Meeting up

It was a dry day. This is worth mentioning as we seem to have had a spate of wet weather recently. It was a bit cooler, but it was dry.

During the morning we had the usual domestic chores to keep us busy, but at lunchtime,  we headed into Chichester. We took the bus (which, unusually, was a bit late), hopped off at the Cattle Market and wandered in along East Street. The Gorse Fox needed to drop in at the bank and pay in a cheque from the DVLA - a refund on the road fund license for the old Qashqai.

We then met up with some old (some might even say ancient) friends from the early years in Starfleet. They were down on Hayling Island staying at an hotel for a "Turkey and Tinsel" break.

We had a lovely time with them over lunch at Zizzi's. Like true "old friends" we just seemed to pick up where we left off last time we saw them. We chatted about old friends, family, health, technology, politics, and everything in between. We were there for hours, but we weren't being rushed in any way as the restaurant was quiet.

We finally paid the bill and made our way along to the bus station, where we parted until next time. Their bus headed west, ours headed east. Theirs would take 90 minutes, ours took about 15. `It was lovely to meet up and now we look forward to next time.

Meanwhile, back at home Cousteau-cub told us that a new position has arisen at work and she has decided, after a fair bit of thought, to apply for it. It all sounds very exciting, so we are hoping that she succeeds.

Studs

It turned into a day of epic rainfall. Local animals had started to queue up two-by-two and they kept checking on where Noah was. Needless to say, the Gorse Fox had picked today to return to football. Fortunately, he had a nic waterproof training top that he could wear, but that didn't stop his legs from getting soaked.

It was a good game, with the sides quite evenly balanced (or at least, so it seemed). The Gorse Fox was wearing his knee brace and trying very hard to take things carefully. We started to make progress. We were well organised at the back and were able to play the ball forward without too much trouble. Slowly, we started to get the odd goals. By half time, we were 4-0 ahead. Krakatoa Jack decided that we needed to swap a player, donating himself to the orange team and give us (the yellows) Peter the Vague. Despite this, we continued to control the game and the final score was 6 or 7 nil. The Gorse Fox failed to score.

Back home, it has been a quiet afternoon. The Silver Vixen, who had been to Pilates, stopped off to see Urban-cub on her way through. Then once she was home and had had some lunch she went to a couple of neighbours to drop off Xmas presents from Mark the Cat Whisperer to their cats.

As the Gorse Fox writes this a ragu is bubbling away on the hob. Now he just needs to decide on the pasta.

Beware

It was a bleak, wet day. A day for staying indoors and that is exactly what the Gorse Fox did. (The Silver Vixen, however, had a quick trip for a doctor's appointment, and both Coventry Hobbit and Cousteau-Cub had to go to work).

Staying in, the Gorse Fox got on with several of the household chores and started to think about a menu for Saturday, when we are expecting some guests. Menu is still not decided, but the nice man from Amazon will be delivering some spices tomorrow which can be hard to find in Sainsbury's.

The phone rang. It was from a mobile number that the Gorse Fox did not recognise. He answered and there was a brief pause. Then the call kicked in. "This is a call from Ofcom to inform you that your internet will be disconnected unless..." The Gorse Fox hung up. Yet another scam call. Ofcom do not provide the Gorse Fox's internet. They have no direct control over his service. The best they could do would be to ask his internet provider to block the service (and he doubts very much that they would comply without some form of court order). Obviously this will all change if Comrade Corbyn gets in and nationalises the internet. Then he can choose to switch it off if people criticise or start to organise against him... but what do you expect from a totalitarian Marxist. The Gorse Fox still shakes his head in disbelief at the young followers of this cult. They clearly have no concept of how bad things were last time the UK had a hard left government.

The Gorse Fox has completed another draft of his notes for Mrs Tiggywingle regarding Google Photos. He added some extra information and tidied up some diagrams. He is now feeling moderately content with Apple's "Pages" app, particularly as it works seamlessly across desktop, laptop, iPad, and iPhone.

Groove

Today we slotted back into the groove of normal life. There were chores to complete and admin to get done. On top of that, we had to collect Jasper from the cattery. Nothing exciting, just the normal groove.

The Gorse Fox got things underway with a trip to Sainsbury's to collect some essentials and to fill the car up. He was delighted that we had managed the whole Devon trip on a single tank and still had the best part of 100 miles left. This was unexpected. He had assumed that we would need to refill while down there.

Back home, the Silver Vixen was wading through the piles of washing. The Gorse Fox retired to the study to deal with various items of paperwork that had arrived while we were away - most importantly, the insurance documents for the car. Duly scanned in, they have been filed away in case they are ever needed.

The afternoon saw us collect Jasper. He had clearly enjoyed his break with Mark at the cattery and insisted on telling us about it, very loudly, all the way home.

There and Back

There had been entertainment and a dance at the hotel. We could hear it from our room, but it wasn't troubling and quietened down after eleven. It was a our last night in the hotel and we slept well.

The Gorse Fox got up first, made the tea, and then got things underway with respect to packing up. By the time we were ready to go down for breakfast, he had already taken one load down to the car. Breakfast itself was the usual sumptuous choice and impeccable service. We had decided that we would eat well then grab some dinner when we got closer to home, and not bother in between.

Once we had finished the packing and loaded the car we checked out and headed out onto the Queen's highway. Our first port of call would be Exmouth, where the Silver Vixen had lived for a while as a child. We headed west over Peak Hill. The rain of the last few days had left debris all over the lanes and at one point we were confronted with a section of road that was completely flooded. As we approached a car came in the opposite direction. The Gorse Fox pulled over to allow him through and to assess the depth of the water. Content that it was not too deep, we moved forward and emerged unscathed at the far end.

Exmouth was much bigger than the Silver Vixen had remembered it. We found the road on which she had lived. This area has clearly been completely redeveloped and is now a marina surrounded by up-market apartments and homes. Not what she remembers at all.

There was no real reason to stay, so we plugged the home address into the SatNav and followed the nice lady's instructions as she led us back up to the A30 and then eastwards along the A35, A31, and A27 towards home.

We stopped off in Chichester for Sunday lunch/dinner. We had planned to go to "Cote Brasserie", but they had a 45-minute wait for a table. We wandered down South Street to "Trents". We got a table immediately but still had a bit of await for the food, but it was tasty, and it was just what we needed. Sated, we would not need to eat again today. We returned to the car and drove the last few miles home.

Cousteau-cub was in, editing some photos on her computer. She had been out earlier with Ellie. Pistol Pete had brought Ellie over and she and Cousteau-cub had gone to the cinema to see "Frozen 2". It was Ellie's first time in a cinema and she clearly loved the experience. (We did manage to have a video-call with her later in the afternoon).

As ever, it was nice to be home, but we had enjoyed a super few days away and we would certainly return to that hotel in the future.

Out and about

It rained. In fact it rained in Biblical proportions. The maintenance man at the hotel had started building an Ark. We would decide on today’s schedule after breakfast.

With more people staying in the hotel, there was a gentle background hubbub in the restaurant over breakfast. We watched as the clouds rolled in, then cleared a bit, then rolled back, then cleared a bit more. The Silver Vixen decided that there was some Christmas shopping that was needed and we could stroll into town and shelter as we hopped across the puddles from shop to shop. While we were in one of the shops we overheard one of the locals bemoaning the fact that several of the roads into and out of the town were completely blocked by the torrents running off the hills. Clearly, staying put in Sidmouth was the right choice today. Sidmouth does have a certain Edwardian charm.

We were out for several hours and made a number of purchases. As we made our way back towards the hotel, the rain had cleared so we diverted along the Clifton walkway that runs along under the cliffs. We had to dodge torrents of water that were cascading down across the path in places, but it saves visiting Angel Falls in South America!

At the end of the walkway we made our way up the ramp to the Connaught Gardens to take in the view. On a sunny day it must be lovely. Today it wasn’t bad but the grey of the sky flattened all of the colours.

We made our way back to the hotel The road (Peak Hill) was completely awash and we had to watch for traffic to ensure we didn’t get completely soaked.

Back in the hotel, the Silver Vixen spent some time reading and the Gorse Fox tried to get to grips the the “Pages” app on his iPad. He is intent on providing some clear documentation for Mrs Tiggywinkle and this seemed like a good excuse to learn a new word processor. It was a slow process at first, with all of the tools being accessible, but accessed differently from the traditional word processors he has used. Most frustrating, at present, is the fine placement of illustrations or pictures. He is sure he will crack it, but it is slow going. We interrupted our afternoon challenges to go down for a cream tea (well, you have to, don’t you?), but carried on with book and word processor over tea.

It was good to see an opening win for Jose Mourinho at Spurs today. Let’s hope he can revitalise the team and get the results pouring in once more.

Good friends

Yesterday’s dinner was another very enjoyable affair. The Gorse Fox had a starter of smoked gurnard,  a palate cleanser of whiting, and a main dish of roast sirloin. Exquisite. A small jazz combo provided the musical accompaniment and a table of four harpies with voices like screech owls tried to drown them out. Fortunately, the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox were far enough away that it wasn’t too troublesome.

We retired to the peace and tranquility of the lounge for some after dinner coffee. A young couple came in. The Gorse Fox recognised the girl as one of the folk that was booked in to the spa for a facial. He commented to the Silver Vixen that she had wasted her money. He got kicked.

The harpies wandered in. One commented how lovely and quiet it was, and they settled down nearby. The peace was shattered as they held forth on showers over baths, heated towel rails, surplus furniture, mobile phones, selfies, and 101 other topics that nobody else had any interest in, but they were intent on sharing. We retired to our room.

This morning we had a quiet start, wandering down to breakfast just after nine o’clock. The forecast was wet, but the rain hadn’t yet started. We had plans to go and see Mrs Tiggywinkle and Badger. We gathered our things and got on the road. We stopped en route in Ottery-St-Mary in order to raise Sainsbury’s, but soon got back on the road. B and Mrs T live in Wellington so it wasn’t too far. We pottered up the M5 and arrived in time for a nice coffee and a chat. Badger was busy preparing a wonderful lunch, but was still very interested in the new car, as they are thinking of a change next year.

Lunch was a lavish affair with a choice of past with duck ragu or rice with garlic chicken. Well it all looked so good that we tried both. It was delicious. For sweet, Mrs T had prepared a fabulous cheesecake that just melted in the mouth. We were seriously spoilt.

During the afternoon the Gorse Fox helped Mrs Tiggywinkle with her digital photo management across devices. (When he gets time he’ll write this up and send her a copy). He also tried to sort out her over-capacity “OneDrive” but was too rusty on Windows to get to a satisfactory conclusion. He’ll have to try it out on a Windows machine at home (if he can find it) and see if he can come to a sensible conclusion.

It was late afternoon before we left. It had been a wonderful few hours. It is always so nice to catch up with true friends. We got on the road and headed back south to Sidmouth. We were back in the hotel within the hour. We got changed and headed to the bar before dinner. The harpies were there picking over some corpse or other (though it might have been an amuse bouche). The pitch of their collective screech seemed to have risen another octave... but still not quite enough for them to be only heard by dogs and bats.

Dinner was excellent again. The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox both started with a ham hock terrine and then she had pork loin cutlets, while he had venison. He noticed that the restaurant was very busy compared with last night. There seemed to be a lot more bodies about, and most of them were still young enough to have a pulse. There was a real buzz of chatter over the background pianist.

After dinner we, again, retired to the quiet of the lounge. We sat by one of the huge picture windows and were quite mesmerised by the rain as it blasted against the window. After a tea we sat in the peace and quiet, but as the harpies approached we made tracks for our room. Even now, back in our room, we can hear the banshee howling of the wind and clatter of the rain as it blasts in from the sea. We cannot, however, hear the harpies. It’s nice to be in the warmth and comfort of our room.

Birthday

Well, today is the Silver Vixen’s birthday. We woke with a cup of tea and a pile of Birthday cards to wade through. They are now standing on every flat surface in our room. We reflected on yesterday evening. We had gone down to bar for a drink and enjoyed an “amuse bouche” with our tipple. Slowly the bar began to fill up with some of the people from the tour. The Gorse Fox concluded that they were kept in special rooms within the hotel. The beds probably had headstones as opposed to headboards... and there was the heady aroma of lavender mixed with embalming fluid as you enter that wing. One old dear called out “Have you had a nice day, dear?” To her friend. The reply was “Well, I’m still alive!” So the Gorse Fox assumes that’s what constitutes a good day for that tour bus.

Dinner was superb. It was 4 courses and followed by tea or coffee in the lounge. A pianist titled away on his ivories in the corner of the restaurant and there was a pleasant hubbub without it being too noisy. The Silver Vixen started with melon and then a black current sorbet before enjoying the pork belly followed by coffee parfait. The Gorse Fox had a sea bream terrine followed by monkfish before tucking into pork belly followed by cheesecake. A nice bottle of Merlot accompanied all of this.

Today we had a good breakfast down in the restaurant and then headed in to town for a stroll around before the forecast rain set in. The wind was, again, really bracing and it was blowing foam off the sea and across the road. We stopped off at Boots again. The Gorse Fox decided some ibuprofen would be sensible for his knee. Certainly it seems to have improved during the day, since taking it.

When we got back to the hotel a big bunch of flowers was awaiting in the room. This had been arranged by Urban-Cub and Ellie. That was a nice surprise. We had a chat with her and Ellie before getting changed and heading down to the pool and spa.

We started with a swim. It wasn’t a big pool, but it was lovely and warm and we were the only two people making use of it. We glided back and forth for while. The background lighting was a deep blue, and “New Age” music was playing gently over the speakers. It wasn’t so much exercise, as relaxation.  Eventually we decided that we had swum enough, and headed for the sauna. Again, it wasn’t big, but plenty big enough for the two of us. It’s a long time sine the Gorse Fox has had a sauna. He had forgotten how much he enjoys them.

Properly roasted we then headed for the relaxation area. Here, shaped stone seats provide a comfortable place to chill out. The stone seats are actually heated, so you sit there on a warm griddle slowly cooking. It was delightful (particularly when we had finally got the second of these seats to heat up properly).

Back in our room it is clear that the rain has set in for the rest of the day (as forecast). The Gorse Fox suspects that afternoon tea is next on the agenda.

Travelling, but not far

The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen are off travelling again. Only for a few days, but after all, she has a Birthday to celebrate.

We loaded the car and set off mid-morning. Google said the journey would take us 3 hours and 11 minutes, but we were in no hurry. We pottered westbound in the mid morning traffic. The Gorse Fox marvelled at the ease with which the adaptive cruise control dealt with the journey. Indeed, he drove from Chichester to the outskirts of Bournemouth without touching the brake or accelerator - just reading the road and adjusting the speed to match the speed limits. By Bournemouth we had averaged of 50mpg. Outstanding!

We stopped a The Crown Inn at Bridport to break the journey. It’s just over 100 miles from home and it was time for a comfort break, a coffee, and a snack. It turned out to be a super little find. The coffee was good and their sausage and onion baguette was extremely tasty.

Back on the road, the last part of the journey took about 40 minutes. In all it had taken just a smidgeon over 3 hours and we had averaged 48mpg. The car had been quiet, roomy, refined, very comfortable, and economical. What more could you want?

We checked in to the imposing Victorian pile that is “Victoria Hotel”. It is like something out of a film set and, at any moment, you expect Miss Marple to wander by with her knitting in one hand and bottle of gin in the other. It is very special.

Our stateroom is rather plush with views out over the bay. It certainly looks as if it will be very comfortable. We unpacked and made ourselves comfortable before heading out for a walk and chance to have a look at the town itself.

As we left a coach pulled up. It was the first time the Gorse Fox had seen Perry Mortem Tours for many years, but the doors opened and and the chronologically-challenged spilled out to make their way to reception.

We headed down the drive and walked along the promenade towards the town centre. There was a brisk wind and the waves were really stirring up the beach. The water was stained red from the underlying red sandstone. It was really quite exhilarating. We wandered round the town and the Gorse Fox stopped in Boots to get a knee brace. His knee is not getting any better and today feels decidedly troublesome. As we headed back, the sun broke through the clouds to west. It was the perfect end to nice brisk walk.

Back at the hotel we settled down in the lounge for afternoon tea and now we are back in our room having a quiet hour or so before dressing for dinner this evening.

Consumption

It was a cold night (outside). Jasper was not in the slightest bit interested in taking his morning stroll. Oh no, he went and perched on his throne in the living room. The Gorse Fox left him to his own devices.

Pistol Pete was having his car serviced today. The Gorse Fox had volunteered to go and collect him and give him a lift home. Fortunately, the timing was such that the worst of the rush hour traffic was gone and the Gorse Fox just sailed through to the garage in question. Pistol Pete hopped in and we headed back to LA. He seemed to like the car (which is just as well because we're not changing it now). Over the journey to Chichester, back to LA, then home the Gorse Fox managed to achieve over 42mpg. This is well over the official target figure and given that it has the aerodynamic qualities of a brick, and has an automatic gearbox, that's pretty good.

The Gorse Fox downloaded some new drivers for the printer in his study. Catalina hadn't given any trouble for basic printing, but the Gorse Fox found that the scanning function wasn't working properly (requiring a restart of the software after every scan). The new drivers seem to have cured the problem.

The afternoon saw the usual game of "hide and seek" with Jasper. Eventually, we managed to dig him out from under the bed and deposit him in his carrier. He meowed all the way to the cattery but settled immediately when he arrived. Knowing he's with Mark, at the cattery, is a weight off the collective mind. We know he is happy and will be well looked after.

Now we can get out the suitcases and start to ponder what we will need for a few days.

Preparing

The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen are preparing for a short trip. As a result, it has been a day of bits and pieces.

It all started with a trip to Skoda to see if the Gorse Fox could get to the bottom of the DAB radio tuning. A nice engineer came and sat with him and in a slightly condescending way explained how it worked. The Gorse Fox said, ok then do it. It didn’t work. Much head scratching began and a random selection of buttons and settings were altered. Nothing. “You’ll have to book it in so I can put it on the probe” said the confused engineer. Another random button was pressed. The Gorse Fox agreed to set it up. At that moment the missing national stations on DAB appeared. Now the engineer was really confused. “But I haven’t done anything” he wailed. The Gorse Fox responded “Whatever you didn’t do worked perfectly. Thank you”. He drove home, a happy man.

Next there was some shopping to complete. This took longer than expected as the coupon that the Gorse Fox was spending (and expires tomorrow) wasn’t being accepted by the automatic till. A nice man came to help. He pressed some buttons. Nothing. He called a nice young lady. She pressed some buttons and concluded the Gorse Fox need to spend a few pound more to exhaust the value of the voucher. This, indeed, worked.

The Silver Vixen has gone out with Lady Penelope this afternoon. It’s an opportunity for her to explore the new car a bit more as the Gorse Fox has done most of the driving so far.

In preparation for the short trip, the Gorse Fox is planning to use his iPad instead of his usual Lenovo Tablet. This then is a test of how practical it is for blogging and how easy it is (or isn’t) to include photos.

If all goes well, there will be a photo of Cousteau-Cub and Urban-Cub when young, embedded in this post.

Birthday

It's been a nice day. It's been cool and grey but we don't let the weather dictate our mood. The Gorse Fox was up and enjoying his first (well, only) coffee when the Coventry Hobbit came down. He had come home with the keys to the waste bins at work, yesterday. These needed to be returned. He thought he would pop into Chichester, return the keys, and then go swimming. Well, he was half right. He returned the keys, however, had forgotten his spots centre pass and his playlist for swimming, so came back home.

The Gorse Fox headed off to football. He took the Silver Vixen's new car and despite the official figures, managed to exceed 40mpg. He was happy. The football looked a bit one-sided again. Again, this was not in the Gorse Fox's favour, but again we managed to grind out a win. There was only one goal from the Gorse Fox, but that was crucial as we only won by the single goal.

Back home and showered we all went out to The Oystercatcher for a few drinks to celebrate Pistol Pete's birthday. We were there for a couple of hours and all seemed to have a good time to celebrate his anniversary.

10K

Well, that was a milestone. Yesterday's blog post was the 10,000th entry the Gorse Fox has published since October 2004, when he started. It's been a blast and the Gorse Fox is still hooked on the whole process.

Today has been very ordinary. The morning was spent sitting in the new car trying to get to grips with all of the things that are available. He thinks that most items are set up and working. The one outstanding issue seems to be the DAB radio. FM works fine, but DAB seems limited to the local stations only. The Gorse Fox will have to go back to Skoda on Monday and get them to look at it (not that we use the DAB radio much).

This afternoon saw a trip to Sainsbury's, but that's the extent of today's excitement. (The Gorse Fox has made the most of the Nectar offering to double our points - this gives us a significant voucher that we must spend in-store by Tuesday; it sounds like we may be stocking up on the wine for Christmas).

Recycle

It has been another busy day. The Gorse Fox started with calls to the insurance company. The new car needed to be covered, and the old one dropped from the policy. It turns out that in such a case they effectively recycle the policy with any appropriate adjustments in price. In this case, it is actually cheaper, so that was unexpected.

Then the Gorse Fox returned to the car's manual to try and discover a few more tricks. He thinks that we now have automatic repositioning of the driver's seat according to which key fob we use. We'll have to check this out, but he thinks he has set it up correctly.

We headed across to Urban-cub's in LA. With her house on the market, it was time to help her move things about to "dress" the house for viewing. We were only there for a couple of hours but suspect that we have improved things.

This afternoon was about recycling the old car. The Gorse Fox took the Qashqai back to the dealer. Unfortunately, he was just in the middle of a handover to another customer so the Gorse Fox had to sit around and twiddle his thumbs for a while (though a little exercise is always welcome). Eventually, he was finished and handed over a very nice cheque and the Gorse Fox handed over the registration documents. Deal done, we left and dropped into Bognor where we went straight to the Bank so that the cheque was presented as soon as possible.

Now the Gorse Fox thinks itis time to put his feet up and then go out for a beer and order a takeaway.

Wheels

It's been an interesting day. There was the usual cluster of domestic items to start the day... clearing up the carpet after Jasper had vomited, bringing in the shopping from Ocado, and taking Cousteau-cub to the hospital for a check-up. On this latter trip, it became clear that the roads were busy, so the Gorse Fox scooted round the back way to avoid the worst of the traffic. Cousteau-cub was much longer at the hospital than she had expected so the Gorse Fox volunteered to collect her and take her into work. Using the back-doubles helped but we soon discovered that roadworks, just north of Bersted, were the source of the problem.  All further trips today avoided the area and used the Lower Bognor Road.

After lunch, Two Hats and Tinkerbell gave us a lift into Chichester to collect the new car. The hand-over was very detailed and we must have been with the salesperson for nearly two hours. He took our money (which turned out to be less than the Gorse Fox had expected) then took us through most of the car's features, functions, and technologies. Whether we remember any of them will be another matter!

We drove back, trying some of the features that we had remembered. Like most new cars it had about a soupspoon of petrol in the tank so our first stop was Sainsbury's to top it up. Once home, the Gorse Fox started to read the manual. This is a very advanced bit of automotive technology and there's a lot we have to learn.

It is the Silver Vixen's car (just in time for her Birthday). Tomorrow she will drive it for the first time, having insisted that the Gorse Fox drive it back from the dealer.

Adminagain

The Gorse Fox is still nursing his swollen knee, so there was no football today. The Silver Vixen, however, went off to Pilates.

For the Gorse Fox, the time was not wasted. He sorted out the temporary insurance cover for the new car and re-read all the agreements. He was surprised, and pleased to find that his payments on this car will be a 40GBP less than he had originally expected. That's a result!

Much of the rest of the day has been spent redrafting the backup schedules for "Condor". It's not that they are complex, it's more a case of how they are spaced out across the 24-hour period, and which ones are run daily, which are weekly, and which are monthly. Each had to be set up, and each had to be tested. He thinks they are all done now, but he may make a few minor modifications once he has seen them in action for a few days.

One thing that may not immediately occur to the reader is that with a modern car being sold back to a dealer (or, indeed, a private individual) it is important to clear out the SatNav history, the Home setting, and all of the address books and call logs. Also, any phones must be unpaired. This didn't take too long, but the Gorse Fox didn't want to leave it until the last minute and then forget!

Still awake

It has been a good day, despite the early start. The Silver Vixen went off to the hairdresser and the Gorse Fox settled down for some admin. The first thing on the agenda was to check an offer from our utility supplier. The offer would expire next week so it was time to see if we could really benefit. Though the offer was good, the Gorse Fox found a better offer still. He has now started the process of switching energy supplier again.

He settled down to catch up on some domestic chores but the phone beeped. It was a message from Lady Penelope. Old Bill's cataract operation was complete. The Gorse Fox had agreed to go and collect him, so he hopped in the car and headed across to Shoreham. The traffic was fairly benign so the trip didn't take too long. We soon got Old Bill (or is it Captain Hook, with his eyepatch) home.

While the this trip was underway the Gorse Fox had set Condor up to upgrade to "Catalina". This afternoon the Gorse Fox has been completing the upgrade. Everything seemed to go fine, with one notable exception. The backup system has lost all of its schedules... and the one thing that the backup system didn't backup was its own schedules. The Gorse Fox has spent the afternoon rebuilding all of those schedules. There's still a few to go, but they are the backups of things that rarely change so only get backed up monthly. (The Gorse Fox should clarify that it is only the schedules that have disappeared, not the backups themselves).

Awake

The Gorse Fox was wide awake and beginning to get fidgety. It was time to get up. Normally there would be football to play, as it's Tuesday. Today, however, the Gorse Fox is giving it a miss. His knee has swollen up a bit and is feeling a bit unstable (though doesn't hurt at all). He decided that discretion being the better part of valour, he would rest it.

X-Files

There was a lot to do. The Gorse Fox made an early start.

First on the agenda was the completion of the documents for Skoda. The possible issue was the statement in their covering note that their online system doesn't work properly with Apple products. Now regular readers will know that the Gorse Fox has about 15 computers and tablets, only one of which is a Windows computer and, frankly, the Gorse Fox has no idea where that is. The hope was that he could complete the online documents from one of the Linux computers. After a bit of a false start, this actually worked and the Gorse Fox breathed a sigh of relief. (It seems and immensely silly thing to produce an app in this day and age that doesn't work with Apple products).

Everything was now underway with regards to the collection of the new car, later this week.

Now the Gorse Fox had to deal with the existing car. A quick call to Nissan saw the Gorse Fox whizzing around to our local dealer. There was no fuss. He was true to his offer from last month and we completed the paperwork. He now has to get the cheque raised and we will swap his cheque for our existing car later this week. Done.

That was the important stuff done. Now we could await the arrival for Agent Mulder and Scully. They had been staying with the Gorse Foxs sister overnight and would be coming down to visit. At least they had a nice bright day for the trip. When they arrived we had a brief "hello" before heading back out to Chichester. The Gorse Fox had a table booked at the Giggling Squid. As usual, the food and the ambience were just perfect and encouraged us to just sit and chat. Cousteau-cub popped-in to say hello during her lunch break, which was nice. (We realised that it had probably been at least 25 years since she had seen Scully).

Back home by mid-afternoon, we settled down to chat, to drink (tea, water, and coke), and to enjoy some cheesecake. We whiled away a few hours, during which the Coventry Hobbit arrived home, and then Cousteau-cub got in. With Scully and Mulder we arranged the dates for our vacation in Jamaica. It looks as if they will join us for the latter part of our trip next year. We are really looking forward to that as we had so much fun this year.

Eventually, it was time to say goodbye. We waved them off into the post-rush hour traffic, as they headed back to the Gorse Fox's sister's house. It really has been a lovely day.

Eventually there was more light

It was a bright but chilly day. It was a day that was destined to be full.

It started with football. The Gorse Fox was picked for the yellow team and we managed to hold things tight for the first tem minutes or so. Then the orange bibs seemed to click into gear. AT half-time we were 3-1 down. The Gorse Fox had a few words of guidance for our forwards and in the second half, we started to haul things back. We also had an audience in the second half. One of the local teams were on-site for training and lined the barriers to watch. By the end of the game, the Gorse Fox's team had prevailed. Two goals from the Gorse Fox (one eliciting a round of applause from the audience) added to our total and took us to a 12-8 win.

Back home there was time for a quick shower, then the Gorse Fox met with Two Hats and we (well, he) removed the old dashcam from the Qashqai and installed it in the Fiesta. This didn't go quite as smoothly as we hoped, but at least it was done.

While we had been playing with the cars, the Silver Vixen had been doing a deep clean in the kitchen following the week's decorating. From there she went out to the Orangery and continued.

Next on the agenda was a trip to the local tip. Various boxes and bags of garden detritus had been accumulating in the garage. It was time for it to be cleared out. Being a bright Sunday, the Gorse Fox expected a queue at the tip but was pleased to be able to go straight in and out.

It was gone two o'clock and the Gorse Fox still hadn't heard from John Lewis to say his ceiling light had arrived. He decided to go along to the store. "Hello, my man, I am here to collect my ceiling light, order numb xxyyxxyyy". The nice man checked his computer. "I'm afraid it's not here, but it says it has been delivered to Chichester" a puzzled look crossed his face. "This is the third such case I have dealt with today" he explained. We debated the situation and concluded that these articles had probably been delivered to Waitrose, but that didn't help. Fortunately, the particular light was now in stock, so the nice man called Head Office (or wherever) and cancelled the original order and triggered a refund, then the Gorse Fox re-purchased the item from stock. Sorted.

Back home, he switched off the power and removed the old light. Installed the new light was a bit fiddly and when he switched the lighting circuit back on, nothing happened. He went back and fiddled some more. Nada. He went an spoke to Two Hats. He pointed out that there was an RCD master switch which had probably tripped when the Gorse Fox was working on the earth lead. Sure enough, that was the answer. The lights are now installed and working.

We had a flying visit from the Silver Vixen's nephew, late in the afternoon. He had been down at Butlins for the weekend with some friends and realising how close we were thought come and say hello.

And there was light

The weather has been foul. It started off with  a hard frost on the Orangery but slowly the cloud cover took over. With the cloud came a small rise in temperature and incessant rain.

The Gorse Fox whizzed round to B&Q and then on to Screwfix. He needed a lamp switch, some cable and various bits and pieces to finish installing the new lamp in the family room. Installing you may ask? Well we decided on its location and realised the supplied cable wasn't long enough. New cable was fitted with a new switch, then the cable was run to the appropriate place through some more of the trunking.

The phone buzzed. A text message arrived from John Lewis to say the ceiling light was ready for collection. Cousteau-Cub decided to come along for the ride and raid Sainsbury's while the Gorse Fox was in John Lewis. It didn't take too long and soon after we got home Urban-Cub and Ellie arrived for a short visit. It was useful have Urban-Cub there. Because she is quite tall she was able to help hold the ceiling light while the old one was removed over the dining table and while the new one was being wired up and installed. We are very pleased with the finished job. So pleased, in fact, that we have ordered a further identical light for family room. That should arrive tomorrow.

The Gorse Fox sent an email-nudge to Skoda. Within a few minutes we had a reply. It seems that they want to send some documents through but are having a few problems this afternoon, but additionally they have asked what day we this week we would like to collect the new car. That sounds like real progress. (Now the Gorse Fox needs to get a little help from Two Hats to switch the dashcam out of the Qashqai into the Fiesta and to complete the sale of the QQ back to Nissan).

Lights

There was a brief panic this morning. Apparently, Pistol Pete hadn't been well and Urban-Cub asked if we could look after Ellie. There was nothing planned so we readily agreed. Then Pistol Pete decided he would be all right and we weren't needed. G-Force could stand down.

We had decided that the current lighting in the kitchen/family room wasn't really ideal, particularly now that the walls had been re-painted. This meant that a trip to the John Lewis' lighting department was needed. We wandered in, scanned the lights, hummed, hah'd, and eventually chose a new ceiling light to replace the existing pendants that are above the table. They didn't have one in stock, so the Gorse Fox will have to collect it tomorrow. In addition to the ceiling light we also selected a small table lamp, which we were able to bring away with us.

From there we had a whistle-stop tour of a couple of shops looking for some specific cushion covers that the Silver Vixen had seen. They weren't in stock, either. We headed back to the car and went on to Rustington. We were luckier there. We need 4 cushion covers (and their associated cushions) - they had 5 in stock. Money changed hands, the car was loaded and we headed back towards home, stopping off at The Oystercatcher for lunch on the way. We didn't push the boat out, just select from their lunchtime set menu. Some baked portobello mushroom id garlic and cheddar sauce to start with, then a chicken and mushroom pie for the main dish. Nothing special, just good pub grub.

House sitting

The morning has been a little bitty. There was the usual Ocado delivery, then the Gorse Fox had to take Cousteau-Cub to the physio at the local cottage hospital (she would get the bus from there straight to work after her treatment). Next on the plan was a well needed haircut.  The Gorse Fox had thought about having cornrows but was worried about cultural appropriation (and his ever diminishing supply of hair).

After lunch it was the Silver Vixen’s turn to go to the physio. That didn’t take long and was really a sign-off as her treatment was over. Then it was over to Urban-Cub’s house where we house/dog sat during a viewing.

As the Gorse Fox said, a bit bitty.

Back to normal

Another day, another paint roller. Again the Gorse Fox started preparations as soon as he had finished his coffee. The Coventry Hobbit helped with the larger dresser, and once that was out of the way it was plain sailing.

The end wall was painted and the dresser moved back then as the room cleared it was possible to re-paint the wall that had dried patchy after the change in paint tins. Once that was done it was just a matter of putting everything back together. The shelves were rehung, the network switch installed, the Sky-Q box mounted and the TV restored to its bracket. All-in-all it is looking very cozy and we are both pleased. The Silver Vixen is now returning all the crockery and glasses to the dresser and sorting out where everything else needs to go.

Great progress

The Gorse Fox got stuck in from the word go. He finished his first cup of coffee then started moving the furniture to get a clear run at the walls. Out came the masking tape and by ten o'clock the wall was ready for paint.

The rollers started to spin and paint leapt up the walls. All was going well until the Gorse Fox got to the end of the first pot of paint. The second pot, though mixed at the same time, was a slightly lighter shade. On a complete wall, this wouldn't have been an issue, but halfway along a wall, it screamed at you. This wall had to be repainted. Even now, the Gorse Fox is wondering if it may need a further coat as he thinks he can still see some patches where the colour hasn't quite matched. Never mind, that won't take too long but can wait until tomorrow.

Only one wall to go now. That will need some help from the Coventry Hobbit as there is a huge dresser that needs to be moved.

Making Headway

The Gorse Fox woke up with a mission. The mission was to get the long wall of the kitchen/family room painted. He knew it would take much of the day so started removing the blinds and various obstacles to painting as soon as he had finished his first coffee of the day. A trip to the DIY store was required to top up on masking tape and to buy the cable trunking, but that didn’t take long.

As usual it was the prep that took the time. Getting the windows, doors, ceiling, and skirtings masked off took the rest of the morning. After lunch, however, it was easy to start wielding the brush and roller. It was late afternoon before we were finished. The Silver Vixen had client the day circling behind the Gorse Fox and moving things around and cleaning them. The last big job before moving the furniture back was to get the cable trunking installed. This went remarkably smoothly and the Gorse Fox was able to rethink the cable runs, freeing up a convenient socket for more convenient use. All the furniture is back in place, the Gorse Fox just needs to reinstall the TV at some point.

The decorating will continue tomorrow, but shouldn’t be as fiddly.

On other matters we heard from Skoda that the Silver Vixen’s car is now in the UK and we should should get a firm date for delivery later in the week.

Lost Lake

Yesterdays' foul weather has been replaced by a bright and gentle day. The wind has dropped and all is still.

The Gorse Fox had an appointment at football this morning. The guy who picks the teams each week confessed to the Gorse Fox that it looked a bit uneven and he was onto a hiding. The Gorse Fox looked and evaluated and guessed he was probably right.  The game started and we were under the cosh immediately. Having said that, the Gorse Fox managed a break and scored to open up the account for the day. By half-time, we were 5-1 ahead somehow. The second half was a bit more frantic but despite the opponents throwing everything they had at us, we hung on and ended up as outright winners 11-5, with a contribution of 4 goals from the Gorse Fox.

Back home the Gorse Fox arrived just in time to find the Coventry Hobbit and Cousteau-cub just leaving with Urban-cub and Ellie to walk their dog in Hotham Park. The Gorse Fox masked up the end wall and cracked open the paint can. Forty-five minutes later the end "feature" wall was finished. We chose a soft sheen colour called Lost Lake, which is a deep blue shade. He must say he is very happy with the result.

Closer

The weather has been foul. There have been incredibly strong winds and tons of rain. It's been the perfect day to stay indoors.

Urban-cub and Ellie came round for the morning. Cousteau-cub and the Silver Vixen looked after Ellie while the Gorse Fox and Urban-cub went to see the local agent for the developer. Once we were back we had a fun couple of hours with Ellie. After some lunch, Ellie and Urban-cub took Cousteau-cub back to LA with them and left the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox to their own devices. We put our collective feet up for half an hour then looked at the decorating that stretched out ahead of us.

The Gorse Fox spent an hour or so removing the cables and feeds for the TV in the family room and preparing the area for the first coat of paint. He won't start on that today but should be able to hit the ground running when he gets down to it tomorrow (after football). The Silver Vixen attacked the bucket chairs (or at least one of them) with the Bissel Spot Cleaner that the Gorse Fox uses on the carpets. We'll have to see how it dries, but the wastewater from the process implies that a good deal of day-to-day dust and grime have been lifted from the fabrics.

Old age can be a strain. The Gorse Fox spent a while trying to think of the best way to make an accurate, if fiddly, cut in some cable trunking. His conclusion was that he would need some form of oscillating multitool. He looked at the prices online. A little steep, he thought. He texted Two Hats and he didn't have anything suitable. He returned to the online sites. Then he saw a good candidate device. As he started to consider it, the fog slowly cleared and it occurred to him that he already has just such a tool. He bought it as a special offer some eighteen months ago and has never even opened the box. Doh!

The Time Approaches

Earlier in the Summer the Silver Vixen and the Gorse Fox looked at some paint colours for the kitchen/family room. We made a rough decision, but there were other priorities at the time. Today we decided it was time to resurrect the idea for decorating the kitchen. We started by revisiting the colours and trying some test patches on the wall. The eventual choice, while similar, was different from the initial colours.

The Gorse Fox went in to our local Deluxe Decorators Centre and had the colours prepared. The cans are now sitting in the kitchen waiting for some action. We are, however, expecting Urban-Cub and Ellie in the morning so decided not to get stuck-in until after that. The Gorse Fox has also been looking at some cable trunking. This should provide tidier cable runs that we currently have. Everything is now in place, so we can start tomorrow... or Sunday... or Monday. (You have to realise that it's very busy being retired).

Odiham

We had a day out. Betty and Barney Rubble had finally managed to move house and it was time to go and visit, now that the boxes were out of the way. They are still in Odiham, but now at the opposite end of the village.

The journey was made a little more interesting by the closure of the road near South Harting and a tortuous diversion down a single track road. Unfortunately it may have been single track, but it was two-way!

We found the house without any problems. It's about 35 years old, but in good condition. It has nice open-plan feel downstairs with a bright garden room at the back. There's plenty of space with a couple of spare bedrooms and an attic room which Betty  refers to as her art room, but could just as easily be used to keep her shackled and locked away! Barney has plans to add solar panels, a battery store, and replace the boiler with a heat pump. Sounds expensive, but it will reduce the running costs for the house.

We went across to Upton Grey for lunch. The Hoddington Arms provided a good menu and some good coffee. The Gorse Fox started with some mackerel and followed that with some pork belly; delicious. We pottered back to Odiham and spent the afternoon drinking tea and chatting before heading home just before six.

Close one

It was bright but not sunny. The Gorse Fox had football scheduled, but the Silver Vixen had no Pilates this week. This worked out well as it meant we could shift the Ocado order a day earlier than usual.

Checking the traffic, as he sometimes does, the Gorse Fox diverged from his normal route to avoid some horrendous local tailbacks. The diversion worked well and he was at the Worthing Leisure Centre at the same time as usual. We had a tight 8-v-8 game today. It was very competitive, but fun. At half-time it was still all square, with no goals from anyone. The second half was looking to go the same way, but we finally conceded two goals, scoring only one in reply.  Somehow you don't mind losing when the game has been so enjoyable and so tight.

Much of the afternoon has been spent working on some of the photos that the Gorse Fox has filed as "Unfiled", in other words, they are still waiting for some analysis, some facial recognition, some geo-tagging, and some chronological filing. It has been fairly successful as, once again, the old digitised diaries were able to cast light on many of the items.

Grey

It wasn't as cold overnight, nor as bright and blue this morning. It was grey and cool, but this is just fine for a morning of football.

The Gorse Fox climbed in the car, plugged in his audiobook and pottered across to Worthing. We had a good turnout and even teams of 6-a-side. In the first hour, the Gorse Fox played for the red-bibs, but for some reason kept thinking he was playing in blue. A couple of times he played some telling passes to the opposition, thinking they were his team. Never mind, he eventually snapped out of it. We lost the first game, drew the second game, and won the third game (with a goal from the Gorse Fox).

In the second hour, we re-arranged into 5-a-side teams. This time the Gorse Fox was playing in blue. The pitch was beginning to seem a lot larger in this second hour. We managed to win the first game, lose the second, and then win the final game. The Gorse Fox had covered just under 10 kilometres and, as he writes this, his legs are protesting at the abuse. Never mind. He has to build his stamina back up bit by bit, and today was a good push.

So it appears we may be about to have another election. The thorny question appears to be regrading whether EU citizens and 16-year-olds should be part of the electorate. The Gorse Fox believes that they should not. The 16-year-olds will just parrot the electoral bias of their teachers (not parents), and we have seen how the drip-drip of left-wing dogma has been leeching into education. As for EU Citizens, the Gorse Fox has now issue if they have the right of residence and intention to stay here; otherwise, it is just trying to load results.

Whoa

It was a cold one overnight. There was ice on the roof of the Orangery when the Gorse Fox came down. He wanted to get downstairs early enough to see Cousteau-Cub off to work and wish her good luck with the job-promotion application. We got chatting and lost track of time. In the end, she had to rush to get the bus.

The sun was up and it was bright and cold. Once we were all ready for the day, the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen decided to go into LA for a walk. The logic was that we could park closer to the target coffee shop in LA than we could have in Bognor. We left the car and wandered along to the re-opened Look & Sea Centre. As we approached, the Gorse Fox spotted Barry (the peg and lucky heather seller*) so we stopped for a chat with him and his wife.

We went inside and grabbed a coffee and some carrot cake while watching the world go by and some clouds roll in and obliterate the sun.

After the coffee, we strolled along the river bank until the Silver Vixen decided that she should turn back to avoid getting stiff and cold. We had covered a couple of kilometres, but that was more than enough exercise on the new hip.

Back home the Gorse Fix has just installed macOS "Catalina" on the MacBook. He'll let this act as a testbed for a few days before rolling it onto "Condor" or the Silver Vixen's MacBook.

* The peg-seller or lucky-heather seller is football club banter for Barry because of his propensity to go travelling in his motorhome.

Family team

The Gorse Fox had football scheduled for the morning and the Coventry Hobbit had agreed to come along and try it. The Gorse Fox went along to LA to collect the Coventry Hobbit and we headed to the centre. The game turned out to be a 6-v-6 and though they seemed a little lop-sided, we expected it would be hard work and not in our favour. Again, it turned out to work against the expected run of play.

The Coventry Hobbit played in goal during the first half and did really well, keeping our goal secure during most of the first half. He did eventually concede twice, but that was in response to our 4 or 5 goal advantage. In the second half, he came out onto the pitch. We continued to build our lead and the Coventry Hobbit added 4 goals to our tally, the Gorse Fox 2 more. In the end, we finished the game with a 12 or 13 goal lead over their 4 goals.

The Coventry Hobbit declared it was fun and he was certainly keen to do it again.

We had a quiet afternoon.

Progress

The day has deteriorated into a wet miserable autumn Saturday. To counteract that, however, we were delighted that the Coventry Hobbit finally received his National Insurance number today (he had lost it and had to write off for its replacement). This will make things a little easier for him. In addition to that, Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit have an agreement to take over a small apartment in Chichester from the start of December. They are, needless to say, very happy.

The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox have had a fairly quiet day. Urban-Cub and Ellie came along to collect Cousteau-Cub for the the day and overnight. The Silver Vixen has been pottering and the Gorse Fox has been working on the photos some more. The beauty of have so many diaries (and having digitised most of them) is that he can often pin down a specific photo or set of photos to a particular day or place. Bit by bit he is adding the information to the metadata that is associated with the photos themselves.

Old Bill and Lady Penelope are off to Jamaica this evening. One suspects they will have slightly more clement weather there than we will here.

Out then In

Yesterday we had a lovely evening out. The Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen drove into Worthing and parked along the sea front. We then strolled along to Casa Ciro, an Italian Restaurant with a good reputation. The Gorse Fox was gob-smacked at how busy it was considering the time was still before six. There must have been at least 60 people in there already when we arrived. The Gorse Fox had booked, so there was no problem getting a table.

The menu was extensive and had something for all tastes. The Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen both picked from the "a la carte" menu. The Silver Vixen started with a tomato, mozzarella and avocado salad with balsamic dressing. The Gorse Fox had a pate with garlic bread, caramelised onions and salad leaves. It was a very promising start and set us up nicely for the entrees. The Silver Vixen had a Spaghetti Carbonara and the Gorse Fox a Linguine Julia. They were utterly delightful and the linguine is certainly a dish to add to the mental checklist of favourite dishes.

From the restaurant we strolled along to the Pavillion Theatre on the pier. We had tickets too see Dave Gorman's show. We settled into our seats (3rd row, aisle, perfect) and had nearly three hours of excellent, clever, well-constructed humour. He is a thinking-man's comedian. Not smutty at all, which is nice, and his observations are well constructed and intelligent. A very enjoyable evening.

Today has been a bit quiet and we've stayed in. There was, deliberately, nothing scheduled. As a result the Silver Vixen has been pottering with the laundry and the Gorse Fox has been working further on the photos from 1974 and 1975. He did notice, however, that one of the professional dancers from "Strictly" has a show in Worthing next March. A few messages flashed around the Sonning Crew, and tickets have now been acquired for Tinkerbell and the Silver Vixen.

Black and white

Boy it has been wet. It was not a day to go out for a walk and the Gorse Fox had no intention of doing so. He did, however, have to pop along to the shops and the pharmacy. While out, it occurred to him that the cloud so low and rain so heavy, it felt like the clocks had gone back. Not by an hour, but by 60 years. It was so dark and grim it was as if we were living life in black and white back in the 1950s. We were characters in a film noir.

Fortunately it has brightened up this afternoon, and whilst neither dry nor sunny, colour has returned to the world.

The NHS have just been along to collect the various aids that had been provided for the Silver Vixen’s recovery. It seems surprising how quickly she has recovered from such an operation, but it’s so nice to see her virtually back to normal.

Leaps and bounds

The Silver Vixen has taken a giant step forward today. Not only did she go to Pilates, but she also drove there. So she is now returning to her normal range of activities, albeit gently, and carefully. The Gorse Fox took over once we had arrived at Pilates, and carried on to his football.

Football had a busy 9-v-8 format today. The Gorse Fox felt a bit like Horatio defending the bridge during the first half. Our defence was only breached once, despite the other team's superior numbers, mobility, and attacking players. We also managed to pull one back so that we went in 1-1 at half-time. During the second half, we had the extra player. This began to make a difference as we managed to score 4 more goals (one from the Gorse Fox) and they could only reply with one. All in all, it was a very satisfying game, if somewhat one-sided in the end.

The Gorse Fox collected the Silver Vixen on the way through. He remained in the driving seat as there was no point in her over-doing it after the Pilates.

It's been a quiet afternoon. The Gorse Fox has booked a restaurant for tomorrow evening and has prepared a beef casserole in the Instant Pot for tonight. He's also been looking at the family tree while the casserole has been bubbling away.

A degree of normality

It has been a bright and cool day. The Gorse Fox has slipped back into his normal Tuesday routine for the first time in a while. He headed off to Worthing for a session of football preceded by a 40 minute walk on the track. It was nice to meet up with the Tuesday bunch.

The Gorse Fox was picked for the blue-bibs today. Not a strong team, but not too bad. We drew our first game 0-0, then against the run of play won the second game 2-1. That’s when it all came crashing down. The final game was an ignominious 5-1 defeat (though not unexpected when we saw the other team).

Back home the Silver Vixen was finishing off the task of emptying and defrosting one of the freezers. The Gorse Fox got on with the weekly Ocado shopping list before we settled down for a quiet afternoon.

In, Out, In, Out...

The Gorse Fox seems to have spent much of the day popping out, then returning. It started with a trip to the Nissan dealership to have the Qashqai MOT'd and serviced. Then having walked home he settled down for some breakfast.

He had domestic chores on the schedule for the morning, but took a break to take the Coventry Hobbit around to the Doctors' Surgery, then returned to continue with the chores, the most unpleasant of which was retrieving Jasper's pooh from the pea shingle by the side of the house and disposing of it. It's hard to believe how much pooh such a small cat can generate.

Nissan phoned so the Gorse Fox headed back out. He plugged in his earphones and enjoyed half an hour of his book while walking to the dealership. The car was ready and they have offered us a good price for it, when the Skoda comes. The Gorse Fox spoke to Skoda - our car is at the "port of exit", which means it is sitting on the dock in Hamburg (or wherever) waiting to be loaded onto a ship for the UK. The chap reckons we should have it in three weeks... which was good news.

Lat afternoon Cousteau-Cub arrived home and the Gorse Fox was on the move again. She had another appointment at the chiropractor, so we whizzed across to Rustington. BY the time she was finished it was getting a bit late to cook, so the Gorse Fox ordered some fish and chips. We were home just after 7 and all settled down to enjoy the fruits of the fryer.

Year on year

It's been bright but cool today. The Gorse Fox was up first and enjoyed a quiet cup of coffee as he read the day's email and prepared himself for the morning's football. The Coventry Hobbit was next to emerge as he had to get into work to prepare for the Sunday lunch service.

Football was a quick and punishing 5-a-side today. The sides seem to fall into and attack-vs-defence grouping. The Gorse Fox was expecting a rough time and a heavy defeat. Certainly, the orange-bis (attackers) charged into a 4-0 lead before the Gorse Fox scored his first goal for the yellow-bibs. By half time we had clawed our way back to 7-4. The second half was even more frantic and we finally caught up to 10-10 before the Gorse Fox scored the last of his 6 goals for the day and took the win 11-10 to the yellow-bibs. It was an immensely enjoyable game and that brings the Gorse Fox's total for the year to 87 goals which is the same total as the whole of last year - and he still has two months to go.

Back home we had a quiet afternoon. The Silver Vixen did some sewing in the Orangery and the Gorse Fox did some more work on the photo album/collection.

Coiffure

It was a pleasantly slow start to the day. The Gorse Fox had to take the Silver Vixen across to the hairdresser. The idea was that he would drop her and return an hour later to collect her. As he headed back he received a message to delay by ten minutes. Too late, he was already en route. Then another message came in, suggesting he should wait a further 20 minutes. Not to worry, he had his book, so settled down in a car park by the beach to while away the delay. Time ticked by and he headed back to the hairdresser and went inside to wait. In the end, it was another 30 minutes before all was finished and the Silver Vixen was released from the various instruments of torture.

The Gorse Fox popped into a local garage who advertise that they buy cars. The buyer was not available, so the Gorse Fox left his details. He doesn't really expect to hear from them, but it was worth a try.

Much of the rest of the day has been spent back in bowels of the photo library. He has pulled out the relevant photos to send to Brother Clement, and he has done a bit more filing and categorisation.

Cor ad Cor Loquitur

It was an early start. The Gorse Fox had to get the bus to Bognor Regis and then the train, via Barnham and Brighton up to St Albans. Somehow the ST Columba's Over 65's lunch made the journey much of an adventure than a commute. The Gorse Fox plugged in his earphones and settled down to his latest audio book as he watched the countryside rush by.

He arrived at the school just before midday and signed in. He was soon chatting with old friends for 50 years ago: John Fox, Chris Jone, Tom Carol, David Nash, Paul Tominey, Laurence Rossiter, and Rob Hindley, to name but a few. He also got a chance to chat with Brother Clement who, at 90 years old, is still the school archivist and was interested in some the Gorse Fox's old photos.

Before we start down to lunch we had a brief concert from the barbershop singers. Last year they were rather average, but this year they really were superb and are clearly keeping up the school's long tradition in music. The Gorse Fox met and chatted with the Headmaster, who is also a Governor at Worth (where the Gorse Fox's cousin went to school, and his other cousin runs the Alumni Association). Lunch was a tasty affair with plenty of wine and beers available to ensure that everyone was suitably hydrated. Brother Paul popped in to have a chat with the Gorse Fox. We had studied together in the US back in 1968-69 and he has just celebrated his Golden Jubilee. He was able to bring the Gorse Fox up to date with several of our contemporaries, which was nice.

All too soon it was time to leave. The Gorse Fox tapped on the Uber app and 6 minutes later the car was waiting by the entrance.

Deposited at the station, the Gorse Fox caught the 15:58 train. The various railway apps show that the preferred route is via London, the tube, Victoria and onwards. The Gorse Fox eschewed the advice. It is far more convenient and comfortable to get on an empty train in St Albans and not have to stir until we arrive in Brighton, avoiding the nausea of fighting through the London stations on a Friday afternoon. It may have been slightly longer, but it was certainly more comfortable. He was back in Bognor Regis at 19:00, hopped on a bus and walked in the door at home at 19:20.

What a lovely day.

All Clear

It was an early start. The Silver Vixen had an appointment at the hospital for her 6-week post-op check. The appointment was just after nine o'clock but the traffic is notoriously bad so we left ourselves an hour to get to St Richard's. As it happens we couldn't have left much later without getting quite stressed - we did arrive with about ten minutes to spare.

The Consultant saw the Silver Vixen and chatted with her about  her progress, any remaining discomfort, and checked on her range of movement. He was very pleased and gave her a clean bill of health telling her she could resume her normal life with the exception of parachuting and bungee jumping. The exceptions rather put a stop to the Gorse Fox's plans for her birthday, but he still has time to cancel the jump.

We went into Chichester. The Silver Vixen wanted some shopping from M&S and the Gorse Fox had his regular appointment with the chiropodist. While there, the heavens opened and we got thoroughly soaked. We did manage to get our shopping, however, and celebrated with lunch at "Ask Italian". It was nice meal (the Silver Vixen had lasagne, and the Gorse Fox had a pizza) and we both indulged in a sweet. We certainly won't need to eat again tonight. Having said that we did stop at Turner's Pies on the way back to the car and picked up some suitable examples for the Coventry Hobbit.

Back home, Urban-Cub popped in with Ellie for an hour. She had some emails that she wanted printed and doesn't have a printer at home. Ellie was her usual chirpy little self, but is clearly a little tired as she was falling asleep on Bumpa's shoulder by the time they were ready to leave.

Another

There was a lot of heavy rain overnight but it was drifting away by the time that the Gorse Fox came down this morning. The schedule said "Football" so the Gorse Fox headed off to Worthing to meet up with the lads. We had a very good turnout and played an 8-v-8 game. The teams seemed a little loaded against the Gorse Fox, but we did manage to form a strong defence. Bit by bit we started to make progress and the Gorse Fox scored the opening goal. By half-time, we were 4-1 ahead. The second half was a bit harder as the orange team had regrouped and changed their tactics. They clawed a couple of goals back, but each time they scored we countered. In the end, we won 7-3.

After some early afternoon shopping with the Silver Vixen, the Gorse Fox returned to the photo albums, the scanner, and his ever-growing photo library.

More Images

Not too much to report. The weather was very pleasant today and the Gorse Fox took the opportunity to go into Bognor Regis to get his train ticket for Friday's trip to St Albans.

Most of the rest of the day has been spent scanning and filing images. Several hundred done so far, but a few more to complete and then comes the filing, location setting, and facial recognition.

Images

It had been very wet again overnight and rain continued, on and off, throughout the day. Though Cousteau-cub and the Coventry Hobbit both had work, the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox could stay in. The morning was the usual whirl of domestic duties.

Junk mail arrived through the letterbox. As a rule, it finds its way directly to the recycle bin. One item caught the eye; it was an offer for boiler maintenance and servicing. It was also £5 per month cheaper than British Gas. This triggered a phone call and after 35 minutes of hanging on, the Gorse Fox finally spoke with an agent. Five minutes later his monthly payment had been reduced to match the offer. It was either that or the Gorse Fox would have cancelled and switched.

This afternoon he discovered a feature of his Mac of which he had not previously been aware. There is a built-in utility called Image Capture. This has a neat facility that allows you to scan a page of photos and it will isolate each separate image and scan them individually. As he found some previously unscanned photo albums, this is a real boon.

Cousteau-cub has an appointment with the Physio this afternoon and is then returning to Chichester to view another property. It's not clear if the Coventry Hobbit will be able to join her, but hopefully, they can view it together.

Forests and photos

It had been very wet again overnight, but there was a temporary let up during the first part of the morning. The Gorse Fox headed off to his Sunday football appointment. Again the car park was rammed full, but he was able to grab a spot as parents left, having dropped their little treasures for a morning in the mud.

The football was, as they say, a game of two halves. In the first half, the yellow-bibs (featuring the Gorse Fox) managed to take a 4-0 lead, but come the second half the tide had turned and in the end we were lucky to finish with 6 apiece (including one goal from the Gorse Fox).

Back home the focus turned to old photos and the family tree. The Gorse Fox had a number of loose photos in the study and several certificates. Some of these were not really suitable to stick in the scanner so he used an App from Google called PhotoScan. This is an excellent app and allows you to take photos of photos or documents but instead of take the one image, it take one image in the centre of the subject then directs you to move the camera to each of the corners in turn (the exact spot is indicated with a white circle) a further photo is taken at each corner then the five images are combined. This makes sure that there's no flash back from the flash, and also manages the overall lighting. It really is very good indeed.

Having sorted out some of these photos, the Gorse Fox returned to family tree and added some of them, and some of the certificates to the relevant entries in the database. It turned out to be a very productive afternoon.

Family Tree

The weather has been pretty foul again today. We have stayed put for most of the day, the Silver Vixen has been sewing and the Gorse Fox has spent some quality time with Family Tree Maker and his photo libraries.

He has been exchanging emails with a cousin. Like the Gorse Fox (and his little sister) this cousin lost her father when she was very young. The Gorse Fox had forwarded a photo of her dad when he was a young boy. This triggered the email exchange and this afternoon he has been trying to remember all he can of this uncle so that he could fill in some blanks for her. It was an interesting exercise as his recollections are predominantly a series of disjointed flashes of images from the Gorse Fox's own childhood.

Cousteau-cub has been out in Chichester, despite the weather. She was looking for some accommodation to rent for her, the Coventry Hobbit, and their dog (currently staying with Urban-cub). It's always difficult finding something that suits you, particularly when you need to find somewhere that accepts a pet. The search is young; let's hope she finds something that they like at a price they can afford.

Photos

We had a lovely evening with the Sonning Crew yesterday. We ordered a take-away from the local Indian (Habib) and then settled down to evening of chat and laughter. It really good to get together for the evening, even if it was several weeks after Two Hats' birthday.

The weather has been miserable. It's been wet and dark. It has certainly not been conducive to leaving the house.

Urban-Cub popped round this morning and we looked after Ellie for an hour or so while she went on to Chichester shopping for a new phone. It was the longest we have had her since the Silver Vixen's accident, but she was very good and we had no problems as she settled down to do some drawing.

It's been a quiet afternoon. The Silver Vixen had a bad night last night, suffering from indigestion, so she made the most of a few quiet hours to have a rest. The Gorse Fox spent the time working on the family tree, some old photos, and took the time to install the latest version of Family Tree Maker (2019). Everything appears to have gone well (though the Gorse Fox does have backups if something has gone wrong). He'll check it all out and if there are no problems he'll install it on the MacBook as well.

The old photos are alway interesting and he has been selecting some good examples that can be embedded in the various family tree records. With the vast number that his cousin has unearthed recently, there is a lot to review.

Just Stuff

Not a lot going on today. The Gorse Fox took Cousteau-Cub along to the Chiropractor this morning, and then on into Chichester for work. The Silver Vixen had to manage the Ocado delivery (though the driver carried the bags through to kitchen for her).

She hit the treadmill again this afternoon - increasing the time and the distance covered. Again, it's an impressive improvement. She's doing so well.

The Gorse Fox had to collect a prescription this afternoon but then spent the afternoon at the computer trying to write some code. He says "trying" because he actually failed to write a single line. The problem is that he knows he needs to use a particular Google library and he cannot seem to work out how to include it in his configuration - and yes, he has downloaded it! Frustrating. In most cases he would say "Google it" but Google spectacularly fails to give a sensible clue in this instance.

We're out to dinner with the Sonning Crew to celebrate Two Hats' birthday this evening.

Trip

Well, maybe the use of the word trip is insensitive. The Silver Vixen made the most of the Gorse Fox's trip to Worthing and cadged a lift to the Community Centre where she normally does Pilates. The idea was to meet up with the "girls" (and that term is used in its loosest sense) and join them for a cup of tea.

The Gorse Fox continued on to Worthing and joined the lads for a 6-v-5 football game. It was clear from the outset that the yellow-team with the extra player had all of the attackers and the orange team had to man the defences without any recognised strikers. The Gorse Fox was on the orange team and tried his best to play more of an attacking midfield role. This seemed to pay off as we stormed ahead with three goals in a row from the Gorse Fox. Unfortunately, the yellow team began to work together and it all became a lot harder. In the end, we lost but managed to keep the score to 7-5.

Back home we had a quietish afternoon but the Silver Vixen decided it was time to extend her exercise regime. As the Gorse Fox writes, she is striding along on the running machine. This is good exercise and will help build up the muscles and her confidence.

Metamorphosis

The morning started with the realisation that being in the last quarter of the year, a new accounting spreadsheet would be needed soon. This, in turn, would need new budget settings for 2020. Now any long-term reader will know that the Gorse Fox enjoys playing with the accounting spreadsheets and refining them a bit more each year. So it was that there was very happy hour or two this morning cloning and refining this year's spreadsheet ready for 2020.

Once everyone was up and about (or out) the Gorse Fox decided it was time to perform the metamorphosis that converts the workshop back into a garage. This didn't take as long as he had expected. The various tools, the surrounding sawdust, and other detritus were well confined and soon the car was back nestling in its little home.

The afternoon has been spent reviewing some YouTube video showing various aspects of Python and Google authentication. Finally, the Gorse Fox has started to cut some code - which, as yet, doesn't work.

Physio

Monday has been a day of mixed weather. It was grey but warm and dry this morning, but this afternoon saw the rain set in and the temperature drop. The Gorse Fox had an interesting morning providing moral support for Old Bill. He has been trying to get Mercedes to take his issue seriously. The problem is that the brand new car has a distinctly agricultural sound when it starts up and even when it is warm it has an irritating chirping sound. The chap from the garage came along to video and sound record the issue and try to get to the bottom of the problem. Previously the response had been "well that the sound of this type of petrol engine". That didn't wash when the engineer turned up in a car with the same engine and it was almost totally silent. Time will tell as what happens, but the Gorse Fox had been along to do his bit.

This afternoon, the Silver Vixen was at the physioterrorism department. They were immensely pleased with her progress and see her as been well ahead of where they would expect at this stage of her recovery. Trekking in Nepal is still not recommended but she certainly has a bit more latitude now when it comes to getting around locally.

Netted It again

Sunday morning's football started earlier than usual. It's probably just as well as the Gorse Fox had problems finding a parking spot. The centre was incredibly busy with many of the external pitches in use. It was fairly quiet inside, however, and we were able to get on with our game without any problems. The Gorse Fox was playing for the yellow bibs today. It was fairly even to start with but with a goal from the Gorse Fox we went off at half-time with a 4-2 lead. The second half allowed us to be a bit more dominant and the Gorse Fox added 2 more goals as we racked up a final score of 10-3. He still hasn't got back up to the distances he normally covers during a game, but he's getting there.

Urban-Cub popped in to see us with Ellie at lunch time. They had been shopping and Ellie was keen to show us her sparkly new welly-boots. We had a nice couple of hours with them before they had to head home.

Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit returned from their weekend house-sitting. We had some supper and then settled down for a quiet evening.

Netted It

It has been a fairly benign day, despite the forecasts. So far, as the sun begins to set, there has been no sign of rain and the wind has been slight.

The Silver Vixen is busy sorting out the seasonal change in wardrobes. This involves swapping several metric tonnes of summer outfits for there Autumn/Winter equivalents. The Gorse Fox's only involvement is moving crates of clothes to make them more accessible.

The nice man from the Post Office rang the bell this morning. He had the new BT Home Hub for the Gorse Fox to install. This was fairly straightforward in essence. The time consuming aspects were re-seating the new hub in the "man cave" and hiding all the wiring. Velcro tape and cable ties were snipped and linked and after about an hour, everything was back to the satisfaction of the Gorse Fox. The afternoon has been spent checking the various connections and ensuring the device tables were a) correctly identifying those devices which are Static as opposed to DHCP, and b) the device tables actually reflect meaning full names and locations. As usual it turned out to be an interesting exercise and an opportunity to tidy some things up.

Refined it

The forecast was not good. The remnants of Hurricane Lorenzo were due to hit the country today. It appears that nobody had told the weather. It was a lovely bright breezy morning. The Gorse Fox made the most of it and hung out the washing, which soon dried in the stiff breeze.

The morning was filled with episodes of chores, of caring for the Silver Vixen, and of coding. The latter was a case of "gilding the lily". The code, completed yesterday, could be improved and the documentation extended. The Gorse Fox was in the zone.

The zone didn't last. This afternoon he decided to look at an old Python program he developed several years ago. How could that be improved and optimised? Well, the answer remains moot. Much of that old code was copied from a Google developer's sample. It is still just as obtuse now as it was then. The question remains, is it worth the effort? After all, the code works and has worked every day for several years. Maybe he'll let it ride.

This afternoon the Silver Vixen had an appointment at the hairdresser. There were several tasks that could be rolled into this, so we started off with a trip to Sainsbury's to change a dress that she had bought yesterday. She forgets how much weight she has lost and keeps selecting based on a size that she hasn't been for over a year. The dress has now been replaced with a sensible size and looks very nice. From there we zipped across to the hair salon and the Gorse Fox dropped her while he went back to the pharmacy to pick up some missing medication from her last prescription. Then the question was whether it was worth going home before collecting her, or not. He decided not. He went and parked by the salon and sat in the car listening to his book until she was ready to be collected and brought home.

Got It

It has been a day of two halves. The morning was quite busy and involved taking Cousteau-cub across to Rustington for her appointment with the Chiropractor. Then the Gorse Fox took her across to Chichester and left her at work with her weekend bag. She and the Coventry Hobbit will be house/cat-sitting for a friend over the weekend.

Back home, the Silver Vixen had managed the Ocado delivery and managed to get some of the washing underway. Little steps, perhaps, but definite progress. As there was little else to worry about, the Gorse Fox retired to the study and the Silver Vixen picked up her sewing.

The code that the Gorse Fox has been working on is now working well. He's rather pleased as he feels that he is making good progress with his understanding of the features, functions, and some of the techniques available. Now the next challenge will be to find another task to automate and to build on what he has learned so far.

Platform 1

It was cooler today, but the sun shone and the day was very pleasant.

The Gorse Fox left the Silver Vixen in charge at home (as if she wasn't anyway), and headed off to Worthing for some football. The game was a nice 6-a-side and started off as a very tight game. The Gorse Fox had his work cut out defending against their marauding attackers. Eventually, the dam burst and they scored. By half-time, the score was 2-1 but we were hanging in there. In the second half, it became a little more one-sided and the eventual score was 5-2. The Gorse Fox had tried his best but his stamina wasn't back up to its normal levels.

Back home we had decided that the Silver Vixen would be more comfortable in her own chair in the evenings. Recently she has been in an older chair with extra cushions to give her the height she needs. All we had to do was raise her chair to the right height. The Gorse Fox turned the garage back into a workshop. Plywood and pine were attacked with circular and chop saws. Holes were drilled, screws were inserted, and before long we had an elevated platform on which the chair could be supported. Hopefully, she will be a lot more comfortable this evening.

After her final jab, the Gorse Fox took the Silver Vixen along to Sainsbury's. He had some general groceries to pick up and the Silver Vixen wanted to buy some new leggings. It was a bit of excitement for her, getting out of the house and starting to roam about. Soon she will regain her full confidence and there'll be no stopping her.

Mixed bag

It has been a mixed bag, weather-wise, today. We've had warm sunshine, strong winds, and brief downpours. If you miss the rain, then it's actually quite pleasant.

Cousteau-cub was off early this morning, but it was still dry as she headed for the bus. The Coventry Hobbit left a couple of hours later. He has a long day planned as he is working a split shift. During the down-time in the middle, he was hoping to get to a swimming pool for some exercise.

The Gorse Fox rattled through the morning chores, the most important of which was to wash the floors downstairs. Fortunately, the Karcher makes fairly easy work of this and everything is nice and sparkly again. The Silver Vixen was weary so stayed quiet in the bedroom while the Gorse Fox was making all the noise. When he finished he retired to the study and spent an hour or two working on some Python code. He is determined to crack this but finds that it takes so long because he keeps having to refer to the online manuals.

We had our penultimate trip to the surgery this afternoon. The Silver Vixen had her jab and we managed to get home just as the heavens opened for another downpour.