Off duty

 Zoe had a day off today, so Grandpa was off duty. There was no school run, and he didn't have to attend the school sports day. Di and I had a quiet morning. She was able to shower for the first time since the operation, now that the swelling had diminished sufficiently to get the waterproof cover on her leg. I, meanwhile, worked through the pile of ironing and did several loads of washing, making the most of the glorious day to dry everything outside.

Zoe popped in to tell us how well Ellie had done, but reported that her hay fever was playing up and she had come up in a rash on her arm. She was felling decidely sorry for herself.

We had a quiet afternoon. In my case with my Kindle. In Di's case, she did her physio exercises on the bed and then, no doubt, spent some time with her Kindle. She really does seem to be doing well and is now pottering around without the aid of her crutches.

Nine Schools

It was a normal start to the day. It was a little overcast, but that soon burned off. After the statutory teas and coffees were distributed, I wandered to Zoe's to take Ellie to school. Ellie was very excited because she was one of the kids who had been selected to represent the school in an Athletics Meet this afternoon.

Once home, I got on with a few chores before collecting Maureen and setting off for Sainsbury's. (Though Chris is back from hospital, he can't drive yet.) The shopping trip was remarkably quick. We didn't seem to have as much as usual this week. I stopped in to say "Hello" to Chris when I dropped Maureen off with her shopping. He is looking very well, considering the seriousness of his recent episode. He is hoping to be driving (at least for short trips) again next week.

I stowed all of our shopping away and then pottered for a while. After lunch, I managed a quiet hour with the Kindle before getting ready for the afternoon's excitement.

I collected Ellie from school, and we drove across to Felpham. There, on a huge school field, the pupils from 9 junior schools were gathering in their groups. Ellie's school was one of two schools classified as "small". We had arrived early because of the expected traffic. This worked well, but it did mean we had about 45 minutes to wait for the activities to start. Ellie was scheduled to do the (standing) long jump and the relay. This meant a lot of waiting around. (I should mention that there was a very impressive turnout of parents, along to cheer on the children.) It was clear that some of the larger schools had some very fine young athletes. What was nice, however, was the way all the children were cheered on, even those at the back.

Ellie did well in the long jump. There was no official statement by the time we left, but the results were to be sent to the schools. In the relay, she had a lot of ground to make up after the previous runners had dropped several places. Ellie managed to claw those places back and gain another, but the last legs of the race couldn't maintain what she had gained.

It was a lovely couple of hours in the sunshine, and I grabbed an ice cream for her as it all broke up. We were soon home, and now she just has to prepare for tomorrow's Sports Day at school.

Defend for Goodness Sake

July started gently. There was no need to be up at 6:30. I was anyway. I took Di some tea, and slowly the day came together. I wandered around to Zoe's and took ~Ellie in to school. She was particularly chirpy this morning. 

Back home, I grabbed some breakfast and then got on with some domestic chores. (Which reminds me, I think I have a load of washing sitting in the washing machine - I must hang that up). 

Jasper had an appointment at the vet. Di decided to venture out and come along with me, so we all piled into the car and took the furry thing for his monthly jabs and to have some of his matted fur clipped. We were there for about 30 minutes, but he was very calm and quiet. (If only he were like that at home).

When we got back, Di had a chat with our neighbour, Ken, who had also had his knee done. They shared their experiences for a while, but then she came in and went upstairs to rest. I, meanwhile, grabbed the failed irrigation controller and drove to City Irrigation. True to his word, the chap behind the counter examined it, then replaced it with a brand-new device. I soon had re-fitted it and have set up and working.

I picked Ellie up after her school football club and brought her home, only to find that Zoe was already waiting for us. Everybody, it seems, wanted to be home in time to watch the England / DR Congo game from the World Cup. Zoe and Ellie headed home, and we sat down to dinner in front of the TV. The redeeming feature of the game was that England won. They don't, however, make it easy viewing for the fans, and the defence is dreadful. Unless they sort that out, I can't see them progressing much further. 

Viking Raid

 It was a cool start, and there was some early rain. It was all finished within a couple of hours, and it turned into a nice day. Ellie was dropped off a little later than usual. All was fine until she decided she wanted her school skirt rather than her summer dress. Grandpa had to hotfoot it to Zoe's and bring back the aforementioned grey skirt. (He had checked on its whereabouts before leaving). Grandpa brought the skirt back, only to be told it was the wrong one. (Well, actually, it was the only one in the location I had been given.) I was given the silent treatment from then on, until I dropped her at the classroom.

There was a list of chores to clear first thing, but then I took Di along to The Nuffield to have her dressing removed. We were in and out in about 15 minutes. The nurse cut off the bandage that had been applied last week. All looked well on the wound dressing itself. That has to stay in place until early next week.

The rest of the day followed a familiar pattern. Di did her physio exercises, then rested. I grabbed a bite to eat and then spent some time with my Kindle; then I went along to collect Ellie and bring her home. Zoe wasn't far behind, collecting Ellie and all her clothes and school things.

We settled down with some dinner and watched the Norway / Cote d'Ivoire football match from the World Cup. I was delighted to see the Norway team score a late winner.

Cruising

 Di didn't have a good night. She was awake for all but about 3 hours. I did better than that, but not brilliantly. Ellie was being dropped off an hour later than usual, but I was up at the usual time out of habit. The weather was a bit cooler, but it was still a lovely day when we walked to school. She was very excited that they had a rehearsal for the summer production today.

Once home, I got on with some admin after helping Di up the stairs. When she was settled, I popped to Sainsbury's and M&S for some items I couldn't get at the weekend, then stopped off at Chalcroft Nursery. I went to see the guys at City Irrigation and explained that I was having real problems with the irrigation controller. It was eating batteries too quickly, it wouldn't keep time (often drifting by several hours overnight), and wouldn't allow the manual override. He asked when it was installed, and when I told him last October (it was actually September), he told me to bring it in, and he would sort it out or replace it if necessary. That was good news. Later in the afternoon, I disconnected the unit and will take it in to them tomorrow or Wednesday.

We heard from Maureen. Chris had been discharged, and they were just settling down at home. That must be a huge relief for them both. He had been so poorly.

Denise phoned and had a chat with Diane. She and Becky have reviewed the details of the cruise we have booked, and wish to join in. I sent them the details of Sue, who does our bookings, and then phoned Sue to give her a "heads up". Later in the evening I heard from Becky to say it was all in progress.

My saintly sister celebrated her birthday today. Saintly? Well, it is the feast of St Peter and St Paul, and she was born in St John and St Elizabeth's hospital. I hope she had a wonderful day. Trevor sent us a picture from their evening in Portugal, explaining that Jane believed I should have a uniform such as this, when serving tea.

I responded that I did, indeed, have such a uniform. She didn't believe me for some reason and demanded photographic proof.

Proof was provided.

Roaming

 Despite the late night, having watched the England vs Panama World Cup game, I was up early. Jasper was getting noisy and I wanted to distract him and let into the garden, so that Di could rest. She didn't, but she did stay in bed nursing a cup of tea until it was time to come down for her morning injection.

After breakfast, Di went up to complete her physio exercises, and I made myself comfortable in the study. I had some final documentation to complete regrading the latest configuration work. After that, I started to review my backups - after all, with a new configuration, I had a new item to backup. It was while doing this that an amber light illuminated on one of my backup drives. That is not a good sign. It indicates the internal diagnostics have detected problems. As the drives are 10-12 years old, and are never switched off, I can't really complain. I now have to consider the most appropriate replacement. (Fortunately, I do still have two further copies of the data).

During the afternoon, Di wanted to stretch her legs a bit so we took a walk, doing several laps of the Italian garden. She was fairly galloping around. She is doing so well.

I had received a message from Maureen to say there was a parcel by her front door, and could I grab it and hold it for her. When she stopped by on her way home from visiting Chris at the hospital, We invited her in to have dinner with us. She's had a couple of weeks of trekking back and forth to the hospital (she doesn't drive), and I suspect that getting home and then cooking dinner for one can get tiresome. She jumped at the invite and we had a lovely hour or so chatting and joking.

Restocking

 There was some thunder and rain overnight. I didn't hear it, but Di had a disturbed night and was able to report on the overnight weather when I woke up. I went down to make her some tea and to grab my first coffee. I then settled down with the news until she was ready to come downstairs. (I'm happy for her to potter around on her own, but won't allow her to do the stairs with me being present.)

I had my usual call with the cousins. The highlight for me was when Red Tim explained that he had bought an air conditioning unit for £500. He went on to say that it wasn't too expensive when you think he would pay £50 for a good night's sleep, and consequently, it would pay for itself in 3 nights! While you think about the maths behind that statement, I suggested to him that he clearly has the credentials to be our next Chancellor of the Exchequer.

With the call finished, I completed this week's shopping list. Having checked there was nothing Di needed me to do and extracted a promise that she would be sensible in my absence, I collected Maureen and headed for Sainsbury's. (With Chris still being in the hospital, she has no transport, so I offered to take her along when I went.) Despite the horrendous problems that Sainsbury's has had with their freezers and chillers, most things seemed to be back to normal. There was no frozen food (but I didn't need any), but everything else was available. 

I dropped Maureen and her shopping, then went home to unpack and stow all of our stuff. By the time I was finished, it was time to help Diane downstairs for some lunch.

We had a quiet afternoon. Di did her physio exercises, and then chatted with Kim on the phone. I grabbed some Kindle time until it was time to start on dinner.

Dressing

 After another hot and steamy night, I was up at 6:30, ready to enjoy a very cool shower. Once dressed, I made a tea for Diane and sat down with my coffee. She came down in time for her morning injection and a coffee.

As usual, I went to Zoe's to collect Ellie. There was a bit of a panic when Zoe couldn't entice Beau back in the house, so eventually she decided to leave her back door open, knowing that her neighbour was home and would keep an eye on the house. We also checked that the security cameras had the approach covered.

I dropped Ellie off at school and went home for breakfast. My plan was to work through the ironing, but first I had to help Di back upstairs so she could get washed and dressed. It was later in the morning, as I was finishing the ironing, that she called down. There was some seepage from her dressing, and there seemed to be a split in the dressing itself. After a very brief debate, she phoned the hospital, and they made an appointment for her to have it checked, mid-afternoon.

We had some time to kill, so I helped her wash her hair before we grabbed some lunch. When we arrived at the hospital, she was seen almost immediately. The old dressing was removed, everything was checked and given a clean bill, and the wound was redressed with a similar dressing protected with a compression bandage. We have to return on Tuesday for a "wound check".

Back home, Di went upstairs to do her physio exercises and have a rest. Soon after, Kim arrived. She had been to the doctor and was due to return for a test later, so she came to see Mum. She wasn't with her for long as the doctor phoned to bring forward the time of the test. No doubt we'll hear more from her later.

Adjusting

 We slept well last night, despite the heat. I was up soon after 6:30 and took Di a cup of tea. Di was ready to come downstairs at 7:30 as she had to take her morning injection before 8:00. Soon after, I left her when I went to collect Ellie and take her to school. It was remarkable (and rather pathetic) how many parents had decided to keep their kids away from school because of the heat. The absenteeism was so bad that the school have cancelled tomorrow's sports day, even though the temperature is forecast to be in the mid-20s, which is nothing special. The epithet "snowflakes" seems remarkably appropriate at this juncture.

Di went upstairs soon after I returned. Once washed and dressed, she settled on the bed to do her exercises and to stay out of Lottie's way while she cleaned the ground floor. I sorted out a couple of loads of washing and got them out on the line to dry, then settled at the computer to update some of my Raspberry Pi documentation (now that NetAlertX is working properly).

We had a quiet afternoon. I went to collect Ellie and brought her home to see Nana. Zoe wasn't far behind, and she popped in for a chat before leaving with Ellie. Di continued with some physio exercises and spent a while walking around the lounge and family room. She is clearly making good progress and seems to have the pain under control.

Home Free

It was a hot night, but I slept pretty well. I was up soon after 6:30 and pottered about until it was time to walk to Zoe's and collect Ellie for school. She was a bit concerned by the heat, but I convinced her that there was little you can do to change it, so try to ignore it. The more you think about it, the more it will trouble you. 

I headed straight home. There was some vacuuming and some tidying up to do so that there were no obstacles on the floor when Di came home. I was nearly caught out when I got a phone call at 10:30 to say that Di had been discharged. I grabbed my sunglasses and car keys and headed off to Chichester. They were just finishing a briefing on the meds when I arrived. We packed her stuff and loaded the car. A porter wheeled her down, and we whizzed off home.

Once home, I took the bare essentials upstairs, and Di went up for a rest. Fortunately, she was able to sleep and though she had a bad night last night was able to get about 4 hours during the afternoon. Soon after she woke up, Denise called, and they had a brief chat. She has resolved to call again tomorrow.

Meanwhile, at Sainsbury's, there was chaos as the fridges and freezers had broken down and the gas canisters had drained. Zoe would be delayed, so I had to collect Ellie from school and bring her back here. Ellie was not amused. However, after some time with Nana, she snapped out of it and was her usual self. I gave her dinner, and as she was finishing up, Zoe arrived. All was well in Ellie's world.

We had a very quiet evening, having moved some furniture so Di could sit on a more appropriate chair than the usual Stressless recliner.

Physio

I was up early. I was showered, dressed and drinking my first coffee before six. Why? I have no idea. Ellie was dropped off 30 minutes later, and after an initial chat, she had some breakfast. She went upstairs to wash and dress, and came back down to watch the highlights of yesterday's World Cup games before school. It was clearly going to be another hot one today, so I made sure she had suitable hydration with her.

Back home, I grabbed breakfast and looked at my overnight mail. I had received a note from the author of NetAlertX. It seems that I was chasing a known problem, inasmuch as the code will not work in the Safari browser. I downloaded Firefox and bingo, everything worked.

At lunchtime, I went to the hospital to catch up with Diane. She had experienced a rough night as her blood pressure had been quite low, and they ended up calling the on-call doctor, who, in turn, called the anaesthetist. After about 4 hours of interventions, she was stable again. When I arrived, she was eating lunch and had already been up and about with the physio. She was also freshly back from the check X-ray.

During the afternoon, we saw the physio again, and he was amazed by how well Di was doing. Even after he had gone, Di asked me to take her for a walk along the corridor and back. She did tire during the afternoon, and I suggested she had a nap while I finished my book. Needless to say, she was soon disturbed by the next request for observations, but she did try again later.

The way things are going, the doctors and physios are fairly convinced she will be coming home tomorrow.

I left soon after six, only to be greeted by another one of Jasper's packages when I got in. Once that was dealt with, I cracked open a beer and cooked my dinner.

Another scam message arrived: "NatWest Verification £456.63 sent to Nationwide acct ending 4726 is pending confirmation. Reply YES to approve. Not recognized? Call 0800 088 4909." 

Guess what? I suspect that NatWest is unlikely to message me from Morocco (+212). Additionally, Google informs me: "widely reported as a common Wangiri (one-ring) or international phishing scam."

Knees up

 We were up early. Di had to have a slice of toast and a cup of tea before seven. After that, she could only sip water. At least we didn't have to be at the hospital for seven!

It was clear that today was going to be a hot one. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and it was already in the low 20s at 08:30. I went to Zoe's to collect Ellie and take her to school. She was a bit subdued at first, but soon perked up.  Having left her walking into class, I headed home for some breakfast while Di was in the shower (as she couldn't eat, I didn't want to torment her with my porridge and banana).

We spent a quiet morning checking that she had everything she would need for her spa break. We drove to the hospital at midday and checked in. There was then a procession of visitors... her nurse, the ward hostess, the pharmacy assistant, the pharmacist, the anaesthetist, and finally the surgeon. Loaded with all the information we could possibly want, we just had to sit and wait for a couple of hours until it was Di's turn on stage.

At 15:20, they came to take her to the theatre for her cameo performance. I then had a couple of hours Kindle-time while waiting to hear the thunderous applause as she took her bow and returned triumphantly with her new knee. The surgeon had commented that the whole procedure went smoothly and offered no surprises. The bed was wheeled back into the room and, much to my amazement, Di was awake and quite alert. Once her butler and various acolytes had left, we chatted for a while. I could see she was tiring, so I left her to rest and came home. I will return tomorrow after lunch.

Family Day

 Today has been Father's Day, but I see it more as Family Day. It's not about me, as a father; it's about the pleasure of being a father and the pride and love that I feel for my girls.

Unfortunately, Zoe was working, but Kim was able to come along with Jon and join us for lunch. We sat and chatted for a few hours, and having finished lunch, migrated out to the garden. Eventually, they had to leave to get home for the dogs, who had been shut inside all day.

Zoe had planned to pop in when Ellie got back from Pete's. She was called back into work, however, and Ellie got dropped off with us. Eventually, Di took Ellie home for a shower and hairwash and to wait for Zoe. Fortunately, she wasn't too long.

There has been confusion over the time at which Di has to present at the hospital tomorrow (conflicting emails from the hospital). She managed to get through to the ward and check. We now have some clarity and she doesn't need to be there until lunchtime.

Bugging

 Though warm and dry, today didn't really become bright and sunny until the afternoon. We had a quiet morning, with the exception of my call with the cousins. The primary subject of contention during the call was Chris's ongoing problems with the passport office. I tuned out. There was little I could say that would have added value.

Di had a plan for the day. There was a short list of tasks (predominantly in the garden) she wanted to clear prior to Monday's hospital trip. One of them, the clearing of blanket weed from the rill, I could help with, so I dug a couple of kilos of green sludge from the rill and topped it up with fresh water.

The rest of the day was spent in front of the computer. I was trying to fill in more details regarding the home network in the NetAlertX monitor. This took ages. The final problem that I hit was that when it tried to draw the network, it wouldn't complete the names of the devices. It only showed the "wiring". This was bugging me, so I spent several hours trying to solve this and, in the end, broke the whole system. I resolved to start again tomorrow, went into the kitchen, and poured a beer.

That was it for the day. 

Summer Fayre

 We were up at our normal time. Well rested, but up and about early. We had a quiet hour or so before wandering to Zoe's to collect Ellie for school. She was running a bit late, having decided at 8:25 that she wanted some toast, and we usually leave at 8:30. ~Despite this, we got her to school just as the classroom doors opened.

Di went home to prepare for her Cardiac Rehab session while I set off for my walk. The sun was beating down, it was a comfortable 19 °C,  and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was a delightful walk as I looped around the estate a few times. When I arrived home, I had some breakfast and then got on with some domestic chores. Once Di had returned, I took the car to Zoe's and gave her a lift to Sainsbury's so she could get a Father's Day card for Ellie to give to Pete. We spent some time chatting with Jason, her manager, and then I dropped her off at home.

As I pulled up, Di was just leaving to help Zoe with the vacuuming upstairs. I sorted out a few more domestic chores and then returned to the work I had been doing on my network monitor.

After we had some lunch, we retired to the lounge (the Orangery was too hot) for some Kindle time. Today, the school had its Summer Fayre, so we collected Ellie and waited to be allowed into the festivities. They had put on a good show, with plenty of stalls, some selling treats, some offering challenges of various types, and there was an ice cream van and a pizza van. We hung around and tried our hand at various challenges. After 30 minutes or so, we left and took Ellie back to Zoe's so that she would be ready when Pete picked her up for the weekend.

Windows

 I was up at 6:30. There was no real need, but I was wide awake, and it seemed pointless to just lie there when I could be drinking coffee and reading the news. Di came down soon after seven. In theory, there was no need for the school run. Ellie had been at Poppy's overnight and went to the school's breakfast club with her. Theory is all very fine, but when Ellie forgot to pick up her school shoes, it meant grandpa had to collect them from Zoe's and deliver them to Ellie at the breakfast club.

We were able to head to the shops much earlier than usual. For some reason, we seemed to spend far more than usual. The car's boot was packed and, having dropped Di at Zoe's, I wrestled the shopping into the correct cupboards, fridges, freezers, and drawers by myself... completely unsupervised!

Di had been vacuuming and washing the floors at Zoe's. By the time I was able to go and help, it was all but done. My main contribution was retrieving the bins after they had been emptied this morning. We headed back home for a cup of tea and some lunch. We had about 30 minutes of downtime before having to collect Ellie for her appointment in Chichester. As we prepared to leave, the heavens opened. Whilst there were several heavy bursts, the rain was mostly sporadic.

Having dropped Ellie at her appointment, we strolled along to a nearby cafe and enjoyed a decent coffee and some very tasty Danish pastries. An hour later, we collected Ellie and took her home. While there, I tried to fix a faulty latch on one of the windows, but concluded it needed a professional. Zoe will have to call a fitter.

We cooked dinner for Zoe and Ellie to try to keep her off her leg. Di collected them and took them back, and I managed the cooking and clearing up. Teamwork at work.

Knees Up

 oe was off work today, so that meant we had a leisurely start. We nipped around to collect Ellie for school.  She was not her usual chirpy self, and by the time we were ready to leave, she burst into tears. She knew Zoe was due at the hospital for her knee procedure, and she was worried. We calmed her down, and by the time we got to school, she was calm and, whilst not chirpy, was at least ready for the day.

There had been some debate over whether Di was going to Pilates. The issue was that she was having some meds delivered. They phoned at nine and said they would be with us between eleven and twelve. That quashed any hopes for Pilates, as I would be at the Nuffield with Zoe. We adjusted the day's schedule and sat down for a quiet coffee.

I collected Zoe and took her to the hospital. We had to wait for a little while, but she was soon called through to radiology. There, they used ultrasound to guide the procedure. The cyst was aspirated, and steroids were injected into the site. Fifteen minutes later, she walked out (on crutches) and declared, "That's it. Let's go home." She chatted to Diane on the phone the whole way home, and I helped to get her settled.

Back home, Di's meds had arrived, so we had a gap in the schedule until we had to collect Ellie. I used the time to return to a problem I had been having with the new network monitor I had installed. It took about an hour, but I finally got to the bottom of the issue, and the monitor seems to be running well now.

We had some Kindle time, and I finished another book, then we went to collect Ellie from football. We took her to her friend, Poppy's, where she will be staying overnight, going straight to school from there in the morning. (We did leave Poppy's mum our phone numbers in case Ellie had a wobble, in which case she could come back here.

Molar Mining

 There was no need for the alarm clock this morning, partly because Jasper had started yelling at us at five, and also because Zoe had a late start.  At the appointed hour, we trundled off to Zoe's and collected Ellie. We dropped her off at school, then headed home for breakfast.

There was no early walk today as I had a dental appointment. I enjoyed my morning porridge and then drove into Chichester. Surprisingly, the dentist was running to time, so I was dragged in and strapped down while she checked all of my teeth. This included a set of X-rays. I had pointed out a tooth that had lost its filling back in January. She examined it and decided it needed some attention, so I have been booked back in for late July to have the tooth rebuilt.

There was a lot of stress this morning. Some injections that Di has to start taking had not been delivered. Worse still, when she chased them, the pharmacy (at Haywards Heath hospital) said they only received the request yesterday (though it was marked as urgent). This is a process that Di started on the 1st of June. Anyway, after much to'ing and fro'ing, the situation now seems to be under control. The meds should be delivered tomorrow.

Talking of meds, Di also had a batch waiting for her at the local pharmacy. I used this as an excuse for a walk. I'm glad I took a large shopping bag with me, as she seemed to be refreshing the whole stock.

We had some quiet time after lunch. I then went to collect Ellie from school and take her home. I was going to take her to football practice this evening, but she has decided not to go.

Ache

We could have done without an early start after the very late night last night. That's not how life works, however. So it was that I was up at 6:30 to greet Ellie when she was dropped off. Everything went fairly smoothly until Ellie had finished breakfast and started complaining of a tummy ache. In the end, she was quite distressed, so we kept her out of school for the morning. Fortunately, she felt better after a while, and we were able to take her in at lunchtime.

We heard from Maureen. Chris had been operated on during the night and would have a further operation today. He was being kept sedated in the meantime.

I went for my morning walk, and by the time I got back, Diane was on one of her regular phone calls with her friend Marilyn. Ellie was watching some TV, doing some drawing and even playing some chess. It was clear that she would be fine to go to school later.

We deliberately had a quiet afternoon with our Kindles. We might even have succumbed to a nap. We collected Ellie from athletics club and took her home. The doors are now locked, and we don't expect to emerge until morning.

A&E

 We had a nice, lazy start to the day. There was nothing significant on the schedule; we could just please ourselves.

Diane pottered around, but was interrupted by Zoe calling for a long chat. In the end, it was nearly midday before she managed to get upstairs to wash and dress. I, meanwhile, had settled in the study. I fiddled some more with the NetAlertX monitor and completed the documentation for its build. I then set about installing (via Docker) a product called "PiHole". This sits on the home network and takes over the role of DNS server, but in doing so, it checks a list of blocked domains and discards any data from them. This has the effect of discarding the vast majority of advertisements that usually populate many websites. Once installed, I tested it from the MacBook and iPad and also Diane's iPad. I will leave it for a day or so, and assuming no problems arise, I will implement it across the home network. With that finished, I documented it, then performed a full system backup of "snowyowl".

During the afternoon, Di pottered in the garden while I had some Kindle time.

As we were finishing dinner, we got a call from Maureen (our neighbour). Could we take Chris to A&E? Well, of course. The trouble was I had had a couple of beers, so Di had to do the driving. Chris (who had had significant surgery a couple of years back) was in absolute agony. We got him to the hospital as quickly as we could and wheeled him into A&E. As soon as he was taken through (as an emergency) we left, giving Maureen instructions to call us when she was ready to come home.

Back home, we settled down and watched the World Cup football and several follow-on programs. In the end, it was gone 1 o'clock before Maureen was ready to come home. They were going to operate on Chris, and there was nothing she could do until morning. She had called one of their sons, and he was coming down to be with her overnight and take her back to the hospital tomorrow. We climbed in the car and collected Maureen to bring her home. 

It was nearly 2 o'clock before we got to bed, but at least Chris was in good hands, and Maureen was safely home.

Bandit Country

 After a decidedly lazy start to a glorious, sunny morning, I unplugged the car, which had been charging overnight. I ran my little program and found that the car is still averaging out at 2p per mile. Long may this continue.

At nine, I had the call with the cousins. There was no general theme for the call, but we did hear a lot about Sam's trip to see Paul Young and how she became really emotional when she had the opportunity to meet him. It did make us chuckle when Helen started to refer to her as Mrs Young.

Once the call was over, set up the feeder for Jasper and headed off for the day. We went up to Odiham to visit Jan and John. It would be the first time we had seen them for months. The traffic was a bit slow around Chichester, but other than that, we had a good run. I noticed when I parked the car that it almost filled the parking space, and it is clearly a bit wider than the Karoq had been. 

We settled down for some coffee and an initial catch-up. We were eager to hear about their recent river cruise along the Douro in Portugal. They commented on how different it was from the Moselle. It was quite rocky, and most of the stops required a coach to get to the various locations. They also commented on some of the engineering, with one lock raising the ship by 115 feet (it is the deepest lock in Europe and one of the highest in the world). They were not as lucky with the weather as we had been. Overall, they enjoyed the cruise (and have booked two more), but think the Moselle was the most scenic.

We drove across to "The Falcon" in Rotherwick for lunch. It wasn't as busy as it had been on our last trip, but that could be because it's Saturday rather than Sunday. We had a super lunch. Di opted for the Sea Bass while I started with a Caesar salad, and followed up with local sausages with colcannon mash. We didn't linger over a dessert as Jan had some Tarte au Citron and strawberries waiting back in Odiham.

We chatted all afternoon, shared photos, and reminiscences. We talked about plans, diet, exercise, and ailments. We finally said our goodbyes and headed into the early evening sun. We had an excellent trip home, taking about 70 minutes. I plugged the car in for an overnight charge, and we went in to be greeted by Jasper, who was delighted to see us and followed Diane around like a shadow.

No Hospital Trips

 We were up early. Zoe dropped Ellie and her friend Poppy off with us just after 06:30. To be fair, they were no trouble at all, and the morning ran smoothly. I walked the girls to school while Di got ready for her Cardiac Rehab session. Having left the girls in class, I set off for my usual walk.

Once home, I spent some time examining the MetAletrX software I had installed on "snowowl". I realised that there was far more that I could do with it than the raw data displayed when first installed. I took the opportunity to conduct an inventory of the switches I have installed around the house. I decided to change one of them for a "managed" switch to see if I could get additional information regarding our network. The nice man from Amazon should deliver this later this evening.

I had to take Di to the local surgery for a blood test at lunchtime, and we stopped off at Sainsbury's on the way home. After some lunch, ~Di headed for the Orangery with her Kindle, while I vacuumed the car and gave it a wash. (I'm not sure what came over me... but I've probably got it out of my system, now).

I joined Di in the Orangery and managed some Kindle time before we went to collect Ellie from dance class and take her home.

Monitor

We had a gentle start to the day (unlike Zoe, who found out that the fridges and freezers had gone down in the store overnight). We wandered around at the usual time, collected Ellie, and we walked her to school. Though it wasn't forecast for several more hours, it started to rain. I wasn't dressed for it, so I skipped my morning walk. 

Back home, I decided that I would spend the morning updating the documentation on the "snowyowl" build and extended this to include the installation of a network monitor that can look across our network and highlight any machines that have dropped offline. It took a while to get going, but now it seems to provide an excellent dashboard for our home systems.

This afternoon, we had to go to the hospital again. Di had to see the anaesthetist to discuss her medical history and determine if the procedure could be done at the Nuffield, or whether the risk was such that she needed to be at St Richard's. Fortunately, she was given the all-clear, and the procedure can be performed at the Nuffield.

Dovetails

 Ellie was dropped off soon after 06:30. She was already dressed and ready for school. She had a cuddle and quick chat with me before heading upstairs to see Nana. When the time came, we escorted her to school and dropped her off at the classroom. Di headed home to get ready for Pilates, and I set off on my walk.

By the time I arrived back home, Diane had already gone. I settled down with some breakfast and then worked through my mental list of things to do. None of these items took long, and I was just finishing up when ~Di arrived back home.

We had a quick lunch and then set off for the hospital. The first appointment of the afternoon was for a blood test. Then we had a short wait before "Joint School". This wasn't quite what I expected. I had been hoping to get some lessons on making sliding dovetail joints and box joints. I was disappointed. It was a 90-minute presentation discussing replacement knee joints. We had the opportunity to examine one of the implants and had a very thorough discussion regarding what to expect, how to prepare, and the recovery process from surgery. The session was run by one of the physios and demonstrated many of the exercises that the patient would have to do post-op and during the recovery. It was a very good session, and as Diane said, it is so much better to know what to expect, rather than speculate and guess.

Because of the session at the hospital, Zoe had to collect Ellie from football. Ellie went off with her friend, Poppy and Zoe came round to see how Di had got on, and tell us that she now has a date for her treatment. She will be going into The Nuffield next Wednesday. The treatment is only expected to take about 20 minutes, but she has to assume she will be very tired for a couple of days afterwards. So within the next two weeks, both of the family's flaky knees should be on the mend.

Up Town

We had an early start. We both needed to get up, dress, and have breakfast before taking Ellie to school. We had a day out planned. We walked Ellie to school as usual, but then, as soon as we got back home, we hopped in the car and drove to the railway station.

We made ourselves comfortable in the 1st Class compartment and began the trip to London Victoria. The train was slightly delayed, but it was a comfortable trip to the capital. We dropped down into the Underground and took the tube to Oxford Circus. From there, it was only a 5-minute walk to "Vasco & Piero's Pavilion Restaurant."

Paul, the owner, greeted us like family, and we were shown to a table where we could have a coffee and sit and wait for Paul and Cathy. We had only been there for about 10 minutes when they arrived. They are on their way to Poland, where, along with Ellen and Mark, they hope to explore some of the villages and towns from whence the family came originally.

We sat and chatted, catching up on the family news from across the pond... Laura's engagement and pregnancy, Michael and Emily's Eloise, and Andrew's new girlfriend. We also heard about their "bolt-hole" in the Eastern townships of Quebec. The photos Paul had on the phone brought it all to life. We had a lovely lunch, and sat chatting for a couple of hours or more. (In fact, we had been so busy chatting that I forgot to take any photos). Eventually, we stirred and headed back towards Oxford Circus. Paul and Cathy wanted to visit Marks and Spencer, and planned to go to the Royal Albert Hall this evening. We dropped back into the tube network and found our way back to Victoria. We had ourselves comfortable in the 1st Class compartment again, and headed back to the coast.

It had been a lovely day, and it was so nice to catch up with the family for a few hours.

Wet through

 It was decidedly damp, but not raining this morning. We trotted around to Zoe's to manage the school run. Dropping Ellie at the classroom, Di headed home, and I set off for my walk. It was important to catch up with Lisbet Salander, and I was tempted to do an extra lap of my walking route, but the early morning coffee put an end to that.

Once home, I settled down for breakfast as Di prepared to visit Specsavers to collect her new glasses. Once I had cleared away, I set off to the barbershop to get my hair cut (and listen to another chapter of my book). I also tried to drop off some expired meds at the pharmacy, but they would not take them because they contained needles. Once I had been papered in the barbershop and was looking like a film star (Bell Lugosi), I headed home, and as I left, it started to rain. By the time I was halfway, it was pouring, and the bag in which I was carrying the meds had disintegrated. By the time I arrived home, I was soaked through and had to get changed. (You can't beat the British Summer... at least not without escaping to Portugal).

After lunch, I returned to yesterday's exercise regarding cruises. I faffed about looking at various options, various routes, and various cruise lines. In the end, Di and I home in on one and I sent the details to Jane and Trevor. Would they be interested? Should we consider it?

The way things worked out, we have accidentally booked a 14-night cruise to Norway and Iceland on Arcadia during the summer of 2028. We have also managed to book the aft corner suites with the wrap-around balconies. Now, other than paying for it, we just have to wait for 2 years!

Stuff

 There was no real theme to the day. I was up soon after seven and read the overnight news. Di came down sometime after eight.

The morning was focused on rewiring the man-cave. ~Fortunately, the crucial panel was attached with a French cleat, so once everything was unplugged, I could remove it and take it to the kitchen to work on. It took a while to make everything neat and tidy, but once it was back in place and switched on, everything burst back to life. 

With the man-cave sorted out, and bearing in mind we had to move a large picture to mount the new TV, I rejigged the pictures in the Orangery so that the homeless landscape could nestle on the wall in the Orangery and the pictures that had been in there were remounted in a vertical stack by the door.

I experimented some more with the photo gallery function on the new TV, adding a new batch of photos to the collection. Later in the day, I added more still. The afternoon was fairly quiet. We spent a lot of time looking at possible cruises for 2028. One particular cruise has caught our attention, so I sent a link to Jane and Trevor to see if they were interested, but given that they were en route to their hideaway in Portugal for the next month, they may not have seen it yet.

We have a busy week coming up.

Stats and cables

We have been under a yellow weather warning for high winds. It certainly was incredibly blustery throughout the day, and the rain has swept through with vengeance on and off throughout the day.

After my usual start to the day, I had the Saturday call with my cousins. I don't remember how we got onto the subject of bands and performers we have seen, but I ended up making a list. It is still expanding as my addled mind dredges up another performance from the distant past.

The rest of the morning was spent sorting out the cabling for the new TV and the EE set-top box and trying to make it as invisible as possible. Everything is now working remarkably well, and with that in mind, I grabbed the paint pot and touched up the various scuffs on the wall. All of this consumed the whole morning and the early part of the afternoon. I was going to sort out the power distribution in the man-cave, but decided to leave that until tomorrow.

We had a quiet hour with the Kindles before I started on tonight's dinner. With that finished and the dishwasher loaded, we have a quiet evening planned, though there is an England vs New Zealand football match on at 21:00.

Hospital Taxi Service

 It was a blustery, but bright start to the day. Zoe didn't have an early start, so we wandered around to collect Ellie and walk her to school when the gate opened.

Back home, we had breakfast, and I spent some time trying to work out what options there were for using the new TV to display artwork when it isn't in general use. Some of the options looked very good but incurred a monthly charge. They can forget that. I then looked at options for using a curated selection of our own photos. I got this working, but I will have to return to it when I have edited the photos to 16:9 format.

Late morning, I took Di to Zoe's, where she was going to do some cleaning, and collected Zoe to take her to the hospital for her appointment with the consultant. She spent quite a while with him, and his conclusion was that she should have a steroid injection, and he would try to aspirate the cyst that is causing the problem in her knee. We just need to await the appointment.

Back home, we had a quiet hour or so before going to collect Ellie from dancing. Then we had to go to St Richard's for Di's Echocardiogram. We arrived early; it seemed that there was nobody on the roads at 17:30 on a Friday, so we had to wait for a while. The procedure took about 20 minutes or so, and the report will be sent to the Nuffield in time for Di's appointment with the anaesthetist next week.

Once home (again, the roads were empty), we had dinner and settled down for a quiet evening.

Testing

 I was up early again so that I could greet Ellie as she burst through the door at 6:30. She was already washed and dressed, ready for school. Once the early chatting was done, and she had some breakfast, she settled down with a pile of paper, some coloured felt-tipped pens, and a ruler and spent a quiet 40 minutes working on some crafts. During this time, the rain hammered down, and it looked as if we would get very wet going to school. It stopped just before we left, thank goodness.

Dropping Ellie, we returned home. Di got on with some phone calls and some chores, while I assembled the latest Raspberry Pi "snowyowl". Over the following hour or so, I installed the operating software and a program called "iperf3". I then installed the whole kit and caboodle next to the EE Router in my man cave.

I returned to my MacBook and then, plugging it into the network points in the house, one after the other, ran "iperf3" in client mode. This came back and told me that I was achieving a bandwidth of about 1 Gbps. This was what I wanted to see. It would have been pointless trying to speed up the network in the kitchen or the lounge if the distribution point wasn't achieving the speeds I wanted. Over the next few weeks, I will test the various endpoints in and about the house to see if any are throttling performance. This may mean switching old Cat 5 cables for new Cat 6a cables. (This would give plenty of headroom.)

Di and I discussed the aesthetics of the cabling for the new TV. We now have a plan, and I have ordered the first few cables to implement that plan. It will probably be a busy weekend.

Talking of being busy. I have to take Zoe to the Nuffield in Chichester tomorrow lunchtime so that she can see the consultant. Then late in the afternoon, I have to take Diane to St Richard's for an Echo Cardiogram prior to her meeting next week, with the anaesthetist.

Screen time

I was up at 6:30, ready for Ellie to be dropped off. She had woken early and was already washed, dressed and ready for school when she burst through the door. After a brief chat, she went up to see Nana. The early morning routine followed its natural course, and we walked Ellie to school at the appropriate time. Diane then headed home to get ready for Pilates, and I set off for my walk. Today saw the start of a new audiobook. This is book 5 in the Millennium Series featuring Lisbet Salander (the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). I'm only an hour into the story, but it already has its hooks in me.

Di was just leaving for Angmering as I arrived home. Within a few minutes, the heavens opened and heavy rain set in for a few hours. I settled down to a bit of domestic admin, and when that was finished, I returned to my program for extracting data from the Skoda. Now that the basic function was working, I wanted to add a few bells and whistles. It only took an hour, but I'm pleased with the results. Some of the other data isn't available at the moment, and the interface doesn't return the charging history.

The new TV was scheduled to be delivered during the afternoon, so I finished clearing the area where it would be installed, and I pulled all the cables through to make it easy to connect it up when the time came. We then grabbed a bite to eat and settled into the lounge for an hour or so.

The delivery men arrived and did an excellent job of installing the. TV. Everything was carefully measured, holes were drilled (with a vacuum cleaner on hand to catch the dust), and the bracket was mounted on the wall. The TV was wired up and switched on, then the basic functions were demonstrated. Everything was cleared away, I signed off on the delivery, and they were gone. I will have to tidy up all of the connections over the next few days, then put the family room back together.

Preparation

 It was an extremely wet night, and it was still pouring down when I got up. I suggested to Diane that, as she had had a poor night's sleep, she should stay home, and I would deal with Ellie's school run. As it happened, the rain stopped in time for our trip to school, but it soon started again when I got home.

Di had to take Jasper to the vet for his monthly jab. I stayed at home to prepare for tomorrow's delivery and installation of a new TV for the Kitchen/Family room. Stuff needed to be moved to provide access, and the old TV and its bracket needed to be taken down. This was a lengthy process as the bolts that held the bracket to the wall were absolute beasts to remove. Once everything was removed and I had vacuumed up the detritus that gathers under cupboards, I surveyed the empty wall and decided it needed some remedial treatment. I headed to Wickes, collected some Polyfilla (my old one had turned to concrete), a new paint brush, and a coax extension that I may need tomorrow. I then returned and filled the holes in the wall, sanded them down, and repainted. I think that's all I can do until the new TV is installed and I can work out any cable runs that may be necessary.

We had a quiet hour after lunch and then headed for the hospital. Diane had her pre-op preparation interview. We were ushered into an office, and Nurse Sheila spent the next 90 minutes going through Di's medical history, her meds regime,  and set expectations regarding the day of the op and the post-op care. She also recommended we attend their Joint Clinic before the operation. We just need to book attendance at that clinic for next Wednesday.

Grandpa is not on football duty today. Not being sure when we would get back, Oscar's mum volunteered to take Ellie to and from the football practice. (Ellie isn't going to be allowed to play because of her broken finger, but she will be allowed to do the warm-ups and to help the coaches by running the line.) I'm sure she will tell us all about it in the morning.

Refund

 I was up before seven. Though Ellie was back at school, Zoe didn't have an early start, so we could have a more leisurely start and then walk around to Zoe's in time to take Ellie to school. We dropped her off at the classroom (explaining to her teacher about her broken pinky). Di headed home, and I set off for my walk.

I finished my latest "Venice" audiobook during the walk. I was so engrossed that I took several different turns during the walk. I suspect the book, by David Hewson, was the last in that series. He has certainly left it in such a way that I suspect there will be no more, but there is an opening if he changes his mind.

Once home and with breakfast finished, we set off for Chichester. The main road running from our estate towards Bognor is closed for the next month. This makes it easy to get out of the estate towards Chichester, but it seems to be causing chaos in the other direction. Once parked, we strolled along East Street, where Di stopped to pick up a birthday present for a friend and then headed to M&S for some clothes shopping. I went to the bank. The DVLA had sent me a cheque as a refund for the old car's road fund license. The trouble is that business cheques are notoriously difficult to capture on the mobile banking app (though personal cheques, which have different dimensions, are fine). This meant a trip to the bank. It didn't take long, then I went to meet up with Di. We grabbed a coffee, then made our way home.

The afternoon saw the usual Kindle time until we had to collect Ellie from athletics. She had had a good day and was really chirpy as we took her home to Zoe.

Done

It was gone seven by the time I got up. It looked like another lovely day, but the temperatures were a little cooler. 

Once the day was underway (ablutions completed, breakfast finished, coffee consumed), Di pottered for a while and then settled down for a long phone call with Jane. I returned to my little project. With the help of AI, I determined that some of the data I wanted was not available to me, but it took a couple of hours of analysis to get to that position. In the end, I had extracted as much useful data as I could and dropped it into a spreadsheet. This gives me the foundation for a telemetry repository for the Elroq.

After lunch, Di pottered in the garden while I faffed about some more. One of the things that has been nigglong at the back of my mind is whether the Ethernet network in the house is delivering data at the rates it should. This will be my next technical quest. As part of the analysis, I may have accidentally ordered another Raspberry Pi to act as a server and monitor throughput from various endpoints. I think it will be an interesting exercise.

Extraction

 I was up and about soon after seven. I consumed the overnight news and a decent coffee to start the day. Di came down just before eight, so I went to perform my morning ablutions.

I took my breakfast and a coffee to my study and logged in to the weekly call with my cousins. It was a chirpy call with plenty of chat and banter. Tim and I exchanged some observations regarding our EVs and also the local and central planning authorities. I always find it troubling when we agree on political issues!

As I wandered downstairs after the Zoom call, Zoe called Di. Ellie hadn't stayed at Lily's overnight. She came home just before midnight. To fill in some background, Ellie had fallen on the stairs mid-afternoon yesterday. In doing so, she had bent her little finger back, and it was very painful. We had given her Arnica and a cold compress, and she tried to ignore it. She went to Lily's, and they ended up on a bus replacement service to Brighton as a result of a line fire near Arundel. They thoroughly enjoyed the concert, but the trains were not back to normal by the time they left. Lily's older brother came over to collect them. By the time they had stopped for a McDonald's, Ellie was feeling sore and wanted to go home.

This morning, it was clear that the finger was quite swollen. A trip to A&E was needed. I took Ellie and Zoe to St Richard's and left them there, not knowing how long they would have to wait.

I went home and continued developing the code and exploring the data I could extract from the car. Progress was slow but steady. Just as I broke for lunch, Zoe called. They were finished at the hospital. I headed back to Chichester and collected them. The X-rays had shown that Ellie had fractured her pinky in two places. They strapped it up and referred her to the fracture clinic. It wasn't clear how long that would take. I ran them home and left them to it.

Once home, I did some more exploration of the data that I could (and couldn't) access from the car. I'm so close to having what I want, but I'm not quite there yet.

We had some quiet time in the Orangery before dinner,

The Codeface

I was up soon after six. I had slept well, but was wide awake and in need of a coffee. I pottered downstairs with the elegance of a ballet dancer, in bare feet, walking on LEGO bricks. When Jasper had finished laughing at me, he went upstairs to disturb Diane (which I had studiously tried not to do). I worked through the overnight news and decided that there was no specific intervention required from me.

Once we were both up and about, I opened up the MacBook and started to write some code. Bit by bit, I explored the API that gave me access to. data from the new Skoda Elroq.  Some of it was extracted quite easily, but that was data that was easily available anyway. The more complex information proved a challenge. Over the course of the day, I made progress, but the data I really wanted remained elusive. My ultimate objective is to be blessed to extract data into a spreadsheet, allowing me to create various cuts of the data to understand the performance and cost of the EV.

Just after lunch, Di had an appointment at the Opticians at the same time that I had to take Ellie to Angmering for a night out and sleepover with her friend Lily. Zoe took Di to the Optician, and Ellie (on her booster seat) sat in the front of our car with me as we headed across to Lily's. The traffic was dreadful, but we arrived in plenty of time. They are off to Brighton (with Lily's mum) to see K-Pop Superstars (or something like that) at the Brighton Centre.

I arrived home just before Di and made us both a cup of tea. It turns out that she does need stronger glasses and so has a new pair on order and is having new lenses put into some of her old frames. ~

The rest of the afternoon was quiet.

Progress

 It was another clear morning. I was up by seven and enjoyed my coffee while reading the news. I probably should have gone for a walk, but I had a few things niggling on my mind. Once washed and dressed, I opened up the MacBook and started to investigate some ideas. 

The electronics in new cars seem to record vast amounts of information. Some of this is revealed through the car's partner App on the phone, but not all of it. It would be nice to get more granularity regarding trips, battery consumption, mileage, efficiency, and so forth. I was pointed to a set of libraries that contain APIs for the Skoda. It looks as if I can get all of the data I want. All I have to do is write a program to mine the data from the car. I can feel a little programming in my future.

We did our usual Sainsbury's trip to stock up for the week. As we finished unloading, Elli turned up with Aryana. Zoe had an important video call and wanted some peace while it progressed. The girls arrived and took themselves upstairs to Ellie's bedroom. They weren't here for long before Zoe called to say the call was over and could we come round for a briefing. We did as we were told. It turns out that Zoe's knee problem was not a ruptured ligament. It is actually a large cyst on the iniscus. They gave her a lot more detail, and promised they would get back later today with an appointment for her to see the consultant at the Chichest Nuffield. Things are moving at last, and it sounds as if the treatment is not major. Zoe called back later to tell us she has an appointment on Friday, the 5th.

We grabbed some lunch and started to think about a break for next February. We considered Malta, Cyprus, and Sicily, but eventually home in on Madeira. We haven't booked anything yet, but we have somewhere bookmarked.

Di wanted to do some shopping in John Lewis. I had been looking for a replacement TV for the kitchen/family room. This seemed like an ideal opportunity. We whizzed off and strolled around the store. After discussions with one of the colleagues, we chose a TV which had a significant discount, free delivery, and free installation. Result! That should arrive next week.

DI received a call while we were in John Lewis. It was the Consultant's secretary from the Nuffield. She has now fixed the date for her knee replacement, on 22nd June. (I wonder if we can get a family discount).

Expecting

 I was up early. I was expecting several deliveries throughout the day, and I wanted to get a walk in before Di had to go out for Pilates. So it was that I set off for my morning walk at 6:50. The skies were clear, and it was comfortably warm. It was a lovely time to be out and about. I arrived back home soon after 8:00 and settled down with a coffee and some porridge. It was already heating up, and we had the back doors open and the blinds drawn. It's easier to keep the heat out than to try to cool the house once it's warm.

Di set off for Pilates. It was an abortive trip, as the instructor, Liz, had arranged for a stand-in today. Di was not willing to chance her joints on a new instructor, so after a chat with her friend Kathie, she came home early.

Meanwhile, I had completed some admin and worked through the outstanding ironing.

I'm a bit of a wally. I had ordered a holster for the car charger, so that the plug would be protected. That was the first of today's deliveries. I took it outside to work out where best to install it. That's when I noticed that there is already a holster built into the unit. Doh! At least it wasn't expensive.

The next delivery was the fresh salmon steaks from Edinburgh. They came beautifully wrapped in iced gel packs and surrounded by an insulating layer of wool. I soon had them unpacked and tucked away in the freezer. My curry sauces are due before 20:00, but haven't arrived yet.

We spent some time with our Kindles during the afternoon, sheltering in the cool of the living room.

Assessment

 We had a gentle start to the day. The skies were crystal clear, and the temperature was already climbing. I had my early morning coffee, then as soon as I was washed and dressed, I headed out for my walk before it got too hot to enjoy.

After a quick breakfast, I took Di to the Nuffield. She had an appointment, which was the first stage in her admission for knee surgery. Traffic was very slow, and we were a few minutes late arriving. (We had phoned to warn them.) I dropped Di at the doors and went to park. By the time I got back, she had already been whisked away. I sat and read, but she was soon out and ready to go. There will be another pre-admission appointment, but it is clear she is on a countdown.

Back home, we got on with some domestic chores before settling down for some Kindle time during the afternoon.

Di received an email. Things are picking up pace. She has an appointment for next Tuesday for the pre-admission appointment, which is expected to take a couple of hours.

We had an early dinner so that I could attend Ellie's football training. She had insisted on going and asked Zoe to come and watch. I grabbed the picnic chairs so Zoe could sit down, and I met them there. Once there, Ellie suddenly seemed to lose interest, and Zoe really had to cajole her into playing. It was clear that her heart wasn't really in the game. She just drifted back and forth, without really getting involved. Oh well, it was a nice evening to be out and about.

Hotter

 I was up soon after seven, though I had been entranced by the birdsong just after five. It was clearly going to be another hot day, and I opened up the doors in the Orangery to get some airflow through the house. Once Di was up and about, I went to wash and dress so that I could set out on my walk before it got too hot. My audiobook has me totally hooked and, despite the heat, I was completely engrossed in the story. I was particularly pleased to note that I had correctly identified two of the clues from earlier in the book,

Once back home, I grabbed some breakfast before taking Di to the local nursery. (It was nice to use the feature that allowed me to fire up the air conditioning from my phone to ensure the car was at a comfortable temperature when we were ready to leave.) We wandered around Brickkiln Nursery until Di had found the plants that she wanted. We then took a detour on the way home so that we could pick up some white wine for tonight's pasta from Sainsbury's. We hadn't been home for too long before we were called to Zoe's. Hers and Ellie's beds both needed to be made, and a new paddling pool needed to be pumped up and filled. We were not there for too long, but the chores were completed.

Ellie has clearly had a wonderful time in Hastings with her friend Lilly. I'm not sure how much sleep they got, but they had great fun.

I know it seems bizarre, it is, after all, only a few days since we last saw Ellie, but she seems to have grown while away.

Back home, we had a quiet hour or so with our Kindles before our usual Monday night dinner of Salmon and Prawns in a white wine and cream sauce, with tagliatelle.

Oh well, that was Bank Holiday Monday. Back to work tomorrow. No wait... I'm retired, for me, tomorrow is another holiday! (I still cannot get used to this.)

Hot

 It's been a hot one!

I had a lazy start, not getting up until 7:20. It was already 20 °C, and it was clear the temperatures were only going to climb. I had my first coffee, then after morning ablutions, headed out for my walk before it got too hot. My audiobook is progressing well, and had one of those minor crescendos just as I was approaching home. Rather than leave it mid-story, I stopped the book just at the right time. Tomorrow's walk will start with this revelation.

After some breakfast, I did something I haven't done for 12 years. Di was going to Zoe's to help with some cleaning, so I tagged along to mow her lawn. Yes, for the first time in 12 years, I handled the lawnmower and smartened up her back garden. She was thrilled, because it had been looking a bit bleak. When I had finished, it was quite smart.

The rest of the day was spent with our Kindles in the cool of the living room. I waded through several chapters of my latest book, then spent some time looking for, and eventually buying, a holster for the car charger. Once that was done, I looked at some options for a new TV in the Kitchen/Family room. As we are getting older, we are finding it harder to see the TV from a distance. I was looking at a new 65 in model that we should be able to see fairly easily. The old TV will be repurposed in Ellie's bedroom.

I was delighted to see that despite my worst fears, Spurs managed to avoid relegation from the Premiership, and in doing so, sent West Ham down.

Neighbours

Jasper was getting noisy at 05:30, but having made sure we were both awake, he settled back down.  I woke again at 06:00, but managed to stay in bed until just before 07:00. It was clear as I walked down the stairs that Jasper's noisy interlude had been him boasting about the foul-smelling package he had delivered, ready for me to dispose of when I arose.

After the early morning waste disposal, I managed to sit down with a coffee and reflect on the meaning of life. It occurred to me that Jasper's overnight emission was no more toxic than the effluent that spews from the White House day in and day out. In Jasper's favour, at least he isn't orange, and he seems to have an IQ at least equivalent to his paw size.

My overnight experiment with the E.On app controlling the car charging activity worked well. I will stick to this in future as it should optimise the charge procedure even more than the Ohme app.

After the morning call with the cousins (which followed the usual pattern), I settled down to wade through some admin and do some research regarding our new Skoda Elroq, and the options for charging when away from home. This became a bit of a quest, and I ended up diving down several rabbit holes as I worked through my options.

Di, meanwhile, was pottering in the garden. When she wandered to the front garden, she was accosted by Colleen and John, our new neighbours. We had a lovely chat and took them into our back garden for a look at the landscaping and the Orangery. We only chatted for 30 minutes or so, but we all seemed to hit it off well.

We've had lots of photos arrive from Ellie's weekend away in Hastings. She's clearly having a great time.

Scam

I was up at my normal time. It was already a warm and beautiful morning. Jasper was asleep on a sofa in the Orangery, but stirred when I fired up the coffee machine. At 8:20, we wandered to Zoe's to collect Ellie. She was full of the joys of Spring as it was the last day before the half-term and she was going away with her friend Lilly for the weekend.

We dropped her off at the classroom door, and Di went home while I set off for my morning walk. It really was very warm, and the walk was most enjoyable. On the second loop of my usual course, Di passed me in the car on her way to Cardia Rehab. I completed my walk and settled down for breakfast. Di returned just as I was finishing.

Zoe was due at Goring Hall Hospital for an MRI. I went along to pick her up and drive her across to Goring. We arrived in plenty of time so that she could complete all of the paperwork. The appointments were running a bit late, but we didn't have to wait for too long. I managed to finish another book while she was being processed. Once the imaging was done, we returned to the car and made our way home. I dropped her off, then went home for some lunch and a quiet afternoon in the Orangery.

We collected Ellie from the after-school dance class and took her home. She had a nicely laminated award for her participation in the athletics meet on Wednesday. Bartons School came 3rd out of 15, so it did really well. Back home, Ellie would wait for Pete to collect her and take her back to Lilly's in Angmering. Then they were off to Hastings.

During the afternoon, I received a message:

BARCLAYS: We've placed a hold on a payment of £xxx.xx to HSBC account ending in NNNN. If this was you reply, Y, and your payment will be processed. If you did not make this transaction, please call us on 020 nnnn nnnn

At first, I was concerned. Had someone tried to spend money on my account? Should I call the number? Then a cooler head took over. 

• Don't call the number given, look up the number, 
• and then, do I have a BARCLAYS account? No. 
• Should I panic? No. 

I left it as a reminder to myself that thieving trolls will try any trick they can to steal information, and subsequently money. There seems to be a concerted campaign at the moment, and I would bet that many people get caught.

Charger

 I was up early to greet Ellie as she was dropped off at 6:35. It was around 6:35 when I got a message from Zoe that she had overslept and would be late. At least I didn't have to panic. Ellie was duly dropped off, and Zoe disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

We took Ellie to school and then came home for breakfast. We had received notification that Di's meds were ready to be collected from the Chemist's, so I deferred my walk until later, intending to collect the meds then.

There was some early morning admin after breakfast, and then I crafted the week's shopping list. We timed it badly this morning. The Zombies were obviously away on holiday, but we had a bus-load of utter morons turn up instead. What a joy! Nevertheless, we got the shopping done fairly quickly and soon had it packed away at home.

As lunchtime approached, I went for my walk and collected Di's meds on the way through. The temperature had really climbed compared with yesterday. I suspect I will need a sun hat tomorrow, as it is forecast to get hotter still over the weekend.

After lunch, we collected Ellie and took her to Chichester for her weekly appointment. We sat in the sunshine, outside a cafe, and enjoyed a coffee and a slice of cake while waiting. When the appointment was over, we took Ellie home and then came home ourselves.

Currently (you see what I did there?), there seems to be some confusion between the EV Charger apps. There is an app on the car, an app from the Electricity supplier, and an app from the charger manufacturer. The Energy supplier suggests I use theirs to ensure I get the best tariff. This, however, seems to get confused because of the app from the charger manufacturer. I phoned the helpline, and after a lot of discussion, the specialist decided he couldn't help and has escalated the problem. I now await a call from their 2nd-level engineer. We'll see what happens.

Lunch

 I had a gentle start to the day. I was up before seven, but had woken in my own time. We wandered around to Zoe's in time for the school run, walking Ellie to the classroom, as usual. She had a 4-way athletics meet this morning and was looking forward to that.

We headed home for breakfast and to prepare for our lunch trip. We were meeting up with Jane and Trevor at "The Refectory", near Godalming. Mid-morning, we set off, taking a brief diversion to drop some papers off at the Vet's. Our new car whizzed us silently over the Downs, up through Petworth and on. We pulled into the car park just before midday, and after a comfort break, settled down for a coffee with Jane and Trevor. This is when I admitted we had a new car, and we then spent a while talking through the whys and wherefors.

We had a lovely lunch, as usual. Diane had a coronation chicken, while I had a Malaysian seafood curry. We chatted for a couple of hours, discussing the recently booked river cruise for next year and possible ocean cruises for 2028. This latter subject will require further thought and research. We also covered all of the usual family news.

After a "show and tell" on the new car, we said our goodbyes and hit the road. It was only as we got down towards Chichester that I realised that there must have been something in the curry that didn't quite agree with me. I felt decidedly gripy. By the time we got home, I realised that it was having much the same effect as "Drano". 

I collected Ellie from football and took her home. She had enjoyed the athletics meet this morning, coming 7th in the 400m, 3rd in the sprint, 2nd in the throwing and the long jump. We're very proud of her and are already looking for a display cabinet for her future trophies and medals!  

I wandered back home, then settled in for the evening.

Premium Bonds

 I was up and about soon after six. I was delighted to find that Jasper had left me a foul-smelling package in his litter tray. This required immediate attention if I planned to breathe through my nose over the next hour. Having sorted out this early morning gift and sprayed the downstairs with copious amounts of air freshener, I finally settled down with a coffee.

We walked to Zoe's and collected Ellie for the stroll to school. Leaving her as she charged into the classroom, we both went home. There was no early morning walk as it was pouring with rain, but it was scheduled to stop mid-morning. I decided to wait. After some breakfast, I attacked the pile of shirts that required ironing and then, with the weather dry and breezy, set out on my walk. My second coffee of the morning called an early end to the walk, but I had been out for an hour.

Diane has been having trouble logging on to the site where she buys Premium Bonds for Ellie. We tried to resolve this a while back, but we were unsuccessful. I decided this was not going to be a problem any longer. I set up a separate user account for her on my MacBook, and using that account, we logged on to NS&I correctly (the issue, it appeared, was the expectation of her user name being in capital letters, not mixed case). Anyway, the problem is now resolved, and a backlog of payments has been paid into Ellie's savings account.

We had some Kindle time after lunch, before collecting Ellie from school. Having taken her home, we returned home for a quiet hour before I had to take Ellie to football training with the boys of Sussex Rangers. Again, she did well, but didn't get stuck in quite as much as she did on Saturday. It will come as her confidence increases and she realises that she is just as quick as the boys. I must say that by 19:00, when the training finished, I was beginning to feel quite chilly, and even Ellie was complaining of the cold.

Oops, we did it again

 I wasn't sure whether Ellie was being dropped off or not. I got up at 6:30, just in case. From then on, the usual playbook unfolded - other than the fact she wasn't being dropped off. We walked around to Zoe's and took Ellie to school. She was quite excited as they had a chap coming to teach them about cricket today. We left her as the classroom door opened, and Di headed home while I started my walk.

I have started a new audiobook, the 4th in a series of mysteries taking place in Venice. The previous books were narrated by Richard Armitage, but this has a different narrator; I was disappointed. It's not that he wasn't a good choice; it was more the case that I associate the stories with Richard Armitage. Anyway, the first hour or so of the book has been excellent.

After some breakfast, I got on with some admin and some domestic chores while Di was ironing. She received a message saying that she had a parking charge violation that she hadn't paid. It was concerning, so she showed me. I did a bit of digging and became suspicious. The alleged date was the last Bank Holiday, when we had just returned from our river cruise and stayed at home (other than collecting Jasper), it gave no hint as to where the alleged offence took place, and it didn't display our registration number. It did, however, have some very convincing web pages that looked exactly like some of the gov.uk pages. The smell test told me this was a scam. The message was deleted.

After lunch, Kim dropped in. She had delivered a presentation at the University this morning, and was feeling relieved that it was over (and fairly pleased with the way it went). We sat and chatted for a couple of hours until she had to leave for a hospital appointment.

While this was going on, and after consultation with Jane, Trevor, and Di, I accidentally booked another river cruise for this time next year. This one starts in Mainz and works its way downriver to Rotterdam. It should be fun as we will be on the same ship as this year (and, indeed, in the same cabins).

Chichester

 I was up at my usual time. Jasper had woken us, so I offered to bring Di a cup of tea and then leave her to get up when she felt like it. This was acknowledged as a good idea, and so, a gentle morning began. 

Once we were both up and behaving like functioning adults, we climbed into the car and headed for Chichester. The idea was to do some shopping, stroll around for a bit, and maybe grab some lunch if anything took our fancy. There was a car boot sale in progress at the Cattle Market Car Park. We already had a car boot, so we ignored it and strolled into the city. There was a bit of a buzz today. There were some street markets, and they were preparing for a gathering of motorcycles for the Distinguished Gentlemen's ride. We were too early to see this, but we certainly heard it later on.

After some shopping, we diverted from the main streets and took a stroll around the Bishop's Palace Gardens. It was pleasantly warm, and fleeting changes in colour as the clouds scudded across the sky made for a very beautiful interlude.

We walked back into the city and went to look at a new food hall, "Ghost at the Feast", which hosts a number of different food vendors. It wasn't really suited to a Sunday lunch, but would certainly warrant a return trip at some stage.

In the end, we dropped into "The Ivy" and settled down for brunch. Di had some sourdough bread, and followed up with Eggs Royale; I had some crispy salt and pepper squid, followed by Eggs Benedict. It was very good and very satisfying. We certainly didn't need to eat again today.

Once home, after a bit of a clear-up after Jasper, we settled in the Orangery with our Kindles for the afternoon. We also took the opportunity to look at options for a river cruise next spring. We will discuss the various options with Jane and Trevor when we meet for lunch on Wednesday.

Training Day

 I was up at my normal time. There was no reason for an early start, but my body clock intervened, and I was downstairs drinking coffee well before seven. I worked through the overnight emails, the news, and the social media before Diane stirred. I showered, dressed, made some breakfast and then prepared for my call with the cousins. There were several cousins missing, but we still had a quorum. We had a good chat covering various aspects of the geo-political situation, the passing out of Maggie's grandson at Plymouth, and were just about to talk about the family history book when the Zoom call expired.

I changed my footwear and put on a jacket (needlessly) and headed for the training ground where Ellie was doing her football training with the boys. She has already improved. She has more confidence and is getting involved. The coaches were very supportive, and it was clear that they boosted her confidence. She is the only girl in the team, but she is starting to hold her own. (She's certainly as quick as any of the boys). It was clear that she really put in the effort, and it was plain to see that she was quite flushed from the exertion by the end of the session. Unfortunately, she will miss next Saturday's training  (as she is going away with a friend), but she should be there on Tuesday.

Once I was back home, I cracked on with some admin that filled the remainder of the morning. I grabbed some lunch, and then Di and I retired to the Orangery with our Kindles for the afternoon.

Upper Sixth

 The early part of the morning followed the usual pattern. Maybe the only variation was that I dressed up a little more than usual... and dug out my school Alumni tie (which I didn't end up wearing). We walked across to Zoe's and collected Ellie for the walk to school.

Once home (there was no walk today), I gathered my things and climbed into the car for the drive up to St Albans, and my old school. The roads were wonderfully benign, and there were no delays as I cruised along the A27, A3, and even the M25. Trips like that can lull you into a false sense of euphoria. I arrived at St Columba's College at 11:00. It had taken me 2 hours for the 100-mile trip. As I walked out of the car park, passing one of the technology blocks, I was greeted by the head of the sixth form and taken in to meet some of the 47 other speakers, grab a Danish, and a cup of coffee.

We had been invited to speak at an "Inspiration Day" for the sixth form students. We represented a wide spectrum of careers and industries, and the students could pick and choose. Some sessions had 10 attendees, others only a single interested student. I had two students in my session, "At the Codeface", which talked about the trajectory that my career took and what was interesting and stimulating about such a career. I also touched on the impact of AI, containerisation, outsourcing, and cloud computing.

It seemed to go down well, but the time flew by. After the talk, there was a buffet lunch for the speakers and students, and I got the opportunity to chat with a number of students who hadn't been at my talk. The questions they asked were insightful and made me think about changes I would make to the presentation should I have to deliver it again.

I said my goodbyes and got back on the road at 14:00. This morning's travel euphoria soon wore off as Google announced various delays... 19 minutes, 9 minutes, 6 minutes, and so it continued. This morning's 2 hours turned into 3 hours by the time I approached home. A glass of rum and a glass of Doom Bar were the perfect antidote.

Health

 I was up soon after six. Ellie was being dropped off at 6:30, but I had woken early and decided a coffee would kick-start the day. E~llie burst into the house and, after a cuddle, went upstairs to torment Nana. The next hour or so followed the time-honoured pattern, and we walked Ellie to school as usual. Di headed home, and I set off on my walk. The sun was shining, but some angry clouds were gathering. By the time I started on my third lap, I was concerned that I would get wet, but fortunately, the rain held off.

Once home, I found that we were boxed in by tradesmen's vans. Di had already asked them to move one, but it wasn't until I got home that they condescended to get out of the way. 

After some breakfast, we finished the shopping list and headed to Sainsbury's. Zoe, incidentally, has now invoked the private medical cover that she gets through work. She immediately got a Zoom consultation, and the Consultant has ordered an MRI. We are just waiting for a date. At least things are moving.

The Sainsbury's trip (and stop at M&S and B&Q) took a while, so no sooner were we home than we had to grab some lunch before going to collect Ellie for her weekly appointment in Chichester. We dropped her off, then went for a coffee where Di read her Kindle, and I reviewed my slides for tomorrow's Inspiration Day at St Columba's. While we were drinking our coffee, Di received a call from The Nuffield to set up the first of a series of appointments to get her ready for the knee replacement. It is amazing how quickly this works once you are in the system.

Spring Lunch - Attrition

Ellie had slept here overnight, so there was no need to get up for 6:30. We all got up and got ready at a leisurely pace, then walked Ellie to school. Di then gave me a lift to the station, and I grabbed the 09:26 to Victoria. 

I had arranged the spring lunch for the Band of Brothers. This was booked for The Betjeman Arms at St Pancras. Originally, I booked a table for 7. At one stage, the attendee list grew to 8, but I held my nerve with a booking for 7. In the last 24 hours, Charlie has had to drop out because of a hospital appointment.. While I was on the train, I had two further drop-outs due to health issues. I suggested on WhatsApp that I could change the venue to a phone booth, as the numbers dropped.

I arrived at Victoria and dropped down to the tube, taking the Victoria line to St Pancras. In our carriage, we had the usual entertainment of a "Peace and Love" preacher shouting his philosophy, then breaking into a tap dance every so often. In true English style, nobody batted an eyelid. He gave up and moved to another carriage at the next stop. Arriving at St Pancras, I walked through the various walkways and tunnels to get to the mainline station. I was 45 minutes early, so I had a slow wander around before presenting myself at the Betjeman Arms.

Andrew Mower arrived soon after I sat down, then Brian, and finally, Mike. We then sat and chatted for a couple of hours over lunch and some beers. We talked about everything from holidays to health and our families. In between, we had the usual school reminisces and general life updates. It was a lovely couple of hours (with some very good food).

As we left, I looked out of the windows and guessed there was a quicker way back to the tube. Sure enough, I walked out of the nearest exit, crossed the road, and dropped straight down to the platform. It was so much quicker and saved about 10 minutes of weaving through the walkways. I was soon back at Victoria and managed to get on the 16:05 train back to Bognor Regis, where Di was waiting in the car to drive me home. (It's lovely having such an accommodating chauffeuse.)

Training

 A normal start to the day. The sun was up, but it had been cold overnight. There were some overnight automated tasks that I had scheduled, and they didn't work. This meant a little bit of debugging with my morning coffee. I think I have cracked it, and will test again overnight tonight.

We walked to Zoe's to collect Ellie for school, only to hear that she had left her cardigan in the park last night. Grandpa turned around and headed for the park. The cardigan was hanging in the fence (so it hadn't got wet or damp), and it was soon on its way back to Zoe's to be hung up ready for use. We dropped Ellie at school, then went back home for breakfast. There was no walk this morning as I had a load of minor activities to complete.

Di drove to Yapton to see Ian and Trudy (who used to be our next-door neighbours). A parcel had been delivered for them, so we said we would drop it in. I left Di to it.

After lunch, we had some Kindle time until we had to collect Ellie. We took her home to Zoe, but Ellie has decided she wants to sleep at our house tonight, rather than get up early in the morning. 

Ellie had dinner with Zoe, but came to us afterwards, and I walked with her and Oscar to the football training session. 

She is the only girl in the group, but she seemed to enjoy it and certainly participated throughout the hour. They had various ball skills exercises and team exercises. She seemed to enjoy it and did well. She is asking to carry on for now.

The session finished at 19:00, and we headed home. As I write this, she is upstairs having a bath and getting ready for bed.

Knees Up

A certain degree of normality returned this morning. I had the alarm set for 6:30, and ten minutes later, Zoe arrived with Ellie.  She obviously went straight upstairs to get into bed with Nana. We soon clicked into the old pattern of activity and were ready to walk Ellie to school at 8:30.

Di headed home, and I went for my morning walk. It was very chilly to start with, but I soon warmed up. Once home, I grabbed some breakfast and then spent a morning doing some admin and refactoring several parts of my financial spreadsheet.

Di, meanwhile, was getting her information together for an afternoon appointment at the hospital. We drove to the Nuffield and were seen by a charming Consultant. He reviewed Di's description of the problem and her previous medical background. Then he showed her X-Rays and explained what was visible. He talked through the options, and she decided that the full knee replacement was the sensible option. That's it. The die is cast. We just have to wait for a date, but that is likely to be 2-3 months hence.

After some Kindle time, I left Di to rest while I went to collect Ellie from Athletics. It appears she has a "meet" on Wednesday afternoon, but we have no real details yet.