Do not disturb

 It’s been a remarkably quiet day today (at least so far - Ellie is due back later!). It’s a bit grey outside, but at least it’s not raining. After a morning reading the papers (online) and catching up on the accounts the Gorse Fox popped out for a walk.

He was collared by a neighbour who was in the mood for a chat. So having walked all of 100m, he stopped and chatted for half an hour.

Back on the route, the Gorse Fox did a reverse circuit of the usual Shripney loop. He noticed as he approached the RR roundabout that a new building that has been going up has finally got a sign up to identify it as a Lidl (not a little Lidl, but a big Lidl). With that by the RR Logistics Centre, Aldi opening up at the Saltbox, and Sainsbury’s and Tesco just down the road, we will be spoilt for choice.

The route continued. On R~Owen Way there were some temporary traffic lights. It looks as if they are putting up a new mobile phone mast. It’s not clear whether it is 5G, but one assumes they infrastructure will roll out before long.

The Gorse Fox completed his walk and settled in for the afternoon. The slow-roast lamb had not switched on, but there was still time to trigger it all manually. (The Gorse Fox had forgotten to press the Start button  after setting the timer on the oven.... Doh!)

Birthday girl

 Today is the Silver Vixen's Birthday. We had planned to be away in Devon for a few days, but Lockdown 2.0 put a stop to that. On top of that, the present that the Gorse Fox had ordered was not in stock and will not now arrive until the end of the month. There was, however, a mountain of cards for her to open, and gifts from friends and family.

Cousteau-Cub had arranged for a "High Tea" for one to be delivered, so she will enjoy that this afternoon.

The Gorse Fox had to pop to Sainsbury's for some bits for the marinade he has planned for the lamb, so he combined that with a walk and managed to tuck a quick 6km under his belt.

Wet and blurred

Though it had been frosty first thing, it soon changed. The frost melted and it started to rain. It wasn't heavy rain, but it was incessant. We spent the morning sitting and chatting with Urban-Cub about her new job, between the various congratulatory phone calls that were filtering in.

While all this was going on, the Silver Vixen's new Apple Watch arrived so the Gorse Fox set that up for her. This has various additional features over and above those on her defunct model. Well, it works for a start! also it provide fall notification, blood oxygen levels, ECG traces, and sleep monitoring. Once that was done, the Gorse Fox contacted Apple to see about getting the old watch fixed. The process was managed via "Chat" and prompted the Gorse Fox to go back through all of the things he had already tried. The conclusion was that it was dead and needed to be sent away for repair. The Gorse Fox knew this already, but had to play the game. He now has to wait for the formal packaging to arrive so that the watch can be returned safely.

At lunchtime the Silver Vixen was busy searching Amazon for Christmas gifts, Urban-Cub was was getting ready to go back to sign her contract, and the Gorse Fox was determined to go for a walk. In the circumstances this seemed like the perfect time to try out his new waterproof trousers. All covered up in Gore-Tex jacket, Waterproof trousers, and Gore-tex shoes he headed out into the rain. The first order of the day was to remove his glasses. The rain may not have been heavy, but it was coating his glasses in no time. This meant that the next hour was spent seeing the Shripney loop through the myopic blur of short sight, rain, and spray. By the time he got home his waterproofs had proved themselves. Externally soaked from head to foot, he was completely dry underneath, and had ticked off another 5.5 km.

Great start to the day

 It’s been a great start to the day. The phone rang just after nine o’clock. It was for Urban-Cub. It was confirmation that she has go the job that she interviewed for yesterday. This is great news for her - she just has to go back to Southampton this afternoon to sign the contract.

Lethargy

 Urban-Cub was up early. She had an interview in Southampton and needed to leave home at eight. Ellie, hearing Urban-Cub moving about, woke up with vengeance. So it was that a six o'clock this morning the Gorse Fox was trying to calm a distraught three-year old as he started his day. She was having nothing of it. In the end Urban-Cub had to step in and Ellie became her shadow for the next couple of hours.

The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox took Ellie across to Dizzy Ducklings then wandered back in time for the Ocado delivery. Once everything was squared away the Gorse Fox headed to Sainsbury's for the top-up and to select a joint for the weekend. He has chosen a nice shoulder of lamb which he plans to roast slowly for about 5 hours.

Urban-Cub got back soon after midday. She was quite enthused by the interview and felt it went moderately well. She should hear by close of play tomorrow whether she will be offered the job. We all have our fingers and toes crossed for her.

The temperature had dropped quite a few degrees below the temperatures earlier in the week, but it was dry. It was very hard to gather the enthusiasm for a walk for some reason. In the end, he forced himself out the door and had an easy 40 minute stroll.

It was bright, but there was a very cool wind, which was fine whilst behind the Gorse Fox, but on the return leg it was blowing straight in his face and was "bracing" to say the least.

It's been a quiet afternoon and the lethargy of earlier has persisted. The Gorse Fox can't be bothered to cook tonight so we have ordered a Chinese for delivery.

Beating the forecast

 It was a mild and fairly bright morning but the forecast suggested that rain would set in during the afternoon. Urban-Cub and the Gorse Fox walked Ellie round to Dizzy Ducklings then cam back and finished our own breakfast.

The Silver Vixen had her Zoom Pilates booked for late morning. Urban-Cub had some food shopping to do and the Gorse Fox was planning to go for a walk. As the morning wore on we all broke off for our various activities.

The Gorse Fox headed out towards Aldwick, down West Meads Drive, down to West Park and along the promenade. The tide was on its way out, so it wasn't as impressive as last time. The promenade was, however, still littered with debris.

There seemed to be a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" going on as flocks of herring gulls clustered, swooped, and soared in one small area along the route.  The Gorse Fox kept going and passed the pier.

The clouds were beginning to thicken and as he continued he saw less and less of the sun. He looped through the town centre and out past the railway station. From there he, again, zigged and zagged down some roads he hadn't previously explored. By the time he got home, he was nicely aglow and had tucked about 8.5km under his belt.

Walking in the door, the Gorse Fox was greeted by Jasper wanting his lunch. By the time that was dished up, the rain had started. He had timed it all to perfection. (His new waterproof trousers arrived this afternoon, so he's set for future bad weather).

As Ellie will be with Pistol Pete over the weekend, she won't be around for the Silver Vixen's birthday. The Silver Vixen has been banished to the front room, and Urban-Cub and Ellie are preparing a birthday treat for later this afternoon. The Gorse Fox is staying clear for the moment, so that they can get it all done without distraction.

Looping And Saving

Not too much going on today. The Urban-cub and Gorse Fox walked Ellie round to Dizzy Ducklings then wandered home. We managed to have a quick (socially distanced) chat with the neighbours. Everyone is keeping well and Two Hats has decided to finally retire. That seems like another item to stick on the list of things we need to celebrate when things return to some semblance of sanity.

The Gorse Fox went out for a walk late in the morning. It was a slightly longer variation of the Shripney Loop. The weather was dull and grey so the only photo that the took was of the first of the new buildings going up in the new Saltbox development. This area will have a number of outlets, the most significant of which is a new Aldi store.

From there he looped onto the old highway and back home. A very pleasant 6.5km.

After lunch, the Gorse Fox received an email from BT. It was a Black Friday offer which promised £72 a year savings. He was a little sceptical so phoned BT.  We tried various combinations of offers but couldn't match the emailed offer. The Gorse Fox went back online and started to examine the current contract. It's due to expire within the next 6 months. There, nestling on the summary page was a list of three possible offers. It only took a couple of minutes for the Gorse Fox to make up his mind and switch the contract. Never mind Black Friday, the Gorse Fox had just saved himself £180 per year. The lesson to be learned is that the headline, ey-catching deal, may not be the best... look deeper.

Pebbles

 It was overcast but dry. Urban-cub took Ellie across to LA to the child-minder and the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox got on with some domestic chores.

By late morning the Gorse Fox was ready to go out for a walk. (With no football at the moment, he has to keep up his exercise). As he left the house he had no clear idea which route he would take today. In the end, he headed out towards Aldwick, dropping down and passing the hairdresser where the Silver Vixen used to go. He carried on along Fish Lane to West Park and Marine Gardens.

As the Gorse Fox turned onto the promenade, it became clear that the thunder of the surf was still encroaching on the paths. Pebbles from the beach were strewn across the path, in places they were in drifts where the sea had hurled them.

 Further along towards the pier, there were more drifts and the larger waves were still overtopping the sea wall and washing onto the promenade.

It was really quite exhilarating but this was the aftermath of the storm. It must have been quite something when it was at its height.

The Gorse Fox carried on, passing the pier, and then looped up through the town. Then zigging and zagging he took a number of roads and paths that he hadn't previously walked and made his way back home. All in all the walk took just over an hour and a half and covered about 10km.

Late in the afternoon, Urban-cub headed back to LA to collect Ellie. Soon after she left we got a call. She was running late. She had just witnessed a road traffic collision and was waiting for the Police and Ambulance to arrive so that she could give a statement. This is the sort of excitement that nobody really wants. When she finally got home and we had had some dinner, the Gorse Fox retrieved the SD-card from her Dashcam and we extracted the relevant footage, in case the Police need to see it.

The Landscapers were due to start on our deck replacement tomorrow. We got an email, late in the evening, saying that they were delayed on their current job, and now would not start until next Monday. It makes no real difference to us - it's not as if we sit out on the deck at this time of year!

Slow

There was a fair bit of rain overnight and we are in a Met Office "yellow warning" area. The Gorse Fox was expecting to be confined to the house. By mid-morning, however, the rain had passed and a breeze was drying the surfaces. The breeze is expected to escalate during the afternoon and evening with more rain coming through. 

The Silver Vixen and Urban-Cub had decided that there was to be a spring (autumn) clean of the kitchen. This seemed like a cue for the Gorse Fox to get some exercise. He headed out into the sunshine. It was surprisingly mild and he soon worked up a pleasant glow. For a change, he decided to randomly roam the local back streets. Unlike yesterday, it was very quiet, though there were some dog-walkers here and there

As he walked back onto Bersted Park he saw that the willows were glowing nicely in the sunshine. He looped back onto the estate and home. Walking in, it looked as if nothing had happened in the hour he had been gone. Everything was still out on the various worktops and everything was being scrubbed within an inch of its life. He kept moving in case he caught the attention of the Dettol Spray or Cif.

Eventually, it was all done. This allowed the Gorse Fox sufficient access to start on dinner. The plan was to cook a large joint of beef, but to cook it very slowly. This had been successful a couple of weeks back, so the Gorse Fox thought he'd try it again, but do it even more slowly this time. A large joint of silverside is now nestling in the oven at 120C, where it will stay for about 3 hours (with the temperature cranked up for the last 15 minutes). It is sting on a bed of chopped onion and carrot, and luxuriating in a shallow bath of mulled wine and beef stock. Let's see how it turns out.

The forecast suggests that we will get gales and heavy rain for about 4 hours starting soon. The Gorse Fox is glad that there is no reason to leave the house.

Relief

 Well that’s a relief. The Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen have just received the results of yesterday’s COVID-19 test. Both came back as negative (not that we expected anything different).

Necessary Journeys

 Today has been wet, but it is destined to get wetter tomorrow. We had a quiet day indoors, for the most part. Urban-Cub had to meet up with Pistol Pete to hand over some papers he needed for his work.

After lunch, the Gorse Fox was getting twitchy for some exercise. It was still raining. This prompted him to go online and see if he could find some suitable waterproof trousers. They wouldn't be much use for today, but could stand him in good stead for the rest of the autumn and winter. 

He donned some old trousers and his Gore-Tex jacket and headed out. As he did so, the rain redoubled its efforts. Typical! It was, however, the final squall as the rain moved eastwards. By the time he had completed his first kilometre, the rain had petered out. The Gorse Fox observed that, while was taking his permitted exercise, there seemed to be a daffy-load of "necessary journeys" going on today. The traffic was as heavy as it would have been mid-week before the lockdown. This became more obvious as he saw traffic queueing back from the roundabout along Rowan Way, and along the A29 and A259 along the by-pass and onto the viaduct. Why? Because the queue for the McDonalds' Drive-Thru was blocking the roundabout. Pathetic - for goodness sake how badly do these people need to consume congealing fat and grease in a bun.

He looped into Shripney and down the old highway. Peace. The clouds were lifting. Leaves in their last flush of splendour clung to the branches. Those that hadn't clung hard enough littered the ground.

By the time the Gorse Fox arrived home he was glowing nicely. It had been a nice walk and a nice bit of exercise.

Back home, with the weather forecast suggesting heavy rain and high winds tomorrow we cleared the furniture off the deck (before the wind did it for us). Hopefully, the landscapers will begin this week and the whole deck will be replaced with tiles.

Stick that up your nose

 Not a lot to report today. There had been rain overnight, but it was clearing by the time the Gorse Fox came down for coffee. Ellie had had a disturbed night, but though she was awake, she didn't come down until the Gorse Fox had his coffee in front of him.

The morning was occupied by Urban-Cub needing to track down some paperwork in her storage facility. This meant that the Gorse Fox had to help her shift things around and get them down to the car. The only slight problem that arose was that her boot wasn't large enough for all the boxes she needed. The Gorse Fox decided the easiest solution was fo him to walk home, thus making room for extra boxes on the front seat.

While we were at the the storage facility, Urban-Cub received a call. Yesterday's phone interview had been successful, and she was asked to attend a face-to-face assessment and interview next week. This sounds very promising as the caller suggested that she would coach her in advance of the appointment.

The Silver Vixen has had a bit of a sore throat. She reported this in the Covid-19 survey that we complete daily. This morning she received an email suggesting she should get a Covid-19 test. We went through the process. She could include up to 3 further people in the test so the Gorse Fox put his name down. We managed to get a test today at Tangmere. (There were several thousand spare testing slots available). AT two-thirty we turned up and wen through the various checkpoints. Finally, we arrived at the test point. The Gorse Fox was chosen to be the first victim. The swab was stabbed into his throat and then stuffed up his nose. It was not pleasant, but didn't take long. Now we just have to await the results.

When we arrived back we heard form Urban-Cub that she had got through to the next stage of yet another job opportunity. ~She now needs to progress this with the vigour and enthusiasm she has shown for the first opportunity.

The Silver Vixen's Apple Watch seems to have gone on the the fritz. The Gorse Fox checked online and followed the various solutions that had been suggested. None of them worked. The Gorse Fox decided, in the end, that the best solution was to get her a new Apple Watch Series 6 and, when it arrives, we can send the old one off to be fixed. Once fixed we can sell it. The advantage of the new Series 6 watch is that it provides ECG, Blood Oxygen levels, sleep monitoring, fall detection, and so forth, in addition to all of the suctions provided by the existing Series 3 watch.

Strolling around

 It was a nice day. Cool, but very sunny. The Gorse Fox had time to make coffee again this morning, before Ellie came down for breakfast. Once breakfasts were all done, Urban-Cub and the Gorse Fox walked Ellie round to Dizzy Ducklings then headed home for a fairly typical Thursday morning.

First there was the Ocado delivery, then the accounts. Once these were tucked away the Gorse Fox headed off to Sainsbury's for the bits he wanted to hand-pick.

As it was such a nice day the Gorse Fox decided that another walk along the promenade at Bognor Regis was on the agenda. Parking at West Park he headed out into the sunshine, through Marine Gardens, and along towards the pier.

The tide was out and it was tempting to walk along the beach, but the Gorse Fox didn't want to get his shoes all salty and sandy, so stuck to promenade. He passed the pier, and carried on up past the bandstand, past Butlins and around the corner to The Lobster Pot (which was closed). 

Turning around at the 3km mark, he started his walk back. By this time he was walking into the wind. This made it a little more strenuous, and seemed a little cooler. He looped back past the pier and observed up ahead two elderly couples meeting up at one of the benches along the prom. As he approached, he could see them rummaging in their plastic bags. Out came some cans of tonic water, and full bottle of vodka. It was obviously going to be an interesting afternoon for some! As he approached Marine Gardens there was a gaggle of ladies of uncertain years getting dried off after their swim. Very brave he thought. The Gorse Fox wouldn't do it.

Finally, he arrived back at the car and headed home for lunch and then went out with the Silver Vixen to collect Ellie. Normally, Urban-Cub would go, but she had a telephone interview. This seemed to go very well and she should hear tomorrow whether she has got through to the next stage. Fingers crossed.

Back online

 It was mild but damp and the breeze was a little cool. The Gorse Fox was up and had managed to get the coffee made before Ellie came down. After breakfast he and Urban-Cub walked her round to Dizzy Ducklings for her day at school.

The Silver Vixen had Zoom Pilates scheduled for later in the morning, but Urban-Cub had to get back to LA for the chap to fix her wrecked tyre. The Gorse Fox drove her across, and leaving her in the warmth of the Skoda, he went off for a walk. There was 10% chance of rain, according to the forecast. By the time he was 1km away from the car he found that he was in the lucky(?) 10%, when the rain started. Fortunately, it didn't come anything and he didn't even break stride.

Once he had tracked down through Mewsbrook Park to the beach he turned and headed toward the mouth of the River Arun. There were a few walkers about, but it wasn't busy. At the mouth of the River, the Gorse Fox turned inland and carried on to The Look & Sea Centre where turned and started to retrace his steps.

It was a nice walk, taking about an hour to cover 6 kms. The Gorse Fox was surprised when he got back to find that Urban-Cub was still in the Skoda waiting for the tyre chappie to rock up. He was due within about 15 minutes (at least there was 15 minutes left in the time window she had been given). She went to wait in her car and the Gorse Fox headed home. It turns outl, in the end, that that the chappie was about 45 minutes late by the time he arrived. The tyre was fixed, but Urban-Cub got a refund for payment she had made for the timed window.

Back home the Gorse Fox picked up the mail and found the replacement phone SIM had arrived. The SIM was fitted and activated and the rest of the afternoon was spent finishing the set-up for Apple Pay, the various online bank accounts, and the phone/camera link. Fiddly, time-consuming, but finally done. The only outstanding configuration is that of Car Play - but that can wait until tomorrow.

A bit bitty

 The Gorse Fox had to flash (all right, splutter) into action yesterday evening. Urban-Cub phoned. She was meant to be collecting Ellie but as she had pulled up at the child-minder's she caught the side of her front tyre and ripped a hole in it. The car was going nowhere! The Gorse Fox had to drive across to LA and collect them. Urban-Cub has managed to arrange for the new tyre to be fitted on Wednesday morning so has been without a car today.

After taking Ellie to pre-school this morning the Gorse Fox took Urban-Cub across to Sainsbury's for some shopping. As they ask people to go in alone, the Gorse Fox made use of the time marching round the car park. By the time Urban-Cub emerged the Gorse Fox had walked over two miles (and received some very funny looks from people waiting in their cars). Urban-Cub, meanwhile, had managed to pick up a couple of bags of shopping for Ellie's lunches (though the bottles of wine may not have been for her).

The new SIM and protective cover for the Gorse Fox's replacement phone haven't yet turned up. Until the SIM arrives he can't finish setting the phone up so at the moment it is fine at home connected to WiFi where some functions work well and even when out and about... but it's still not doing the basic function of being a phone!

After Ellie had been collected from Dizzy Ducklings (pre-school) the Silver Vixen sat on the floor and played with the Lego with her. The Gorse Fox took the opportunity to head out for another walk.

The sun was dropping towards the horizon and the temperature was starting to drop with it. There were plenty of dog-walkers about but it was peaceful. The Gorse Fox didn't go too far but enjoyed the chance to stretch his legs.

If you choose the right routes, it really is very picturesque round here.

Impressed

 The Gorse Fox is impressed. The replacement iPhone arrived at 11 o'clock and whilst it is a refurbished model (identical to that which was lost) it looks pristine. The Gorse Fox plugged it in to ensure it was fully charged and it immediately woke up and started the initialisation process. Once the language was set it asked whether to set up automatically or manually. The Gorse Fox chose automatically. It paired itself with the iPad, downloaded the latest IOS software, then started to restore the last backup (this is still running, but there was a lot to recover!).

While all this was going on, the iPhone and iWatch asked if they should be paired. Yes. A few minutes later they were back in sync and all of the data the watch had gathered for the past couple of days was updated on the iPhone.

The Gorse Fox cannot believe how simple and effective this whole process has been. Besides the completion of the restore from backup, the only thing he is waiting on is the replacement SIM card, but that should arrive in the next 48 hours.

The Apple kit may be expensive, but it just works and is all so seamless.

Where? Oh yes!

 A bit of a lie-in to start the day. Then the Gorse Fox tried to grab his phone as he got out of bed. Doh! This has gone on throughout the day as he has gone to pick up his phone as he went hither and thither. Never mind, he has had confirmation that the replacement has been dispatched and will be delivered tomorrow.

At eleven o'clock we gathered on the doorstep to observe the minute of silence in Remembrance of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy today. Afterwards, we stood, socially distant, from the neighbours and all had a good chinwag.

Urban-cub's job hunt has continued. Somehow this involved the Gorse Fox when it came to some maths aptitude tests. Not that she couldn't do them, but she was on a clock and wanted a second pair of eyes to check.

It's been very dull and grey today (though it has been dry). The idea of a walk didn't seem so enticing, but the Gorse Fox resolved to do the Shripney loop. Somehow the opportunities for photos were fewer, but the Gorse Fox persevered (with his camera instead of his phone!!!). The flat grey sky was such a contrast from the bright blue of the last few days and flattened all the colours.

As he approached the point where the old highway is bisected by the new bypass, he could see along the rife. A squadron of swans was making its way along the channel, oblivious to the traffic running a few yards to one side.

It had been noticeable how much more traffic there had been today, compared with yesterday. Having said that, there seemed to be a lot fewer walkers than either Kingley Vale yesterday or the Shripney loop on Friday.

No Signal

 It was a leisurely start to the day. Ellie came down the Gorse Fox but once she had got a fruit juice and the cartoons, she was perfectly content to sit quietly. Urban-Cub would be taking her over to Pistol Pete's later, but we had our quiet time.

The morning was punctuated by updates to the iPhone and iPad before the Gorse Fox got a chance to look at theOrdnance Survey maps. He fancied another walk, but this time he wanted to go somewhere different. He fired up the maps only to find that the OS had brought out a new app and were discontinuing the old one. The Gorse Fox had to register for the new app then list all of the maps he had previously purchased. This took quiet some tracking down but eventually the registration was complete and the new app installed. His previously purchased maps would be restored over the next few days (apparently).

Once the maps were sorted, the Gorse Fox headed for Kingley Vale (National Nature Reserve). It had been recommended bu Cousteau-Cub during the summer and the Gorse Fox kept it on the back burner. He set the SatNav and headed across to this lovely spot in Down, just west of Chichester. It was clearly very popular as there was no room in the car park, and it was a matter of parking along the road. The Gorse Fox changed into his walking boots, grabbed his rucksack, set the GPS app for his camera, and headed out.

Unlike many of his walks in the past, there was a steady stream of people making the most of the Autumn sunshine. He had got used to leaving his car, in the past, and then after about a kilometre he wouldn't see another soul. Not so today. There was a steady stream of dog-walkers, couples, families, and lone hikers all heading along the bridleway towards the Nature Reserve. The Gorse Fox kept up a fairly quick pace and managed to pass most of them. Then once into the Reserve he kept to the less obvious tracks and finally found some peace.

This is, of course, where it all started to go wrong. The Gorse Fox had seen a particular stand of yew trees. It looked almost impenetrable, but he managed to find a route. He had to clamber over some fallen limbs, and limbo under some others. In the middle was the most wonderful dappled light as the sun peeked down through the gnarled limbs of these ancient trees. (The information board at the entrance to the reserve tells us that the stands of yews are over 500 years old). As the Gorse Fox started to pick his way back to the path, he became aware that his phone was missing. He had had it in his hand when he entered the stand, but pocketed it when he had to start clamber over and under tree limbs. Clearly, it had leapt to freedom from his pocket. He retraced his steps. The phone was nowhere to be found. He retraced his steps again. Still nothing. He watched the symbol on his iWatch too see if it would suddenly reconnect to the phone once in range. It wouldn't. The Gorse Fox concluded it was lost(*). Frustrated, he made his way back to car (passing Tinkerbell on the way - she had met up with a friend for a walk). He had hoped for a good long walk, but it was curtailed at about 5km.

Back home the Gorse Fox started on the process - disable/wipe the phone, contact BT to disable and replace the SIM, contact the insurance company to order a replacement. All of this took about an hour, but to be fair, it was pretty straightforward. In fact the implication was that a replacement phone will be here on Monday. (Somehow, the Gorse Fox suspects that to be wishful thinking, but we'll see).

(*) There was no mobile phone signal in the area - so we couldn't ring it from another phone, nor was there any 3/4G signal to allow a "ping" via the internet.

Gorgeous Autumn Day

 We've had, yet another, gorgeous Autumn day. It was cold overnight, but not as cold as last yesterday. The sun was up and the sky had been painted a pale blue. The Gorse Fox had a quiet 30 minutes before Ellie emerged and then the Silver Vixen and Urban-Cub.

The morning was spent with various domestic activities. The first was to check the Accounts. It was a good job the Gorse Fox did check. Two payments that he made earlier in the week had melted back into the account. The outgoing transaction for one was shown, and then re-credited to the account this morning. The other had disappeared entirely as if the Gorse Fox never paid it. (the balance was restored and the payment just vanished). This took some sorting out, but hopefully both payments are now fulfilled.

The Silver Vixen was pottering in the garden when the Gorse Fox finished. He got on with various tasks he had been sitting on... tightening a loose door handle, fixing a hinge that wouldn't lock, and dismantling and cleaning the heads on the Dyson.

This afternoon he managed to escape for another walk. On a day such as today, to would have been a shame not to.

He chose the Shripney loop again. It was surprising how much quieter the traffic was on the first part of the walk. The lockdown is clearly having some impact on traffic flows. There was an easterly breeze which was cool for the first part but once he had changed direction and the wind was behind him, he didn't even notice. He passed a few other walkers as he looped round, but not many.

The sun was low in the sky and, even wearing sunglasses, the Gorse Fox had to squint. It was such a lovely walk.

Cold and crisp

It was crisp and cold overnight. The skies were, again, crystal clear and beautifully blue. The underfloor heating had kicked in for the first time this autumn (which shows how well insulted we are, that it has held off until now).

The Gorse Fox and Urban-Cub took Ellie to pre-school. She clearly loves at she couldn’t get there quickly enough. The Gorse Fox asked her if she had geography or history this morning. She returned a withering look and said “Grandpa, you are so silly!”

After Ocado had delivered the week’s shopping the Silver Vixen came with the Gorse Fox to Sainsbury’s. She had cards and so forth that were needed over the next month, while the Gorse Fox had various bits to pick up which weren’t available from Ocado (or items he preferred to hand pick).

The Gorse Fox went for a walk at lunchtime. He parked at West Park, then walked along the promenade, past the pier, and onwards. 

The sea was like a mill-pond - so different from when he was there at the weekend. He was struck by the shades of blue is the sky and the sea. There weren’t too many people out and about, but those that were out were making the most of a nice walk. As he walked he passed the Bognor Beacon. Council workman were swarming all over it and giving it a good clean. By the time the Gorse Fox returned, the Beacon was alight. It was probably just a test, but it was nice to see it alight against the bright blue sky.

Gin clear

 We woke up this morning to a slight frost and gin-clear skies. It was crystal clear and was destined to be a lovely (if cool) day. Urban-Cub took Ellie along to pre-school and the Silver Vixen headed off to Pilates. The Gorse Fox followed soon after, on his way to football. It was the last scheduled game until the lockdown is over.

Again, the teams were very lopsided. All of the very mobile attackers on one side, and the Gorse Fox and several less mobile players on the other. The Gorse Fox was pinned to back as tried to stem the waves of attacks. He managed to intercept and block many of the shots, but some got through. By half-time we were 2-0 down. In the second-half we shipped three more goals (one a penalty), but did manage to score two in response. It was a frustrating last game, in that there were so few opportunities to range forward and really stretch the legs. Having said that, the sunshine was lovely and it was really quite warm.

Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit popped i during the afternoon. The idea was that they would go along with Urban-Cub to collect Ellie from pre-school. She was thrilled that they had come to meet her. They stopped with us for an hour or so, then, waving goodbye for a month, said goodbye and drove home to Chichester.

The skies are crystal clear again tonight, so the Gorse Fox suspects that it will be frosty again.

For the chop

 It was a lot cooler today, and there was a brisk wind. The Gorse Fox was surprised to find that Urban-Cub was the first to emerge this morning. Ellie was still fast asleep. It was to be her first day at pre-school so, once she was up, there was a lot of excitement. Urban-Cub prepared her packed lunch, and her back pack with the various spare clothes and shoes she might need. The Gorse Fox and the Urban-Cub walked her round to the pre-school (only about a 10 minute walk), and were greeted by the lovely Claire, who runs the place. Ellie dismissed us, and ran inside to get involved.

The Gorse Fox decided that with a month's lockdown ahead, he would go for a walk and see if the barbers' shop was open. He was lucky. He managed to get the full works, which should see him through until December. Leaving, he took a detour so that he could get a short walk in. Only a few kilometres today, but it was exercise.

Back home, the Silver Vixen had been preparing the shopping list for Ocado. The Gorse Fox leapt on the list and got it submitted. (Normally, he would do this on Wednesday). It was just as well he did the list because we got an email asking us to ensure it was submitted before the end of the evening. Obviously, Ocado are preparing to get swamped again by the lockdown.

This afternoon Ellie came home full of the excitement of the day and happy to return tomorrow (thank goodness). Urban-Cub had to collect her car from Halfords, where they had been fitting her DashCams, but then went on to Angmering to get Ellie's hair cut.

For regular readers, No... there was no football today. Apparently, the guy who referees (and consequently runs it) is self-isolating. We have our last football for a month, scheduled for tomorrow.

Making Waves

 It had been very windy overnight. The garden furniture had rearranged itself all round the garden and a storage box had made its way to the side gate. Having said that, it was dry. Ellie and the Gorse Fox had a quiet 45 minutes before the others emerged, but then the day swung into action.

In the morning there were some domestic chores to clear and then the Gorse Fox had to sort out the advanced part-payment for the hard-landscaping due to start in a couple of weeks. This was all very fine but he had forgotten the PIN for his online banking. (He tends to use mobile banking now, and has forgotten the golden numbers!) He went through the process of resetting the account rather than risk locking it out by trying half remembered numbers at random. That done, the payment was made without incident.

In the afternoon, the Gorse Fox decided that a walk was needed. He dug out an old audio book and set off into the bright sunshine. It had been over a year since he had last listened to the first part of the book, but it only took a couple of moments for the story to come flooding back to him. He was obviously quite engrossed because he remembers almost nothing of the first part of the walk where he made his way down to Bognor Regis, through the town, and onto the promenade.

The wind was very strong and the sea had been whipped up. It was quite breathtaking as it smashed against the shingle. As the Gorse Fox turned west the force of the wind was directly in his face and was strong enough to slow his pace significant.  He carried on along the prom, past Marine Gardens. There were places where the sea had over-topped the wall and scattered shingle on the promenade.

At West Fields/Park, he turned back out of the wind and up towards Aldwick and West Meads. Then, he looped back to home. It was about 8.5 kms altogether and had been thoroughly enjoyable. What's more, the audio book was beginning to get interesting! He looks forward to his next walk.

Late afternoon, Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit popped in to see us. She was on her way back from the chiropractor but wanted to show her face before the lockdown begins. It was nice to see them, and nice to see that she was a lot more mobile than last week.

Where did that go?

 It was a lazy start to the day and whilst the Gorse Fox fancied a walk, the weather threatened mayhem and he just couldn't be bothered. He retired to the study.

The Silver Vixen also had a quiet morning and spent some of the afternoon in pottering in the garden. The weather threats had not, at that point, come to anything. She had a good tidy up before winter sets in.

In the study, the Gorse Fox wanted to check something on his website. He was a little discombobulated when he found that whilst the address was recognised, nothing was displayed. Where had the data gone? He got on to the hosting service. Their chat system responded quickly and sent the Gorse Fox to a Chrome/Firefox browser (he had been using Safari). This made no difference. Then, as if by magic the chap had a brainwave. Pop! the website burst into life. Apparently they had not enabled the new level of PHP. The Gorse Fox doesn't know how long the site has been hiding.

The Gorse Fox checked the answer to his initial queries. All done. Then, he thought he'd make a few changes. This meant logging in to the administrative account for the Content Management System. This threw up a 404 (Page not found). Not a good sign. He got back onto the chat service and spent about 30 minutes working through various suggestions... then the operative said "Can you hang on for 3 or 4 minutes, I need to go and check something". The Gorse Fox can only assume that, at this point he was abducted by aliens. The chat window remained open, but he never returned. This is a query to chase down on another day. (With lockdown looming, the Gorse Fox suspects he will have time).

We bought a nice joint of beef for Sunday dinner this week. The Gorse Fox read the instructions, but decided he wanted to try something different. He has the seared joint cooking slowly in the oven at 130C on a bed of root vegetables, beef stock, and mulled wine. Goodness knows what it will taste like, but it's nice to experiment.

How things change

 When the Gorse Fox got up this morning, he commented to Ellie what a lovely sunny start we had for the day. Well, that didn't last. 

By the time the others emerged, it had started to rain. Then it started to rain heavier... and heavier. Animals had started to line up two-by-two in the space across the road and Noah phoned to ask if we had room for an ark.

Urban-Cub had to take Ellie across to Pistol Pete for the weekend, the Silver Vixen settled down with some sewing, and the Gorse Fox spent some time climbing the family tree as the rain battered the house.

By early afternoon, the rain had stopped and soon the clouds were blown away and we had bright sunshine. It really is amazing how quickly things change. The Gorse Fox decided that he needed some exercise so set off for a walk. A playlist of great music from Santana, The Moody Blues, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd drowned out the sound of the traffic for the first part of the Shripney loop(*).

Once on the old highway he could turn the volume right down. All the background noise had gone. It was beautifully peaceful. He slowed his pace to make the most of the silence. As he turned back towards Bersted, the low autumn sun reflected off the wet ground and the huge puddles. It was quite blinding at times.

Once you get off the main roads, it really is very nice round here. The walk only took about an hour, but it was nice to stretch the legs.

Since getting back we have had several groups of kids coming on a pumpkin hunt. We have put artificial pumpkins in the windows and a bowl of sweets in the porch for them to help themselves. It seems to have been quite popular so far. Let's hope the sweets last.

(*) The Shripney loop is a route from Bersted across to the A29, then up the A29 to Shripney and then back along the old 14th Century highway between the villages. It's one about 5.5km, but a good stroll.

Service

 The Gorse Fox had a quiet 45 minutes before Ellie stirred this morning. This gave hime time to chop the chorizo, bacon, chillies, and spring onions ready for some breakfast egg fried rice. Yummy!

As everyone else emerged the Gorse Fox showered then headed off into Chichester. It was time for the first service on the Silver Vixen's Skoda. He dropped the car off and then headed into town. About twenty years ago he bought a Berghaus "Mera Peak" jacket and a fleece that zipped inside it. After twenty years of hard work, the drawstrings on the jacket are beginning to perish and the the zip on the fleece has developed a mind of its own. The idea was to stop in "Black's" and "Cotswolds" to see if the fleece could be replaced. "Black's" had a few Berghaus fleeces but none of the size the Gorse Fox needed. He went on to  "Cotswolds" but they were closed. He leapt on the bus and headed home.

The Gorse Fox then spent several hours looking at various fleeces through online shops - Berghaus, North Face, Jack Wolfskin, and so forth. The question that kept nagging him was whether any new fleece would actually zip into a 20 year old jacket.

A video came through from Skoda. The car had been given a clean bill of health. In fact the comment was that it was "like new". Soon after, the text message arrived to say the car was ready. The Gorse Fox got his old Berghaus jacket and headed for the bus. As he approached the stop the bus came along so he waved it down. The bus driver looked at him and sailed by. This reminded him of being a schoolboy and seeing bus drivers sail by the stops because they were late and couldn't be bothered to stop. He smirked, and thought that the joke was on the bus driver. He thought he was inconveniencing the Gorse Fox; whereas the Gorse Fox couldn't have cared less. He just stood and waited for the next bus.

In Chichester,  he stopped into "Cotswolds", which was now open. They only had a single Berghaus fleece, but it was enough for the Gorse Fox to check that it zipped into his jacket - it did. They only had it in black however, and that was apparently, the only colour they would have this year. The Gorse Fox didn't want black, so said his goodbyes and headed for Skoda.  With the car collected, he headed home.

Back home he logged on to Berghaus and ordered the fleece that he wanted - now certain that it would fit in his existing coat.

All Hallows

We are approaching Halloween. Ellie is excited by the spectacle that it has become, but won't be with us at the weekend. She'll also be out with Urban-Cub visiting the Princess tomorrow, so Urban-Cub and the Silver Vixen decided that we had to bring things forward. 

After a fairly typical Thursday morning, dealing with Ocado, the Accounts, then a trip to collect some medicines from the pharmacy and a top-up at Sainsbury's we headed home and settled in for the afternoon. The Gorse Fox spent the afternoon on the computer. Not because he had anything specific to do, but in order to stay clear of Urban-Cub and the Silver Vixen as they decorated the living room for Ellie.

They clearly had fun as the noise wafted through the house and Ellie occasionally shouted from the bottom of the stairs "Grandpa we need help". The Gorse Fox helped, then retreated again.

They have done a pretty good job, all things being considered. We have illuminated pumpkins strung in the windows.

 We have spiders and webs strung across the bay 

And the Silver Vixen has been making some spiders and webs

All great fun... and the Gorse Fox is sure that anyone searching for the Giant Pumpkin will at least look at our place for clues.

Damp

 Well, it wasn't as wet as yesterday. In fact, when the Gorse Fox first came downstairs, it wasn't raining at all. The morning had a promising look. It was a fairly typical Wednesday with the Silver Vixen getting ready for her trip across to Angmering for Pilates, Urban-Cub taking Ellie to the child-minder and the Gorse Fox getting ready for football.

It had started to rain as the Gorse Fox approached Worthing. Typical, he thought. By the time he arrived though, it had stopped. We kicked off with some seriously uneven teams. It was very much a case of attack versus defence. This meant that Gorse Fox was going to be up against it, but at least he had ex-professional, Ian, alongside him to hold the fort. Well at least he did have for about 10 minutes. Then Ian twisted awkwardly and hurt his back. He had to go off. The other team took immediate advantage and the Gorse Fox felt like the boy who put his finger in the dyke in Holland... trouble was we didn't have a dyke, we had a colander. On top of that, it started to rain again. Not sure what the final score was, but the Gorse Fox thinks it was about 7-2. Pah!

Back home, Urban-Cub was back in bed. She explained that she was feeling rather sick and had been since the very early hours. The Gorse Fox made sympathetic noises and volunteered to collect Ellie from the child-minder at the end of the day.

The Silver Vixen came home early afternoon. She had followed up the Pilates by going for a coffee with her friends. Once she was back, we had a quiet afternoon before the Gorse Fox started preparing the vegetables for dinner so that they were all ready by the time he got back from collecting Ellie. You'd almost think he was organised!

Wet

 Today was, by any measure, wet. Very wet.

The Silver Vixen was meeting a friend for coffee near Worthing, Urban-Cub had to take Ellie to the child-minder (after what can only be described as a disturbed night), and the Gorse Fox had football.

The Gorse Fox was signed up for two sessions - the first hour was the usual walking football, the second hour was over-40s (running) football. As he prepared himself, he started to question whether he was properly attired for the conditions. Should he have fins and a wet suit? Would a scuba tank be required? The rain blasted horizontally across the pitch. There were times when it was so heavy that you couldn't make out the faces of the players by the other goal. The Gorse Fox was wearing 4 layers, to no avail. Water had seeped through and trickled down his front, his back, his legs, and into his boots. Drips formed on the end of his nose before being whipped away by the wind. The wind, meanwhile, made sure that the utmost effort was put into making everyone cold to the core.

The first hour was a mixed bunch. A win, a draw, and a loss. Not really too much on which to comment. Nobody was playing slick football in those conditions.

At the end of the first hour there was a change of personnel as the wimps left and a few new faces joined us. The rain continued to pound the pitch and an ark floated into view. Seals frolicked in the penalty area, and a French fishing boat appeared on the running track. 

We kicked off. The sides were somewhat lopsided. In fact, we were carved apart and the Gorse Fox gave up trying to keep count of the score. One player, taking pity on us, swapped sides halfway through. It made little difference. As the game ticked towards the final whistle, the Gorse Fox sent out a dove, which returned with a twig in its beak. Clearly, there was dry land somewhere. 

He headed back to the car. He had a warm fleece on the back seat. Stripping off his four top layers he pulled on the fleece and dropped into the car. Heating was cranked up and he made his way home with his track suit leggings stuck to his legs. Urban-Cub had a cup of tea waiting for him as he went up for a long hot shower. All his kit was washed and dried this afternoon and his boots are still in the airing cupboard. Hopefully they'll all be ready for the morning (and hopefully it won't be as wet).

More Success

It has been another successful day at the code face. 

The old word-processing directives(*) that the Gorse Fox had used were similar enough to HTML to allow him to do a simple edit to convert the old directives to something that a web browser could handle. This enabled him to process all the files at once, look through the web pages created, and save them as PDFs... job done.

The other set of files that needed attention were the FFT files. These were already formatted as they were "Final Form Text". For the Gorse Fox's needs all he had to do was strip out the printer directives and convert them to text files. Done.

As usual, when developing code, the Gorse Fox learned several new things, hit several brick walls, and found circumventions for all the issues he uncovered.

There was a bit of a panic when the list for tomorrow's football was full and the Gorse Fox was placed on the waiting list. He decided that he would go and use the running track if places didn't become available. Fortunately, they did. Just as he was preparing supper an email arrived to say that a place was available, so the Gorse Fox leapt at the smartphone app and slotted himself into the session.

(*) The Gorse Fox should probably point out that this scripting language was designed to take text in, what was essentially, punch card format and format into documents that looked properly typeset. Why? Because when it was first written, there was no Microsoft Word, AmiPro, WordPro or whatever. Remember the Gorse Fox has been developing solutions since the early 1970s... long before there were PCs or even screens that did anything other than emulate 80-column punched cards.

Success

 With the clocks going back overnight, the Gorse Fox had to force himself to stay in bed until a sensible hour this morning.

He has spent the day in the study. He had returned to yesterday's conundrum with some fresh insights. He fired up "eagle" and successfully installed the back-level of VirtualBox. Tick. 

With that running, he then installed a Windows 98 image. Tick.

Finally, he installed the Amipro software files that he had downloaded yesterday. They worked. Tick.

He was 3-0 up and it wasn't even half time! He started to look through the old archives for the Amipro files. There are hundreds of them. He has mad a start. Each is loaded the saved as an RTF file. The RTF file is then processed on "condor" and saved as a PDF. It's slow going, but it works and it has been reviving the files one-by-one. He will do a few at a time until they are all cleared.

While doing this he also noticed that he had a vast number of ".scr" and ".fft" files. The former were files destined to be formatted by a home-written word processed that the Gorse Fox created back in the 1980s. It is long gone. This has provided him with another little project. He needs to rewrite this so that, again, he can create text files which san be saved and viewed sensibly. Finally, there is a large tract of ".fft" files. These were "final form text" files and contained all the codes to instruct the printer how to format and print the text. These may not need much attention, but it is another possible project.

Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit popped in for a cup of tea this afternoon. It was nice to see them, but it is a shame that Cousteau-Cub's back is clearly giving her a lot of trouble again at present. 

Alone Again (Un)naturally

 It's been a mixed day weather-wise. Certainly not a day that encourages you to go out. The Gorse Fox and Ellie were up first for our usual quiet hour before everyone else emerged. After breakfast Urban-Cub got Ellie ready and took her across to stay with Pistol Pete for the weekend. For much of the rest of the day Urban-Cub was in and out.

The Silver Vixen spent the day with here sewing. The tapestry-like advent calendar is nearly finished.

The Gorse Fox spent most of the day in the study. He had returned to an old conundrum. How can he resurrect some old files that were written in a word processor called Amipro. He has managed to find some install files for Amipro but obviously needs an operating system on which it will run. He played with DOSBox but couldn't get a successful old Windows system running. He tried WINE and got as far as running the Amipro installation - but that failed halfway through. He then thought of VirtualBox, but needs a back-level version of that because he has to run a 32-bit system on it. He couldn't find one that would run on his iMac. This can wait until tomorrow.

Urban-Cub went out to see a friend in Angmering and stay overnight. This left the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen home alone. As the title says, Alone Again (un)Naturally!

Goodness, it's quiet.

Sorted

 Just before seven, Ellie stirred and demanded attention. Urban-Cub convinced her that it was too early, but despite this she only settled for a few minutes. The Gorse Fox started to get out of bed, but the Silver Vixen offered to take control. The Gorse Fox acquiesced, thanked her, and then dropped back off to sleep for 30 minutes.

The morning lacked excitement. The Silver Vixen did her YouTube Pilates, and the Gorse Fox went to Sainsbury's. Urban-Cub went to see Cousteau-Cub, who was suffering with back spasms. The Gorse Fox  he sloped back to the study for a bit of internet surfing.

This afternoon Ellie had her flu spray, so Urban-Cub took her across to Rustington while the Silver Vixen went through her fabric collection looking for Christmas themed colours. The Gorse Fox went across to help Old Bill with his new iMac.

As recommended, he had gone through all the basic processes, and some YouTube videos, himself. He had done a good job and the system seemed to be well framed. The Gorse Fox was there to help with the movement of some old Windows files and the setting up of TimeMachine. It didn't take too long, but presented the opportunity to show him a few shortcuts, hints, and tips.

Fix

 It's been dry and bright throughout the day. It would have been the perfect day for a long walk but the Gorse Fox had a couple of things that had to be cleared and the Silver Vixen and Urban-Cub had to go into Chichester.

The Gorse Fox has mentioned that he has had a problem with his backup system. The developers came through with a set of suggestions, so the Gorse Fox had to try them out and see if everything returned to normal. It was a six step process but at the end it looked as things were there. They weren't. Closer examination showed the software, while able to see,  was unable to access the various backup volumes. The Gorse Fox looked at the various privacy settings. They looked correct. When in doubt, try a clean re-boot. He did. Everything burst back into life. The problem was solved... clearly their six steps should have been seven.

Old Bill collected his new iMac. He's already run into trouble which may require a reset, but he's given up for tonight. The Gorse Fox stands ready to parachute in and help. Talking of iMacs, the Gorse Fox's iMac (Condor) has ticked along happily since 2012. He has started to think about a replacement, but notices that all of the new models seem to come with only 256GB or 512GB of SSD as standard (though larger configs are supported). He decided that he should consider what the options are for using an external SSD in addition to the standard configuration. Various options seem suitable, and can connect to the Thunderbolt 3 port on an iMac. There's no panic, but it would be interesting to see the impact on price of Black Friday on such devices, next month.

Rain stopped for play

 There was heavy rain overnight and it was still pouring down when the Gorse Fox and Ellie got up this morning. The sky was a heavy grey and it looked as if the rain had settled in for the day. 

Urban-Cub was first off the mark, taking Ellie across to LA. The Silver Vixen had cancelled her Pilates in case she was needed to look after Ellie, so she set up the living room, did her Pilates using YouTube, then went for a walk on the running machine. The Gorse Fox had football.

He headed across to Worthing and bumped into a fellow footballer in the changing rooms. He had just got out of the shower and his phone rang. He cancelled it. It rang again. He cancelled it again. This continued for a few moments. He then explained it was his daughters on a Zoom call - and given that he was in a public changing room, and still dripping wet, it would have been a bit of a surprise for them if he had taken the call. We continued to chat and he commented that as far as he could tell, the Gorse Fox has got faster during lockdown. This was good news, but he still needs to up his fitness.

Just as we strode out to the pitch, the rain stopped. It was still grey, and still windy, but at least the rain had stopped. The sides were a bit uneven today. The Gorse Fox was playing for the yellow-bibs. We concluded we were in for a pounding so two of us set up at the back to repel all comers. We almost survived the first half, conceding a single goal in the last few seconds of the half.

In the second half the Gorse Fox suggested his fellow-defender pushed up further. This had a positive effect as we started to drive them back. We won a free kick about 10 yards outside the area. A slick interchange of passes saw the Gorse Fox in wide open space and the ball was passed back to him. He blasted it and it swung right before curling left back into goal. All was even. Slowly we edged into the lead, and in the end, managed to finish the game as 5-3 winners.

This afternoon the Gorse Fox has been helping Old Bill who had a problem with the security settings on his iPad. After a bit of fiddling, it was suggested that he bring the device over and see if the message persisted on the Gorse Fox's network. It didn't. In the end, the Gorse Fox concluded that his router was broadcasting WPA as well as WPA2 security, and the WPA needed to be switched off. His router is remotely managed by his internet provider, so he'll have to phone them up and get it changed. His new iMac is due tomorrow, so he may need some more help then.

Defence

 The morning started with a quiet Ellie/Grandpa hour. This is becoming the norm. The Gorse Fox doesn't mind as it's nice to have some quiet time with just the two of us. Once everyone was on the go, the Gorse Fox grabbed his bag and headed into Worthing. There was football to play! The forecast had suggested that rain was possible, but fortunately it held off.

The games went well. The Gorse Fox was in the centre of defence, as usual. We shipped a goal fairly quickly, but then got to grips with the positioning and pushed forward. In the end we won 5-1. The second game was another win (2-0), but the the last game was a 2-0 loss. That was the first hour finished.

The Gorse Fox had booked for the second session. This is, as he has explained before, full running football. This was a hard fought hour and, to be honest, the Gorse Fox doesn't remember the score but he thinks that we just edged it, overall. Over the two hours he had managed to run about 8km... and didn't feel too tired. Hopefully, the fitness is beginning to return.

Back home, Urban-Cub has been working on the job hunt but took time out mid-afternoon to take Ellie to the park. Ellie's been very good throughout the day and we were pleased to hear from the child-minder that the other child who had been tested for Covid-19 had received a negative result. Ellie will be able to go back to LA tomorrow.

The Gorse Fox heard from Old Bill. He's bitten the bullet and order his iMac. He should collect it on Thursday. The Gorse Fox has offered to help him if he has any queries.

All together now

It was still quite dark as the Gorse Fox and Ellie came down this morning. She made herself comfortable and instructed the Gorse Fox as to where her fruit juice should be placed. She then settled down to the cartoons while he made his coffee.

The Silver Vixen had an appointment during the morning. Urban-cub and the Gorse Fox took the opportunity, as Ellie was being inquisitive, to check the manual for the new car and see if we could crack the conundrum of how to play music off of her iPhone through the car's entertainment system. The answer is no, we couldn't. She now has it on her list of things to do to pop into a dealer and ask for some guidance.

This afternoon Urban-cub had an appointment, so the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox took Ellie down to the play area at West Fields. It was extremely blowy as we got out of the car, but the play area is well sheltered by the trees so it wasn't too bad. 

We had great fun for an hour or so. To begin with, we were the only people in the play area, but as the school day ended, more children started to arrive.

Ellie charged from swing to slide, slide to rocking horse, rocking horse to zip-line, zip-line back to swing, and so it went on. We had a brief interlude where the Gorse Fox bought some ice creams, but as soon as they were finished the circuit started again.

Today looks to be the last dry day of the week so the Gorse Fox is glad we got out. He has football scheduled for tomorrow and Wednesday and expects to get very wet.

Tyres and Piers

 It was another quiet start to the day. The Gorse Fox had a challenge. An automatic software update had screwed up his backup system and he thought he should check the logs to see if there was anything obvious that he could do. An hour or so of reading logs convinced him that it was their fault, not his (though being an auto-update it really was unlikely to be his problem). He is still waiting for a response.

Urban-Cub had a problem. The new car was reporting tyre pressure problems. She chatted to a friend and was told the tyre pressure was on the side of the tyre. She went to the garage and blew them up to 40psi. When she told the Gorse Fox what she had done, he pointed out that the pressures were clearly labelled on the driver's door pillar. Pressures were reduced to 30psi and 32psi front and back respectively. Sensors have been reset and hopefully all is now correct.

The Gorse Fox needed to stretch his legs, He went out for a walk. He headed west, then dropped down toward Aldwick and eventually the beach near West Fields. 

He turned east and walked along the esplanade. The sea was as calm as mill pond, even with the tide fully in. He carried on past the pier and up towards the Town Hall. He cut up through the Town and back towards home. 

It was a pleasant walk of just over 5 miles.

Pistol Pete dropped Ellie home just before six. We had heard from her child-minder that members of her family had been tested for Covid and were awaiting their results. After a brief discussion we concluded that Ellie should stay at home until the tests showed negative results. Even though Arun has the lowest infection rate in the whole Country, it would be silly to take any chances.

So quiet

 With just the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox at home, it was very quiet this morning. Urban-Cub did pop back for a while, but then went out to collect cousin Mask from the railway station and headed on to Chichester to meet with the Coventry Hobbit and Cousteau-Cub.

The Gorse Fox caught up on the accounts and collated the photos from yesterday, now that the official images have come through. It took a while, but it was worth the effort.

While doing this, he noticed his backup system wasn't running. It appears that an update was applied automatically, yesterday. Now the system won't start. He has raised a ticket with the vendor and eagerly awaits their response.

The Silver Vixen headed into the from garden to do a little tidying up but ended up chatting with various neighbours for a couple of hours before she got started.

The Gorse Fox headed off for a walk. This took him along the main road towards Sainsbury's then north along the A29 into Shripney before looping back along the 14th century highway back to Bersted. Led Zeppelin accompanied him on the walk - helping keep the pace up. (Note to self: remember to take headphones next time).

In a smallholding near the by-pass, a couple were doing some maintenance on their sheds. A couple of goats had escaped and were standing outside the enclosure. The first one was standing on its hind legs munching leaves from a tree. The Gorse Fox was too slow with the camera to capture this. By the time it was freed from his pocket, the goat was back on all fours. Meanwhile, the other was watching imperiously as the Gorse Fox approached. As you can see from the photo, there was a definite attitude of "What'choo looking' at?"

The Gorse Fox marched on, across the by-pass and up into Bersted and back home.

Happy Christmas

It was a prompt start for the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox this morning. Not ridiculously early, but we did need to get going. Cousteau-Cub had purchased an "Experience Day" for the Gorse Fox for Christmas last year. Because of the pandemic, today was the first opportunity to use it. So i t was that the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen headed out through the Arun Valley and up into bandit country (Surrey), finding ourselves pulling in to the Top Gear track at Dunsfold.

When the Gorse Fox worked at British Aerospace, Dunsfold is where they would do the flight testing for the Harriers. Assembly would take place at Kingston, then the planes would be transported to Dunsfold for testing. That's by the by.

We were meant to arrive at 10:30 but pulled in about 15 minutes early. It was obviously very busy as we had a very long walk from the car to the check-in. The queue for check-in was long and very slow. In fact it was about an hour before the Gorse Fox got logged in and handed his credentials for the day. 

The Silver Vixen made her way off to watch the proceedings and the Gorse Fox entered the drivers' paddock. First one the agenda was a sighting lap whereby you are taken round in a 4x4 by someone who knows the track and gives you a briefing on the various aspects of the drive. It was just as well. In various places on the course chicanes had been indicated with traffic cones. It was not very obvious, however, where the route was meant to take you through the chicane. Many cones had been knocked over where earlier drivers had completely missed the correct route.

Back in the drivers' paddock the Gorse Fox waited to be called. It was 12:15 before his name bubbled to the top for a couple of laps in an Aston Martin Vantage V8. Gingerly he lowered himself into the car. It was a lot lower than he had expected. He checked that his backside wasn't actually touching the ground. There was a bit of a faff trying to unknot the seatbelt, then he fired up the engine. It gurgled and burbled. He had to move the seat though. Eventually he was ready and comfortable. His id tag and USB were inserted into the dash board and and eased himself onto the track with the instructor keeping an eye on the traffic. As he moved out of the "pit lane" he gunned it. He was pinned to the back of the seat as the car rocketed up through the gears. The chicanes came and went and he was encouraged to drive through the bends much faster than he would have dreamed. In moments (it seemed) the first lap was over and the car (at least he hopes it was the car) was screaming into the second lap. He could get used to this, he thought, and in his confidence he missed a gear change. No harm done, he just cornered more slowly than he intended. All too soon, it was over and, with a huge grin on his face (hidden by his COVID mask) he returned to the paddock. 

The Gorse Fox didn't have long to wait. Next on the agenda was the Aston Martin DB5 (Bond) car. After about 15 minutes his name was called. He went out to car and wandered around taking some photos. It really was a beautiful classic. Inside it even had the radar-like map in the centre console and a "bullet-proof" screen behind the seats. Again he turned the key and punched the start button. The beautiful old engine burbled into life and we were off. As before he took a cautious line as he moved out of the pits. The steering on the DB5 was so heavy - having no power assist. Once he had its measure and joined the track he hit the accelerator and took-off. This was a refined machine; immensely comfortable; fast; and completely docile. The Gorse Fox loved it. Again he had a couple of laps scheduled and this time, with a better knowledge of the track, he pushed the car a lot harder. He has no idea how fast he went in either car.  There was too much to take in without glancing at the speedometer.

That was it. All done. It was time to collect the Silver Vixen from her vantage point, go and claim the official photos and videos, and head back for the Skoda and a leisurely drive home.

It was a fabulous day, and a fabulous Christmas present.