12K

This is a momentous blog post. It is the twelve thousandth entry in this blog since I started it in 2004. It's a shame that there isn't something of huge importance to report or discuss!

Ellie slept well overnight. I was up well before she emerged, and Zoe came to collect her soon after eight o'clock.

After I finished breakfast, I started to unpack a self-assembly bedroom unit for Ellie's room. Di, meanwhile was getting ready for an appointment at the hospital. I laid out all of the components and checked the inventory. It wasn't quite as straightforward as some I have built recently. This is because they hadn't numbered each part, so they had to be identified by the pre-drilled hole positions. When I had everything ready to start assembly, it was time to head to the hospital.

The appointment was at Worthing Hospital rather than St Richard's in Chichester. Because of the parking problems, I dread visits to Worthing but having said that, there were no problems today. In fact, it was remarkably quiet. We found our way to the correct department and I waited while Diane had her check-up. She got a clean bill of health. When we had finished in the department we stopped off in Costa for a coffee before driving home.

Once home, I returned to the assembly of the unit for Ellie's bedroom. It went together quite easily, with the exception of the doors. The hinges were a bit fiddly, but eventually, they clicked into place. The unit now sits at the end of her bed and holds the TV. (The TV gets its signal via the Amazon Firestick over WiFi so I have created a schedule whereby the WiFi switches off at 20:30 and doesn't reactivate until 06:30 - this is the same schedule used for her iPad).

With the unit in place, I set off for a walk. I managed about a 5.5 km loop before settling down in the Orangery for Kindle time.

Chancellor

 I was up first, followed 45 minutes later by Diane. Ellie remained in bed but picked up her iPad to watch some YouTube videos. By the time I had finished my morning ablutions, Zoe had arrived to collect Ellie. 

My morning was spent sorting out the TV we had decided to install in Ellie's bedroom. The Firestick was working downstairs, but would it still get a signal in the bedroom? To make sure, I thought I would install a WiFi extender upstairs. Unfortunately, the extender wouldn't pair with the router so I then spent an hour on the phone with EE and they eventually agreed to send me a replacement. As it happened, the TV was able to pick up a signal anyway. With that working, the next issue was to find a suitable unit on which it could sit. We didn't have anything suitable so I spent time online and ordered a suitable unit that should be delivered by the end of the day.

Zoe brought Ellie back at lunchtime. She was feeling under the weather, so a quiet afternoon would do her good. I headed out for a walk.

I looped around the lake and Willows Edge, then up Berry Lane to North Bersted Street. I then headed across the bypass and down to Shripney, before turning back and retracing my steps. As I walked back, I passed the field with some old horses and the pen with the goats. As I approached, I could hear a donkey baying. I couldn't help but think of our Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Once home, I joined in the quiet afternoon - though this started with Ellie wanting to make a sweet concoction from melted marshmallows and Rice Crispies. It was messy and had the texture of Gorilla Glue. It was, however, quite tasty... even if Ellie didn't have more than a teaspoonful.