That's better

 We had an early start with Ellie. It followed the usual pattern: run up to see Nana, come down for breakfast (with Nana) and watch the iPad, go up to wash, do teeth, and dress, then come down and twiddle thumbs until it is time to head off to school.

Having dropped her off at the classroom, I walked a couple of laps of the lake before heading home for breakfast. I started to clear the kitchen, ready to steam clean the floors, when the phone rang. It was Ross and he was on his way. Most of the morning was spent with him as he investigated the underfloor heating system. The problem turned out to be a superfluous valve that was left over from the original heating system. By latching this open, everything burst into life and performed as required. He then checked various settings and asked for the original documentation for the heating manifold. This revealed that the flow/return valves for the underfloor heating had not been set correctly, so the system wasn't balanced. He reset all of these and with a job well done, left us to it. I switched all of the settings to the automatic schedules I had developed yesterday and left it to do its own thing.

After lunch, we managed some Kindle time before preparing for our trip to Guildford. We headed out along the King's highways and arrived in the car park behind G-Live spot on the time predicted by Google Maps. Jane and Trevor were waiting and together we walked across to Zizzi's for dinner. We had a lovely meal and caught up on all our collective news and gossip. After a "Nduja & Garlic Bombe (a huge garlic dough ball filled with 'nduja), I somehow resisted the temptation of a pizza and selected a plate of Wagyu Meatballs with pasta in an Arrabbiata sauce. I must say it was delicious - but a huge garlic overload!

We left the restaurant and crossed the road to G-Live where we settled down for a couple of hours with Sandi Toksvig.

As usual, she was great fun as she expounded on writing and her love of books (the more obscure, the better). Not only were we thoroughly entertained, but we were also informed and educated. (We were given a copy of her latest book as part of the ticket price).

The second half of the programme included her quiz - the winner received a pencil and bottle of water; and a question and answer session with the audience. It was all over too quickly and we filed out and made our way to the car park where we said our goodbyes and headed off into the night.

We arrived home soon after 23:00 and found the house nice and toasty - the heating had done its job. It had been a good day!

Diagnostics, Schedules, and Mirroring

I was pleasantly surprised to find it was 07:30 before I woke up. This was a positive lie-in for me! There was nothing startling on the day's agenda so we had a gentle start and leisurely breakfast.

I received an email from Ross, the heating engineer, asking several questions and offering to visit on Monday evening. I emptied the man cave to access the various pumps and manifolds. I then went through a diagnostic process that would illustrate the current problem and answer the questions posed. All the thermostats were lowered to the point that no heating zone was calling for heat - and the boiler was quiescent. Then I boosted the required temperature in one zone. Heat was requested, the valves started to open, the pump was on, and the boiler fired up for all of 30 seconds. Indicators implied the heating was on, but no heat arrived at the valve to warm the room. There is clearly a problem with the controller for the underfloor heating and how it communicates with the boiler. We need to schedule a visit from Ross (Monday is out, because so are we).

With the diagnostics complete, I spent some time setting up the heating schedules for each zone within the house. In the old days, this was a fiddly process performed by pressing buttons on each individual thermostat. Now I was able to use that app on my phone and set up my "Q3" heating schedules for each room. To make life even easier, I used the new iPhone mirroring feature and programmed the app from my MacBook using the keyboard and mouse. Most satisfactory! All of the schedules are ready to be instigated as soon as the heating is fixed.

I managed to go for a walk, though it was cut short by the surfeit of coffee I had consumed over breakfast.

After lunch, the Orangery had warmed sufficiently (through the warmth of the sun, not the heating) for us to sit out there and enjoy Kindle time.

Alarmed

 There was no need for an alarm this morning. Nothing would encourage us to get out of bed until we were good and ready. Murphy's Law came into play. By 06:00 I was wide awake and by 06:30 I was getting fidgety. So at 06:31, I was in the kitchen making coffee before settling down to read the news.

Diane came down at a more civilized 08:00 as I went up to shower and dress. It being Saturday, I had my call with the cousins. This was the usual 40 minutes of banter and teasing. Despite rumours, it seems that Tim's recent trip to Corfu had not been paid for by Party Donors.

The rest of the morning was filled with troubleshooting the TV Soundbar - which is now working, the TV network link - which is now working, and the underfloor central heating - which does not appear to be working. In the end, I took various photos and sent them to my pet heating engineer so that he could come up with a solution before the temperatures drop too far.

I had ordered some clothing from M&S and they texted to let me know it was ready for collection at our local store. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for a walk. I grabbed an empty rucksack, plugged my AirPods into my ears and set off. I was out for about an hour, covering some 6 km. This took me over the 80 km mark for the month (so that's over 50 miles)... and I only started after the first 10 days or so. I was feeling smug.

While I was walking, Diane was pottering in the front garden.

The afternoon saw some Kindle time and then I cooked up a batch of curry for the next few weeks.

Fixed

We had a very long chat with Kim last night. She had had a day off and was just walking home from a meeting with a friend. She brought us up to date with all of the comings and goings during her first few days at Uni. This week was the induction week. Classes start properly next week.

We were up early so that Ellie could be dropped off. We had the usual start with breakfast, ablutions, and then some quiet time before we took I took her off to school. As the forecast suggested that we would have showers throughout the day, I decided to take a longer walk home before sitting down for breakfast. There were various domestic chores to clear first thing, but then I was able to get back out to continue my earlier walk. 

Back home we had some Kindle time. The doorbell rang. It was the postman with my replacement broadband router. I spent the rest of the afternoon installing and then connecting all my various to the router. The only problem I had was with the control unit for the new central heating boiler. This took several attempts and a call to Ross (our tame engineer). He suggested powering down and resetting the boiler and the control unit.  It was a great relief to see it all burst back into life.

Busted

 Ellie was dropped off early this morning. She was in a chirpy mood and having demolished her breakfast and completed her ablutions, we took her off to school. We returned for a quiet breakfast before cracking on with the dealings of the day.

The weather was mixed. Heavy showers were separated by bright warm sunshine. In one dry spell, I headed out for a walk clutching some cards for posting and with my audiobook stuck in my ears. I was stopped on the walk by a neighbour asking whether she could listen to audiobooks on her phone. I explained that was what I was doing and described how it all worked. I returned to my walk and stopped in at the Barbershop for a haircut. Moving on, I dropped into the Chemist to collect Di's prescription, then headed home. I saw an engineer from Openreach just around the corner from home. I asked if there was a problem as I was expecting an Openreach visit this afternoon. He was doing an installation but was the engineer due to visit me this afternoon. He suggested I try to switch in a new Ethernet cable while I was waiting.

I arrived home and tried the suggested swap. Ping, the router burst back into life. The problem was solved.

Oh no, it wasn't.

Within 5 minutes it crashed again. Nothing would coax it back into life. While I struggled to come up with a solution, Diane headed off to the hairdresser.

The Openreach engineer arrived. He tried a number of diagnostic tests which showed the service itself was still up and running. His conclusion was that the router was busted had failed and needed to be replaced. I called EE and they are sending out a new router... meanwhile, we are still relying on tethering our devices to our phones.

Disaster

There has been a great deal of flooding across the country. We had more rain overnight, but there is no flooding in this area. I was up and about early and walked around to Zoe's to accompany Ellie to school.

At this point, there was no inkling of the impending disaster.

I returned home for breakfast as Diane changed and prepared to head to Angmering for Pilates. As she left I finished reading the news and caught up on the accounts. With more rain scheduled, I decided that if I was going for a walk, I had to do it this morning. My AirPods were plugged into my ears and I headed out into the grey morning.

At this point, there was still no sign of the impending disaster.

I clicked off another 5 kilometres and finished my latest book. As I returned home, it started to rain and I got through the door just as the skies opened.

I sat down to check some mail. Disaster. While I was out, our Broadband had failed. I checked everything that I could think of and then called EE. EE checked a few things and decided that the problem needed a visit from OpenReach. They are scheduled to call tomorrow afternoon. Until then we have to tether to our phones.

Diane returned from Pilates - the first session for many months. She said how much she had enjoyed it and is looking forward to next week's session.

We were invited to attend the Medical Centre for our Covid-19 jabs in the next few weeks. We have booked the jabs for a couple of weeks time.

Quiet day

 There was some heavy rain overnight and it woke Ellie briefly. She went back off to sleep as soon as Grandpa explained that he couldn't stop the rain but expected it would die down soon. I was up first and had a quiet 30 minutes before Di and Ellie came down.

I dropped Ellie at school and took a circuitous route home, expecting that I wouldn't get another opportunity to go walking today. After breakfast, we completed our shopping list for the week.  Once all preliminary chores and admin were clear, we headed off to Sainsbury's. There seemed to be an extraordinary number of Zombies there today and they were hampered by a lot of re-organising that was in progress in the store.

Back home, we unpacked and Di went off to the vet to collect some medication for Jasper that had been out-of-stock. Early afternoon we had some Kindle time before collecting Ellie from school. We stopped off at the park to expend some energy before coming home for a snack.

Zoe collected her soon after 16:00.

New start

 We had to get up early for Ellie's drop-off. It was pouring with rain and Ellie arrived in a hooded onesie, boots, and had an umbrella for additional cover. Once breakfast and morning ablutions were complete, Ellie sat down to complete some homework (though it's not due until Thursday). The homework required her to create triples that added up to a starting number. She did a good job, and I photographed all of the pages and submitted them to the SeeSaw system.

The rain had stopped by the time we had to head to school. That wasn't the case for Kim, however. It was her first day at University today and while she had planned to cycle to the station and use the train, she decided that the car was a better idea today.

There were some domestic chores to complete after breakfast, but then I managed to get out for a walk for an hour or so.

After lunch, we had some Kindle time in the Orangery. It was so warm that I had to give up and sit in the lounge. 

We collected Ellie from her after-school Drama Class and took her straight home as Zoe would only be a few minutes after us. She is having dinner at home but will be back to sleep here overnight as Zoe has to get to Crawley at 8 a.m. tomorrow,  so she'll have a very early start.

Celebration

Today was a day of celebration. Perhaps in anticipation, I woke early and was up and about before seven. It is Kim's Birthday and we were expecting her and Jon, Zoe and Ellie for lunch and there was food to prepare. In reality, with lunch not scheduled until 14:00, I had hours of spare time but I do like to be ahead of the game. After reading the news over breakfast, I grabbed my chopping boards and Japanese kitchen knives and set about various innocent vegetables, dicing them within a millimetre of their lives.

Zoe called. She had been feeling really rough over the weekend and was seeking a Covid testing kit. Sainsbury's didn't have any, but fortunately we did. She took the test and was all clear. She obviously just has a flu-like cold and because she is so tired, she's feeling worse. Ultimately, she decided not to come to lunch as she didn't want to pass anything on to the rest of us - particularly Kim who starts at Portsmouth University tomorrow. Ellie was dropped off, however, and she had lunch with us.

Lunch was a Japanese-styled chicken and prawn fried rice - requested by Kim. Knowing Jon isn't a great one for rice dishes, and Ellie isn't always keen on food combinations, I also roasted a chicken. It all went down very well and we were able to send a doggy bag to Zoe when Ellie went home. I still have half a metric tonne of rice in the fridge... I may have over-estimated!

It was lovely to see Kim on her Birthday and also to wish her all the best for the coming weeks at Uni.

Field of Gold

 Ellie stayed with us overnight. There was no need for the alarm clock. We could sleep as long as we wished. Unfortunately, Ellie wished to stir at 06:30 and so it was that 10 minutes later, she was watching Diane's iPad and I was downstairs making my first coffee of the day. Zoe came to collect her soon after 09:00, by which time I was on the weekly call with my cousins. The attendance was a bit sparse this week but it was the usual mix of gossip, reminiscences, and banter.

With the call over I finished reading the news and then set off for a walk. A couple of kilometres would be enough to take me over the 50 km mark for the month. I actually covered nearly 6 as I marched through the back streets listening to my audiobook.

Despite a yellow weather warning for heavy rain and thunderstorms, we have had a lovely day (though there was a little rain overnight). We made the most of the warm afternoon and sat in the Orangery with our Kindles.

I broke off, mid-afternoon, in order to prepare some rice for tomorrow's family lunch. (It's Kim's birthday and she has requested my Japanese-style chicken and Prawn rice). It is many years since I have made this and I no longer have the recipe. I thought I should get the rice cooked today and store it in the fridge so I can stir-fry it tomorrow. I may have overdone the quantities. Laying out the cooked yellow rice to cool took a work surface the size of a football pitch (without the lines and goals). Eventually, I found a large enough dish and managed to get it into the fridge.

Out out

 The moon clocked off from the overnight shift as the sun started the day shift. I was up and about soon after. After the jump-starter coffee, I read the news before wandering around to Zoe's for the walk to school. Back home I settled down for some breakfast as Diane got ready to go and meet her friend, Angie, for a coffee and chat at Haskins.

I donned my sunglasses, stuck my AirPods in my ears and headed out for a walk.  My audiobook has got me completely hooked and if it wasn't for bladder pressure, I would have walked for hours.

Di returned soon after 13:00 and we had a quiet hour of general chat before we had to capture Jasper for his next appointment with the vet. Di took care of the trip with Jasper and I headed out for another walk before collecting Ellie from school. She was full of energy and wanted to stop at the park on the way home. It seemed like a good idea, so we made our way to the play area where, over the next 10 minutes, she seemed to be joined by most of her class.

As the children started to get a bit boisterous, I called Ellie and we headed home. We arrived just a few minutes before Di and Jasper got back.

Ellie had asked for "Grandpa's curry" and yellow rice for dinner. It seemed like the perfect end to the week (for her). I dug out my recipe from last year and made the sauce. Zoe had commented that Ellie had enjoyed Butter Chicken recently so I adjusted the recipe to incorporate butter in the final stage of preparation. The results were excellent and Ellie ate a huge helping.

As Zoe doesn't finish until 22:00 tonight, Ellie is staying with us.

Unhinged

 I had a more relaxing start to the day, but after a coffee and reading the news, I went to walk Ellie to school. Back home I had some breakfast and caught up on some admin.

I pre-ordered some railway tickets yesterday. These have to be collected at some point and, though there is a couple of weeks before my trip, today is a good time to do that. I plugged my audiobook into my ears, donned my sunglasses and walked into Bognor Regis to the railway station. It's a nice stroll (just under 3 km). Tickets were collected, and I headed back home. It had been a pleasant hour.

Back home, I downloaded some more audiobooks to the iPhone.

This afternoon, we went around to Zoe's. Diane was going to sort out her front garden. I was there to fit the doors to Ellie's new wardrobe. This should have been easy. There were 4 doors and each had 4 locations for hinges. The problem was only 9 hinges had been supplied. Zoe headed off to Toolstation to try and get some more hinges and returned with some spares. The spares were too deep and didn't fit. Ultimately, I resorted to Plan B and only fitted 2 hinges to each door. This worked well.

I managed to get a little Kindle time before dinner.

Early drop

We were up in time for an early drop-off. Ellie burst onto the scene and demolished a hearty breakfast of cereal and fruit. Then, after morning ablutions, she finished off this week's homework. She did well as it was a complicated poem with lots of homophones where the wrong words were written and had to be replaced with the correct words. It took her nearly 30 minutes, but she managed and we submitted the results online through SeeSaw.

Once Ellie had been dropped off at school (having fallen off her skateboard en route), we had a lazy breakfast and then prepared for a raid on Sainsbury's. As we will be hosting the family for Sunday lunch, it was a big shop - so much so that we could hardly fit it all in the trolley. It took nearly as long to put it away as it did to fetch it.

After lunch, we had the usual Kindle time and when the clock ticked around to the end of the school day, I headed out for a walk around the lake on the way to school. Ellie wanted to stop at the park on the way home, so we headed to the usual play area and I let her run off her excess energy for a while before we headed home.

Zoe has a day off tomorrow, so there will be no need for an early start.

Updates

 Yesterday evening we received a call from Zoe. Ellie was tired and really didn't want to get up early this morning, so could she come and sleep here. She is always welcome, so unexpectedly, Ellie slept here last night and we were able to switch off our wake-up alarms. Despite this, I was still up before seven and had about half an hour before anyone else emerged.

We walked Ellie to school and then came home for breakfast. When I had cleared away, I started upgrading the various Mac devices. With IOS 18 being released overnight, and MacOS Sequoia also released I worked my way through the iPads, iPhones, MacBooks, and iMac. It took a while but went very smoothly. There seem to be a number of really nice little additions and I suspect it will take a few days before I get to grips with all the features.

Ian brought us a barrowload of Scottish cobbles for the rill. They only cover a metre, but look as if they will be a suitable long-term solution. Once I had put them in the rill, I headed off for a walk before lunch.

After lunch, we had some Kindle time before going to collect Ellie from school. We stopped off at the park on the way back so that she could let off some steam before coming home to get her homework done. Zoe arrived to collect her about an hour later.

Maths

 We were up early so that Ellie could be dropped off. Today they had a special "Maths Day" at school and the children were asked to wear something maths-related. Ellie had decorated a t-shirt with simple arithmetic formulae and the "I Love Maths" slogan. I also printed out a sheet of random formulae and graphs for her to take into class. (I did look for my Maths A-Level papers for her, but couldn't find them in time).

Back home, and after breakfast we got on with some domestic chores. Once they were finished, Diane pottered in the garden and went out for a walk. I made the mistake of wearing a sweater which really wasn't needed. I was very warm by the time I had been going for a while.

I walked around the lake and then up to North Bersted Street where I turned towards Shripney and followed the old highway through the village and across the bypass. I don't think I saw another soul on this section of the walk. Back closer to home, I did see several dog walkers.

I had a new audiobook plugged into my ears. The book "Twisted Wing" has started well and will provide good company on my walks.

The afternoon saw some Kindle time, though Diane continued to potter in the garden. We went to collect Ellie from the after-school Drama Club and took her home. Zoe got in soon after and we left them to it.

A Languid Start

 It was 7:25 before I emerged for the first coffee of the day. I settled downstairs with the online news and caught up on the 2% of news that was of interest. (This means that Trump, Strictly, Harry & Meghan, Awards Ceremonies, Fashion, Gossip and heavens alone knows what else, just got ditched). An hour or so later, Diane emerged from her cocoon, in need of tea. (I should point out that I am always willing to take a tea up to her, but she insists that I don't, or she wouldn't get up).

The morning saw the usual mid-month meter readings, a check of the accounts, and a check on our blood pressure (it's nice to keep a regular check). I then headed out for a walk, with a view to posting a card somewhere along the route. I only got about 20 yards before I was waylaid by Chris and Maureen for a chat. When I moved on, the audiobook was reaching its denouement. I hadn't gone too far when I was again interrupted. This time it was a phone call from Jan. She was in the car on the way to the hospital to visit John. She gave me an update on his progress and asked how things were with us. I filled her in, we said goodbye, and I returned to the book. With the interrupts and the route chosen, I had timed it to perfection. The book ended (very satisfactorily) as I walked up to our front door. I now have to find another.

After lunch, we had some Kindle time and I broke off to get dinner on the go. We've just had a lovely joint of pork with some good crackling.

Up for the Cup

Diane was going out with Kathie for the day so we were on the go a bit earlier than usual for a Saturday. I was also going out, but not until later. I had my usual call with the cousins, though the Australian contingent was notable by their absence. Maggie was also absent - she was on a coach travelling from Margate down to Bognor... but more about that in a minute. The call was the usual 40 minutes of reminiscing, banter, teasing and chat, and it seemed to end too soon.

As the call finished, Diane headed off into the wide blue yonder. She was meeting Kathie at the Weald and Downland Museum at Singleton, just north of Chichester. It is quite a few years since we have been there, but it has become famous as the location for the TV Show "The Repair Shop". 

An hour or so later, I left (with an audiobook plugged into my ears) and walked up to the "MKM Arena" which is the home of Bognor Regis Town FC. They had an FA Cup qualifying match against Margate (hence Maggie's trip). I arrived in plenty of time and checked where the bar was, and (as a man of a certain age) where the loos were. I grabbed a beer and wandered around to get the feel of the ground. As I wandered, I bumped into our neighbour, Ken. He was there for the first time, and he too was having a mooch around before the game. 

My phone rang. It was Maggie saying they were just walking up to the ground. I went back to meet her at the turnstiles. Maggie was easy to pick out as her daughter, Terry, was with her and she was carrying a big drum. 

We stopped off at one of the concessions so they could get some food and drink and then after a brief chat, Terry made her way to a spot behind the goal. 

Maggie and I turned to head towards the stands. She saw Francis in the distance and waved him over. Francis (Maggie's younger brother) is the kit man for Margate (and also a fully qualified Referee). We had a nice chat before he was called back to the Margate squad and we went settled in our seats.

Throughout the game, the thump of Terry's drum and her battle cry of "Margate, Margate" could be heard across the ground. People in the stands groaned every time she started a new refrain. It was really quite funny.

The game was not a classic. Margate won 0-4 and never really looked under threat. Bognor ("the Rocks") were utterly inept. They easily hassled off the ball when they got it, their passing was dreadful, and like the England team, spent more time passing backwards than going forwards. If they had made a better game of it, I'd be tempted to go more regularly. (When I say more regularly, there is an implication that my attendance at one game per year, can be considered regular).

The game over, we went and chatted with Francis a bit more and I commented on how many balls were kicked over the stands and out of the ground. He chuckled "... at least it's not my problem" as it would have been if we had been at Margate. We said our goodbyes and I left them at their luxury coach and walked on home.

Diane got back about an hour after me. She had enjoyed a fabulous day at the Weald & Downland Museum. She enjoyed it so much that she is now looking into the purchase of an annual pass, and we are thinking of taking Ellie there during half-term (weather permitting).

Delivery

 It was chilly overnight, in fact, the heating switched on briefly. I was up just before seven and went down for a coffee and some quality time with the news. Di dropped back to sleep and I had to wake her when I went to wash and dress before heading to Zoe's. We took Ellie to school and then Zoe rushed off to work while I headed home for breakfast.

The morning saw various domestic chores completed and then Diane had a telephone call with Denise. I headed out for a walk. It was while I was at the far end of the walk that I got a phone call from Zoe. A delivery driver had arrived at her house wanting to deliver a new wardrobe for Ellie. She had asked him to wait while I went to receive the parcel. The problem was that I was at least 10-15 minutes away. I charged along and arrived at the house. He was sitting in his cab, waiting. I had to explain that I needed a few more minutes to go and collect the keys. I zipped home and back and then we struggled to lift the package into the house. A sticker claimed it weighed 20 kg, I would estimate that it was at least 60 kg.

Back home, Diane was still on the phone... but that was no surprise.

After lunch, we had some Kindle time before Diane had to take Jasper off to the vet for his latest checkup. I had to stay behind so that I could collect Ellie from school. Back home, Ellie finished decorating a T-shirt for Monday's "Maths Day" before Pete came to collect her for the weekend.

Not Every Day

 Ellie was dropped off early this morning, so we were up and about and addressing the bright sunny morning long before it was time for the walk to school. Once Ellie was safely delivered to the classroom door we wandered home for breakfast.

Once some domestic chores were finished, I went out for a walk in the bright sunshine. It was crisp and cool, but absolutely gorgeous. I walked around the lake as my latest audiobook played through the AirPods. I then headed up to the old medieval highway to Shripney and crossed the bypass. This was where I was greeted by a sight you don't see every day. A herd of goats had escaped from their enclosure and were just mooching around on the road. They seemed perfectly happy even though they were only about 100m from the bypass. They posed for a photo as I made my way through with the idea of finding their owner and alerting her. As it happened, a few hundred metres further on a pickup was heading towards me, so I flagged it down and the driver said that I shouldn't worry, "... they often escape, but never venture towards the bypass". By the time I finished that leg of my walk and turned back, they had gone back to their enclosure.

Amazon delivered some garment bags. These are similar to those used by the dry cleaners. Jasper likes to slink through my wardrobe and "nest" on the bottom shelf. In order to get there he brushes past my coats and trousers, leaving them coated with clumps of his fur. I stripped and cleaned all the coats and trousers and rehung them in garment bags. Hopefully, he can now wander in and out without moulting on my clothes.

After some Kindle time, we collected Ellie from school and took her straight home. She'd been at an after-school club, so didn't finish until 16:00. By the time we got her home, Zoe was on her way home from work. We left them to it.

Candidates

Zoe had a late start so I didn't have to set the alarm. After the mandatory coffee and news update, I wandered around to walk with Ellie and Zoe to school. It was the first chilly morning of the season and is destined to cool even further by the end of the week. At least it was bright and sunny.

Diane was out for the morning. She was meeting up with Pauline at Haskins. No doubt donkeys were shuffling around without their hind legs after a while. 

With Diane out, Jasper was obviously in charge. I got his permission to go out for a walk. I plugged my current audiobook into my ears and set off along the old highway to Shripney. It's always a peaceful walk as there is no through traffic. The only interruption is where the path crosses the by-pass. 

When I got home (and fed Jasper) I started on the marinade for our dinner. I was trying a recipe I had seen on Facebook about 10 days ago. The marinade was made up of lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, grated shallots, grated garlic, oregano, paprika, salt, and black pepper. I then plunged three large chicken breasts into the mixture and thoroughly coated them before leaving them to marinate in the fridge for the afternoon.

Di returned early in the afternoon and we had some Kindle time before collecting Ellie from school.  Ellie was explaining to us that she had put her name forward to represent her class on the school council. The results of the vote will be announced on Friday. While Di supervised Ellie's times tables practice, I started on dinner. The chicken was fried in a little oil with the marinade. (I did a plain chicken breast for Ellie). When Zoe arrived back from work, we served up and were very happy with the results.

Mid-evening I had a Zoom call with the local Conservative Association with regards to the selection of our next County Councillor. Unfortunately, our candidate, Keir, had dropped out. He is by far the best and most active and pro-active councillor we have ever had. It's a shame that he has withdrawn, but his health must come first. Needless to say, there was some pressure for me to stand or suggest another candidate. I respectfully declined.

Watch IT

 Today was Zoe's day off so we didn't have to get up early. After the statutory morning coffee and some time with the overnight news, I wandered to Zoe's and escorted Ellie to school with her.

Back home, and breakfast finished and cleared away, we headed to Sainsbury's. We were in and out within about 30 minutes by getting there so early. Once everything was packed away, I sent a message to Zoe to say we were free and she came round to see us.

Zoe had bought a watch for Ellie. This has an inbuilt GPS and can send and receive messages, video calls, and voice calls. There are plenty of other functions, but those are the key features. The best part is the ability to control the watch from an App. This means that Zoe can limit the numbers that can call the watch and the number it can contact. It can also send it into a silent mode (Classroom mode) which prevents its use for anything other than telling the time during school hours. The problem that we had was working out how everything worked and how to configure it. With Zoe here, we were able to work it out between us and, since Ellie returned from school, it has already been tested!

We were a bit worried about Jasper. Diane thought he had a film across his eyes. We booked an appointment with the vet for late afternoon. By mid-afternoon, we had managed to have another look and decided there was no sign of the film after all. The appointment was cancelled.

We were sorry to hear that our friend John, in Odiham, was taken into hospital for 12-hourly dialysis after some blood tests yesterday.

Early Start

We knew that we had to be up early for Ellie to be dropped off. What we didn't realise was Jasper would decide he was hungry at 04:00 and was not going to take "No" for an answer. I pottered down the stairs and opened the timed cat feeder; Jasper dived in and I wandered back up to bed. Unfortunately, I was now wide awake, and that's how it stayed until I got up at 06:30 to be ready for Ellie.

Ellie was a bit subdued when she arrived, but a cuddle with Grandpa seemed to break the spell and she was fine after that. We dropped her off at school at the usual time and went home for our own breakfast. There were a few domestic chores to clear during the morning and when they were complete, I walked into the village to post a card for Jan and John's impending Anniversary.

Talking of Anniversaries, today is Kim's Jon's birthday. Happy Birthday, Jon.

There was some Kindle time after lunch until we had to collect Ellie from school. She was full of the joys of Spring (or should that be Autumn?) and came home to do some colouring and then played a board game until Zoe collected her. (There was no homework).

Tracks and Snaps

 We both saw a gentle start to the day after a very good night's sleep. The agenda was not exactly overflowing so we settled down for breakfast and read the news.

Diane had some ironing that she wanted to clear, so she got on with that. I went to the study to process a backlog of photos. The first task was to set the file dates on the scans of Ellie's school photos and then create some EXIF data for them (using ExifTool). This took me a little while, but I eventually got it right. I was then able to file them in the correct parts of my master photo library. I then processed 300+ photos from the last few months. They were already in the correct folders, but there had been no facial identification applied. Lightroom did a pretty good job at pulling out all of the faces. I just had to go through and identify them. This took a couple of hours. With everything squared away, I ran the backups to ensure all the data was captured on several more NAS drives.

This afternoon I sat down with my Kindle but before I had even switched it on, Ellie knocked at the door. She was with a friend and wanted me to raise the seat on her bike. While I did that, Diane affixed the GPS Tracker to her jeans. A few minutes later she was off. I tracked her progress around the estate. She covered almost 8km over the next couple of hours. I expect she will sleep well tonight. (Zoe, meanwhile, has been looking for other solutions to the tracking and has come up with a smartwatch which includes a phone. I'll look at the write-up and see if it makes sense).

Snap

It was a lazy start but I was ready for the call with my cousins at nine.  The call was the usual three-quarters of an hour of general rubbish and banter. Nothing extraordinary came to the surface.

Di seemed to spend much of the morning on the phone with Zoe. While one of the calls was in progress, there was a knock at the door. It was Ellie (with friends) calling for her scooter which had been left here. I took the opportunity to pin the GPS Tracker to the inside of her sweatshirt before she headed back out.

I managed to get in touch with the insurance company and register the start of a claim for Jasper's vet fees. They sent through a claims form which we have filled in and forwarded to the vets for completion. Let's hope all goes through without a problem.

The rest of the morning was spent working with some of Ellie's school photos. I was hoping to use my A3 scanner but even when I finally got it working, It always cut at least one pupil off the end of the image. In the end, I used the A4 scanner and scanned each end of the image then processed it with PhotoShop and its AI Photo Merge. This was very impressive. I didn't have to line anything up... just open the images in question and tell it to go ahead. The finished image was crisp and clear and showed no sign of the "stitch".

I managed some Kindle time this afternoon before starting to prepare chicken curry for my dinner. Di, in the meantime, was doing some goldwork on a needlepoint frame.

Back and forth

 We were up early again, ready for Ellie to be dropped off. She was already dressed and after breakfast and a wash, would be ready for school. There was a break in the rain at just the right time, so we didn't get wet doing the school run.

There was some admin to clear after breakfast but then we had to take Jasper back to the vet. After some discussion, it was decided he should stay put for some treatment and some tests. We left him and waited for the vet to call and set a time for picking him up. It would appear that he has high blood pressure and this is affecting his appetite and his vision.

After lunch, we had a little Kindle time before I went to collect Ellie from school. She had enjoyed the day but was clearly tired from the first week back. Zoe came to collect her soon after 16:00.

We drove back to Oving to meet with the vet and collect Jasper. We have various meds to control his blood pressure and (hopefully) restore his appetite. We'll have to contact the Insurance company as this is getting expensive!

The good news, since getting home, is that he has tucked into his dinner... and keeps coming back for more.

Vet, vet, vet

 It started to rain as I got up this morning. It was just warming up for later when it turned into a monsoon for several hours. I splashed my way to Zoe's and then escorted Ellie to school while Zoe finished faffing and headed off to work.

We had a chap who trades as "Oven Genie" arrive soon after I returned. He set about cleaning our ovens. It took him all morning, but he took them apart and delved into every crevice and recess. He seemed to use a huge amount of "Pink Stuff" and a lot of elbow grease. He was with us for two and a half hours but has done a wonderful job. The ovens look like new.

We had to leave as soon as the Oven Genie left. We had to get Jasper back to the vet. He still isn't eating and we can't get him to take his antibiotics or painkillers. The vet was very accommodating and checked him over. Jasper was given a couple of injections and we will see how he responds overnight. He has a follow-up appointment tomorrow.

I've been doing some more admin for the upcoming Band of Brothers lunch. Unsurprisingly we have had a dropout - and I expect two further no-shows. The restaurant is booked, however, and the remainder of us are raring to go.

After some Kindle time, I collected Ellie from school and she has been with us for a couple of hours or so. I made sufficient dinner so that Zoe (who didn't finish until 18:00) could eat with us rather than go home and start cooking.

Oops

 There was a rude awakening. There was no need for the alarm as Zoe wasn't due to start work until nine. The problem was, that Zoe woke up early and was sure she was due in work at seven. She got up in a panic, got Ellie up and phoned me at 06:45. When I had dropped back onto the bed, having hit the ceiling when the phone rang, I received the news they were just getting into the car. I lurched to my feet and put on a tracksuit before charging downstairs to unlock the door and get the coffee on (for me, not Ellie).

After breakfast, I escorted Ellie to school. Again, she was eager to get there and get started. I watched her into the class and wandered home for breakfast. 

While I was preparing this week's shopping list, I received a WhatsApp from Kim. We had a nice long chat and it was good to hear that she is getting on well with the MacBook.

Finishing the shopping list, Diane and I headed for Sainsbury's. It was wonderfully quiet in there today, so we were in and out quite quickly. Back home, with everything packed away, we grabbed some lunch and then settled down for some Kindle time until I had to go and collect Ellie. She was eager to let off some steam in the park so we walked around to the swings where the kids played together for about 20 minutes or so.

Zoe came to collect Ellie after she had finished work soon after 16:00.

New Term

 Today was the start of the new school year for Ellie. I walked around to the house where she was all ready and itching to get going. The gates wouldn't open until 08:35 so there was no point in setting off too soon. As it was the first day of term, there were lots of parents seeing their little ones off. Ellie is now in Year 3, so is one of the more grown-up children. We waited for the classroom to open and in a trice, all of the children charged in and the parents all trudged away.

I returned home to finish reading the news before heading for the bus to get to Chichester for a dental appointment. As I was getting ready to leave, Zoe arrived to help Diane get Jasper off to the Vet for his post-op checkup. It turns out that he has an infection in his mouth where some teeth were removed. This explains why he has been off his food for the last few days.

My trip to the dental hygienist was unremarkable. I had arrived in plenty of time and managed to read a few chapters of my book before being called in. There was nothing to report. I made my way back to the bus stop and was soon whizzing back home. I had used this trip as a test bed for the GPS Tracker. I had switched it on and kept it in my pocket throughout the whole trip. On my return, I examined the route that had been recorded and was pleased to see how accurate it had been.

After lunch, we had some Kindle time until it was time to collect Ellie from school. Di went along to meet with Zoe and wander around to the school. Ellie had a great first day and really liked her new teacher.

Plans Change

 Ellie didn't have a sleepover with Sophia. Ellie came home, feeling sick. I was up at 06:30 to greet her when she was dropped off but received a message from Zoe saying that while Ellie was a little off-colour, Zoe had been sick overnight. As a result, she would stay at home and Ellie would stay put. It was a good thing Ellie hadn't been sick as the school term starts tomorrow and she has to have 48 hours clear before attending after sickness.

I started my chores by steam cleaning the floors downstairs. It doesn't take too long, but it is always satisfying to get it done. After the floors were done I went back to the accounts. I wanted to rationalise the Standing Orders I had set up for one of my ISAs.

The afternoon was spent with our Kindles. Having said that, Amazon delivered the new GPS Tracker and I spent some time setting this up and getting the tracking portal to link with the device. I then went out for a walk to test the device. The first walk didn't produce anything, but a reboot of the device was all that was required.

While I was out, I saw Ellie. She was outside playing with a friend and said she was feeling a lot better.

Maintain course

 It has been very warm and sunny today, if a little humid. I was up by 07:30 and enjoyed a coffee while reading the news. Jasper went out for a walk around the garden and Diane pottered down the stairs later.

Being the start of a new month I closed off the accounts for August. Then I started to think about the various holidays we have booked and decided to check that all of my notes were up-to-date and set some reminders regarding when payment would be due.

There was some Kindle time after lunch though I had to read in the front room as the Orangery was too hot. Di stuck with it. Zoe called for a chat about life and the meaning of the Universe. This took an hour or two. Ellie is having a sleepover with her friend Sophia tonight and will be dropped here late morning, tomorrow. Talking of Ellie, her GPS tracker should arrive tomorrow.