, and the home for the Ocado delivery and then the trip to Sainsbury's.

The afternoon was different. Urban-Cub would be collecting Ellie and taking her swimming. The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox joined up with Tinkerbell and Two Hats and went the Chichester Crematorium to say farewell to one of our neighbours. With several roads closed, the route to Chichester was very busy, but as we were in front of the "principals'" car we didn't worry too much. The service was very tasteful and it was sad to say goodbye to one of the world's genuinely nice men. One saying of his that was quoted was based on his personal demand for punctuality. "Leave early, if you arrive and have time to spare - waste it".

We didn't join the family and friends at the reception. There were mourners from all over the world and it was a time for family and close friends.

Back home the Gorse Fox collected some fish and chips. This was the first time for many months. It's easy to forget how good they are. As we were clearing away, Urban-Cub arrived with Ellie who would be staying overnight again tonight.

Yes Chef

Ellie was dropped off. It was clear she was still not fully awake as it took several minutes before she uttered a sound. Slowly she surfaced. Then BANG! she was back to her usual self. We dropped her off at school then went home to get our kit together.

The Gorse Fox drove us across to Worthing. The Silver Vixen was dropped off for Pilates and the Gorse Fox continued on to play football. Todays game was 5-vs-6 on a large pitch. The Gorse Fox was playing as a midfielder for once. It was a good game with one player swapping sides at halftime. In the end we lost 7-6, but at least the Gorse Fox can console himself with the memory of a nicely taken goal.

This afternoon, after a restful hour, we went and collected Ellie. She can be a little fussy with her food and the Gorse Fox decided that he would try to get her back onto pasta and bolognaise by asking her to help cook it. So it was that Ellie became chef for dinner. We cooked the mince, then prepared all the veg. The veg was cooked until soft, the mince added back in, then a bottle of sauce added. She did a very good job (closely supervised throughout). As she had cooked it all, she was happy to eat it, and tucked in to a large portion. The Gorse Fox will have to try this with some other recipes.

Ellie is staying with us tonight and is currently enjoying a batch under the watchful eyes of the Silver Vixen and Jasper.

Term time

 Ellie slept well, not stirring until 6:45. She then exploded into life, ready for the start of the new school term. We went through the standard operating procedures for a school day - with the new deadline of 8:30. The school is starting all classes 10 minutes earlier this term.

With Ellie deposited at school we strolled home, arriving just as the rain started,  and then had breakfast over the news aggregators. After breakfast we got on with some household and administrative chores until lunchtime.

It was still raining mid-afternoon, so the Gorse Fox left the Silver Vixen in warm and dry and went off to collect Ellie. As usual, she was ravenous when she got back, but once she had eaten she was intent on playing some board games with us both until the Gorse Fox had to prepare dinner.

Urban-Cub has just collected Ellie. It was her familiarisation day at her new, much bigger store. She starts there full time next week, but had to go through the hand-over today. She is very excited and it sounds as if it will be a huge improvement in terms of staff.

Recovery

 Another beautifully slow start to the day. By the time we were both up, fed and caffeinated it was time to do some quick chores before Ellie was dropped off.

Just after Ellie arrived, Lady Penelope and Old Bill knocked. It was so good to see Old Bill after his torrid time with his health over the last few weeks. It was nice to see him on the mend, though it will clearly be some time before he is fully recovered. Small steps.

Ellie was with us for most of the day. She is eager to get back to school tomorrow. So eager, in fact, that she insisted on sitting at her desk and playing "teachers" most of the morning and early afternoon. It was good that she worked her way through page after page of a workbook she was given for Christmas.

Meanwhile, the Gorse Fox seems to be coming down with a cold or has an allergy that is causing him fits of sneezing and runny nose and eyes. Frustrating!

Firing Up

 Well the New Year managed to sneak in without our intervention. In fact, switching off the Kindle at 11:30, the Gorse Fox went straight to sleep and didn't wake until 7:15 this morning (the great benefit of a clear conscience).

The Silver Vixen pottered down when she woke and had breakfast together and read the new aggregators. That done, The Gorse Fox retired to his study to shut down last year's accounts and fire up the new spreadsheet for 2023. This is always an opportunity to clean things up and to refines the spreadsheet further. This consumed a couple of very contented hours.

Having finished the first book of the year (started yesterday), the Gorse Fox got stuck in to the second book and has spent most of the afternoon flipping the Kindle pages.

The Gorse Fox has just finished dinner. The chicken, the beans, and the Brussels were fine, but the potato concoction that he made in the Air Fryer was dreadful. This particular dish needs more work!