Code day

 Despite being disturbed by Jasper just after 2am, we managed a lie-in. There was nothing specific in the plan for the day, so we had a very leisurely breakfast before embarking on whatever activity took our fancy.

Diane returned to her sewing project and has been working away all day. I started with some more document filing. This, however, brought me to some ancient emails and documents that I had formatted using a test processor/compiler that I wrote on my first home computer. The source for this is long gone. I decided that I would rewrite the code so that I could capture those old documents in the document management system.

It took a little while to decode all of the commands and then to structure a new text compiler. I decided the output would be in HTML format so that I could squirt it straight into a browser or even MS Word. It has been a joy to write, but I still have one problem that I haven't solved relating to the embedding of subfiles. I have a Plan B, but feel that my original approach is more elegant. I will work on this some more.

Pete dropped Ellie off at tea time. She's not been well over the weekend and seems to have an upset tummy and isn't really eating (though she is drinking plenty of water). She's back home with Zoe now, but will come back here to sleep so that she doesn't have to get up early in the morning.

Check-In

At 3am, Jasper was yelling for his breakfast. Though on a timer, it wasn't due to open until 4:30am. I was not going to tolerate this badgering for 90 minutes, so I wandered downstairs to open his breakfast bowl.  Somehow, I managed to go straight back to sleep and stayed in bed until 7:30.

I had the usual Zoom call with the cousins at 9:00. We had a good turnout, and everyone seemed particularly chirpy this morning.

Diane had planned to spend the day working on her latest sewing project. I went to the study and continued filing documents. I managed to add about 100 more statements and notifications covering gas and electricity supply over recent years. The document management system now has a critical mass of significant documents. I will continue to add more over the coming days... one subject at a time.

We only have a few weeks to go before we leave for a cruise. Today we were able to check-in so I sat and followed the process through until I received our boarding cards and luggage labels. The countdaown has truly started. 

I set off for a walk. I manged a few loops of my usual roaute but as I apprached the end of our road, about to start another loop, it started to rain. Given how heavy the rain has been in the last day or two, I headed straight home, arriving just as the heavens opened. I settled down with my Kindle and finished another book I have now download and a new book, my 100th of the year.

Damp

It was a bit wet overnight. In fact, I would suggest we had as much rain overnight as we've had altogether since early Spring. Fortunately, drainage on this estate seems well able to cope with the deluge. It was mid-morning before it fried up, but it did mean that by late morning, I was able to go out for a walk.

Ellie had been dropped off just after 6:30 and had a lazy couple of hours before Nana convinced her that she needed a bath and hairwash... so she had another lazy hour while performing her ablutions. I buried myself in my study and continued with my document filing, managing today to process all the old water supply and water disposal bills, and all of the Council Tax bills. Getting them into the "hopper" only takes a couple of seconds, but it took an hour or so for all the documents to feed through into the filing system. I then had to check that all of the dates had been processed correctly, that relevant tags had been assigned, and that the relevant suppliers had been identified. It was very satisfying when done.

The rain returned after lunch, and we had several more downpours, some of which were accompanied by rolling thunder. Ellie stayed in (obviously) and played pick-up sticks with Nana before wanting Nana to tickle her. I sat in the corner with my Kindle.

Pete came along to collect Ellie just before 5pm. She'll be at Pete's for the weekend... then she'll be going back to school on Tuesday.  (I'm not sure Ellie or the school are quite ready for that!)

Where's Ellie?

 Again, Zoe called mid-evening yesterday. There was no need for us to get up early, as Ellie was going to have Ariana for a sleepover, and Zoe would drop them both at Ariana's on the way to work.

So it was that I didn't have to get up early. Unfortunately, nobody told my body this fact, nor was Jasper aware. I woke soon after 2:30am and just as I was drifting back to sleep, Jasper started to prowl and whinge. As the clock ticked around to 4:00am, I got up to open his feeder. This shut him up, but the damage was done. I was wide awake again. I managed to doze a bit until 7:00, then gave up and went for coffee.

Di had an appointment at the hairdresser's this morning. I stayed put to catch up on some of my ironing and to be available if Ellie decided to come round. When I finished the ironing, I got on with more document filing until Di got back.

Ellie graced us with her presence for some lunch, but then disappeared back. to Ariana's (where she stayed for the rest of the day. After we had some lunch, we set off for Sainsbury's to complete our weekly shopping outing. (We really are living on the edge; the excitement can sometimes be quite overwhelming.) We had some Kindle time when we got home and expected a quiet evening.

Always Flexible

Mid-evening, yesterday, Zoe called. Could Ellie come and sleep with us, as there were overnight staffing problems at the store, and Zoe would have to go in to help sort things out? Of course, we said, expecting her round within a short while. The phone rang. It was Zoe. Ellie's friend Ariana's mum said Ellie could sleep over... so we had been outbid. After all the arrangements of the evening, it turned out that Zoe didn't have to go in after all, but Ellie had a sleepover with Ariana, and we didn't have to get up early this morning.

Ellie and Ariana were dropped off here soon after 09:00 and played nicely for an hour or so until Ariana's mum came and claimed them for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile, Diane had a pile of ironing to get through (I told her to leave all of my stuff, as I would do that tomorrow). I had various bits of admin to get through, the most important of which was a thorough review of the Red Bull Maritime eSim, what it costs, how it works, and so forth. I am fairly happy that I now have a grip on the product, though I can't download and activate it before 4th September (as it runs for 30 days).

It appears that Kim is still having trouble with her back and called to ask me to collect a completed form from the local surgery. I popped around and grabbed the form, then scanned it and sent it to her so that she could get it sent off.    

The tail end of Hurricane Erin has wandered across the Atlantic and has collided with this Sceptred Isle. Cornwall has been getting some impressive waves. We, however, have had little more than a few heavy showers. The gardens certainly need the rain, but it hasn't amounted to much so far.

The rest of the day has been quite relaxed. I have finished my latest Kindle book, downloaded another AudioBook, and started another Kindle book.

Dress to Impress

I was up early to greet Ellie when she was dropped off on Zoe's way to work. Ellie was still semi-conscious, so she went upstairs to snuggle down with Nan until the pair of them had woken properly. By the time they did come down, I had finished my first coffee and was ready to go to get washed and dressed. We have a routine whereby Ellie demands that I "dress to impress", and when I come back downstairs, she gives me marks for my outfit. Today, I had a plan. I dressed in my new Tuxedo with a striking blue and pink paisley waistcoat, matching tie and a handkerchief square. I snuck back downstairs and waited until Ellie noticed. (Meanwhile, Diane was filming this on her phone.) When Ellie finally looked up and saw me, I managed to score 5 out of 5 on the "dress to impress" scale. Content, I returned to the bedroom and changed.

The morning was occupied with some domestic chores and a return to the document-filing exercise. Today, I managed to consume all of the documents related to our current car, from purchase through to all of the servicing and MOTs.

After lunch, Diane and Ellie went through Ellie's wardrobe, checking for clothes she had outgrown. This, inevitably, led to a shopping trip to replace several items. I retired to the study and changed the approach I had been taking for backing up the document management system. This took a little experimentation and a couple of dry runs, but now looks more robust than the original design.

With the backup sorted and Diane and Ellie at the shops, I headed out for my walk. I wasn't out for too long, but it was nice to get the exercise.

Frustration

 I eased myself into consciousness just before 7 this morning. Diane was also awake, but elected to stay in bed and await the delivery of a cup of tea. By any measure, it was a gentle start to the day. 

I spent the morning wrestling with the integration of Gmail with the document system. Despite restarting the whole process and, apparently, getting further than before, it is still not working. Judging by the suggestions I have had from the forum, I suspect nobody has it working in a similar configuration to mine. The whole morning disappeared on this. It was so frustrating.

Diane, on the other hand, had been experiencing difficulties with a pattern she had cut out yesterday. Though it has taken her most of the day, she is now happy that she has it right.

We saw Ellie briefly as she popped in to tell us about yesterday evening when Zoe took her down to the front to see the parade of lights and the beach to watch the firework display.

I spent some of the afternoon finishing (and starting) another book, and also curating the addition of some more titles to my Kindle library and some more documents to my document management system.

Size Matters

 We had a lazy start to the day. It was gone 07:00 before I struggled downstairs, intent on grabbing some coffee. Unfortunately, Jasper had left me a foul-smelling parcel in his litter tray, and this demanded immediate attention. Once hygiene had been restored and the coffee was brewed, I settled down with the overnight news and social media.

The morning was spent going through critical documents and squirrelling them away in the document management system. I am concentrating on one subject at a time, and today's focus was on travel-related documents. I have only captured those related to upcoming travel so far, but I will work back through old stuff later.

Di spent the morning adapting and cutting out a pattern for her next sewing project. I left her to it and went out for a walk. I finished my current audiobook and, because I have, 't got another one lined up, switched to Radio 4 recordings and listened to the first episodes of series 83 of "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue". I'm sure anyone who saw me will have(rightly) determined that I was "another nutter" as I walk around laughing at the recording.    

The afternoon was spent reading my Kindle and then filing documents. It was tedious, but it will be worth it. (I think).

I decided that with a cruise on the horizon, I should check that my Tuxedo fits. After all, we have several formal nights where we are expected to "dress to impress". I have clearly lost a lot of weight. My Tux was huge, as were the trousers. (I already knew the waistcoat was too big - after all, it was too big on our last cruise). Time was spent looking through Amazon, M&S, and Next websites. Eventually, the decisions were made (courtesy of Diane) and a new Tuxedo has been ordered along with a new waistcoat.

Up!

  I was up early again to greet Ellie when she was dropped off. She, however, was barely conscious and went straight upstairs and got into bed with Nana and dropped off to sleep. I sat in peaceful solitude for 90 minutes before Diane came down. Ellie was still out for the count. I left it as long as I could before going up to get washed and dressed. She slept through it all. In fact, I was sitting in the Orangery on a Zoom call with the cousins before she finally emerged.

I spent much of the morning "consuming" documents into the "Paperless-ngx" document management system. Though it consumes the documents with ease, each one has to be checked to ensure the indexing is correct. It's tedious but it is worthwhile.

At lunchtime we organised a raid on Sainsbury's to pick up a new clock for Ellie's room from Argos. We weren't out for too long, but it was nice to emerge from our four walls.

I spent the afternoon consuming more documents. I now have all of my tax records, salary records, and pension records fully indexed and filed. I have now started on all of our insurance records. (Meanwhile, the integration with Gmail has been on hold. I need a concerted chunk of time to get back to that.)

Zoe collected Ellie soon after 16:00. A quiet evening with a film is planned.

Let there be light

I was up early to greet Ellie (and her friend Anaya) when they were dropped off soon after 6:30. Ellie would be with us until Zoe finished work, and Anaya would be with us until midday. It might sound stressful, but it was quite the opposite. Anaya is very well behaved, and the girls kept each other occupied throughout the morning. 

I retired to the study to get on with some more work on the document management system. I was soon reminded, however, that the light bulb in Ellie's bedroom was not working. I took the old bulb out with a view to getting a replacement. It was a peculiar square-shaped fitting with 4 bayonets. The light itself was a cluster of low-energy fluorescent tubes. B&Q had nothing similar. I returned home and ran some queries. These bulbs, though available, have been replaced with a new generation of LEDs. These, however, required a different pendant fitting. A suitable pendant and a set of 4 spare bulbs were acquired from Screwfix, and I set about replacing the whole kit and caboodle. The pendant had a much smaller diameter compared with the old light shade... that would need replacing too. I left that to Diane and Ellie to choose.

After lunch, I went for a walk, stopping in the village to collect Diane's meds on the way through. I never got back to the document management, but I did manage to finish another book during the afternoon. Ellie's back home now, so we expect a quiet evening (though she may decide to come back and sleep here rather than get up early in the morning).

Jasper seems to have picked up nicely over the last 24 hours. He's eating again (though not as much as he was) and seems less lethargic.

Better, but still a way to go

 Ellie ended up staying with us overnight. She said she didn't want to get up early and by staying with us, she could wake up as nature demanded, rather than what Mum needed. I was up soon after seven, Di at eight and we went and woke Ellie soon after nine. She had to get up and get going as we were expecting Lottie, and had to get to Sainsbury's.

We managed to catch up on Lottie's holiday before heading off to Sainsbury's. With Ellie and Di acting as runners, we seemed to complete the shopping much more quickly than usual.

After some lunch, Ellie and I went out for a walk. Well, I say walk, but she was on her bike and stopped at every junction to ask which way she should go. It was only a third of my usual route, but she seemed to enjoy it.

Jasper had seemed brighter today, but still hasn't recovered his full appetite. We had an appointment for him at 16:30. We took him to the vet and she gave him the once-over and some fluids. She has effectively signed him off unless we find that he isn't improving tomorrow.

Celebration, Encore une fois

We had a bit of a lie in, but still had to be up and about in time to take Jasper to the vet at 9:00. He was still feeling sorry for himself, but seemed a little brighter than last night. We dropped him off and the vet gave him a good check-over before we left. They agreed that he should stay with them all day and they would put him on a drip and check all his vitals. We signed a consent form for them to go ahead with scans if they deemed them necessary - as it happened, they didn't.

The rest of the morning was fairly relaxed. I pottered on with the document management system and checked that the backups were running correctly. My next task would be to integrate it with Gmail... but not this morning.

We went into Chichester to have a belated anniversary lunch at Côte Brasserie. We both had a very nice lunch. I started with Tarte Pissaladière, then for our main dishes, Diane had the Steak Frites Deluxe (which she said was the best she'd ever had at Côte), and I had Baked Dorade (which was excellent), to finish, Di had Caneles (which were sumptuous), and I had Tarte Citron. Côte Brasserie is rarely my first choice when selecting somewhere to eat, but I must say this was very good and it was a lovely way to celebrate.

We strolled back through the street market, but avoided any temptation, as we returned to the car. We settled in the Orangery once we arrived home. There was a bit of a stir as Zoe called to say there was a fire in a neighbour's house and two fire engines were in attendance. The young girl who lives there, and their dogs, were shelling out of the way in Zoe's back garden. The fire was quickly contained and there is no external evidence of what had happened. No doubt we will hear all about it, in time.

We went along to collect Jasper from the vet. He has started to eat little bits and seems brighter. Though the vet wants to check him over tomorrow, there should be no reason for him to stay all day... unless we are not happy with him overnight.

Celebration

 It should have been a celebration day. It is, after all, the 52nd anniversary of our wedding. Events conspired against us. We had to take care of Ellie, as Zoe was at work. This is no problem as she is very good. We also had to take Jasper back to the vet and leave him there. We had to be aware that they might phone with news and also had to factor in a return trip to collect him at the end of the day. So it was, we did nothing special.

I did manage to go out for a brief walk and stopped to get my hair cut while out. Diane did some laundry and Ellie played and watched her iPad.

Come the afternoon, Ellie's friend Jaxson had come to keep her company. I retired to my study and worked on the document management project. The recommended setting I received from the community last night worked perfectly, first time. Unfortunately, all of the files I had already filed were lost in the transition, but that's not too serious as I still have the originals and can resubmit them.

We collected Jasper from the vet at the end of the day. He's feeling very sorry for himself and still hasn't really eaten or drunk. We have to take him back first thing tomorrow for more tests and possibly a scan.

With 52 years under our belts I have committed to a further 48... but after that we'll review the situation.

It's been a day

I was up early to greet Ellie when she was dropped off. She was in a great mood, and we sat and had a cuddle while she told me all about her weekend with Pete and how they went to the new water park at West Beach in LA. After breakfast, we then played a series of number games until it was time for her to get dressed.

A chappie turned up at 10:00 (at my behest, I should add) to give us a quote for for installation of an irrigation system. He listened to what we wanted, took some measurements, and promised to come back with a quote mid-week. He also feels that it is a job he could do before we next go away. That was good news.

Jasper hasn't eaten for a few days, so Di and Ellie took him to the vets. After some poking and prodding, they decided to take some blood, put him on a drip and keep a watch throughout the day. Di and Ellie left him there. I, meanwhile, had walked to Sainsbury's to pick up a few things for Ellie's lunch. We all arrived home within a minute of each other.

Sue and Trevor, Alan and Val dropped in this afternoon. They had been house hunting for Alan and Val in LA and Bersted, so while in the area, it seemed sensible to drop in for a cup of tea. They didn't stay for long, as we had to get back to the vet. We did hear how much they had enjoyed their river cruise, and we heard all about the properties they had viewed today. 

Jasper is back with us now and is feeling very sorry for himself. We need to take him back in the morning.

My experiments with the document management system drove me to write a query/bug report on the website. I have had some wonderful feedback, and I will try to implement the suggestions when I get some time tomorrow or later in the week.

Best intentions

 It was a lovely start to the day, again. This really has been a delightful Spring and Summer, but I fear we are likely to pay for it at some point in the near future. I had every intention of going for a long walk today. It didn't happen. I feel guilty.

I had two things on my mental agenda that would need to be addressed before the walk. The first was a discussion with Zoe regarding the options she has as her fixed-term mortgage expires and her "Help to Buy"  loan starts to accrue interest. I laid it all out in a few paragraphs and squirted it into ChatGPT. I was very impressed with the data it returned and the clarifications it offered when I asked for further details. I printed it all and handed it to Zoe so we could discuss it. Then I ensured she had ChatGPT installed on her iPad and suggested she should rerun some of the queries with more up-to-date figures.  

The other item on my mental agenda was to install the component in the document management system that allows it to handle email files and MS Word files. I mistakenly thought this would be quick. So far, it has taken all the rest of the day and is still not working. I am close to giving up.

(I did manage an hour with the Kindle during the early afternoon, but it was only because I needed a break from debugging).

That is it

 We had a gentle start to the day. I had my usual call with the cousins at 9 am, and we all wished Maggie a Happy Birthday, along with the usual proceedings.

With the call over, I returned to my document management challenge, which had occupied the last couple of days. It was almost there when I switched off last night. This morning, with help from AI, I worked through the last few issues and now seem to have a fully working system. I started to test it with real data. It was at this point that I got a call from Diane. "The iron seems to be playing up. Can you take a look?". Always happy to help, I dashed downstairs and fiddled with the controls, left it to cool down, then fired it up to maximum. Nothing. Nada. Maybe it was the fuse? I changed the fuse. Same result (or lack of it). 

We have had a few occasions when the iron has played up in the last month. Maybe it was time to replace it. We checked online and found a suitable candidate at Argos. We ordered it, there and then, and I went straight around to collect it. The iron was duly unpacked and handed over. At that point, I headed for the fridge to start on lunch. I opened the door and realised there was no light on. Could it be that a circuit breaker had tripped? I went to the man-cave. Sure enough, a CB had tripped. I reset it. The fridge lit up, and the iron started to work again! Oh well, we now have a spare iron!

After lunch, I returned to the study. I started to pump more documents into the document management system. It was now eating them up with no apparent problems. Bit by bit, I was working out the various controls that I had over the way in which the files were indexed and stored. I think this could prove to be useful, so I set up a backup system to ensure the whole subsystem was backed up as a single entity. I still need to test some of the more esoteric features and also the auto-timers that trigger events, but I can do that over the next few days.

Working, sort of

 Another delightfully gentle start to the day. Once breakfast was done, Diane wanted to spend some time in the garden, and I returned to the study and my little brain teaser from yesterday.

I had decided to strip everything out and restart. I checked everything with ChatGPT and slowly rebuilt the system. I soon hit problems, and as each one was reported, I received the "Oh yes, that's because..." type of response. If AI is so smart, why didn't it get it right the first time? Bit by bit, I edged towards success.

I stopped at lunchtime to go out for a walk, listen to my book, and grab something to eat.

I returned to the problem. By mid-afternoon, it was working, and I will experiment for a few days to see if it will really be useful or not. If not, I'll strip it back out.

Some kids have "liberated" some shopping trolleys and were using them as go-carts last night. When they finally ran off, the trolleys were dumped in the hedges. Ellie pointed them out to me. I have dragged them out of the hedges and reported them to a company that collects them.

Dock Strikes

After another peaceful and relaxed start to the day, we had the excitement of the weekly shopping raid on Sainsbury's. I don't know if the bright sun is keeping them in their lairs, but there was no sign of the usual zombies shuffling down the aisles. It was a remarkably smooth experience.

Before I retired, I was asked to present to IBM's Architects and IT Specialists on my view of the architect's job in 5 years. I started by explaining that whatever the job would be, I wouldn't be doing it as I was retiring soon. I then went on to discuss various aspects of the job and predicted that many of the boring tasks would be removed by containerisation of components and the deployment of pre-built, pre-tested building blocks (like building with Lego). 

I saw a document management application discussed in the technical press this week. I thought that this might be a useful addition to the "West Sussex Data Centre" (my study). It turns out that this application is delivered using a containerised delivery mechanism called Docker. I read up about Docker and found that, along with Kubernetes, it is the realisation of my predictions way back when! I prepared "barnowl" and downloaded the Docker container and went about the configuration (with assistance from ChatGPT). The theory was simple, and the installation should have been easy. In fact, it was a nightmare, and I spent all day trying to wrestle it into action. I exhausted my ChatGPT query allowance for the day and switched over to Google's Gemini. By the end of the afternoon, I gave up and will reset "barnowl" and start again tomorrow. The docks certainly were on strike. (The frustrating part is that I can see how easy it should be.)

Outing

It was warm but overcast and remained like that throughout the day. We had planned to go out for a mooch around the shops. We hadn’t decided where, however. Once the normal morning protocol had been completed we decided on Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth.

There was the usual traffic as we tried to get around Chichester, but then we whizzed through to Portsmouth. The next few hours were spent wandering around and looking in various shops and outlets. Di picked up various tops and some shorts and I bought a couple of pairs of Skechers shoes - one to use as slippers, the other for general use. As we looked at the various restaurants to decide on our lunch venue, the sky seemed to darken and it became very still and humid. There was an almighty flash of lightning and instantaneous crack of thunder. It was so loud that you literally see people jump back. It was the loudest crack of thunder I heard in many years.

We took a seat in Wagamama’s. It was quite busy and there was a nice buzz about the place. We Bothe chose some Bao buns as a starter. They we quiet delicious, with the soft pillowy bun encasing Korean beef brisket (for me) and duck (for Di). After that, we both went for a rice dish with a curry. Di chose the Chicken Raisukaree (Chicken, coconut, and vegetables); and I had the Chicken Firecracker (Chicken, hot chillies, and vegetables). It was excellent and certainly filled us up such that we would need nothing further until breakfast tomorrow. When we finished lunch we continued our wander around the shops. It was mid afternoon before we returned to the car and headed home.

Once we got home we sat down with a cup of tea and our Kindles. It was a good day.

Workflow

 It was another cracking start to the day. The sun was already very warm, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. After ablutions and the usual breakfast routine, Diane went to Zoe's to check on the cut she acquired yesterday. I went to the study and returned to my video editing.

It's funny how quickly you (well, I) forget the workflow that had been worked out a few weeks ago. I had to keep referring to Google and YouTube to achieve what I wanted. It took most of the morning, but I now have a video of our Falmouth holiday back in 2022. I need to view the finished article because I fear that the volume of the background music may be a little overpowering. Even if that is the case, it would only take a few minutes to correct and refile it.

Di arrived home just as I finished the video, so I took the opportunity to go out for a walk. It was very hot, and I welcomed the shade afforded by my hat as I looped around the usual circuit. As usual, I was out for just over an hour.

After lunch, we both had some Kindle time until I was summoned by Zoe/Ellie to help. They set up a water slide in the back garden. This involved using the hose to fill the border of a smooth piece of plastic (runway). Evenly spaced holes in the border squirted water across the runway so the kids could slide along safely. It didn't take long to get it all set up, and as I left, Ellie and her friend Sophia Rose were running upstairs to put the swimsuits on.

We've just finished dinner and expect to have a quiet evening.

Returning to Normal

 Life is returning to normal. Diane is back in residence, and Jasper is following her around like her shadow. We had a very gentle start to the day as she started to tell me about their holiday while we drank our coffee. Once she started to unpack her suitcase, I retired to the study and began some video editing of a trip to Falmouth in 2022. I wasn't very inspired, so I saved it and went out for my morning walk.

Once home, I returned to the video editing and realised I had many of the clips out of sequence. This led me to YouTube to find the best way to resequence the component media. I made notes and again saved the project. I will return later in the week.

We had some Kindle time after lunch, but this was interrupted by Ellie calling to say Zoe had cut herself and could Nana come and assist. She had nicked her thumb on her new secateurs. Fortunately, being new, they were nice and clean, and Diane soon had things under control.

I think we will be having a very quiet evening and an early night. Diane is still very tired from the trip.

A Lie In

 I managed a luxurious lie-in. Jasper was quiet, and I was comfortable. It was nearly 7:15 before I dragged myself into the day. It was a day destined to be filled with a few chores and long periods of waiting. My list of chores grew as I considered the day over breakfast. Everything had to be spic and span for when Di got home. In addition to domestic chores, I also had a few items to pick up from Sainsbury's so that Zoe and Ellie had something for breakfast.

I cracked through the chores, vacuuming the carpets and stairs, cleaning the bathrooms and kitchen, completing my laundry, changing the cat litter and so forth. Once everything was done, I treated myself to an hour so walking the neighbourhood. I then settled down with lunch and my Kindle.

I started to get messages from the girls as they finished their packing and prepared to leave the resort in Zante. We were all looking forward to them arriving home. I tracked them as they took the coach to the airport, and Zoe told me once they had checked in for the flight and gone through security. I then tracked the flight as it left (32 minutes late) and headed to Gatwick.

After I had finished some dinner, I loaded a few bits in the car and made my way to Gatwick. I timed it perfectly. As I switched off the engine in the car park, I got a text from Zoe to say they had just touched down. In the end, they were only 3 minutes late arriving, so the pilot must have had his foot down to make up the time. I waited at the exit with a big sign saying "Welcome Home Ellie, Zoe and Diane". When they emerged from baggage reclaim, Ellie charged across the concourse to give me a big hug. They all looked really well and had clearly enjoyed their week. It was Zoe's birthday, and this seems to be a habit - her travelling home on her birthday,

The M23 was closed southbound, so we were diverted through Crawley and towards Horsham, where I picked up the A24. We had a pretty good run back. I dropped Zoe and Ellie at their house, then Di and I headed home. It was just before midnight when we got in. Jasper went into overdrive when he saw I had brought Di back with me. He was a happy cat again. 

Stories and Currys

Despite Jasper having a yowling session between 2:30 and 3:30 this morning, I felt as if I had slept well and was up and about soon after 6:30. The morning started with a shower, some coffee, and a review of the news, and then some porridge. I had my usual call with the cousins and we had a good turnout today. There was a lot of reminiscing and discussions about Margate and the environs. I listened, but could not contribute. 

After the call, I went round with the vacuum cleaner before heading off for a walk. I was out for just over an hour and got within a few minutes of the end of my latest audiobook. I left it playing when I got home so that I could hear the end and download another ready for my next walk.

After lunch, I went to read in the Orangery, but had to retire to the lounge as it was too hot in the Orangery. Over the next couple of hours, I finished the second book by Sato Ramu "The Grave in the Ice". Again, I thoroughly recommend it and can't wait for the 3rd book in the series (due later this year).

I had a Chef Akila curry for dinner tonight. It was Pepper Chicken and was very good. I tried her Chennai Biryani earlier in the week, but found that dry and bland.

Quiet Day

It has been a quiet day. I was up at 6:30 after a good night’s sleep. I let Jasper out and grabbed a coffee while reading the news. Jasper had settled on a chair in the garden and seemed to be in no hurry to move. I don’t like to leave him outside if I’m going out, so I had some breakfast and cleared away. He strolled in as I put the last bowl in the dishwasher. Now he was in, I could lock up and go for a morning walk.

I took my usual route, adding a couple of small variations. One of the “Marlow Murders” played away through my AirPods as I looped around the circuit a few times. It was bright, but the sun hadn’t broken through, though it did promise to be a nice day, and even this early, it was delightfully warm. I was out for just over an hour and treated myself to a nice coffee when I got home. The rest of the morning was consumed by minor domestic chores and some research in the study.

The afternoon was spent with my Kindle before I made up a batch of salad and ordered a large helping of cod from the local fish shop. With dinner over and the dishwasher running, I headed out for another walk. By now, the sky was cloudless, and it was delightfully warm. It was the perfect evening for a nice walk.

By the way, today is Trevor and Jane's Wedding Anniversary... congratulations and Happy Anniversary to you both.

Shop on Repeat

Once up and about, with my first coffee coursing through my veins, I headed out for a morning walk. It was slightly overcast, and there was a suggestion of light rain. Fortunately, the suggestion was ignored, and I enjoyed a very pleasant hour wandering around my usual circuit while listening to my AirPods. As I looped around for the third time, I saw Lottie walking towards me. She smiled and said, “Oh no, I was hoping nobody would see me, I haven’t got any makeup on”. I was tempted to say that she shouldn’t take the chance of scaring the neighbourhood children, but in the end just pointed out “Don’t worry, I haven’t got mine on, either”. She’s off on holiday tomorrow, so I wish her a good trip, and feel a slight concern for the people of Crete who have no idea what is about to hit them.

Having completed the weekly shopping list, I set out on the usual raid at Sainsbury’s. I must say the staff all seemed so relaxed and cheerful… whistling and singing as they went about their work. They certainly seemed very relaxed knowing Zoe was away on holiday!

The trip to Sainsbury’s turned out to be two trips. When I got home and started to unpack, I realised I had left the “bag of bags” hanging on the back of my trolley. I returned to the store and was delighted to find that a customer had handed the errant bag to customer services. Clutching the bag of bags, I returned home and finished unpacking.

With everything put away, I made some lunch and then spent some time looking at some code on the computer. In two minds whether to embark on another project, I decided to defer the decision. I returned to the Orangery and, after downloading a fistful of new books, had some Kindle time.

I’ve heard from the girls in Zante, and they have been sharing their photos. It is clear that they are having a lovely time, and the resort looks very nice. Ellie has been enjoying the Kids Club and the evening entertainment. and having some very late nights.

Getting Better

Things had improved after yesterday’s bad start. At least it was 5:30 am before Jasper started yowling, and I was able to ignore him until 6:30 when I leapt from the covers, let Jasper out, prepared his morning treat (laced with pharmaceuticals) and went back up for a shower.

I limited myself to a single coffee, in case the Skoda garage called, while I read the overnight news and the “socials”. Sure enough, the garage called at 8:30. The parts had arrived. I finished some breakfast, exchanged a few messages with the girls in Zante, and set off with the car. It was a lovely morning for walking, so I thoroughly enjoyed the walk back through Shripney and along the medieval highway to North Bersted.

I topped up on coffee when I got home and then set about some admin, and then did some laundry before hiding away in the study for the rest of the morning. I had completely restarted the rebuild of “falcon”. I decided that there was a much more logical way of doing it. This was proved right, and I now have a much cleaner process that is easily reproducible. I stopped for some lunch and then returned to the study. I decided it would be nice to have a checkpoint - and an image of the completed system, before I embark on anything else. I found a set of utilities on a Raspberry Pi blog. Reading up on them, it was clear that they are widely used. I installed them and a few minutes later had an image of the Pi nestling in my backups folder.

A message came through. The car was ready for collection. I grabbed my keys and my AirPods and set off back to the Skoda garage. In exchange for half the national debt, they returned my car keys and the car. I headed home and settled in the Orangery for some Kindle time.

Early evening chores are complete, and I’ve been outside watering the garden. I still need to prepare a shopping list for tomorrow.

Some Days

It’s one of those days when the people of this nation should be grateful that I am not a brain surgeon or depended upon for anything of great importance. It all started soon after 2 am when Jasper began his yowling. This continued every few minutes until I got up at 3 to feed him. I tried to settle back to sleep, but just as I was dropping off, he started again (this time to inform me that he had finished his meal). That was it; sleep evaded me for the rest of the night. 

As it happened, I had to be up early to take the car in for a service, which I had booked on 21st July. I arrived a little early and wandered around their car park until the doors opened and I could deposit my key in the key safe. I plugged my AirPods into my ears and set off home. I had only got about 200 yards away when my phone rang… it was the service centre. “We see you have just dropped off your keys, but the manager has informed us that your parts have not arrived”. I was not a happy bunny. I have been let down like this before, so I made a point of this when I made the original booking and was assured they would send a note to the parts department immediately. Well, that worked! Not,

I’m back home with the car. They claim they can do it tomorrow… but will phone me in the morning to confirm the parts have arrived. It took me a while to stop spitting blood!

After some belated breakfast (I had to write a complaint email first), I returned to my study for much of the morning. I have a voltage problem on one of the Raspberry Pis (Falcon), which I am in the process of rebuilding. I have ordered a new power supply, but until that arrives, I have been trying out various configuration options. I have also rewritten my configuration manager program. This allows me to reliably reconfigure any of the RPIs by rerunning a series of command scripts.

With that done, I decided it was time to enjoy the lovely sunshine and go out for a walk. I timed the walk perfectly, stopping for some of Di’s meds on the way back and arriving home with just 7 minutes to run on my audiobook. I listened to that while making lunch. I have downloaded another book ready for my next walk (hopefully back from the garage in the morning). This takes me up to my 90th book of the year.

It will come as no surprise that, after a bit more time on the computer, I went down to the Orangery with my Kindle.

Pining

 It is quite clear that I am not fully accepted as a cat sitter. Yesterday evening, Jasper leapt onto my lap while I was watching TV, but after about 15 minutes, he decided I was not suitable and took himself off somewhere. When it was time for bed, he rushed down for a few bites of his dinner, and then, when I got into bed, he sat at the end of the bed, sphinx-like, glaring at me until he concluded that Diane wasn't around, and took himself off. To be fair, though, I didn't hear a peep from him all night.

I had a gentle start to the day. After breakfast, I cleared space in the garage so that the heating engineer could perform our annual service without hindrance. I then emptied the cupboard in the utility room to give him access to the tanks. With that done, I returned to my study. I had thought of an approach to debug my outstanding issue on "barnowl"... and an hour or two later, I was delighted to walk away with everything working as it should. 

I still had time before the engineer was due, so I went out for my first walk in a few days. The weather looked threatening, and though it was windy, it was quite warm. I was out for my usual hour or so (listening to my audiobook). It was nice to stretch my legs. I timed it well, as the rain started just after I got home. I grabbed some lunch and then went back to the study. It was time to rebuild "falcon", which had been offline for a little while. I made a start on that, pausing when the heating engineer arrived. He wasn't here for too long and gave us a clean bill of health. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon in the Orangery with my Kindle. I've heard from Diane and from Zoe. They have also sent lots of pictures. It is clear that they have selected well, and they are having a lovely time. 

Diane even spent time in their private pool this afternoon.

Home Alone

 We were up early. Diane had to finish her packing and have breakfast before we left to collect Zoe and Ellie. The car was loaded, the girls were in a party mood and we made our way towards Gatwick with a running commentary from Ellie, only broken by the occasional pause for breath. Leaving home at 9:00 on a Sunday morning worked out well. The roads were very quiet and we pulled into the car park at South Terminal just after 10:00. I escorted the girls through too check-in and up to Security. We said our goodbyes, and they headed through to departures while I made my way back to the car and drove home.

I sorted Jasper out with his lunch and then grabbed a bite to eat before heading up to the study where I spent a couple of hours working on a problem I have been having on "barnowl"... after a couple of hours, I decided to sleep on it and grabbed my Kindle for some reading in the Orangery.

I have just finished a delicious yellow lentil Dahl for my dinner and watched the progress of the girls flight as it approached Zakynthos. They took off an hour late but managed to make up some of the lost time. They are down on the ground now and I suspect it will be at least another 90 minutes before they arrive at the hotel. Meanwhile, Jasper and I will have a boy's night in.

Preparation

 We were both up and about soon after 07:00. Di had things to do and things to prepare before her trip tomorrow. Thus, she spent much of the morning pottering. I had my usual call with the cousins. Much of the call was spent reminiscing about "the good old days" in Margate, where they were brought up. I listened to the tales, but not having any relevant background, didn't contribute. I was distracted during the call as I was trying out some software on one of the Raspberry Pis.

The experiment with the Pi did not go well. It partially worked, but not wholly. I have disabled it for now and may play again later next week.

We had some Kindle time after lunch, but as the afternoon wore on, Di started to collect her items for packing, and we both awaited Pete and Ellie. It was about 17:00 when he arrived, and Ellie burst into the house. I'm not sure who was more excited, her or us. It has been two weeks since she went away, and we have missed her dreadfully.

Di is finishing her packing as I write this. I'll be taking them all to the airport in the morning.

Improving

 Whatever knocked me for six yesterday seems to be abating. When I got up this morning, I was still feeling a bit foggy, but at least I wasn't dizzy. As the day wore on, my head cleared, and now, at dinner time, I feel back to normal.

I deliberately had another quiet day. I did the accounts, did some ironing, and dabbled on the computer. Again, I skipped any walks. Hopefully, I'll get back to that tomorrow.

The afternoon was spent in the Orangery, finishing another book. This is one that I thoroughly recommend, called "The Clues in the Fjord" by Satu Rämö. It takes place in Iceland and sucks you into the narrative very quickly.

There is little else to report, though we are expecting a delivery from Sainsbury's in the next 30 minutes.