Radar

I was up early, ready for Ellie's drop-off. She bounced into the house, gave me a cuddle and then went up to Nana, as usual. The first part of the morning followed the usual pattern. It was only school time that things changed. Ellie kissed us goodbye and headed off into the morning to walk to school by herself. Grandpa gave her a few minutes, then he set off for his walk, which just happened to run parallel to Ellie's route. She saw me as she approached the school gates and gave me a wave and a big smile. She's all grown up!

When I arrived back from my walk, I grabbed a coffee and a light breakfast, then completed the week's shopping list. As soon as Di was ready, we headed off to Sainsbury's, where everything went smoothly until we got to the checkout. There, we were selected for a full trolley scan, and when that was complete, we couldn't pay at the self-checkout. It turns out that its card reader was broken.

Back home, Lottie was in full flow, and we chatted while putting the shopping away. Then we left her to finish up, and then settled down for a quiet afternoon. Di spent the afternoon sorting up her study, while I returned to my project.

At the end of the school day, we used our phones to track Ellie as she left school. It was good to know she was on radar!

You'll Walk Alone

I was up early, Ellie was dropped off at 6:31, and I was slightly surprised but ready! After a cuddle, she went upstairs to Nana (closely followed by me, with a cup of tea). We sorted out breakfast and ensured she was ready for school, then, at the allotted time, I walked her to the school gates and headed off for my walk.

I was out for an hour or so, and managed to finish the audiobook I have been listening to for a couple of months. Like the previous books in the Millennium Series, it had been excellent. As I walked the last few hundred yards, I started a new book. I am hoping that my walks will return to a daily schedule now, and I should crack through the books more quickly.

When I arrived home, Diane had already left for Pilates. I settled down with a coffee and some breakfast and returned to my coding project. This kept me occupied most of the day, but this part of it is almost ready for prime time. I think an hour or two, and it will be done. I did stop at various points during the day, clearing some ironing, sorting lunch and so forth.

Di had enjoyed her session at Pilates, and arrived home at about 13:00. She got an alert. The school had sent an email/form regarding permission for Year 5 children to walk to and from school unaccompanied. Zoe authorised this, but for today we still went to greet Ellie as she burst out of the class. She is planning to walk alone tomorrow (though I might, surreptitiosly chose that time to go for my walk).

Year 5

 We had an early start. Zoë was on an early shift, and Ellie was back at school this morning. I was downstairs unlocking the doors and making coffee before 6:30. Ellie bounced into the house and, despite her protestations yesterday, was clearly happy to be going back to school and meeting up with her friends. 

We sorted out some breakfast, and she got herself ready for school. Despite the plan that she should walk to school by herself, she texted me last night to ask if I would walk with her this morning. I told her that I would be honoured to accompany her, and in the end, Diane came along as well. Like the first day of previous school years, it was chaos as so many parents and new starters milled around. Fortunately, with Ellie moving into Year 5, we were able to skip the melee and head to the correct door immediately.

With Ellie wandering into Lime Class (Year 5), Di headed home for breakfast while I headed off for my traditional walk. The latest adventures of Milkael Blomquist and Lisbet Salander kept me company for the next hour or so. I thoroughly enjoyed the walk, and look forward to repeating it tomorrow,

Back home, I grabbed some breakfast and then cleared the accounts ready for the new month. Then I returned to my project. I managed to create a couple of albums in Immich, but discovered that one of them had some images where the dates were wrong. This led to some further analysis and, in the end, I started to develop a program that cross-referenced the EXIF dates in an image with those in my backup images. Because of the approach I am taking, this is being written (with significant help from ChatGPT) in Python. (I should explain that whilst I have written a number of Python programs, I feel that my competence is much the same as my grasp of Spanish, French, or Latin - rudimentary.

Mid-afternoon I went along to collect Ellie from school, but fortunately, Zoe arrived in time, and the two of them went straight home. I returned to my coding, while Di chatted to Denise on the phone.

Projects

 I was delighted, as you can imagine, to be woken by Jasper at 2:30 this morning. He was yelling at the top of his voice and eventually quietened down, but just as I was drifting back to sleep, he started again. As a rule, when he gets like this, he is hungry, and his overnight feeder hasn't opened on time (or, more to the point, when he thinks it should have opened). I got out of bed and went down to the kitchen, only to find that everything had opened on time and he was just being obnoxious. It took me ages to get back to sleep.

I was up soon after seven. I think I managed to sneak down without disturbing Di, so I made myself a coffee and waited until I could hear movement from upstairs before I made her tea. We had a quiet breakfast, and after some domestic chores, returned to our respective projects.

I had downloaded 16 more albums from Google and spent much of the day processing them. I didn't finish because, needless to say, I found some examples I hadn't thought of and hadn't catered for in the coding. I made more changes, and bit by bit, the albums emerged. I must say that I wrote some pretty slick code and even ChatGPT responded, "That's clever," to one part of the development.

I popped along to the local store for some white wine for the sauce I made for tonight's dinner. I did chuckle when a BMW drove past the "Road Closed" signs, weaving in and out of the barriers, only to be thwarted and have to turn around and come back the other way.

In preparation for tomorrow's return to school, Zoe and Ellie popped in to bring some school uniform items here for the morning. Now that Ellie is moving into Year 5, she can walk to school by herself, so we don't necessarily have to get involved beyond pushing her out the door,

Success

We had a gentle start to the day. Jasper didn't wake us, and it was after seven before I emerged. As I made the coffee, I heard Di stirring and prepared her tea. With breakfast done and a few domestic chores ticked off the list, we returned to our respective studies.

Di carried on reorganising her study and tidying it. I returned to my code. Without going into huge detail, I am delighted to say that I now have the code working such that I can export an album from Google Photos, then replicate the album in Immich (the photo library manager). Now, there are many albums to ingest, but I will do them one bit at a time. The next major development I will have to manage is the injection and merging of facial data. That, however, can wait for now... I want to savour my current success.

Nothing else to report from here.

Study

 We had a significant amount of rain throughout the day. It seemed like a good excuse to stay put and spend the time in our respective studies. I had the morning call with the cousins, which seemed a little quiet today, and then opened up the MacBook.

Di retired to her study (sewing room), and I spent the next hour or so trying to wrangle a problem on the MacBook. It turned out to be a bug in the Surfshark VPN I run. It provides a degree of security and anonymity when using WiFi networks away from home. Evidently, it also blocks a load of my traffic when it goes rogue! With that sorted, I returned to my photo library project. My mate ChatGPT and I had a frustrating afternoon unpicking the interface to the Immich library manager. The documentation seemed to be lacking for this latest release, and we had to resort to first principles and hack our way through the code. By the end of the afternoon, I had the first interaction with the library manager working. 

I called it a day and went to prepare dinner. Roast salmon and salad for Di, and chicken jalfrezi for me.

Duck

We were up at about seven. After sorting out the little package that Jasper had left, I made the coffee and the tea. Di was eager to get going as she had to have breakfast in plenty of time for her Cardiac Rehab session.

Zoe turned up with Ellie at 08:30. Ellie was in a bubbly mood, but quite content to amuse herself. As Di left the house for her Cardiac session, I started on the week's pile of ironing.  I timed it to perfection, just putting everything away as Di returned.

This morning I read about a database called "duckdb". The write-up was very encouraging and triggered my design neurons. I spent an hour or two getting it installed on my MacBook. (The installation did not go smoothly, unlike the iMac, which was easy.) Once installed, I wrote some test code and was amazed by the speed of this database. This, my design neurons said, was a better way to complete the program I had been writing. The rest of the day was spent rewriting parts of the program, testing. and being amazed by how much faster it was when run.

Alongside all of this, there were the usual interruptions from Ellie and requests for snacks and drinks. All I really had to do was give permission, and she managed it all herself. Zoe collected her soon after 17:00, and she has a weekend with Pete before going back to school next Tuesday.

Shopslinger

 We tried to have a lie-in, but Jasper had different ideas. A few minutes before seven, I was making our tea and coffee to start the day. Zoe had the day off, so we were not expecting Ellie. W~e had a quiet breakfast as we consumed the overnight news and scratched the surface of social media.

Once the day had actually kicked into gear, I completed the shopping list, and we headed to Sainsbury's for our weekly festival of excitement. All things being equal, it was a fairly good trip with little interaction with zombies or morons. By the time we arrived home, Lottie was in full swing, doing some cleaning for us upstairs. Needless to say, we paused for an update on her holiday, the traffic, and the ongoing saga of their new car. She really is one of those people who can brighten the day.

We had a quiet hour or so before having to head for The Nuffield. Di had another physio session booked. The physio was delighted with the progress she has been making, particularly with her return to Pilates and the Cardiac Rehab sessions. He couldn't find the words to describe how well she was doing.

Back home, we had a quiet afternoon with our Kindles. There was no coding for me today; I needed to allow some ideas to percolate into a plan. Hopefully, tomorrow will see a return to the codeface.

Walking home

 Yesterday evening, plans changed. Ellie had decided that she didn't want an early start today, so it was decided that she would sleep here. This was good, because it meant there was no need for an early alarm; in fact, it was just after seven before I got up and headed for the shower. By the time I went downstairs, Di was already drinking her tea and munching on some toast.

It was another landmark day. Di took the car and drove across to Angmering for her first Pilates session in several months. Ellie stayed behind to look after grandpa. After some breakfast, she got herself ready, and we headed to the bus stop. We were on our way into Bognor to collect her school uniform from the local suppliers. I was impressed with the size of the shop, the number of staff, and the number of people in there browsing or collecting their orders.

With the uniform bag in one hand, we headed to the beach. (It seems a shame to go to Bognor and not stroll along the promenade.) When we got there, we could see the local showmen setting up their attractions for this Bank Holiday weekend's funfair. Ellie loved it and immediately texted Zoe, asking if they could go tomorrow. Meanwhile, we arrived at the palypark where Ellie spent a while on the swings before we stopped off for a drink and then headed for the pier.

After strolling around for a while, we headed back to the bus stop, only to find we had at least 20 minutes to wait. While we stood there, the time increased. I suggested to Ellie that we walk. It's only 3km, so she was up for it. We strolled back slowly, chatting as we walked, taking about 35 minutes (including a stop in Tesco Express for some lunch snacks).

Once home, Ellie sat and watched the TV, and I returned to my little coding challenge. Di arrived home and had clearly had a very good session at the Pilates class. I'm sure that now she has ventured to try it, she will be back every week,

Zoe came to collect Ellie soon after three, and we settled down with our Kindles until it was time to make dinner.

Playmates

 I was up at seven. There wasn't a sound from Diane, so I didn't make her any tea. I made my coffee and sat down with the overnight news. By the time my coffee was finished and the news sources had been squeezed dry, Di was stirring, and I fired up the kettle.

Elli had been host to a sleepover with Ariana last night. Zoe dropped them on the doorstep at 8:20, and the girls started their day with us. To be fair, they were no trouble at all and just played nicely and quietly all day. The morning was focused on their tablets and phones; the afternoon saw them roaming the estate and roller-blading.

Mid-morning we had to drop Jasper in his carrier, and we all set off for the vet. Jasper had his scheduled monthly injection, his nails clipped, his blood pressure taken and so forth. I drove them to the vet and carried Jasper in, then I returned to the car where the girls were playing games on their phones. I explored the various settings on the vehicle that I hadn't previously examined, then wandered back and forth in the car park, thinking about my coding project.

We were back home by lunchtime, and I prepared some chicken nuggets, chips, and baked beans for the girls. They lapped them up and then disappeared upstairs to play. Di also disappeared upstairs so that she could rearrange and tidy her study. I continued with the next phase of my photo management project. I have now created an inventory of all the photos in the master library. I can use this when extracting albums from Google Photos, locating each of the component photos to squirt into the Immich system and recreating the Google Albums. There is a fair bit more thinking to go and some more code to develop, but I'm well on the way.

Zoe picked the girls up soon after five.

Who'd Have Thought

 I was up early, ready for Ellie to be dropped off. The trouble was that Zoe and Ellie weren't. Zoe had forgotten that she was meant to be on an early shift and went in for 09:00. Oh well, I suppose I had a quiet hour to read the news.

Ellie was dropped off and was clearly happy to have a lazy day. She was still in her pyjamas mid-morning when I went to collect a parcel for Diane from M&S, and when I got back and headed for the study, she finally went to shower and brush her teeth. Meanwhile, Di had finished a couple of loads of washing and was bordering on a cleaning frenzy.

I returned to the photo library. The more I examined it, the more I spotted errors. In the past, they were masked by the folders in which they were filed. Now the discrepancy between the folders' dates and the photos' dates is showing up as a problem. Several experiments and several hours of deep thought and testing revealed a change that I could apply, which should go a long way towards solving the problem. A few lines of code were changed, and I used my backup library as a reference point when re-running several of my utility programs. Now, several hours later, it looks as if I have eliminated another bunch of anomalies. Who'd have thought that my backups would prove so useful!

Zoe came to collect Ellie soon after 17:00. We have her again tomorrow morning... but not until 08:30.

Scratch it and start again

Jasper, once again, provided the impetus to get me out of bed. To be fair, it was just after seven, so I had had my lie-in. Coffee was brewed along with tea, and the tea was taken up to Diane.

Overnight, my subconscious had been processing. It dawned on me that there was a better way to organise the new photo library. I discussed it with myself and with ChatGPT and concluded that I would scratch the library manager I had built yesterday. I would then split the actual library into smaller chunks (a technical term) and then rebuild the library manager. So, for example, all the years from 1890 to 1989 are now clustered in a folder "Photos1890-1989", and there are similar clusters in 10-year and 5-year groups (depending on the quantity of photos). This now makes the management much simpler, and the library manager doesn't have to treat the many thousands of photos as one huge set. I set this plan in motion, and then got my breakfast. Various aspects of this have been running all through the day, and are still running now. I am confident they will all be finished by morning.

Di has enjoyed the sunshine and been pottering in the garden again. The garden waste bin is nearly full of all the trimmings and prunings.

We did manage some Kindle time in the Orangery this afternoon.

Heroes

 There was no need to be awake early. Jasper, however, had different ideas, and after he regaled us with several bouts of yowling and shouting, it seemed pointless to stay in bed any longer. So it was that I was up just before seven, and Di was up not long after.

Being Saturday, I had my usual call with the cousins. It seemed like a wide-ranging chat, but we did spend time talking about Tim's trip to Istanbul and the places he should visit. Obviously, Chris could provide ideas based on his experience, whereas the rest of us had to rely on travelogues and TV travel programmes.

Today was a day for heroes. Trevor and Lel took part in a 25 Km walk in London to raise money for Prostate Cancer Research. I sent them a "Good Luck" message, and another message during the walk. 

I must say that they had a nice day. Unlike recent weeks, the temperature had cooled off a bit, and though we have had some rain this week, it stayed dry.

Trevor sent this photo through showing the heroic couple at the finish line, and I know that they beat their fundraising target.  As I commented on Facebook, not all heroes wear spandex and have capes.

Well done.

Meanwhile, back here, I had re-run my program against the photo library. This time, it showed no data anomalies. This was good news as it meant that yesterday's exercise had corrected all of the thousands of anomalies that were in the library. (These anomalies were predominant where old photos had been scanned and had no date information other than the scan date - they had, however, been filed in the correct folder for the year they were taken). Confident that the library was now ok, I connected it to Immich and left it to run. Immich will now go through and create its database, identifying every photo, creating thumbnails, looking for faces in photos, and clustering faces together. This will run for hours... and is currently running all 8 processors on my iMac at 100%.

While the computer was busy, I decided (in a fit of uncharacteristic activity) to clean the car. There was debris from the New Forest in the footwells, and the outside was grubby from the recent rain. It took me an hour or so, but it looks very smart again now. Meanwhile, Di was pottering in the garden. She wanted to have a bit of a tidy-up and do some pruning before the wet and windy weather, which is forecast, sets in this coming week.

Driving Again

 Ellie was dropped off just after 8:30.  We were obviously up and about by then. It was another landmark day. Di was returning to her Cardiac Rehab sessions, so Ellie and I drove her to the Community Centre and left her to do her exercises. Back home, I made some breakfast for Ellie, and while she was eating, I ran the last few tests on my project.

Ellie came with me when I went to collect Di. This was another landmark as Diane took the keys and drove us home. This was probably the first time she had driven for about 3 months. She had been a little nervous about it, but she was absolutely fine, and it has given her the confidence and independence to plan a trip to Pilates next week.

Ellie spent most of the day in the lounge. She was cycling between her phone, the TV, and an iPad. Other than occasional hunting trips where she sought food, we heard little from her. I moved on from my testing to the full scan of my whole photo library. I ran the scan in separate chunks, but it still took the whole afternoon. I now have to consider when I should connect the library to the new Immich library manager, and when I should start to process all of the facial data I have extracted. Another aspect of this project is the retention of "albums" that were created in Google Photos. The photos are already in my library, but the collection of these into meaningful albums is not something that I currently have in my library. I think that I have a rudimentary plan for how to manage this, but I can feel some more code bubbling in the back of my mind, and a small test case is already sitting in my test library.

Zoe finished work earlier than planned and picked Ellie up at about 16:00. We had a quiet hour before I started preparing dinner.

Run, run, run

 I was up soon after six. There was no real need, but a message from my bladder suggested that some intervention was required. It didn't seem worthwhile going back to bed, so I made some coffee and read the overnight news. Di came down soon after seven. Zoe has the day off, so Ellie wasn't with us at all today.

Once we were properly up and about, I returned to my coding for a bit, adding some additional cross-references in the reports. Then I shut things down for the rest of the morning. Di had an appointment with the hairdresser, so I drove her to the salon, then stopped off at Sainsbury's for the weekly shop. By the time I had finished, driven home, unloaded the car, and put the shopping away, I received a call from Di to say she was ready. I whizzed into the town and collected her,

Early afternoon, I returned to my code and ran the first program against my whole photo library (in 10 separate runs). As I finished, it was time to take Di into Chichester for her dental appointment. I went up to the dentist's waiting room with her as the stairs are very steep. She introduced herself to the receptionist, and I announced that I was her security detail. While she was seen by the dentist and then the hygienist, I sat and read my Kindle.

It was 16:30 by the time we arrived back home. I had a quiet 15 minutes before starting on dinner. Tonight was gammon, egg, and chips (it's one of Di's favourites).

Anniversary

Today is our 53rd Wedding Anniversary. It's a day that is worthy of celebration. I can never really understand how I got so lucky all those years ago, and how we have been blessed ever since.

Talking of blessings, Ellie was dropped off at 6:30 and went up to have a cuddle with Nana in bed. Outside, it was raining. This is the first rain of any consequence that we have had for many weeks. I suspect that the ground is too hard to really absorb it, but the forecast suggests we will have a fair bit of rain over the next week, so hopefully it will do the fields and gardens some good.

During the morning, we had to go and collect Jasper from Mark (the Cat Whisperer). Ellie was intrigued by the whole setup and stopped to greet all of the cats and kittens in their runs. Jasper was soon tucked in his carrier and started to complain the whole way back home. As usual, he leapt from the carrier and did a full circuit of the house to ensure nothing had been changed.

Ellie was very good throughout the day. She was clearly tired after the day with Natalie yesterday. She spent most of the day playing quietly in the living room. I managed to get time to make some significant progress on my coding challenge, and I'm now ready to run some serious tests before letting the code loose on the whole photo library.

Ellie was collected soon after three. We settled down for some quiet time with the Kindles before getting ready to go out.

An upmarket Italian restaurant, "Piccolino's", has opened in Chichester. I used to eat at their outlet in Bristol when I was working down there, and always liked it. It seemed that on a day as auspicious as today, it was an ideal opportunity to try this local establishment.

We were shown to our table in the plush surroundings. Despite being early evening, there was a buzz about the place. We settled down and examined the menu. Garlic Focaccia with rosemary and sea salt made a good shared appetiser. This was followed by bruschetta gamberini for both of us. Then Di selected a dish with meatballs (mixed beef and pork), and I had chicken Milanese. We both finished off with gelato. The food was exceptional. This was definitely a location for special occasions - and we will be back.

We were home by eight, and settled down for quiet evening.

Codeface

Ellie stayed with us overnight.  Zoe was on an early shift, and Ellie couldn't be bothered to get up early. She was still fast asleep when I got up at seven, and Di was snoring quietly as well. I snuck downstairs and made a coffee, then sat and read the overnight news. The sleepy heads emerged at eight; I went to wash and dress and headed off for my morning walk. I took a slightly different route today, but it added up to the usual distance.

Once I was home, I grabbed breakfast and chatted with Ellie until her friend Natalie knocked. She was with us for the rest of the day. This was Ellie's first exposure to other kids since she came down with chickenpox. She was somewhat overexcited, and two excited nine-year-old girls can squeal at a pitch that would send bats mad and make dogs howl from several miles away.

I settled down with my little coding exercise, which had been on the back burner since we went away last week. Various bright ideas had percolated up through my consciousness, and today I got the chance to implement them. I would say that this particular part of the project is two-thirds complete, but this last third should be fairly quick to write, but a little longer to test.

I got on with the ironing after the girls had their lunch. There wasn't a huge amount, and I was soon finished. By mid-afternoon, Zoe had arrived to collect the girls. We waved them off, and then settled down with our Kindles in the Orangery for an hour or so before dinner. (I did manage to finish another book and start on a new one).

Walking again

 We were up just before seven. Ellie was due to be dropped off at 8:30, but we got going early. In fact, once I was washed and dressed, I headed out for a walk. This was the first proper walk since before Di went into hospital. The first ten minutes or so were spent with my brain trying to get the context back for the audiobook I was listening to. I still have 3 hours to run in the book, but slowly and surely the little grey cells put everything back into context. Now, I can't wait for the next episode.

I charged the car overnight. People talk of "range anxiety", but these few days away have eased any such concern. I charged the car to 100% before we went away. We struggled with traffic; we whizzed along motorways; I pottered through the forest, and yet I still arrived home with about 50% charge. It gives one a little more confidence in the EV.

By the time I arrived home from my walk, Ellie had been dropped off. We will be taking care of her for the next two weeks, until she returns to school. (As a side note, I am sure that my school summer holidays were at least 8, if not 10, weeks - but maybe that was a benefit of going to school run by Americans). 

We had a quiet afternoon with Ellie. She is still recovering from her chickenpox and coping with it well. She has gone home with Zoe for some supper, but is coming back to sleep here tonight so that she doesn't have to get up at the crack of dawn when Zoe goes to work.

(I have updated the blog entries for the last few days so that they include the photos I had originally curated for inclusion, but was stymied by the poor WiFi at the hotel.)

Home again

 After a decent (though not exceptional) night's sleep, we rose soon after seven. I showered, then made the tea and coffee that would keep us going until breakfast. We managed to get the packing finished and then headed down to the restaurant. Di concentrated on the continental breakfast, while I enjoyed a couple of poached eggs on some brown sourdough toast. 

Back in the room, I grabbed the cases and ferried them to the car, stopping to pay the bill on the way back. We started the car just after ten and headed out through Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst towards Cadnam and the M27. It was strange as we headed eastwards on the M27, with no westbound traffic. The road was, of course, still closed as a result of the fires. As we approached the last open junctions, it was clear that the tailbacks were significant and I was very glad we were eastbound.

The route home was, otherwise, unremarkable and even the Chichester traffic seemed benign. We unloaded and, after a cup of tea, unpacked. I then whizzed around to Sainsbury's to get some lamb shanks for dinner.

The afternoon has been spent quietly reading our Kindles in the lounge. Zoe phoned while I was preparing dinner, but had finished the call by the time I served up. I think we will be having a quiet evening before Ellie descends on us tomorrow morning.

Jekyll and Hythe

We were up soon after seven. Again, chemical influence helped Di sleep well, and I had a fairly good night also. After a shower and an early coffee and tea, I read the news while Di prepared for the day. We had booked for breakfast at nine, and set about deciding on the day’s agenda as we broke our fast.

The first stop of the day was Bucklers Hard. We had visited before, but when the girls were young. The location was an old shipbuilding slipway, where wooden ships were hewn from local oaks to serve in the Royal Navy. Some 55 ships were built there over the years, including Nelson’s favourite, Agamemnon. They have been doing further archaeological excavations there this year, and though they have now closed down, there was a marquee showing what they have achieved. It was quite gripping.

After a coffee, we returned to the car and headed to Hythe, on the west bank of Southampton Water. We parked up and walked down towards Hythe Pier. This is 700 yards long and one of the longest in the country. It is also home to the world’s oldest continuously running pier train. We paid our £1 entrance fee and walked out over the water. To the north-east of us, we could see P&O’s Iona in port along with Celebrity Cruises’ Apex and another smaller ship. I must say that it was quite tempting. I felt that a cruise would be quite pleasant right now! 

As we walked along the pier, there were several plaques explaining some of the local history - the Supermarine factory, the home of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), the berths for the Empire Flying boats, and so forth. Hythe was also home to Sir Christopher Cockerill, who invented the hovercraft. It was really very interesting. When we had finished on the pier, we had a stroll through the town and then stopped in a pub for a drink before continuing today’s explorations.

Leaving Hythe, we headed back towards the hotel, but drove straight past in order to go to the Blackwater Arboretum. This is just 3 miles from the hotel and tucked in an area of the forest with the most amazingly tall trees. That may sound a bit obvious, but much of the New Forest is wide open clearings with gorse and heather; then there are wooded areas with moderately sized trees, but nothing I would consider tall. Then we arrived at Blackwater and found one of the rails marked as “The Tall Tree Trail”, and this was fair and truthful advertising. We didn’t follow that trail, but even at the trailhead huge cypress trees and sequoias were soaring into the sky. Offhand, I can’t think of any other arboretum or even woodland that I have visited in the UK that has quite such a collection of huge trees. 

We actually followed a different trail. This took us round the periphery of the arboretum and gave us a chance to see the wide variety of trees that the Forestry Commission tends in this part of the Forest. Though there were other people about, they were few and far between, and our walk was immensely tranquil.

We spent a quiet couple of hours in the hotel garden. We were accompanied by some lovely cold drinks and our Kindles. I finished the book I had started yesterday, and started on a new one. Soon after five, we returned to our room to get ready for dinner. Like yesterday, we skipped the main dishes on the menu. We both made do with a starter, while we sat and chatted.

With dinner finished, we returned to the garden with our Kindles and sat in the warmth of the evening, enjoying our books until it started to get dark. It was the last full day of this short break, and it had been lovely.

Out and About

 We slept well, despite the heat. (There is no air conditioning in this old hotel.) We surfaced soon after, and while I showered, Di dozed waiting for me to make some tea. With tea and coffee on the go, I returned to the conundrum of the Internet connectivity. I can connect easily enough to the hotel’s WiFi and can access the Internet on my iPhone, but cannot get through to the Internet on the MacBook. Every idea that I have come up with (and AI has suggested) has failed. I decided I would try again after breakfast when I was closer to the WiFi hub.

We went down for breakfast. Di chose Eggs Benedict, while I went for a “Lite English Breakfast”; this was like a full breakfast but skipped the baked beans, the tomatoes, and the hash browns. Once that was finished, we went to the bar, and I resumed my battle with the Internet—which I lost. I did, however, manage a “Plan B” whereby I did a copy and paste from the MacBook (where I had written the post) to the iPhone and then emailed the blog post to the blog. This is all very fine, but it does mean that there are no photos embedded in the text on the day it is posted. I will have to retrofit the photos when I return home (or maybe post them individually).

While I was struggling with this, Di was chatting with a lady who sat nearby. She had a small dog which she was raising with a view to it becoming a companion dog for people who need some emotional support. She was a very nice lady, Polish originally, but living in South West London while working remotely (in tech) for a Norwegian company. She, like us, is staying until Sunday, so we will probably see more of her before we leave.

We decided that we would visit Milford-on-Sea. It was only about 25 minutes away, and we followed the SatNav down to the car park at the beach. It was really quite delightful. Having paid the fee (more about this later), we walked along the promenade towards Hurst Castle for about 100 metres, then turned and walked the opposite way.

Across the water, there was a good view of The Needles, at the tip of the Isle of Wight, but in the other direction, we could see across to Mudeford and Hengistbury Head. Though it was hot, there was a lively breeze, so it seemed very comfortable. Clearly, the sea was a big draw, as many people were enjoying the water and swimming between the breakwaters. We did an about turn and stopped off for a coffee and a snack. Di chose a Dutch Apple cake, while I had a rock cake with clotted cream. It was a good snack to see us through until dinner.

We returned to the car and programmed the SatNav. The next stop would be Exbury Gardens. We had visited before (in 2009), but the gardens warranted another visit. The gardens were laid out by the de Rothschild family and are quite spectacular (even if a little stressed by the continued hot weather). 

It was while we walked through the gardens that my watch “pinged”. I had a message, ostensibly from RingGo, the parking company. It claimed that I had an outstanding payment and demanded I log on to the website they quoted and provide my car registration and my payment details. I smelt a rat. I checked Apple Pay and could clearly see that my payment for this morning’s parking had gone through. I also checked where the message had originated, the Philippines. I think not. The message was ignored, but clearly RingGo has a data leak.

We drove back to the hotel. Di’s needed to lie down and elevate her knee. We headed for our room and I went in search of cold drinks. We had a couple of hours with our Kindles before getting ready for dinner. We weren’t too hungry, so both limited ourselves to just a starter, before retiring to the garden for a few more quiet hours with the Kindles. 

New Forest

The day started around seven. We both slept well, though in Di’s case, chemicals were involved. Though we are off for a few days’ break, there was no hurry to get going. We had a very leisurely breakfast and then pottered around until Lottie arrived. We were then distracted by the latest disasters and tales from her family.

I had charged the car to 100% overnight. This was the first time I had successfully done this. When I unplugged the charger, it estimated that I had a range of 368 miles. When, however, we set out some time later, the estimated range had increased to 406 miles. There’s no way the car would achieve that, but I admire its optimism.

I finally loaded the car, and we set off at about 11:00. It was not a smooth journey! After 35 minutes, we were still on the Chichester bypass, less than 6 miles from home. Further on, we hit the traffic filtering off the M27 because of the A31 closure (caused by the recent fires which have destroyed the equivalent of 240 football pitches in the New Forest). From that point on, we were in a slow-moving convoy all of the way to Brockenhurst. It was gone 13:00 before we arrived at the Forest Park Country Hotel. We were too early to check in, but sat in the bar with a beer and snack.

Refreshed, we went for a short walk to see the ponies who were sheltering from the blistering sun alongside walls and under trees. They were quite content and very happy to hold up traffic when they were in the mood. Being on foot, this didn’t trouble us. 

We returned to the hotel and checked in properly. I fetched the cases up to the room, and we unpacked. Then, we retired to the garden and sat in the shade of a large parasol and made the most of the glorious afternoon.

We had an early dinner, then went out for a walk in the forest. We found a quiet spot in an open area and sat down to call Ellie and see how she was faring. She hadn’t slept well last night, and spots were still coming out, but she was feeling okay in herself.

We returned to the hotel and settled in the garden with our Kindles. I spent some time writing this blog post, only to find that I couldn’t get connected to the Internet. Pah!

A Break

We were up soon after seven. Di had not slept well, but that seems to be par for the course at present. She will be taking some Oramorph tonight to help dull the ache from the knee replacement. 

While we had a leisurely start, we were surreptitiously gathering Jasper's stuff together. By mid-morning, it was time to drop him into the carrier and take him to see the cat whisperer. Mark, at Treetops Cattery, was his usual caring self, and Jasper was immediately feeling at ease. He now has a quiet week's Spa break with Mark to look after him. I dropped off 10 boxes of cat food to ensure the flavours that Jasper has been ignoring were put to good use.

We had timed the trip well. By the time we headed home, the traffic coming towards us was queued for several miles (for no apparent reason). Once home, we did a full clear-up before stopping for some lunch. I then cleared out the fridge and filled the food-waste bin with food that will be out of date by the time we get home from our upcoming trip.

We had some Kindle time during the afternoon and managed to get our cases packed. It's not that we have an early start; it's just nice to get it done and out of the way. I plan to charge the car to 100% overnight in the hope that we may not need to recharge while we are away on our short break

Ellie is still feeling rotten as the spots continue to come out. Chickenpox is no fun, particularly in this heat.

We were going to take her out to watch this evening's eclipse, but have decided that it is not a good idea. We will go round to Zoe's and watch the feed from the BBC.

We'll have to wait until 2090 and watch the next one with her. (She might have to hold me up as I will be 138 by then.)

Damned Poultry

 The early part of the morning followed its usual path. Coffee and tea were consumed, breakfast was eaten, and we made ourselves ready to address the day.

I updated the accounts, and then we drove into the village so that Di could return some packages, post some letters, and collect her meds. Once home, I waded through a small pile of ironing. It was during this exercise that Zoe and Ellie dropped by. Ellie had a few marks which she put down to mosquito bites and also a sore arm that she put down to all of the cartwheels she had been turning. Zoe had arranged an appointment at the doctor's.

After lunch, we sat in the cool of the living room and enjoyed some Kindle-time. It was during this that Zoe phoned. It turned out that Ellie had a dose of chickenpox and was feeling particularly sorry for herself (as you would expect). At least she has a couple of weeks to get over it before returning to school. In the meantime, we can play "join the dots" on Ellie's tummy!

We are due to go away later in the week. We are staying in the New Forest - if we can get there. This week's dreadful heathland fires are blocking many of the obvious routes to our destination. It is pointless trying to second-guess what will happen over the next couple of days, but hopefully the Fire Brigade will manage to get things under control.

In and Out and Celebrate

 Today has been a bit of a yo-yo. We were up and about soon after seven, and the day started in its normal fashion. (I am assuming, here, that taking Jasper to the vet is a normal exercise, now!) We got him to the vet in time for his 10:00 appointment, but he wasn't seen until 10:30, by which time he was getting somewhat stressed. He seems to have stabilised after his recent troubles and isn't now due back until next month.

Back home, we cracked on with various domestic activities and even managed some Kindle time. Mid-afternoon, however, we were back in the car and heading for Chichester. Di had her appointment with the surgeon to review her progress. The appointment went well. He was delighted with her progress and signed her off. She was told the joint would continue to improve for the next 6-8 weeks, and then more slowly for the next 18 months. After that, it will be as good as it will get. His comment was that she can now do anything she feels comfortable with, and that there will be days when it aches because she has pushed too far, but not to worry that she has done or could do any damage. This was excellent news, and we are delighted with the outcome.

Today was also Zoe's birthday. She's changed a bit over the years!

Kim had been round to see her during the day, and they went out with Ellie and Poppy to Hotham Park.

We met up in the early evening and took them to Fino's in Felpham. We had a lovely meal, with Di choosing the Lasagne while I chose a Tagliata (beef slices on a salad).

Everyone dined well, and we had a lovely time. We took the birthday girl home just after eight.

Early Celebration

I was up at 6:30 and had a quiet hour or so with the overnight news and social media. Once we were both up and about and breakfast was finished, I returned to my study to complete the analysis of all of the photos in the photo library. Because of the sheer scale of this, I broke the task into 17 separate chunks, each handling a range of years. It took an hour or so, but eventually the whole library was processed, and I had a series of summary files holding the details. With that done, I shut down the iMac for the day.

Tomorrow is Zoe's birthday, so today we had invited her and Ellie, and Kim and Jon to lunch. As Ellie had her friend Poppy staying, Poppy came along as well. We had a pseudo-BBQ planned. We no longer have a BBQ as such, but we had bought the usual suspects (burgers, sausages and chicken drumsticks) and I was going to prepare them in the oven. I started by drying off the chicken drumsticks and tossing them in a bit of baking powder, then mixed them with a tablespoon of vegetable oil, and dusted them with paprika and garlic powder. Forty minutes in a 200C oven did the job nicely. With the chicken done, I then set about the rest of the meat (and also prepared a sirloin steak for Di, who doesn't like BBQ).

The family all arrived, and we chatted over a glass of Prosecco while setting out the table. The whole event was very casual (as befits a BBQ). Some sat inside, and several of us sat on the patio. We all drifted in and out of the next couple of hours. Kim had made a lemon drizzle cake, which was decorated with candles and brought out for the birthday girl. As it happened, the wind blew the candles out before Zoe got to them - but the thought was there. We even sang "Happy Birthday".

Everyone left soon after 16:00, and after a bit of tidying up, we settled for some Kindle-time while the dishwasher did the bulk of the work.

Not quite

 I was up just after 6:30. I snuck downstairs because Di was still out for the count. I grabbed a coffee and started looking through the news. I was interested in a piece about how Sweden had reduced their influx of illegal immigrants, and another on the folly of the current PM's council house building schemes. These, I thought, would provide grist for the mill when it came to the call with the cousins. As it happened, however, it wasn't up to me to wind up Tim; his brother Chris lit his blue (or should it be red) touchpaper, and we all sat there chuckling while he went off on a predictable diatribe.

Once the call was over, I went to Zoe's to have a look at the progress that was being made on the landscaping, and to retrieve our sack barrow. I must say the garden is looking very smart, even if the slabs have just been positioned directly on the earth for now. They will have to be taken back up so that the hardcore can be put down and tamped.

When I arrived home with the sack barrow, I shifted a couple of large pots that Di wanted relocated. Once that was done, I returned to my little project. I soon discovered another anomaly that meant I had to make a small change to the program I thought I had finished yesterday. It was not quite right. It now seems to be working as required, and I have spent the rest of the day developing the second program in this suite of utilities. This program has come on very well, and I must now knuckle down on the last points of the design.

Di spent the afternoon pottering in the garden. (It's a good job we had raised beds installed when we had the garden landscaped.)

Cracked it - I think

It was Boeing Time before I got up (7:07) and went down for my coffee and to make Di a tea. The first part of the morning followed the usual pattern. As I finished my breakfast, I completed the shopping list ready for a raid on Sainsbury's.

We stopped off at the local doctor's surgery on the way to Sainsbury's, but were pleased to see that the shop looked quiet (judging by the car park). We wandered around the store, slowly but surely, filling the trolley. We have a BBQ-style lunch planned for Sunday (and Zoe's birthday). This meant getting a whole lot of stuff that we don't usually consider. We don't even have a BBQ any more, so we'll have to cook it all in the oven.

The shopping trip didn't take too long, but it took nearly as long again to stow everything away. Once that was done and I had made us some tea, we settled down for some admin. Di completed hers and was invited over to Zoe's to see the progress being made on her garden redesign. I stayed at home and finished the program that I have been writing for the last week or so. I then moved on to the next program, which will process some of the information captured by the first one. This took me the rest of the afternoon, and I still have a way to go. I am pleased, however, that I have learnt so much during this exercise. I'm sure it will prove useful in the future for other projects.

Once Di returned home (suitably impressed), I started preparing dinner. Tonight it was freshly made mixed salad with chicken Kyiv.

Out, out

 We had a normal start to the day. We are nothing if not consistent. We got on with a few domestic chores first thing, but there was no need to overdo it!

Mid-morning we launched ourselves onto the highways. The first stop was the vet's, where we had to collect some meds for Jasper. Then, much to the surprise of the car, we didn't head back home (it was, after all, getting used to the journey to the vet). Instead, we drove up through the Downs and up to Milford. We were heading for "The Refectory", where we were meeting with Jane and Trevor.

We arrived a bit early, but by the time we had used the facilities, J&T had arrived, and we settled down for a coffee. We then made our way to our table for lunch. Di chose the steak sandwich, and I had a southern fried chicken burger. With the decisions made, we got on with the important stuff - family news, general gossip, health, and Jane's proposed switch to an iPhone. In this last case, one of the things she was worried about was moving her notes from the Samsung to a new phone. I used this as an example of how Gemini (AI) could be useful, and asked it for suggestions as to how this could be achieved. It came back with a clear set of options, which I forwarded to Trevor. We had a lovely few hours chatting before saying our goodbyes and heading home.

We had a good run back and settled down for a quiet evening. Zoe called, just as I was shutting the laptop. Had we got a sack barrow? Well, of course. Could she borrow it? Well, of course. Could I take it round? Well, I did, and it gave me a chance to look at the progress in the back garden. I offered some encouragement and a few words of advice and then left her and Hannah to it. I think it will look very good when it is finished.

Another Quiet Day

 Seven seems to be the optimum time for starting the day at present. That's not to say that I wouldn't readily sleep for longer; it is more a case of my body bursting into life according to its own clock. After coffee, tea, and breakfast, I set about the family accounts before getting stuck into a surprisingly small pile of ironing.

I pottered for a bit before returning to my coding exercise. This, effectively, consumed the rest of the day. I am pleased to say that it seems to be remarkably robust. I still have a couple of small changes to make before moving on to start a companion program that will take the output from the first and use it to inform the Immich photo library.

Di has been working on the exercises recommended by her physio while awaiting a call from the vet, which at the time of writing hasn't occurred.

Round the corner, Hannah has started on Zoe's back garden. We await the finished article with interest.

More of the same

 There is very little to report. I was awake at 2:30 when our neighbours loaded the car to set off to the airport, but soon dropped back off to sleep. We were both up and about around seven-ish and enjoyed a quiet breakfast as we drank our morning beverages and read the overnight news.

Mid-morning, like yesterday, meant a trip to the vet. Jasper was booked in for some grooming and to have his blood pressure checked. I took my Kindle along and sat in the waiting room - my role is purely chauffeur and sherpa. Jasper is clearly not himself, so Diane is keen to get to the bottom of matters.

Back home, we called Zoe to inform her about Jasper, and she told us about the patio slabs that had just been delivered for her garden. Hannah, from Muddy Boots, is hoping to get started on the landscaping this evening.

After lunch, Di went up to rest (she hadn't slept well last night). I stayed downstairs and continued with my coding project. This consumed the rest of the afternoon. There is, of course, plenty more to do.

Bloods

We were up at the usual time... around seven-ish. It was clearly going to be a glorious day again. I really could get used to summers like this. It's very much like summer in and around Poughkeepsie.  We had the usual quiet breakfast and got on with some domestic chores.

Jasper hasn't been his usual self, and Di had managed to get an appointment at the Vet. We swept him up and put him in the carrier, then headed across to Oving. I helped carry him into the consulting room and left Di and the vet to it. They were there for a good 25 minutes, and various tests and blood tests were done. We are due back tomorrow for the results (and a bit of grooming). He has been very lethargic since we got home and really isn't eating the way he normally does.

Once home, I went off to the village to get some cash and to get my haircut. There was a new barber on duty when I arrived, and he gave me a fairly severe treatment. I'm sure it will grow back eventually! I wandered back home afterwards, having thoroughly enjoyed the first proper walk for a month or so.

I spent the afternoon writing and testing code. This always makes me feel great, even if I still have a long way to go until it is finished. Having dropped the manuals into Gemini-LM, I must say that the ability to ask AI how to do something is saving me heaps of time wading through the manuals.

Just Chilling

 Another day, another day off. I was up by seven and consumed my morning coffee and the overnight news before Di came down. She was a bit stiff after spending too much time on her feet pottering around yesterday.

Once breakfast was out of the way, I stripped the table and reduced it to normal size. We didn't put the protective cover on as Di had decided to give it a coat of wax. Meanwhile, I sorted out the bins and then attacked the top oven. It has been a while since we last cleaned it (though we don't use it much), and it was time! I stripped out the shelving and then coated the interior with oven cleaner. I dropped the shelves in the sink with a dishwasher tablet and some hot water and then left them while I went to do some coding. By the time I came back, the shelves just needed a wipe, and they were clean. The chemicals in the oven would take longer, so I returned to my coding for a couple of hours.

While I was tapping away at the keyboard, Di did some more on her Book Nook. It is coming along nicely, and makes a change from the Kindle.

I prepared a pork roast for dinner, with some lovely crackling. We have enough left for me to use for dinner on Tuesday evening.

The Long Bank Holiday

 There was no hurry this morning, but we were up at more or less the same time as usual. I guess that once you reach a certain age, the body clock is in full control. We had visitors due for lunch, so we spent the morning preparing. 

Denise and Becky were joining us to celebrate Denise's retirement. She has now joined us in the "Every Day is a Bank Holiday" club. Her firm had given her a wonderful send-off to end one era, and she was coming to us to celebrate the start of the new era. Zoe and Ellie came round to join us, and Kim stopped in for a while.

We had a lovely time chatting when everyone first arrived. I, meanwhile, finished preparing lunch. For Di, it was salmon with salad, but for the rest of us, I prepared a chicken Bhuna curry, with rice and naan bread.

I was worried that I had over-catered, but need not have been concerned; everything went.

After lunch we sat around chatting some more and Denise grabbed her laptop so that I could help her set up some software on it. We also helped set up her new iPhone (though that was predominantly Becky and Zoe).

Now that Denise has retired, we hope we'll see a lot more of her, and it was a shame to see them leave early evening. We were soon on our own again, and finished the clear-up (though, to be fair, Zoe did a lot of the after-lunch clear-up). 

It was a lovely day, and it's been a quiet evening.

Physio

 We were both up around seven-ish. Coffee was made, and tea was brewed; then we sat down to absorb the overnight news and prepare for the day. When breakfast was done, there were some domestic chores to clear, and I had to look at the tumble dryer, which didn't seem to be heating up. I rooted around, cleaned the heat exchanger, and scratched my head. That seemed to do the trick, as a test load was suitably warm when the cycle finished. We will have to keep an eye on this.

I returned to my coding project, and during the remainder of the morning I managed to solve several problems that had been left overnight. Early in the afternoon, I moved it forward some more but still have some structural changes to make either this evening or at the weekend. Once they are sorted, I should be on the final leg for this program. There will, however, be a subsequent program that processes the analysis completed by the first program.

Mid-afternoon, I drove Di to Chichester for her physio session. She is doing very well, and the physio has told her that she is ahead of the "gold standard". She doesn't need to return for 4 weeks, but has been given the go-ahead to return to the Cardiac Rehab sessions if she so wishes.

Detour

We had another gentle start to the day. Being Thursday, shopping was on the schedule, and Di was eager to come along, so she was up fairly early, too. I had charged the car overnight (the first time for nearly 3 weeks), so as soon as I was dressed, I unplugged the charger and ran my analysis program against the stats. We are still paying about 2p per mile, and over the life of the car we have averaged 3.7 miles/kWh.

Lottie arrived just as we were about to leave for the shopping. We had a brief chat and then buzzed across to Sainsbury's. We arrived just as the corpse bus arrived and deposited the Zombies at the door. What joy! We were in the store for an hour or so, being caught by some neighbours who wanted a chat. When we escaped, we managed to complete the list moderately quickly.

Once home, we unpacked, had a cup of tea and then set about some lunch. I then spent the afternoon back at the codeface. As I explained yesterday, I had defined a massive detour in my original thinking and today was spent working it through. Meanwhile, Di had some Kindle time, but I spent the time coding up until it was time to prepare dinner.

Dinner guest

I had a gentle start to the day. There was no train to catch, there was no commute, there were no conference calls, and I didn't have to prepare a presentation. I have retired, and despite still having work dreams, I am still not in the slightest bit interested in going back... besides which, the current government would take most of what I earn and spaff it up the wall on ridiculous ideas, or lazy people, instead of spending it wisely.

After breakfast, I worked my way through the pile of clothing that required ironing. It didn't take me too long, but it was good to see the pile disappear. I also sent some legal documents off (electronically), so that our kids will be protected, as much as possible, from various taxes that the government have in mind.

Most of the rest of the day was spent working on my program to analyse the photo library. ~A huge amount of progress was made, but then I had one of those Eureka moments when I asked myself if I was approaching the problem the right way. I soon decided that I wasn't, and thus I have a lot of work building up for tomorrow.

I had bought some family-sized Turner's Pies on Monday, while in Chichester. As Zoe is home alone this week (with Ellie in Somerset with Pete), we asked her round for dinner. I prepared the chicken and ham pie with some roast potatoes and honey-roasted parsnips. We had a lovely dinner and a long chat before she headed home.

Jabs

 I was up about seven and made our morning tea and coffee while disposing of the overnight package that Jasper kindly left for me. We had a quiet breakfast before I delved into some domestic chores.

Mid-morning, I took Jasper and Di to the Vet. I would add that the treatment was for Jasper, not Di. He had his monthly arthritis jab, and I took him back to the car while Di sorted out the fees and future appointments.

Back home, after a cup of tea, I returned to my code. This, with several interruptions, took most of the rest of the day. I did, however, manage to extract the data for which I was searching. I also refined the code several times. I must say that I am rather pleased with the way it is working out. I think that in another day or so, I should have the full analysis of the photo library in place. I then have to decide what I will do with that information.

I managed a bit of Kindle time before starting on dinner. I may do some more coding this evening.

Fill in the blanks

 I was up soon after 6:30 but spent the next ten minutes clearing up after Jasper had left me an overnight parcel. It's such a lovely way to start the day! I made some tea for Di and one for me. As I was due at the dentist, I didn't want to present with coffee breath.

Never being too certain of the Chichester traffic, I arrived earlier than necessary and sat with my Kindle until Magda was ready for me. Today's adventure was to be on the receiving end of a replacement filling after I lost a large one back in January. I settled down, ready for the torture to begin. She gave me an injection, which I didn't feel. Within a minute or so, she started drilling away. I could hear it, but did not feel a thing. The old tooth was rebuilt, and I was dismissed. I had not felt a thing. I was deeply impressed (and thankful).

Leaving the dentist, I stopped off at Turner's Pies for a couple to put in the freezer. Then, I diverted to Aldi on the way home. The objective was to see if they had a good selection of wholemeal sourdough bread. It may have been advertised on their website, but it certainly wasn't available in our store. I later stopped into Sainsbury's for some freeer bags large enough for the Turner's Pies.

Back home (finally, with a coffee inside me), I returned to my study and the experiments I have been doing with the photo library. I realised that if I was about to scan the whole library, there may be other things I should check as I traversed the photographic history. The test code I wrote yesterday was adapted, and further aspects of the library were extracted so they could be tested and changed where necessary. Once I was happy with the concept, I left it. I will return during the week.

We managed some Kindle time during the afternoon, though not as much as I would have liked.

Incidentally, Ellie has gone away with Pete to Burnham-on-Sea for the week. With her new phone, we are getting plenty of updates and chatty phone calls.

Small Successes

 I woke up at seven, only to find that I had missed about a dozen messages from Ellie on her new phone. She had been begging for extra time on various apps (which we limit) but had forgotten that all my devices go into sleep mode at 22:00. She'll learn.

Once the leisurely breakfast was over, I decided to try a new toy and went to wash the car with a cordless power washer, which gets its water from a bucket. (This would be a useful feature if we had a hosepipe ban - but we don't). Having rinsed the car well, I then attacked it with a snow foam and left it to slump off before rinsing the car. I deliberately did no more than that, just to see how well it worked as a concept. I must say I was very impressed (though I really should go back and redo the roof).

After that, I spent some time in the study looking at the long-term feasibility of Immich as a replacement for Adobe Lightroom. The biggest question mark hung over the facial recognition. I have spent years trying to get that under control in Lightroom. Could this be migrated to Immich? Well, after a lot of research, the answer is yes. The details are stored, not in Lightroom, but in the photo's metadata. This isn't recognised or used by Immich, but with help from ChatGPT, I managed to import that data. Now, in the case of a couple of test photos, that's all well and good, but for 80-90,000 photos, that will need to be automated. I can feel some coding coming on!

I spent some time in the garden. We have a large circular table with a glass top over the woven tabletop. Something has hit this glass, and it has shattered into millions of pieces. (It was laminated glass.) I made a concerted effort to shovel up all of the shards and dump them into sturdy cardboard boxes for disposal. I suspect we will be finding more shards forever, but the bulk is cleaned up.

A quiet evening is planned... dentist in the morning!