Audiobooks

There was a lot of rain overnight, and it was still pouring down when Ellie was dropped off. She was in a very chirpy mood this morning and seemed eager to get to school (which I heartily endorse). When we set off for the halls of academe, the rain was still thrashing down, and it was fortuitous that we had thought to put her boots on and carry her trainers in a plastic bag.

There was no early walk for me. I wasn't going to splash my way through the usual route, so I went straight home for breakfast. As I got in, Diane went off to her Cardiac Rehab session. I settled down with coffee, porridge, and the overnight news. I also switched on my audiobook and listened through to the end of "The Waiting" - what a book that was! I cannot recommend it highly enough, and I am frustrated that there is not (as yet) another book in that series.

The rain cleared up, and the sun poked its head nervously around the clouds. Diane arrived back, having had a good session, and I decided to chance the weather and get a walk under my belt. I stuck moderately close to home as I looped around the neighbourhood. This allowed me to make tracks for home should the weather break again. My new audiobook is called "The Medici Murders" by David Hewson, and it takes place in Venice.

As soon as I got home, I grabbed the keys and headed for Sainsbury's to pick up the items forgotten in yesterday's raid. After lunch, we settled in the Orangery with our Kindles until it was time to collect Ellie. She wasn't with us for too long before Zoe collected her. Ellie will be at Pete's for the weekend (with a new bed, which has her bubbling with expectation).

Shopping list - pah!

 I was downstairs enjoying my first coffee, having already cleaned the cat's litter tray, before Ellie stirred. The preschool process was triggered and ran smoothly. We marched out the door into the early morning sunshine and dropped Ellie in her classroom. Diane headed home, and I set out for my morning walk. The sky was slowly turning blue as the low sun rose in the sky, but it was still quite chilly. I completed my normal loops around the estate and then headed home for breakfast. (My audiobook is moving towards a climax, so I'm looking forward to my next walk.)

Back home, I had my breakfast and completed the shopping list for today's adventure among the Zombies as they shuffled aimlessly in Sainsbury's. I must have had a mental aberration as we managed to leave without a couple of items that were clearly on our list.

Lottie was just finishing up as we got home and unloaded the car.

After some lunch, I settled in the Orangery (the sun had made it very warm and comfortable) to grab some Kindle time. Diane received a message from the cat whisperer - he had some availability for Jasper during half-term. We grabbed it and immediately set about booking a few nights away in Christchurch. With the alert sent to Jane and Trevor, they too booked.

We stopped off at the park with Ellie after collecting her from school. We didn't stay long as the sun was sinking behind the houses, and the temperature was dropping. Ellie wasn't with us for too long before Zoe came to collect her. We will be going to Zoe's to babysit later as she has to pop into work briefly to deliver a management message to the night staff.

Blood

  We had a gentle start to the day, even though Jasper had been practising an Oratorio since 5 o'clock. We prepared ourselves for the day with suitable infusions of coffee and tea, and I went to Zoe's to join the walk to school. Ellie was a bit tearful when she arrived - she was due to leave at lunchtime to go to the hospital for a blood test and was very nervous about it. She was soon swept into the classroom, and the school day began. I headed off for my pre-breakfast walk. It was bright, though not sunny, and it was quite cool. Perfect conditions for a pleasant walk.

I arrived back home just as Diane was getting ready to head to Angmering for her Pilates session. I tucked into my breakfast and, having cleared away, headed out for another walk. This was much longer than the earlier effort, and as I walked back, I stopped in the village for a haircut. I got back home a few minutes before Diane called to say she was on her way.

Diane had just enough time to have some lunch before Zoe arrived with Ellie and they all set off for St Richard's for Ellie's blood test. I spent a while writing some more code then settled down for some Kindle time.

Ellie (and the girls) were back in time for Ellie to go back to school and join the after-school dance class. She's coming back to stay with us overnight as Zoe has a 6 a.m. start tomorrow.

Eruption

  We were up early for Ellie. She was quite bubbly this morning but adamant that she wasn't hungry enough for breakfast. We left her to it. Once she was washed and ready for school, we returned to the poster she had been making for school on the subject of volcanoes. We finished some of the commentary and found some facts and more pictures to use later (when she got back from school).

It had only just stopped raining as we walked to school. The sky was still threatening, so I didn't take my usual walk. Back home, we had a quiet breakfast while reading the news and catching up on social media. Once everything had been cleared, I returned to my little coding project. After a couple of hours, it was all finished, and all the tests seemed to run successfully. It was a shame... now I'll have to find another little project to tickle the little grey cells.

In a gap between showers, I headed out for a walk. AirPods provided the commentary from my current audiobook as I looped around the estate and the lake a couple of times. I had to cut it short as the rain started again, but I managed about 45 minutes good exercise.

After lunch, we had a bit of Kindle time until we had to collect Ellie. Once home, and she had raided the fridge, she cracked on and finished the poster about Mt. Etna. Next time she is here (Thursday), she will probably return to the project on Roman leisure time.

Creeping up

Young Trevor tries to kid us that he's still much younger than the rest of us. Maybe so, but age is certainly creeping up on him, as he celebrates another birthday. He has so much to learn!

We were up early for the Ellie drop-off. She had a sore throat overnight and was a little hoarse when she first arrived, but that seemed to clear up a bit before we took her to school. Zoe phoned the surgery and managed to get an appointment for mid-morning.

I started my pre-breakfast walk in blue skies, bright sunshine, and a very cold wind. By the time I was halfway around my usual route, the skies had darkened and it started to rain quite heavily. I diverted from the usual route and headed home.

After some breakfast, I updated the accounts and then returned to my little coding project. That consumed a couple of hours and left me with a logic conundrum that will take some thought. I headed out for another walk. This time it was bladder pressure that caused me to divert and head home for lunch.

The afternoon saw some Kindle time before we went to collect Ellie from school. Back home (and out of the cold wind) she settled down to prepare a poster about an active volcano of her choice. She chose Mt.Etna, so we spent some time looking for suitable information online and printing it. Now that she has the facts, she can spend tomorrow (after school) completing the poster.

Not Going Out

 We had a very slow start to the day, lingering over breakfast and the overnight news.

The forecast was not good. We were expecting rain and high winds by late morning. In fact, they hit as we finished breakfast. There would be no walk today.

Diane returned to her sewing room for most of the day, and I returned to my study. I buried myself in the code I had been working on yesterday. Slowly, it started to emerge from the keyboard, and then I would change my approach and rework it again. This has consumed most of the day, but I am now happy with the changes I have made thus far. I still have two subroutines to rework, but they can wait for now.

Refactoring

There was no need for an early start. I wandered downstairs to consume the overnight news along with a coffee. Diane followed down a while later. It was a nice gentle start.

I had my weekly call with the cousins. There didn't seem to be a flow to the call nor a theme to the various ramblings this week. We did, however, get to talk briefly about the lunch being organised for May. This triggered my coding juices again. More about that in a minute.

It was a bright and sunny morning and looked ideal for walking. There were several items I had forgotten to pick up in Sainsbury's on Thursday, so I grabbed a shopping bag, plugged in my AirPods, and walked to Shripney. It was a lovely temperature for walking, and by sticking to the back roads, it was quiet enough to enjoy my book. With the shopping collected, I headed back. As I walked into the Crescent, Ellie called. She was out playing with her friend; we stopped for a chat before they carried on, and I returned home.

Diane was sewing in her sewing room, so I sat down in my study. My coding juices were flowing, and I wanted to improve on the program I had written earlier this week. I spent several hours refactoring the code and adopting some different techniques. I haven't finished, but I'm very satisfied with the progress.

After lunch, with Di still in her sewing room, I retired to the Orangery with my Kindle. It was fairly warm at first, but as the sun weakened behind some high clouds, the temperature dropped. I headed for the lounge and continued to read there until it was time to start on dinner.

Covered

We were up early to greet Ellie as she arrived. It was raining heavily and quite windy. Fortunately, we were spared the full fury of storm Éowyn, which has wreaked havoc in parts of the north. As the time for our walk to school drew near, I retrieved my waterproof trousers and jacket, and Ellie put on her boots and a large coat. We opened the door and discovered that the rain had just ceased. Doh! 

There was no walk again this morning. I headed straight home for breakfast and then waved Diane off to her Cardiac Rehab session. I retired to the study and finished the editing of the 2024 blogs. With that finished, I could concentrate on the process of sending it for printing.  This was more complex than previous years because "lulu.com" has replaced the tool that creates the book covers, and the new tool does not include a template like the one I used before. I tried their new tool but could not find a simple way of retrofitting my cover design with any certainty that the colours and fonts would match. In the end, I downloaded a cover from a previous year - which is a pdf file - and used Adobe Acrobat to edit the pdf. I uploaded the amended file, and everything looks okay. I will probably have one more editing session against the finished journal and then send it off for printing.

There was a short Kindle break this afternoon before we collected Ellie. Once she was home, she wanted to work with Nana on her project about Roman leisure time. She also informed us that she had to do a poster about volcanoes for next Wednesday. While Ellie and Nana worked on the Romans, I spent some time digging up some useful information about volcanoes. She can do the poster on Monday or Tuesday.

Romans

  We had an early start to greet Ellie when she was dropped off. She had only just woken up and took a few minutes to click into gear. As schooltime was approaching, I checked around: school bag, packed lunch, water bottle, trainers, coat - oops, she had left her coat at home and didn't have one here. I grabbed my jacket and walked around to get her coat - and as it turned out, just in time. By the time I was back home and Ellie was ready for school, the rain had started. In fact, by the time we got there, it was torrential. That put paid to my pre-breakfast walk.

Diane finished her breakfast and then headed off to the hairdresser. I stayed home and spent the morning researching some aspects of the ooRexx language, which I then coded to check that I had understood what I had read. I have another area I wish to research, and the weather forecast for the next few days implies that I may have plenty of time! If everything works how I suspect it will, I may rewrite the code I finished the other day, just as a mental exercise.

Lottie was here during the morning. This week, she was concentrating on upstairs while I hid at the kitchen table with my MacBook.

When Di got back (her hair looked lovely), we headed straight to Sainsbury's to do a belated weekly shop. It was a good time to shop. The zombies had all been collected and reburied somewhere. The shop was pleasantly quiet. We were in and out quickly, then settled back home for a bite to eat.

There wasn't any Kindle time, as I only had about 20 minutes before going to collect Ellie from school. When she got back, she settled with Nana to start preparing a project about what the Romans did in their leisure time. I helped with the odd bits of research and printing.

Coded

 There was no need to get up early, so we had a lie-in until 07:00. After coffee and a quick read-through of the news, I walked to Zoe's and walked to school with Ellie. I then headed off for my pre-breakfast walk. Soon after I got home, Diane left for her Pilates session in Angmering.

I stayed put and caught up on some domestic chores before catching up on the accounts. With the "must do" items cleared, I returned to my little software project. It took me until mid-afternoon to finish it, but I think it is now working and any further work I do will be for my own enjoyment.

There was a small Kindle break before the phone rang and Kim had a nice long chat and update with Diane.

Twinkle toes

Ellie didn't stir until I was up and about. She was chirpy and eager to get going, so we took her to school as soon as the gates opened. I headed off for my usual morning walk, and Diane went home for breakfast.

There was some admin to clear during the morning, but then I returned to my little programming project. That consumed the rest of the time until lunch. After lunch, there was a little Kindle time before we got ready for tonight's event. Just before we were about to leave in the car, Diane noticed that it was 3:15 and it looked as if Zoe was still at home - not waiting outside the classroom for Ellie as we would have expected. I ran to the school to grab Ellie, assuming Zoe was stuck on a work call. I needn't have bothered. Ellie had been collected, and all was well.

So, we set off for Guildford. Diane and Jane had tickets to see Giovanni Pernice, formerly of Strictly Come Dancing, at G-Live. Trevor and I were the lucky ones driving them around for the evening. The traffic was surprisingly light, and it was a lovely drive up to the venue. (Well, it was for us; Trevor and Jane had a bit of a traffic jam on the way). We all met up at Zizzi’s for dinner before the show. Jane managed to bump into Giovanni on the way from the car park and even got her photo taken with him! Diane was a bit jealous, haha. After dinner (they had a special offer where main dishes were 50% off in January), we walked the girls back to the venue, told them to behave, and then went for a stroll around Guildford until the show ended.

We had only walked a few hundred yards when my phone rang. It was Ellie wanting to say hello and say goodnight (as she couldn't get through to Nana). We spoke for a few minutes, until the signal became flakey, then said our goodnights and hung up. Trevor and I continued our walk.

I must say that the areas of Guildford we covered were really quaint and were awash with eateries of all complexions. After an hour or so, we stopped in a pub to grab a drink (non-alcoholic, of course) and warm up a bit.

Leaving the pub, we continued our zig-zag route through and around this quarter of Guildford. We slowly made our way back to G-Live, hoping to be allowed in to sit and wait in the lobby. No such luck, as people were still milling about after the intermission. We carried on walking for another 30 minutes before returning to G-Live where, this time, we were allowed to get out of the cold and wait for the "girls".

When they did emerge, they were buzzing. They had clearly enjoyed the show (and Diane is scheduled to see it again next month with Kim and Zoe).

We walked back to the car park and said our goodbyes. We had a very quick run home, despite some fog patches - and pulled up outside the house just after eleven.

Leak

We woke up early to meet Ellie when she arrived. She seemed super excited and couldn’t wait to go to school. She went to her room to get ready and came back down to tell us that her carpet was wet. I went to check and it was clear that the radiator bleed valve had been leaking since I bled the radiators on Saturday. I closed it properly (and double-checked for any more leaks). Then, I grabbed the carpet spot cleaner and started to vacuum the water from the carpet. It took a while, but I did come back to it later in the morning and it had worked!

Panic over, we took Ellie to class, and then Diane headed home while I went for a walk before breakfast.

In the morning, Chris and Maureen dropped by for a coffee. We hung out and chatted for a couple of hours. They told us all about their Christmas cruise on MV Victoria. They had a great time, but they said they wouldn’t do it again. I have to say, nothing they said made us want to sail on her. It was so nice to catch up with them. It’s been a while since we last hung out.

After lunch, I downloaded ooRexx to my MacBook and copied the program I had been writing yesterday.  I started to rerun the tests from yesterday and,  obviously, got the same results. Now that I knew I could use the MacBook for coding and testing, I decided to return to the problem after Ellie was back from school.

We had a very short Kindle time before walking to school to collect Ellie. We stopped at the park on the way home so she could let off steam and then headed home. While Ellie practised her times table, I returned to my program and managed to debug the outstanding issue from last night. Of the four rules that constrain its selection process, two are now accommodated. The last two rules will be more of a challenge because I haven't yet got any inkling of how I'll handle them. That's a problem for another day.  

Ellie will be staying with us overnight.  

Exercise - It's all in the mind

 It was another grey, cold, uninspiring morning. Nothing attracted me to head outside, but that was okay; I had a little project. We had a long leisurely breakfast while reading the overnight news and consuming more coffee than we should have. Once we were ready to start the day, I headed for my study and Diane slowly progressed to her sewing room.

I had an email from cousin Tim. We have a family lunch scheduled for May, and he wants to ensure he is ready for it by providing the table layout. That, in its own right, is simple enough, but he also wants us to shuffle to new seats between each course. This is still simple enough. Where the challenge comes in is the set of rules that govern the seat allocations:

• try to maintain a male/female sequence around the table
• keep one of the children close to one of three people because she only speaks French
• keep one particular person away from each of three other people
• try to keep people close to their partner

There lies the rub. I could think of no simple algorithm for this, but I could imagine how it could be coded in a computer program. I wrote some simple code to start a seat allocation without any constraints. Then, I started to write the code to apply the individual rules. I am about halfway through the project, so I will return to the challenge during the week.

This took most of the day, so I did not venture out for a walk. I excuse myself by saying that I got all of the exercise I needed through mental effort.

(In the past, I could have done this with some form of rules engine - but I no longer have access to such tools and must write them myself).

Floods

 I had a gentle start to the day, wandering downstairs for a coffee at 7:30 and settling down with the overnight news. Outside, the weather was dry but very grey and dull. I thought about ordering some tickets to go and watch Bognor Regis FC play during the afternoon but found that they were away from home this weekend.

I had my usual call with the Empson cousins. This was dominated by Simon turning up with an eye patch. It turned out that he was suffering from blurred vision and floaters, so went to the optician. The optician diagnosed a partially detached retina and sent him to the hospital. It was treated as an emergency, and that same afternoon he was operated on. The following morning he was back home.

I spent part of the morning back at the computer editing some more of last year's blog. I am now well into December and will probably finish the first pass in the next few days.

I have mentioned before that our car has a SIM which allows it to communicate directly with Skoda and also provide internet (and calls) to the car. I had noticed that the connection to Skoda didn't seem to be working, so spent some time removing and reseating the SIM. I am pretty sure the problem lies elsewhere, as the SIM is providing internet connectivity - so it is clearly working. I will have to investigate further.

After a bite of lunch, I headed out for a walk. I said earlier that it was very grey - it was also quite cold and it took a few minutes for me to start to warm up. I stuck to one of my usual routes, adding a little diversion to the start and end. I was out for about 75 minutes, but thoroughly enjoyed it.

Back home, we settled in the lounge with our Kindles. from there, we could see that our next-door neighbours, who were trying to sell their house, had a viewing. This seemed to last quite a while, so I hope, for their sake, that it was successful.

After dinner, I noticed an early evening documentary about the floods in 1968. Diane and I looked at each other and said "What floods?". We settled down to watch the programme which recounted the story of a summer deluge across the south-west which devasted villages in Somerset. Neither of us had any recollection of this. My excuse is that I was in Rhode Island by then, but I had never heard about it in the years since. It was a very interesting programme and I'm glad we watched it.

Saturday night is "catch-up" night on the TV. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, worth watching on TV on Saturday evenings, so we use it to catch up on programmes we have recorded.

Reunion

 We were up early this morning so Ellie could be dropped off on Zoe's way to work. When she came through the door, she was subdued and whined that she had a tummy ache. I gave her a cuddle and sent her upstairs to see Nana. Within a few minutes, she was chatting away as usual and slotted back into her usual pre-school persona.

We dropped her off at school, and as Di went home, I headed off for a walk. By the time I got back home, I was within a few minutes of the end of my audiobook. Despite the temptation to listen over breakfast, I resisted and saved it for my next walk.

It is about 8 weeks since Trudy and Ian moved and thus transferred out of the Sonning Crew. We went across to Yapton this morning to see them in their new home. I must say it was a super house; it was a bit smaller than the old one, but ideal for just the two of them. I have no doubt they will be very happy there - particularly when a few more of the neighbouring houses are occupied. We had a tour of the house and heard about the trials and tribulations of the move and getting the house straight. We were only there for a couple of hours, but it was lovely to see them.

Back home, I grabbed a bite to eat and then set off for another walk. The route had to take me through the village so that I could call in at the pharmacy and collect some meds for Diane. I was out for about an hour, during which I finished the "Desert Star" audiobook and started "The Waiting" (also by Michael Connelly). I'm not sure if I'll match the 162 books that I read (or listened to) last year, but I have managed 10 so far this year.

We collected Ellie from school, and she was with us for about an hour until Pete came to collect her for the weekend.

Maintenance

 We were both up soon after 7 am. Diane was going to substitute for me on the walk to school with Ellie because I had to remain behind and await the arrival of an engineer to look at the window in Ellie's room. We had been given a time slot between 8 and 12, but they couldn't be more specific.

Diane had an appointment for Jasper at the vet. We loaded him into the car (with surprisingly little fuss), and they headed off to Oving. Soon after they left, the engineer arrived to look at (not through) Ellie's window. We had been experiencing a draft through the hinge side of the window, and he started to check it all to see if it could be adjusted. He fiddled and tested, re-fiddled and retested. In the end, he moved a wedge slightly. This should pull the window tighter to the frame as it closes. As there was no wind today, there was no way to check if the problem had been solved, but the solution seemed to make sense.

When Diane and Jasper arrived back, we left Lottie to do her weekly blitz on the house and headed to Sainsbury's. Though we didn't seem to have as much as usual, it did seem to take longer than expected. This was almost certainly because of the shuffling, brain-dead zombies that were already in the store when we arrived.

After a tasty lunch, I decided to go for a walk. I had missed my morning stroll, so I made up for it! I walked around the estate and then headed to North Bersted Street. I followed the old highway to Shripney. As I got close to the A29, I turned around and looped back the way I came. I was out for about an hour. When I got back, I plopped down in the lounge with my Kindle. Diane was already there, but she went to pick up Ellie from school with Zoe before coming home and rejoining me in the lounge.

G-Force

Ellie called G-Force last night, even though she was at home. She was having tummy pains again, but it was late at night and Zoe was fast asleep. She chatted with Nana on Facetime and Messenger until well after 23:00.

I was up at 6:30 and read the papers while waiting for Ellie. Zoe called to say that Ellie wasn’t going to school, but she would try to get another appointment with the doctor. Ellie was dropped off with us, and Zoe headed to work. She was back within 45 minutes. She had an appointment for Ellie and had been given the day off. Ellie was swiftly whisked away to the surgery. They returned soon with an update, and then they went home. G-Force could stand down.

The weather was peculiar. It was much warmer than it had been over the last week, and whilst it wasn't raining, it was soaking wet outside. It was much like the effects of a thick mist, without the visibility problems. It was not conducive to venturing out, so I spent the morning pottering in the house. 

Mid-morning a text message arrived:

"Morning Dad, I've had a change of numbers 07510 672359 is my new one."

I thought about this for about a nano-second and replied:

"David, Out of interest, how stupid do you think I am?"

(Just to be clear - I don't have any sons, and none of my daughters are called David. This attempted scam is so obvious.)

After lunch, I went to Zoe's. She has just bought another security camera and wanted it mounted in the garden. Once we had found a suitable spot and checked it was within range, I screwed it to the fence, and it was all set and working.

Dropping my drill back home, I set off for a walk. It was still wet but didn't feel quite as damp. I marched around a large loop of the neighbourhood for an hour before heading back home. The rest of the afternoon was spent with the Kindle.

(There was no need to break the afternoon to prepare dinner. When I got up this morning, I had primed the slow cooker to cook a chicken casserole throughout the day.)

Interrupts

 Ellie slept through and got up soon after me this morning. She asked for egg and bacon for breakfast, which surprised me but I knew it would set her up for the day. Once the clock had ticked around to 8:30 we walked her to school. Di headed straight home, and I set off on my walk.

My walk was supposed to follow my usual pre-breakfast route, which involves two big loops around the estate and the lake. I was listening to an audiobook through my AirPods. The weather was chilly, but bright and dry, making it a pleasant temperature for a walk. As I was nearing the end of my first loop, I was interrupted by a message from Chris about the installation of his broadband fibre. I had to cut my walk short and go to speak with the engineers to explain how to manage the feeding of the fibre into the cable duct. After that, I returned home for breakfast.

Later in the morning, I decided to go for another walk. At the spot I had reached earlier that morning, my phone rang. It was Zoe, and she was expecting the delivery of a mattress for Ellie. Could I please go and wait for the delivery? My walk was interrupted again, so I quickly headed back to grab the keys. Then, I went to Zoe’s house and waited for the delivery. When it finally arrived (packed tightly in a long box), I carried it upstairs for her and then headed home.

Back home, I had lunch. Diane had gone to the vet to pick up some medication for Jasper and would be returning some Amazon deliveries that didn’t fit. I took advantage of a quiet 30 minutes in the Orangery before setting off for another walk. 

Fortunately, this walk wasn’t interrupted. After a loop of the estate and lake, I walked down North Bersted Street and crossed the bypass. I managed to time my route so that I arrived outside the school just in time to collect Ellie. On the way home, we stopped off at the park so she could let off steam.

Strolling Around

I was up first and Ellie and Di followed me down after about ten minutes. Once breakfast was finished and she was dressed, she started on some homework related to magnets. She whizzed through it, and I uploaded it to the "SeeSaw" system. We dropped her off at school, and then I went out for a walk. I only did half of my normal route because I didn't want to stress my troublesome foot. I got back without incident but would see how it went during the day.

I spent the morning doing admin. It started with the accounts, and then I went through and booked the excursions for the autumn cruise. With that done, I returned to the (spring) river cruise planning and paid the final balance.

There were no adverse after-effects from the morning walk, so I decided to go out for another. Again, I took a shorter route than normal, but the sun was out and it was quiet as I wandered around. It was a very enjoyable 45 minutes, and (touch wood) there have still been no after-effects.

The afternoon was spent with my Kindle, while Diane was sewing in her hobby room.

We are expecting Ellie to arrive soon as she will be staying with us overnight.

Fancy Free

 I had a better night than last night and was delighted to find, when I got up, that my foot was significantly better. There was still some residual discomfort and I had to be careful how I planted the foot, and I certainly couldn't twist on it, but it was progress.

Despite the lovely (but cold) weather, I decided against a walk. I was not willing to chance it yet. I spent the morning editing last year's blog. Over several hours I managed to complete all of the entries through to the end of November. Diane had started to work on her sewing project but was interrupted by a call from Zoe which lasted for a couple of hours.

After lunch, I had a short Kindle break and then turned on the TV to watch the FA Cup 3rd round game between Tamworth and Spurs. Though it went to extra time, Spurs did win 0-3. When the coverage finished, we switched over to watch the Arsenal match with Man Utd. We saw through to the end of normal time but then had a Zoom call with Jane and Trevor. The Zoom call was set up to discuss the excursions for the cruise in the autumn. We now have to book them!

Ellie phoned to ask if she could sleep here tonight. She didn't want to get up early tomorrow, and by staying here she could have a more leisurely start.

Footloose

It was a restless night. The pain in my foot flared whenever I tried to turn over in bed, and each time it woke me. Having said that, it was 07:40 before I got up. I descended the stairs with the innate grace of a walrus on roller skates coming down a mountain. At least the foot problem didn't prevent me from making a coffee.

I had the usual call with the Empson cousins this morning.  Much of the call was taken up with Tim's tale of woe, stemming from a bin fire he had overnight on Monday. He and a neighbour managed to douse it before the Fire Brigade arrived. Now he has to deal with the cleanup and the insurance claim. It must have been quite intense as it melted his aluminium ladder.

Clearly, I would not be able to go for a walk. In fact, I could barely get around the house and had to descend the stairs on my backside as I couldn't bear any weight on my foot. While Diane returned to her sewing, I returned to editing last year's blog. I have managed to complete through to the end of the first week of October and could have done more but I am enjoying it so much that I want to eke it out.

Having reviewed the excursions for our autumn cruise, I thought I would review the itinerary and outings available for our spring river cruise. This turned out to be a fruitless exercise as no excursions seemed to have been released for the trip. I updated my notes and left it.

After some lunch, I had some Kindle time while Diane continued with her sewing. There has been a change in plan for this project but she is making progress.

I had an idea. Would the ankle strap that I used when playing football relieve the pain in my foot? Diane went to the garage to retrieve my kit bag and I grabbed the ankle strap. I fitted it tightly and tried to walk about a bit. No, it made no difference. I guess it was worth a try. I shall continue to feel sorry for myself because the weather has been beautifully clear and crisp and would have been ideal for a good walk.

Limp

 Though Ellie was slow to settle last night, she did sleep through and didn't emerge until we were both on the move. I had woken up with a "rick" in my ankle. It almost feels as if I have strained it overnight. Bizarre.

We went through the school countdown checklist, and when Ellie was ready we still had 20 minutes spare so she sat down with DuoLingo and practised her French. Once the clock had rolled around, we headed for school and dropped Elli at the classroom. My foot was too painful for me to consider a walk, so I headed straight home for breakfast. Diane had a Cardiac Rehab session booked, so scraped the ice off the car and she set off for the Community Centre.

I spent the morning editing the 2024 blog entries for August. It took a couple of hours, but it had been a busy month.

After lunch, Diane returned to her sewing and I had a quiet hour with the Kindle before firing up the iMac and reviewing the various excursions that are available for our autumn cruise. Jane and Trevor had sent me their selection and we pretty much agree, though we will probably do our own thing in Tenerife and Lanzarote as we know both so well.

We collected Ellie from school and she stayed with us until Pete came to collect her.

My foot is no better at the end of the day. I just hope that it sorts itself out overnight.

Slipping and Sliding

 It was another very cold night, in fact, we had some snow during the evening, yesterday. Not that the snow settled, but it was indicative of the temperature. I wrapped up well when it was time to walk to Zoe's for the school run, The girls were both full of the joys of spring and we chatted and chuckled all the way to school.

With Ellie deposited in class, I set off for my morning walk. The audiobook of Michael Connelly's "Desert Star" kicked off in my ears as I strolled around the neighbourhood. I was only out for 40 minutes, but the book already has me hooked. There were several spots on the route that were very slippery and I had to stay alert, particularly as I crossed the wooden bridge and viewing deck.

Once home, I had breakfast and completed this week's shopping list. We set off for Sainsbury's just after Lottie arrived. Shopping seemed to take a long time today, and certainly cost a lot more than I was expecting. I zig-zagged through the back streets to avoid the tailbacks caused by roadworks on our usual route. Seeing the tail end of the queue, I have no doubt that I made the right choice.

We had a Kindle hour after lunch and the bright sunshine meant that it was nice enough to sit in the Orangery, even though the outside temperature was only 2.5c. We went to collect Elli from school and I took her to the park to have a run around. She was explaining what she had been learning and doing during "Science Week" and was really enthusiastic. When we got home, her friend Jaxson came to play for a while and then, when he had gone, Ellie cracked on with her times tables before dinner.

Ellie is staying with us overnight.

Snowflakes

 It was very cold overnight and there was a hard frost when I opened up. Diane hadn't slept well, so decided not to go to Pilates as originally planned. I did the usual school run and then headed off for my pre-breakfast walk. I did a couple of loops of the state while listening to the approaching climax of my audiobook.

After breakfast, I quickly updated the accounts and then went back to my study to edit some more of last year's blog entries. Zoe popped in for a while just as I was deciding whether or not to go for a walk. The forecast suggested it was about to rain, so I decided against it.

The rain did start at lunchtime. By mid-afternoon, it had turned to snow, but it wasn't settling. We spent much of the afternoon with our Kindles.

I plugged my AirPods back in when I started preparing dinner. I listened through to the end of my book. I cannot recommend a book more highly - Michael Connelly's "The Dark Hours" (a Ballard and Bosch book). I have already downloaded the next in the series and will start it in the morning.

Much as usual

We had a gentle start to the day but I still wandered around to Zoe's to join the march to school. She and Ellie were both in a very bubbly mood and there seemed to be a spring in their steps. As soon as we had said goodbye to Ellie at the classroom door, I headed out for a walk. I did a couple of loops around the estate before returning home for some breakfast.

Though the Xmas decorations have all been packed away (except for the one thing we will have missed and will find in the next few weeks), the containers had been sitting in the Orangery. I rated everything out to the garage except for some of the soft goods which I stored in the loft.

We have been experiencing some condensation forming on the inside of our bedroom windows. I spent some time looking for a suitable dehumidifier solution. Because of the size of the gap between the blackout blinds and the windows, I couldn't find a perfect product. In the end, I managed to find something that would fit the gap and separately ordered some dehumidifying crystals. We'll see how this works out.

As it was still crisp, sunny, and clear, I went for another walk. This was longer than the earlier one, looping around the estate and crossing up through the village, through Bersted Green, and back home. It was a very enjoyable hour.

The afternoon saw the usual Kindle time.

Gnashers

 It had been wet overnight but the rain had stopped by the time I ventured downstairs. As Zoe had a later start today, Ellie was not being dropped off but I would wander across to join the march to school. After the school run, I returned home for breakfast before we wrapped up and headed off to catch the bus.

I had an appointment at the dentist's. The bus whipped us into Chichester in about 11 minutes - I couldn't have done it any quicker in the car. When we arrived, we split up. Diane went to do some shopping and to return some shoes that didn't fit. Though early, I went straight to the dentist and sat in the waiting room with my Kindle until called. The dentist gave me the usual 3rd-degree interrogation before checking my teeth and gums. I was out in 5 minutes with a clean bill of health (and a healthy bill).

I met up with Diane as she left M&S. We headed back to the bus stop and went home for a coffee, and to get on with our day. Diane returned to her sewing project while I attacked the accounts and returned to my Kindle for a while before heading out for a walk.

It was my first proper walk of the New Year. It was nice to stretch my legs and catch up on my latest audiobook. I was out for about an hour but stayed in the local neighbourhood.

We are eagerly waiting to hear how Kim's first day at the care home went.

Rain and Edit

  Much of the country was hit by freezing rain and snow overnight and throughout the morning. We had rain, lots of rain, and it continued throughout the day. At least it was not cold.

There was no point in getting soaked, so we both stayed in and buried ourselves in our respective studies. Diane was working on a dress pattern, which kept her busy all day. I provided her with regular infusions of tea. 

I spent the day working on the editing for last year's blog to ready it for publishing in hardback. It was fascinating to go back through our river cruise of last spring and my trip to the South of France to see my old school friends. It was painstaking work as I standardised all the photos' layout and size, wrapped the text to fill the white space, and continued to develop the index. It did take all day, but I have now completed the first six months of 2024.

I tried a different approach to the roast potatoes for tonight's dinner. I drizzled olive oil over them and sprinkled them with onion granules and semolina. I then put them in the air fryer for 30 minutes. I must say, they turned out rather well. 

It will be back to school tomorrow, but we don't need an early start as Zoe isn't due to start work until 10:00.

Charger

It had been very cold overnight and there was a hard frost. The weather warning forecast that we would have a dry morning but the snow and rain would begin at midday. I had my usual call with the cousins to start the morning. 

My plan for the morning was to take down the Xmas lights from the front of the house while it was still dry and then start on the indoor decorations. I seem to have mastered the art of removing all the lights and looping them onto the cable reels. I was surprised by how quickly that was done. I then started on the Xmas tree. The issue with the tree isn't the lights or the baubles, it is the disassembly and packing away. Again, I must have been inspired as everything was packed away without any problems.

As we then started to process the rest of the decorations I went to my "man tin" for some pliers. There nestling in the tin was the lost AirPods charging case. I was confused. There was nothing that I was doing on the day the case went missing that would have caused me to go to the tin. How did the case get there? One of life's first-world mysteries. I guess that I now have a spare!

Kim dropped by. She came to show us her uniform (scrubs) for her first placement (as part of the University course), which starts on Monday. She will be working at a Mental Health facility in Worthing for about 6 weeks.

She looked very smart and seemed very enthusiastic about the work.

Kim wasn't here for too long, and when she left we continued to tidy away the decorations. By the end of the afternoon, everything was boxed and ready to be taken back to the garage. That can wait until tomorrow.

During the afternoon, I made up a batch of chicken curry. That suited me for dinner this evening and gave me 4 portions for the freezer for upcoming weekends.

End of the Pier Show

It had been cold overnight and there was a hard frost. It was nearly 8 a.m. before I got up and filled the kettle and coffee machine. We had breakfast and then prepared to head out into the crisp, bright, sunny morning.

We parked the car near West Park and set off for a walk along the promenade towards the pier. As we looped through Marine Gardens, we realised the paths were quite slippery so we dropped out of the park onto the pavement which was in the sun.  Crossing to the promenade we continued in the winter sunshine, marvelling at how few people were actually out and about.

The last time we approached the pier, parts of it were closed where new boards were being laid. They have finished the maintenance and we were able to walk out to the end and look back across Bognor Regis. 

We walked back towards West Park and stopped at the cafe for a coffee before heading home.

We had a quiet afternoon in the Orangery with our Kindles. I also spent some time editing the extract from last year's blog and preparing it for printing. I have only got as far as the end of March, so there is a fair way to go.

By lunchtime tomorrow, the forecast is looking wet and bleak, so it was nice to make the most of today's conditions. (We are in a Met Office Amber Weather alert at present, due to the cold weather).

Day Out

 Yesterday's rain and wind had blown out. This morning dawned cold, bright, and clear. I was up and about by 7:30 and settled with my coffee and iPad. Diane came down a while later. After breakfast she started to potter around and, clearing some of Ellie's toys, knocked the spare table that I had stacked next to the toy shelves. The table slipped and fell and bashed her leg and ankle. 

Lottie came this morning to do the cleaning downstairs. We decided to make the most of the sunshine and go to the Weald and Downland Museum.

Being members, we could get into the museum at no charge.

We started by wandering along to the Carpenter's Workshop where a chap was explaining how the village carpenter would fill in between jobs by making brooms and small household wooden articles.

From there, we walked along to the Smithy where a couple of chaps were beavering away around the forge.

We carried on around the museum, stopping off at a display of the Tudor Kitchen where volunteers (dressed in costume) were preparing food for the Twelfth Night feast.

Next door, volunteers were talking about the clothing of the 1500s and the life of the yeoman farmer and his family.

We looped back up the hill and back towards the restaurant where we stopped for a coffee and a bap.

We stopped off in the gift shop as we left the restaurant and then after a final look around, we hopped in the car and headed home.

We had a quiet afternoon in the Orangery with our Kindles before I zipped to Sainsbury's to grab some tea bags... but was concerned by how long it may take when I saw the gridlock in the car park. This turned out to be the result of an accident just by the car park exit. It turned out that everything had been cleared by the time I left.

A New Chapter

We didn't stay up to see the New Year begin. Ellie was still having a lot of discomfort and again we swapped beds. She settled fairly quickly once Nana was in bed, despite the fireworks exploding throughout the late evening.

This morning, New Year's Day, was the start of a new chapter in the journal of life. I was up first and had a quiet hour with my coffee and iPad before Diane came down. Ellie decided she wanted a pyjama day... and stayed in bed until mid-afternoon.

Gales had blown in overnight and there was rain battering the windows. The idea of going for a walk didn't really penetrate my consciousness. Starting to populate this year's accounting spreadsheet seemed a much better bet. Once that was complete, I headed up to the study and started to process the 2024 blog. The text and images were extracted into an "HTML" file. This was opened in MsWord and the correct stylesheets were applied and the file was saved as a "docx". Then I started to work through each entry and apply the correct formatting, check the spelling and grammar, and resize and position the photos. By mid-afternoon, I had finished January and February.

Ellie finally got up, got washed and dressed, and came downstairs. We watched a recording of last night's fireworks from London and then she sat and played quietly until Zoe came to collect her.

I wish you all a healthy and peaceful New Year, I wish you happiness, love and contentment.