Quiet Day

 I did remember to disable my wake-up alarm last night. It was 07:20 before I became conscious and wandered down for a coffee. Di came down a while later and we had a quiet breakfast as we consumed our toast and porridge and read the morning papers.

The morning was spent fiddling with software. To start with I wanted to disable the VPN when I was at home. It seemed to be consuming a lot of battery and there isn't really a threat within my network. Once that was sorted I tried to install the Bosch central heating app on Dis phone. This started well enough and correctly identified the main controller... but then it asked for a password to pair with that controller. I have no record of this and no recollection of what I set. I reread all of the manual and online help texts but couldn't find the magic incantation. This will have to wait until next week.

The afternoon started with Kindle time but eventually, I broke away to start on dinner and watch the coverage of the England-vs-Slovkia game in the Euros. I am really struggling to understand why the national team is still playing a style of football that is 5-10 years out of date... and what's more it a style that none of the players use at their own clubs. My main observations are:

• If you have possession, the opposition can't score.
• If you continually pass sideways or backward, you can't score.
• There are no points for possession, only for goals.
• If you don't shoot, you won't score.
• If you try to walk the ball into the net, someone will get in your way.

Alarm

 I stupidly forgot to switch off my alarm this morning. It was totally unnecessary, but I was up at 07:00 and soon enjoying my first coffee of the day. I had my usual Zoom call with my cousins. The attendance was a bit low today, but we still had fun and I was able to wind up Red Tim at the drop of a hat.

When my call was finished, Diane had a call with Jan from Odiham. We were eager to get news of John as he had been unwell. Progress seems to be slow and we will have to see if the meds make a difference as they kick in over the next few weeks.

After lunch, we had some Kindle time. High clouds had watered the sunshine and the Orangery didn't become as hot as it may have done.

Diane was collecting Ellie and taking her along to Sainsbury's to meet with Zoe and pick up various items for the upcoming holiday. While she was there I tried to activate the Discovery+ channel on EETV. Try as I may, I could not get this to work. I have Discovery+ working with the free version, but the basic subscription won't take at present. I faffed about for a while but eventually gave up. I will have to give them a call and sort it out. 

Run, run, run

 We had a fairly gentle start to the morning. Ellie was at home so there was no need to hurry. We did, however, need to get breakfast and head off together to escort Ellie and Zoe to school. Unlike most school drop-offs, we were staying. Today was Sports Day, so we set up our chairs and blankets by the edge of the running track after seeing Ellie into class.

We had about 45 minutes to wait. There were lovely patches of sunshine but they became less frequent as the wind picked up and cloud covered the sky from edge to edge. As the morning wore on it seemed to get cooler and cooler and after three hours we were frozen. Next year we will have to remember to bring cold-weather gear.

The races themselves were fun as the children tried their hardest for their various houses (Phoenix, Unicorn, Dragon, and Pegasus). Ellie is in Unicorn. It was a while before Ellie's first race - which was a sack race, where she came third or fourth. Her second race was a relay, where she did well and I think her team came second. Her last race was the sprint and she again came second, but was only a smidge away from the win.

Once we got home and had warmed up, we settled down to catch up on the news only to find we seemed to have some issues with the WiFi connection. It took me a while to track it down but it seems there were two "mesh" devices that were too close and were interfering with each other. Once I had moved them, everything burst back into life.

We had the usual Kindle time after lunch until Di went to collect Ellie. I went to fix the new QwikHose connector only for it to eject the spray head and soak me. It took a long time and several attempts to finally get the spray head to fit properly.

Heating

 I was up and about before Ellie surfaced this morning. She had slept well and woke with mischief in her eyes! Having said that, she was no problem and we marched her off to school at the allotted time. We returned for breakfast. I had to hurry as we were expecting Ross, the heating engineer, and I was due at the dentist soon after 10:00.

Ross turned up with an arm full of boxes and a spring in his step. "We're going to finish this." he declared and buried himself in the cupboard under the stairs. The old control panel was removed and a new one was installed. The manifolds for the underfloor zones were changed. He then started on the new smart thermostats. These proved challenging as the pattress was not quite deep enough. He had to raid the nearest parts factor and get a collar to provide a few extra millimetres of depth. He cracked on throughout the day and finally completed the project. We now have a new, highly efficient gas boiler with smart controls installed on our phones. Given how many problems he hit along the way, I suggested he write up the whole process as it was clear that the technical support staff at the manufacturers were clearly out of their depth.

While all this was going on, I managed to get to the dentist for my 6-monthly checkup. Fortunately, I received a clean bill of health and was home within the hour.

I have received a new Smart WiFi Plus extender from EE. The idea is to add it to the household mesh close to the EETV Mini box. That is easier said than done. The reason it is needed is that the corner is a WiFi blind spot. Guess what, the extender won't work there because it won't mesh because it's a black spot.

Shaking it up

The sun was already warming the oven that is our village by the time I got up.  I was up in time for Ellie to be dropped off... her strawberries had been prepared, the ham laid out and her fruit smoothie was on the table. She burst into the house and demolished the lot. We took her to school and then wandered back for our own breakfast.

As I am scheduled to visit the dentist tomorrow morning we decided to shake things up a bit. We went to Sainsbury's. Yes, we really know how to live. Being Wednesday, the Zombies weren't present so the tour of the aisles went quickly and without incident. At no stage was I called upon to use a cattle prod or some well-chosen sarcasm.

The temperature continued to rise throughout the day. Like yesterday, it was too hot to read in the Orangery so again we retired to the relative cool of the lounge to read until it was time to collect Ellie. She wasn't here for long before Zoe collected her, but she would be back later to stay the night.

By the way, I'm getting fed up with messages from Royal Mail telling me that my package will arrive "today between 11:15 and 3:15" and then not turning up at all. It happens time and again.

Coffee

 We were up early so that Ellie could be dropped off. This entry should be in praise of coffee because I skipped my usual morning intake and went for tea. It's good, but it's not the same. Despite the lack of caffeine (our tea is decaff) we managed to get Ellie off to school on time and without incident.

Our plan was to hit the metropolis that is Chichester (hence the tea to minimise the need for a comfort break). Diane had a couple of shops she wished to raid and I was happy to act as the getaway carrier. After the first few stops in South Street, we were debating our next stop. Unfortunately, we lingered too long and were trapped by the South Street Black Hole. It drew us inexorably closer until it ejected us through the portal into Crew Clothing. The only escape was to purchase some items that acted as a shield to allow us safe passage towards North Street. Eventually, the shopping was finished and we stopped at a new coffee shop on East Street. The shop, called 17Grams is really nice and relaxed and they roast their own coffee daily. We enjoyed a late-morning caffeine hit and some pastries then headed home.

I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with a techie from EE TV. There were a couple of anomalies I wanted to iron out. He hopes he has got to the bottom of it and is sending me a further mesh device for the family room. This should reduce the latency that the EETV is experiencing. We'll see.

It was too hot to sit in the Orangery or the garden so our Kindle time was taken in the cool of the lounge.

Tunnelling

 We were up early for Ellie to be dropped off. I had forgotten to slice the ham yesterday so that was the first task once I had made coffee. (Ellie loves sliced ham for breakfast along with some fruit). Out came the slicer, thickness was set, power was switched on and a chunk of ham was gradually reduced to several dozen slices. Ellie was happy.

We dropped her off at school and then came back for breakfast before starting on our chores. My first task was to steam-clean the floors while Di started on the laundry. When that was done I retired to my study.

When I worked at IBM we would tunnel into the internal network using a form of VPN (Virtual Private Network). I have been considering installing a VPN to secure all my network traffic by encrypting it and tunnelling all the traffic to its destination. This is of particular interest when connecting to the internet via public networks, or when travelling. 

I spent several hours reviewing some of the big providers in the personal VPN marketplace and narrowed it down to three. I then asked AI (using Gemini) to compare the three. It did a pretty good job and its comparison gave me enough to rule one of them out. I then went back to the read reports on the remaining two. I chose SurfShark and opened an account. Within a few moments, I had downloaded and installed the software. My iMac, MacBook, iPad, and iPhone are now protected and the software seems to be completely transparent. If I find no issues over the next few days I will install it on Diane's devices.

We had some Kindle time after lunch and then picked Ellie up from school and took her home as Zoe had managed to finish early.

No Egrets

 We had a gentle start to the day. Diane had bought some twisty, shiny mobiles and installed them in the garden to try and discourage the local squadron of pigeon command from practising their various manoeuvres in our garden. In the early morning sunshine, the kitchen was illuminated with flashes of sunlight as the mobile rotated. It was like having glitter balls in the garden without the prancing and dancing.

Once we started on the day, I finished setting up some missing channels on the new TV service. Di headed out to the garden. She had purchased two ornamental cranes, storks, or maybe egrets which are destined for the back garden. Firstly, however, they needed to be varnished so that they wouldn't rust like the existing one that is being replaced. While she did the varnishing I removed the old egret after extracting the huge anchors that had held it steady in the coastal winds.

We had Kindle time this afternoon before I prepared dinner.

Stoned again

 We had some rain overnight. That's not a problem, in fact, that's when it should rain so that it causes the minimum inconvenience. I will recommend this to our next MP.

At nine o'clock I had my Zoom call with the cousins. We had a good turnout and it was nice to hear about Sion's recent holiday in southern Africa... Victoria Falls, safari, the Blue Train, Cape Town and so forth. It sounded wonderful.

When the call ended, I settled down to finish filing 615 photos from the last few months. They had been filed in the correct locations and backed up regularly, but the facial recognition hadn't been applied. It took an hour or so, but eventually, everything was done and the metadata was updated.

Diane had started in the garden. She was potting up a rose. Our rill had become coated in blanket weed and the water level dropped significantly. Di wanted the cobbles removed and ultimately replaced. I grabbed some rubble bags and nitrile gloves and set about emptying the rill. It was messy and took about an hour but the cobbles were removed and 9 rubble bags were partially filled. 

We had some Kindle time in the afternoon before I started on dinner. Trevor WhatsApp'd me to say he has configured Time-Machine on his iMac and asked for some additional advice. I was delighted he had Time Machine in place and explained the risks and gave him some advice regarding the Anti-Virus on the iMac.

Fete

 Ellie was dropped off as usual. She had only just woken up and wanted a cuddle to get her jump-started. She tucked into the breakfast I had prepared and then headed up to complete her ablutions and get dressed and ready for school.

When we got home and finished our breakfast we started on our chores. Di cleared out the utility cupboard and the understairs cupboard, giving them a good clean. I emptied several of the kitchen cupboards and gave them a thorough clean. Finally, I set about the water filter on the fridge. This is always troublesome. I pulled out the fridge and switched off the water before removing the old filter. I then fitted the new filter and switched on the water which promptly poured all over the floor.  The water switched off, and I tried again. Same result. I went through this several more times before finally getting it right.

We were pleased with the EE TV service last night. I decided to bite the bullet and I removed all of the Sky equipment and reinstalled the EE TV kit in the spots vacated by Sky. I then had the pleasure of phoning Sky and cancelling the service. When I explained why, the agent had the temerity to say that they recommend Sky Stream for all of the people having the problem we did. Well, they didn't suggest it to me, but clearly know all about it. Oh yes, and he said the satellites were due to be switched off in the next couple of years.

After lunch, we had Kindle time before Diane went to collect Ellie from school and take her to the Summer Fete. Zoe managed to get there soon after and they seemed to have a good time.

EE by gum

 Ellie was dropped off soon after seven and settled down for breakfast before going to wash and dress.  We took her to school at the usual time and wandered back for breakfast.

I had niggle. It is moderately simple to find a mid-point for two couples to meet up. It is slightly more complicated when there are three. When, however, there are more participants how do you find a meeting point? The answer, according to AI is to calculate the average latitude and longitude of their starting points. How do you do this? Using What3Words I could easily convert an address to Lat/Long coordinates. Then I could calculate the average latitude and average longitude. Finally, I can convert this point back to a W3W location and view it on a map. I had to download a W3W Excel extension, but once I had activated it, the code was written in no time.

We had our usual trip to Sainsbury's and arrived before the Zombies had been delivered. This meant the whole shopping experience was much quicker and much easier.

The afternoon started with some Kindle time but then the doorbell started to ring at regular intervals as various deliveries arrived. The important one was the EE TV set-top boxes. I unpacked the main box and installed it without a problem. We seem to have everything we wanted. I'll give it a few days and if there are no problems, I'll ditch Sky. I installed the mini-box in the kitchen. That also was trouble-free. I'm impressed so far.

As I write this, the England -vs- Denmark game is in progress and I'm trying my hardest not to shout and scream at the inept performance to which we are being treated. It's the hope that kills you!

Do Not Disturb

 I was awake early. In fact, I resorted to my Kindle and read for 30 minutes before it was time to get up. Ellie was dropped off, just after seven. She had her breakfast, got washed and dressed, but then wouldn't log on to do her times tables practice. In fact, she dug her heels in and whinged until Zoe arrived. We took her to school as usual,  Zoe headed back to work, and I came home for breakfast.

During the morning we headed for the garden centre to get some compost so that Diane could plant a rose we had received for our 50th.

The rest of the day has been immensely quiet, though Di went along to collect Ellie from school. As I was preparing dinner, Di had a telephone call with Denise.

Sky

Zoe dropped Ellie to us before seven this morning. She is in charge of the store for a few days after the manager suffered a loss in the family. Ellie was her usual chirpy self and once fed, washed and dressed, she announced that she was going into the lounge to do some dancing. Who am I to argue?

Once we had dropped her at school we returned for breakfast and then Di settled down for a telephone call with her friend Marilyn. I returned to my Sky-Q conundrum. The question I posed myself "Is there an alternative that will deliver the channels we like, reliably?" I made a list of the channels we use frequently and started to research. I phoned EE and chatted with a nice man called Evan. They have EE TV and deliver by streaming over the internet. They can even record shows. The more we looked, the better the option seemed. I went ahead and have 14 days to change my mind. That should give me plenty of time to evaluate it and probably cancel Sky-Q - saving us plenty of money each month. A very successful morning.

After our Kindle time this afternoon, I went along to collect Ellie from school. While it was very warm, the skies were threatening so we didn't stop off at the park.

Taking the Mic

There was a lovely bright start to the day and it was warming up nicely. I went to Zoe's to join the trek to school. I collected Ellie's iPad while there. She had been having some problems and I thought I would try and sort them out. When she tries to use Facetime, she can hear the person at the other end of the call but they cannot hear her. Using my friend Google I looked up various problems that had been reported and tried most of the fixes. None seemed to do the trick. I was not going to be eaten. I took a break for a cup of tea. Years of debugging have taught me to return to "first principles" if stuck. I carefully removed the iPad from its keyboard case. There, blocking the microphone was a small wodge (technical term) of paper that had been caught between the keyboard case and the iPad. The iPad was de-wodged. The mic was clear... and we had solved the problem.

While in the mood for debugging, I returned to the issue we had been having with Sky-Q. With the box now, apparently, working I was lulled into a false sense of security. We have now had three occasions when it has locked up and the fans have switched on to wind-tunnel mode. This is what I had been trying to cure with the replacement box. I returned to Google and thought back to when the issue started. This appears to have been when we switched from the BT hub to the EE hub for our Internet router. I added "EE" to my search - behold! I am not the only one. There seems to be a significant number of Sky-Q users who have had this problem since switching to EE. Unfortunately, nobody has come up with a solution yet.

After chatting with Trevor on WhatsApp we had downselected the river cruises I had researched. There were only 2 or 3 that would suit us. Di reviewed the details and we may have accidentally gone ahead and booked a trip on the Rhine next Spring.

I collected Ellie from school and we stopped off at the park on the way home. Once home she settled down to some homework which had been allocated online. I set up the Apple Pencil for her iPad and she was able to complete the work online.

Father's Day

 It is Father's Day and I woke up to a very bright and pleasant morning. We were expecting the girls (and Jon) for lunch so once ablutions and breakfast were complete, I started on lunch preparations. I had a large leg of lamb that needed to be roasted along with all the trimmings.

The girls turned up at midday and I was treated to a couple of new shirts and a bottle of spiced black rum (which I will have to put away, as it will be a great temptation). I am a very lucky man.

While Kim entertained Ellie (who was practising on roller skates), Zoe took over the final stages of lunch preparation. Jon had been explaining the latest project they are working on which involves building components for a forthcoming world water speed record attempt. It sounds very interesting and has an accompanying video on YouTube (search for ThrustWSH).

After lunch, we had a quiet hour or so in the garden before the girls all left.

We had a quiet evening watching the England -vs- Serbia football from the Euros.

Eject, eject

 We had some Tempura Chicken last night. It was clear that something was wrong. It tasted ok "-ish" but the tempura wasn't crispy and tasted more like a normal batter. During the evening we watched the football (Germany vs Scotland) but, by half-time, I asked Di if she felt ok. She did. I didn't.  I went to the loo and within a few seconds had ejected the whole of my evening meal, As it happens, Di's metabolism is slower than mine. It was this morning that her body rejected last night's dinner... though it did eject through a different orifice!

I was up early this morning, and to be fair, felt as right as rain. Talking of which it poured down for the first half of the morning. After breakfast, I had my usual call with the cousins. There was nothing of great import to report.

During the morning and some of the afternoon I spent time trying to work out what to do with our data access during a forthcoming trip to Turkey. After a lot of research, I have a couple of options for providing data roaming using an eSIM.

Chri and Maureen dropped in to say thanks for my help during the week. It seemed a bit overkill, but they donated a couple of nice bottles of wine.

I had a call from Jane. She has details of Paul and Cathy's forthcoming trip to the Paris Olympics via London. We now have to work out when we can all meet up.

Vision On

 I was up and about by the time Ellie awoke. She was her usual chirpy self as the normal morning protocol played out. We walked her to school and then went home for our own breakfast.

My domestic chores today focused on filters and cleaning. The dishwasher filter needed its regular cleaning and the dishwasher was asking for a "clean" cycle. With that underway, I returned to the vacuum cleaner, having realised that there was an additional filter I hadn't dealt with earlier in the week. The filter was removed and cleaned and replacement filters arrived from Amazon so I could swap the old ones.

The viewing card arrived from Sky. I set to work trying to coax the new Sky-Q box into life. It seemed to start ok - so clearly had communication with the TV, but then failed when it tried to initiate the Sky service itself. I stripped everything out of the cabinet and set it up separately on a spare TV. No change. After trying all of the debugging I could think of, I called Sky and a very patient technician took me through a process which allowed the system to burst into life. We now have the service running again - though I still have one "Power On" anomaly to fix, though I have a perfectly good workaround at present.

As I was finishing the Sky installation, we got a call from Maureen. Chris had been discharged from the hospital and could I take her along to collect him. It wasn't as quick as the other evening because it was the end of the school day and there was a lot of traffic around the back streets of Chichester, but it didn't take too long. Chris was clearly delighted to get out of the hospital, having sat waiting for his meds for several hours. In fact, he had given up and resolved to come back for them another day. As it happened, they arrived just as he was leaving.

No Signal

 Yesterday evening was strange. For some reason, the TV would not play any terrestrial TV channels. It just claimed there was no signal. This was a pain as we are still waiting for the Sky-Q viewing card. Fortunately, the various streaming services were all functioning. It was as we settled down to watch them that the phone rang. It was our friend Maureen who had been visiting Chris in hospital where he had an operation in the morning. As she left the hospital, she tripped and fell flat on her face and had been whipped back into A&E for stitches in her lip and would need to see a dentist, having chipped a tooth. I jumped in the car to go and collect her. Once she was home we reverted to a normal evening.

I went along to join the march to school this morning, then came back for breakfast and to finish the shopping list for our weekly excursion to Sainsbury's. Clearly, we had arrived early enough that the Zombies hadn't yet been delivered. As a result, we were in, out, and back home within an hour.

I settled down in the lounge to debug the issue with the TV... only to find it was working perfectly this morning.

We had some Kindle time after lunch but it started to turn a bit chilly in the Orangery. In the end, I grabbed a sweater before I ventured out to collect Ellie from school... just as the rain started.

Filtered

 I had to be up early this morning. Ellie was being dropped off and I like to be washed, dressed, and have her breakfast on the go before she explodes into the house. She was delighted with her new bed and slept well. She had insisted on making her bed before coming around to us. (Long may that continue). Once usual ritual was complete, we took her to school and then came back for our own breakfast.

I had several items on my "to-do" list. The first was to perform some maintenance on the vacuum cleaner. Di reported that it had been overheating and cutting out. I took the various components apart and cleaned them up - most were heavily clogged with Jasper's fur. When I got to the filters - I had never worked out how to get to them before today - it was clear what this issue had been.  I cleaned them as well as I could and refitted them. Putting everything back together, the device sprang back into life. Job done. (I ordered some new filters when I had finished).

Next on my agenda was an update to the Accounts, but that didn't take too long. Finally, the replacement viewing card for Sky has failed to arrive. I phoned them and explained, only to be told that the chap I spoke with last week had not followed the correct process and the card had not been sent. Today's chap went back through the process and confirmed the card had been ordered. We should receive it in 3-5 days. He was good enough to apply a credit to the account as compensation for the loss of service.

I went out for a walk and collected Di's meds as I passed the pharmacy. I also finished my latest audiobook and must find another. After a spot of lunch, we had some Kindle time before collecting Ellie from school and taking her to the park on the way home.

I've agreed to organise a "Band of Brothers" lunch in London, in the Autumn. I have just sent out the initial generalised invite. Let's hope we get some interest.

Home

As much fun as it is to travel, it's lovely to be home with Di. Ellie was staying with us overnight and wandered into our room at 06:45. I was already awake so having told her where the iPad was, I leapt out of bed for a shower and shave.  Once coffee was on the go, I prepared some watermelon for her, followed by ham. Zoe arrived in time to take her around to school with me.

Back home, I was tucking into breakfast when Zoe summoned me to help assemble Ellie's new double bed. The carpet fitter had just left, having laid a lovely new carpet. We emptied the boxes of components and ferried them all upstairs before reading the instructions (yes, really) and getting started. It all went very smoothly and a couple of hours later it was all done. At this point, Zoe realised she had ordered the wrong-sized mattress. It's not quite wide enough. I don't know what she plans to do about it, but it will do for now.

Back home Di had spent the morning ironing. We stopped for lunch and then had some Kindle time. This was rudely interrupted by a rain shower that sent us scurrying into the garden to bring in the washing.

Di met up with Zoe to collect Ellie from school and it allowed her to pop up to Ellie's bedroom and see the new carpet and bed.

Last Day

I was awake by 06:00 but stayed in bed for another 15 minutes. I then tidied the room and did the bulk of my packing for the return home. By 06:45 I was washed and dressed and sneaking into the kitchen to make a coffee… only to find that Charlie was already there with a similar mission - though he went back to bed.

It was very cloudy and quite cool, though the forecast suggested it would brighten up later. Slowly, the others emerged and we settled down for a breakfast of crumpets and croissants… and a group photo!

With breakfast done, and tidied away, we headed to the cars for a trip to Moissec (some 15km away). We hadn’t got long as we had to have lunch and head for the airport. We parked by the Canal du Midi and walked along the bank, stopping to look at the boats that were moored alongside. Two of them were own by Brits and we stopped for a quick chat with each of the them.

Moissec is on the Camino del Santiago and the Abbey is one of the stopping off points. It is famous for its cloister (described as being the most beautiful in the world). Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for the cloisters, but did get to wander around the Abbey Church itself (dedicated to St Peter).

With time getting on we headed back to the cars so that Liz could finish preparing lunch. We had some Toulouse sausage, mash, cheesy mash, and cauliflower cheese. The sausage was sensational. At 13:00 we headed for the airport. The traffic was kind to us and we had no delays on the roads, nor at check-in. The plane boarded on time and we took off only a few minutes late. Next stop Gatwick.

We landed in Gatwick ten minutes ahead of schedule. We whistled through passport control and I went through to baggage collection where I said goodbye to my companions. My bag came through fairly quickly and I headed for the train and was early enough to get the train before the one I had planned to catch. Diane and Ellie were waiting for me when I got to Bognor Regis and we were home for 18:30.

Carcassonne

 We were all up fairly early this morning. It was a lot more cloudy than yesterday, and cooler at 16C. We had some breakfast and then set off. Brian, Barbara, and Liz headed off in one direction, Mike, Charlie, Maggie and I headed in another. The drive to Carcassonne took about an hour and forty minutes. As we headed south the clouds looked more threatening but it stayed dry.

Carcassonne is a 13th Century fortified city or stronghold. If I get time I will return to this and explain a bit more of its history.

We parked outside the walls (but a lot closer than this photo implies). 

We strolled through the gates and started to weave through the narrow streets of the city.

At the top of the Main Street we came to the entrance to the route through the castle and its ramparts. The route took us around the walls and defensive towers, and on through the museum. In all this took well over an hour.

The wind whistled through the ramparts and I had to use the chinstrap on my hat to make sure it didn’t blow away. Some of the views were astonishing and I loved the complexity of the roof lines and walkways.

When we finally emerged back onto the street we met up with Mike. It had just started to rain, but it wasn’t too heavy. We found a small, sheltered courtyard and stopped for a drink and a snack for lunch.

We moved on through the narrow streets to the church. It was very impressive, displaying some stunning stained glass windows and an impressive pipe organ.

We walked onward through the streets and stopped to take a photo of this merry band (other than the fact that I was taking the photo so missed out).

We left Carcassonne and started the long drive home along the A61. We stopped off on the way to grab a coffee by the Canal du Midi then finally got back to the house around 17:00.

Liz had prepared a lovely boeuf bourguignon (using beer instead of red wine). It wasn’t warm enough to eat outside, so we ate around the table before splitting off to read, write, or play cards. It will not surprise anyone who knows me that I declined the opportunity to play cards.

Montauban

We had a lot of thunder overnight. I waited until I heard Mike moving around before I got up, showered and dressed. It was an hour or so before others emerged. It was already quite warm (23C) so I sat on the deck and watched the world revolve while enjoying a cup of tea and view to the distant Pyrenees. As everyone else arrived we sat down to have breakfast by the pool… croissants and baguettes, and of course, coffee.

The plan for the morning was to visit the market in Montauban. It was only a 25 minute drive and quick circuit of the town centre to get to the car park. The market had to be seen to be believed. The first street of 200m was predominantly clothing and accessories. The next stretch, returning on the first, was food stalls offering every type of European food you could imagine. (There was no Chinese, but there were Middle Eastern, Moroccan, and Spanish). Moving onto a side road there stood hundreds of stalls selling fruit, vegetables, herbs, wines, and cheeses. I am not known for my love of shopping, nor markets, but I would visit this weekly if it was near us at home. 

From the market we walked down several side streets to a lovely open square where we settled down for a coffee. On the way back to the car we stopped and bought some cases of wine to replenish Mike’s stocks after last night!

We had a light lunch back at the house and then sat and had a quiet few hours. The pool was used (though not by me), old photo albums were brought out, old stories were recounted, some even went for a nap. The temperature was a very pleasant 28C.

Late in the afternoon we went for a walk into the village to look out from the escarpment over the plains below. The heat had created a haze so the distant sights were obscured. From there we walked down to the lake below the village. They have been doing a lot of work around the lake and the security fences have only just been removed to allow us to walk right round. It was a delightful (if rather warm) and we were probably out for about 90 minutes. We returned to the house and chilled for an hour before going out to dinner.

We walked from the house to the end of Rue de Levant and occupied our reserved table in the back of the local restaurant. The menu provided numerous types of pizza, some stunning burgers, and various grills. I chose one of the pizzas and was not disappointed. It had a firm but very thin crust and delightful cheese, tomato, and chorizo topping. The discussion over the meal ranged across many subjects beyond our reminiscences. Most interesting was probably hearing the story about how Mike’s dad finally came to England from Lithuania after the war.

We strolled back to the house where a foursome sat down with playing cards to play Canasta. The rest of us stayed out by the pool enjoying the warm evening.

Lautrec?

I woke early and rolled out of bed to get washed and dressed before anyone else emerged. By the time I ventured down to the kitchen, Mike was making some tea. He is clearly an early riser also. We left everyone else in bed and walked into the village to the Boulangerie for our morning croissants. By the time we got back, there were a few stirrings from elsewhere in the house.

After breakfast, we loaded up the cars and headed for a day in Toulouse. We parked up at the Park and Ride and took the Metro downtown. Emerging in the central district we strolled across the square and down some of the side streets towards the River Garonne which runs through the city and the whole region. We stopped at the Basilica and had a look around. It was quite impressive but very dark, which gave it a sombre feel.

Leaving the Basilica we dropped down to the river bank and stopped at a small cafe for some lunch. We had a couple of cheese platters and a couple of charcuterie plates between the 7 of us. It was a nice snack to keep us going.

From there we headed for a convent where there was an amazing display regarding the Cathars, a beautiful cloister, and a church the size of which had to be seen to be believed.

We stopped for an ice cream in the main square and then headed for a shopping centre with a roof garden… which turned out to be closed for a private function. We moved on to see the covered market and by the time we got there, It was closed. Doh!

We returned to the Metro and back to the cars at the Park and Ride. We headed home through the Friday afternoon traffic and settled down by Mike’s pool with a glass of wine. 

Dinner followed an hour or so later. Four of the party have settled down with a board game, Liz has gone to bed, Barbara and I are ignoring the antics around the board game.

D-Day 80

It was another lovely start to the day. We had the early drop-off and Ellie tucked into her breakfast before going upstairs to get washed and dressed. Today, at school, they have been remembering the 80th Anniversary of D-Day. All of the children turned up for school in appropriate WWII dress. Ellie was dressed as a “Land Girl” and looked the part, all she needed was her own tractor. As we took her to school we marvelled at the different costumes the kids were sporting.

Back home, Diane went to the hairdresser and left me to my own devices. My most important task was to finalise my wardrobe for my trip and then get the suitcase packed. Would it be hot? Would it be chilly? Would we go out touring? Would it be wet? I had to make some decisions and pack accordingly. In the end, I was happy with my selection and the suitcase was closed and locked. I then started on my hand baggage. I was determined to limit this to my “man bag”. It took some shuffling, but in the end I was set.

We had a proper lunch so that it wouldn’t matter whether I had anything else later. Then we managed an hour of Kindle time before Diane took me to the train.

The journey to Gatwick only takes about 75 minutes. Unfortunately, despite trying to read, there was an elderly man holding court to a poor unsuspecting Swedish businessman who was too polite to walk away. The elderly chap was an Evangelical Christian and kept weaving The Bible into his diatribe on the government, Israel, and the end of days. I was glad when we arrived at Gatwick and I could escape into the chaos.

The bag drop and the security Fast Track worked well. In fact, as I was writing the scanner, I bumped into Charlie. Once through to the departure lounge, I met up with Brian and Barbara. Soon after, Charlie and MAggie emerged from Duty Free. Our place was delayed by 20 minutes… or at least, that’s what they claimed. In the end it and hour late taking off.

We landed in Toulouse after a pleasant flight and were quickly through Passport Control and baggage reclaim. Mike and Liz were waiting as we emerged and we headed for the cars. Liz has a Mini Convertible and Mike has an SUV. As I had never met her before, I decided to travel with Liz and our little convoy headed out onto the highways and byways. The convoy was soon dispersed by the traffic and there were road closures on the usual route, so I had to fire up Google Maps to navigate. It was about an hour’s drive and pulled into the driveway of their home about 2 minutes after them.

Once we were settled in our rooms, we opened some fizz and sat chatting until åabout 1 o’clock, when we decided it was time to call it a day.

Shaking it up

 Ellie was dropped off to us this morning. We followed the usual morning process before walking her to school.

We decided that we'd mix things up a bit to inject some excitement into the week. With that in mind and a list in hand (no, not a bucket list - we have plenty of those in the garage) we headed for Sainsbury's. We would shop a day early! We could hardly contain our excitement as we sped up and down the Zombie-free aisles.

In the middle of the evening, yesterday, the fire alarm burst into life, scaring the hell out of us. It only lasted about 10 seconds, but then did it again a few minutes later. I disabled the alarm and did a thorough inspection of the house, seeking out any hotspots, smoke, or any other source of combustion. Nothing was found. I left the disabled alarm in the Oranger so that its tweeting couldn't be heard. I had assumed the problem was a dying battery. Today, back from Sainsbury's with a new Duracell 9V battery clutched in my hand, I reassembled (and tested) the alarm. All was well and we were protected again.

We had some Kindle time this afternoon before I collected Ellie from school. We gave her a snack and let her get changed. Zoe arrived soon after and Di, Zoe and Ellie headed into Chichester for Ellie's dental appointment. Now home, Di reports that she was very good and did very well.

More things

 Zoe had a day off so there was no hurry to get up. I wandered around the corner at 8:20 and presented myself for escort duties. Zoe was raging. The school caterers had, again, cocked up Ellie's lunch orders. Fortunately, Zoe had taken screenshots when she submitted the orders and thus had proof that it was their problem - indeed half of the school were affected yesterday.

Back home, breakfasted and caffeinated I headed into the village for a haircut. On arrival, I received a message that my delivery from Sky was due in 20 minutes. It's a good job I have a limited amount of hair to cut. I was home in time to take the delivery and send back the old failed box. Talking of failure, they remind you to take out your viewing card before returning the old box. Despite these reminders, I realised as the DPD driver turned out of our road that I had, indeed, forgotten. A phone call to Sky followed. A new viewing card is due in the next day or so.

Diane wanted to go along to Port Solent. It seemed like the ideal day for such an outing. Traffic was almost non-existent and we arrived in no time. She found the store she wanted and found what she was after. Clutching her purchases we strolled along the boardwalk to "Wildwoods" where we had some lunch and a coffee before heading home.

We had some Kindle time and then Di went with Zoe to collect Ellie. I settled on the floor of the lounge and started to wire up the Sky-Q box. I made a few adaptations to the cabinet in which it is housed. The adaptations were primarily to allow an easier cable run than before. I think I have done all that I can until the replacement viewing card arrives. All the usual Terrestrial TV channels and streaming channels are set in the TV itself, so the lack of Sky for a few days is not a major inconvenience.

Getting things done

 Zoe was due to start work at nine so it was a lazy start for us. I just had to present myself at the door at 08:20. It was a lovely, bright, sunny morning. Ellie was feeling a bit sorry for herself as she had a scrape on the top of her foot. She needed a dressing and wasn't comfortable in her normal school shoes. A switch to her trainers solved the dilemma and we marched off to school at the usual time.

We had a chap scheduled to come and clean our driveway and all of our paths and patios. This meant that I had to stay put so that I could shift things out of the way for him (he had just been discharged from the hospital and couldn't lift anything heavy). I made use of the time to catch up on some tasks that have been drifting on my "To Do" list. Top of the list was to cancel Diane's seats on the upcoming trip to and from Toulouse. This turned out to be an epic struggle as everything pointed back to the website, but there was no way on the website to achieve a cancellation. In the end, I found a phone number and called customer services. The operative (once I got through) was very helpful and the cancellation was processed immediately. I've now managed to check in for the flights and paid for Fast Track at Security.

Next on my list was to chase an order I placed back. on May 14th. Again, finding a phone number was a bit of a hunt, but again the operative was immensely helpful once I got through. It turns out that they are awaiting a shipment from Canada, but it is expected this week. She said that they would ship my order "Express" once it had arrived.

The last of my "must-do" tasks was to call Sky and report the problem I have been having with Sky-Q (which I think I have discussed before). After some diagnostic questions, the technician gave up and said they would ship a replacement box in the next 48 hours. Seems like a result!

I collected Ellie from school and despite her injured foot, she still wanted to stop off at the park on the way home. They have been discussing the 80th Anniversary of D-Day in class. The teacher has asked if any of them have photos of their Gt or Gt-gt-grandfathers from the war years. I dug out and printed a few photos of Dad,  Di's dad, Uncle Teddy, and Di's Uncle Charlie. 

Shripney

 It was nearly 8 o'clock before I awoke. I felt guilty waking up so late - particularly when it was such a gorgeous morning. The sun was out and the cool breeze of yesterday had dropped. After a lazy breakfast, Di was planning to do some gardening. It would take her a while to get going, so I went out for a walk.

My walk stuck to the neighbourhood, looping around the lake then heading up to North Bersted Street and then along this ancient highway to the outskirts of Shripney. It is a nice relaxing route since there is no traffic or hum of traffic. The only exception is the crossing over the bypass, but that only features for a few seconds. As I walked I continued with my current audiobook (Victims, by Jonathan Kellerman). As the book approaches its climax I must start to consider what I listen to next.

Back home I helped Di with some lifting and shifting in the garden before we settled down for some Kindle time.

With dinner out of the way, the dishwasher on, and the sun still pouring through the windows, I suspect we'll have some more Kindle time before settling down for the evening.

Sunny

 We woke to a gloriously sunny morning. There was a cool edge to the breeze, but it was a lovely day. I had the usual call with my cousins. It was slightly more sombre than usual as one of them recounted the problems he was currently having with his grown-up son.

With some domestic chores ticked off, I headed out for a walk. The route had to include the local pharmacy to collect Diane's meds, and the Post Office to get some stamps and send some mail. This constrained the route but managed to keep me away from busy roads.

After lunch, we took a drive to the local garden centre so Di could pick up a few plants and some compost.  Then we settled down for some Kindle time. Later, I went online to order my train tickets for my upcoming long weekend in France. As Di isn't coming, I will get the train to and from Gatwick. Since I last ordered train tickets a few weeks ago, they now support downloads directly to your Apple Walllet. This was much better than having to collect them at the station on the day.

As it was still so nice after dinner, we went back to the Orangery for some more Kindle time.