Contact

 It's has been a glorious day. The Gorse Fox should really have made better use of the sunny weather and gone for a long walk. He didn't. He is still mentally wrapped up in the family tree. This was exacerbated by the wonderful Zoom call he had with his cousins this morning. It was so nice to see them all and to chat for half an hour. Obviously, as they are all siblings, there was a lot of banter but not to the exclusion of the Gorse Fox. They were all very happy with the recent updates he had published on their side of the family. They have invited him back for their next call, next weekend. 

The rest of the day was spent buried in the digital archives, trying to elaborate on some of the existing data, or find some new facts. He also spent some more time considering his online website. This website is effectively two distinct sites. The first site captures and shares information for all people with his family name.  The second site is where he publishes and shares information on his family and cousins. The former is written in "Joomla", the latter is just "HTML". It is the latter that he wants to improve and to find the best delivery method for changes. What he had forgotten was that he had already started converting parts of it to "Joomla" several years ago. This has helped him decide which target environment to use, but it does mean there are a lot of pages that need to be converted. At least, once it is done, there will be a coherent look and feel.

The procrastinator in him tells the Gorse Fox that can wait for another day!

Choices

 It has been a quiet day at home. It was very cold overnight, but we have had bright sunshine throughout the day. Urban-Cub had managed to change her shift so that Ellie was at home with her last night though she did drop off some stuff for the weekend as she took Ellie to DD.

The Gorse Fox spent most of the day with the family tree and the family website. The issue was finding a good way to update the website with data from the latest version of Family Tree Maker. In the end, the Gorse Fox decided that exporting the data as a CSV file and then writing a program to edit it the way he would want was the best solution. It only took about an hour but we now have a mechanism to take exports from FTM and turn them into web pages displaying descendant trees.

Once this was done the Gorse Fox looked at updating the website itself. Again, this took a little while and meant accessing it from the Linux machine "Eagle". The relevant parts of the family were duly changed and the website (for that family) is now up to date.

This triggered a series of thoughts in the Gorse Fox's addled brain. He is now wondering if there is a better way of hosting the family website. (Better in terms of maintenance, rather than how it is displayed). He has been experimenting this afternoon, but has come to no conclusions.

We collected Ellie from DD and, once home, she played in the garden. It was positively Spring-like out there. Urban-Cub managed to get away from work early so snuck-in to surprise her longe before she was expected. They have now gone back home, and Ellie is due to spend  the weekend with Pistol Pete.

Domestic

 It has been a domestic morning. The Gorse Fox wandered round to Urban-Cub's so that he could walk with them, taking Ellie to Dizzy Ducklings. Then Urban-Cub headed to her home to do some studying for and exam on Monday, and the Gorse Fox returned home. We had our usual Ocado delivery, then the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox went to do the "top-up" at Lidl and Sainsbury's. There were some excellent bargains and it is unlikely we will need to buy any more meat for several weeks. The freezer is groaning under the weight and its door need to be firmly pushed in order to close.

The Silver Vixen melted back into her sewing room until it was time to collect Ellie.

The Gorse Fox hit the study. He is still filling in additional research on his cousins' branch of the family. He has managed to push their part of the tree back by 3 more generations. Once he has finished this tranche of updates he'll update the website. (This, bizarrely has to be done from one of the Linux machines as the control panel used by the web host, doesn't work correctly with Apple's Safari).

Branching Out

 Ellie had a very good night's sleep, and woke around 6:30. That's not a problem, particularly when all she wants is Grandpa to switch on his tablet so she can watch YouTube Kids until she has to get up. After that the early morning went much as usual. She had her breakfast, the Silver Vixen prepared her packed lunch, she got ready for Dizzy Ducklings and we took her along to the pre-school.

Once back we had our own breakfast and then the Silver Vixen prepared for her Zoom Pilates, which would occupy the rest of the morning.

The Gorse Fox retired to the study. There was the online shopping list to submit, then the rest of the day has been spent working on various branches of the family tree. The focus has been one particular family, the Gorse Fox's 2nd cousins. He went through the backup copy that his, now deceased, cousin Mark had sent and used this as a cross-check with his own research. Where possible he brought this up to date and tried to delve a little further into the archives to glean some new data. It has been an interesting exercise.

We collected Ellie from pre-school. The teacher was having problems getting one of the kids to leave and go to his mum. The reason? He wanted to go back in and say goodbye to Ellie. The teacher explained that everyone loves Ellie and she is the most popular child in the class. Certainly, as she came out they were all calling to her, and some wanted to walk back with us!

Urban-Cub finished her long day and collected Ellie around 16:00. SHe's back home tonight, but back with us tomorrow night.

Tree Surgery

 The Gorse Fox wandered round to meet up with Urban-cub and Ellie and accompany them on their way to Dizzy Ducklings. Once back home there were several domestic chores to complete and a kiddies bookshelf to take apart. The new one that we assembled last week is useless. The pockets where the books would hang are much too small and nothing much bigger than a postage stamp could fit in them. The Silver Vixen decided to make new inserts but needed the old bookholder (which is fine) to use as a pattern.

That done the Gorse Fox retired to do some tree surgery on the Family Tree. With the chance to tie up with some cousins at the weekend, it was important to check that they had the latest information from the Gorse Fox's records. It took a little cross-checking and a few updates, but soon there was a package of "pdf" files winging its way around the world.

We are expecting Ellie later. Urban-cub has an early start, so Ellie will be sleeping here tonight and we will take her to pre-school in the morning.

Landmark... not quite

 It is the Gorse Fox's Birthday. Like a little kid he was awake really early. No, it wasn't the excitement, nor was it his bladder, it was Ellie deciding to leap into bed with us and demanding access to the Gorse Fox's tablet to watch YouTube Kids. Normally, once fired up she returns to her room but not this morning. She decided to lie between us and watch the screen and listen to the commentary. The Gorse Fox gave up and went for a shower.

During breakfast she was very helpful as the Gorse Fox opened his cards. She commented on this or that and then took them into the lounge for display. The Gorse Fox just did as he was told until it was time to take her to Dizzy Ducklings.

When we got back and had our own breakfast, the Gorse Fox started to deal with all of the messages that had been pouring in. Several (cheekily) had assumed this was a "landmark" birthday. The Gorse Fox pointed out that though he may have entered a landmark year, he was a full twelve months away from the landmark birthday.

One branch of the family (2nd cousins) made contact and asked if the Gorse Fox would like to join their regular pan-continental family Zoom call. With these cousins spread from Australia, through Switzerland, the UK, and on to Canada it seemed like a lovely opportunity to meet them at some of them other than at a funeral! The Gorse Fox will have to prepare for this by printing their branch of the family tree to pass round for updates, comments, and further data.

We collected Ellie from pre-school and soon after, Urban-Cub arrived from work. There was a pile of presents, some bunting (that Ellie and the Silver Vixen had put up) and some cake with a suitable array of candles. We had a lovely tea before they had to go... and no sooner had they gone but Cousteau-Cub phoned for a chat. A perfect day really!

Code

 The Gorse Fox has had a a stimulating day. He woke up with an idea for some code. The problem is that though there is a Linux command to do what he wants, there is no similar instruction for the Mac. He settled down at the code-face. Soon code was flying from his fingers and tests were running. An hour or so later he had achieved his requirement. The only question in his mind is whether there may be some enhancements worth coding in.

This afternoon was spent sitting in the sun, in the Orangery, reading a book about heroic mathematical mistakes. The doorbell rang. It was Cousteau-cub and the Coventry Hobbit. They had just stopped to drop-in a present and a card for the Gorse Fox's birthday tomorrow. It was nice to see them (even from a distance). When they left they were heading off to walk the dog and hoping to collect some paperwork from Urban-cub.

Urban-cub dropped Ellie off just after 6pm. As Urban cub has an early start in the morning, G-Force are looking after Ellie overnight and taking her to Dizzy Ducklings in the morning.

Support

Overall, it's been a quiet day. The Silver Vixen continued with her attack on the Orangery, made easier by the fact the dismantled wardrobe was now in the hall awaiting collection. The Gorse Fox had a slight problem on "Condor" which had been bothering him for a while. The "Finder" app which displays folder and files has a sidebar. You should be able to add or remove favourites from that sidebar, but this had not been working for a while. It was time to try and solve the problem.

The Gorse Fox attacked Google. No pertinent results. He searched in MacRumours. Nothing. He looked in StackExchange. Nada. In the end he contacted Apple support via their "chat" facility. The operative was very helpful, though did point out that the iMac in question was no longer covered by the support contract. He said, however, he would make a one time exception. The chat progressed as he went through a series of questions and suggested a number of circumventions. The Gorse Fox had already tried all of them. We had made no real progress. He then suggested restarting the machine in "Safe Mode". The Gorse Fox duly restarted, fired up "Finder", and shazam, everything worked as it should. Condor was rebooted normally and the problem has gone away. Result.

At lunchtime a neighbour of the Urban-Cub came along to collect the old wardrobe. This was a good bit of recycling.

During the afternoon the Silver Vixen did some baking. She has made a wonderful blueberry muffin loaf. It is delicious. She can do that again, as often as she wants!

Cleared

 There were several chores to clear today. The first was to clear all the tools that had been accumulating in the Orangery and return them to the garage. As the Gorse Fox has used so many tools over the last three weeks, this took quite a while.

Next on the agenda was to return several boxes to the loft. This is always a bit tricky as the loft hatch isn't really designed for someone the size of the Gorse Fox with a fixed ladder and limited space for his legs to bend. Nevertheless, everything was stored without incident. (The Gorse Fox is always nervous about returning from the loft space to go back down through the hatch).

The Silver Vixen has been busy doing some more Spring cleaning in the Orangery now that the Gorse Fox's stuff is out the way. There is still a double wardrobe (disassembled) on the floor, but after advertising on Facebook, this will be collected tomorrow lunchtime.

Screwed

 What a lovely and leisurely start to the day. There was no hurry to get going, as long as we were up and about in time for Ocado's delivery. It was miserable and wet outside, and certainly didn't encourage us to surface.

Once Ocado had delivered we go ready to hit Sainsbury's. The Silver Vixen needed a few bits and, as the store is usually very quiet on Thursday morning, we were happy to shop as a couple. Once the car had been loaded up with your purchases we went along to the new Lidl store which had opened this very morning. There was a short queue outside, but it only took a couple of minutes before we could enter. The store is very impressive (particularly in comparison with the old one). It's big, it's bright, it's wide open. We had a good nose about through the aisles and were quiet astounded at the prices of many of the items we buy regularly elsewhere. The Gorse Fox suspect that we will move some of the regular items from the Ocado and Sainsbury's lists and pop to Lidl for them in future.

After lunch the Gorse Fox went round to see Urban-Cub. She had a coat rack, some coat hooks, and a blackboard that she wanted installed, and a shoe rack that she wanted assembled. It didn't take too long and it does mean that she can now organise her cupboard more effectively.

The Silver Vixen has spent the afternoon Spring Cleaning the Orangery and our understaffs cupboard. The Gorse Fox must finish by moving his tools and off-cuts back to the garage tomorrow.

Well

 Yesterday was a challenging evening as Ellie defiantly played in the bedroom and kept calling out until gone 10. We were less than amused. At least when she did finally give in and ge to sleep we didn't hear another peep from her until nearly 7:30 this morning. There was no child minder today, so there was no hurry in getting going.

The Gorse Fox loaded yup the car with the packing from the various items of furniture that have arrived this last week. It was, again, an absolutely full load. It was nice to get it back out of the Orangery. (One more package arrived this afternoon, but the Gorse Fox was able to cut the packaging down with a box cutter and get it into the standard recycle bin.)

During the morning his new SSD arrived from Apple. It only took a couple of ticks to install it and get it going. Now the Gorse Fox needs to do some analysis and work out which files would best be moved onto the drive. He must say, it is very fast indeed.

Urban-Cub picked Ellie up and has taken her home, so the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen are by ourselves again for a few days.

Driven

 It was a a more sensible seven o'clock when Ellie woke us this morning. The Gorse Fox took her his tablet to watch YouTube Kids and then went for his shower. Again, she was due in LA this morning, so we got everything underway and managed to get away without any "discussions".

Back home, the Gorse Fox spent the day in the study. He has been looking for options for a new drive for the iMac (Condor). Should he get a proper external SSD or should he build one from the components. The latter choice would work out less expensive, but he isn't doing this as an exercise. He wants the extra space so in the end he opted for a LaCie external SSD from Apple.

The Silver Vixen is ensconced in her sewing room this afternoon.

Later, we are expecting Urban-Cub to bring Ellie to stay overnight as she has one more early start tomorrow.

It seems that all of our cohort of friends have now had their vaccines. This is very positive. We just need to see the roll out continue to capture Cousteau-Cub, the Coventry Hobbit, and Urban-Cub.

Early

The Gorse Fox was awake early. Not early compared to his working days, but early for his retirement Five o'clock should only be seen at the other end of the day. Ellie was next to stir, just after six. Again, the provision of the Gorse Fox's tablet and YouTube Kids kept her amused until we were ready to get up, at seven. She was scheduled to go to LA to spend the day with her child-minder, so we got things underway and headed off.

Once back home we both pottered about until a delivery van arrived with a small storage unit for the Silver Vixen's sewing room. It was remarkably heavy for its size so the Gorse Fox took it upstairs bit by bit. The next hour or so was spent assembling the unit. (Obviously the manufacturer read the Gorse Fox's blog - each part was labelled, and all of the fixings were packaged in separate, labelled, ziplock bags - there was no doubt what was what). The Silver Vixen's room is coming together, and with luck she'll soon be able to make full use of it.

It's been a quiet afternoon. Urban-Cub finished work mid-afternoon and went across to collect Ellie and take her home for dinner. She'll be back with us overnight as Urban-Cub has another very early start.

Just on a side note: neither the Silver Vixen nor the Gorse Fox have had any after effects whatsoever from yesterday's vaccination. We just need to let the antibodies build up in the body.

Both jabbed

 The Gorse Fox is pleased that the Silver Vixen came with him to the local vaccination centre. As she had an appointment booked for tomorrow, they were happy to give her the vaccination at the same time as the Gorse Fox, saving us a return trip in the morning. We both ended up with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The whole process was immensely slick. As we entered the centre, volunteers directed us through to reception, they took the Gorse Fox's name and directed us onwards where we were greeted by a nurse who took us straight through to a room where our details were recorded and our jabs given. As it was the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, there was no need to hang around for 15 minutes (as you do with the Pfizer jab). We were back in the car within 10 minutes of arriving.

Just stuff

 It has been a very quiet day. There was a short, but well-timed, trip to Sainsbury's. Though he walked straight in, by the time the Gorse Fox left, there was a queue all the way along the front of the store and round the corner.

Back home he put up some shadow boxes for the Silver Vixen in Ellie's bedroom and then retired to the study while the Silver Vixen pottered in here sewing room.

The Gorse Fox had received an email from a lady (let's call her Jen) who has a derivative of the Gorse Fox's family name. As such she had found his website and found herself and her family listed. Her email complained that the Gorse Fox should redact living people or people less that 100 years old. The Gorse Fox agreed, explaining that he doesn't edit the submissions, when received. It took him a while to go through and make the changes. Eventually, it was done and the updated page published. The Gorse Fox then had great pleasure in writing back to her to say that the changes had been applied... and, by the way, you were the person that submitted the original pre-formatted submission!

In other news, the Silver Vixen has now received her invitation for the vaccine. She is booked in for Monday, but will accompany the Gorse Fox tomorrow on the offchance that she can get it done at the same time.

Kids

 Ellie woke at around 6:45 and called out. The Gorse Fox went in to find out what she wanted and, perhaps, predictably, she wanted to watch YouTube Kids. He padded back and grabbed the tablet, firing it up for her. She settled down and we didn't hear another peep from her until 8:15. 

During the morning the YouTube Kids / Kidzone package on the Lenovo Tablet stopped and no form of cajoling would restart it. The Gorse Fox spent several hours trying to get to the bottom of the problem. In the end he removed the "Kids" account and re-installed. He also set up a separate account with just Google Kids Play and YouTube Kids as a fallback.

You'll have seen from the previous post that the Gorse Fox has been invited for his jab. Within a few minutes of posting that, the text message arrived from our surgery. He booked the jab using their link and is now scheduled to get an armful of something on Sunday morning. Let's just hope that the Silver Vixen get her invitation soon.

Urban-Cub came back from work to have supper with us and then take Ellie home. 

It seems like a very quiet evening!

Jab

 The Gorse Fox has just received his invitation to book his COVID-19 vaccination. The choice given is to wait for the GP to make contact, or to go online and book in one of the vaccination centres. The Gorse Fox. Decided to have a look online. The nearest offering was in Midhurst, Havant, Portsmouth, or Fareham. Knowing that our local surgery is using the Health Centre in the middle of Bognor, the Gorse Fox thinks he’ll wait.

G-Force Full Mental Jacket

 It had been very cold overnight. In fact, in parts of Scotland it was the coldest night for 25 years. Down here one the south coast it was only a couple of degrees below, but it was enough to create an impressive layer of frost on the Orangery roof.

Urban-Cub brought Ellie round before 08:00 as she had to get to work by 08:30. It all started well enough, but Ellie didn't wake at her normal time, so Urban-Cub had to bring her round in her dressing gown, still half asleep. She then set off for work, only to find that the A27 was closed and she had to find a diversion. In the end, her 25 minute journey took her well over the hour.

After the obligatory Ocado delivery, the Gorse Fox found himself on Ellie's bedroom floor doing a jigsaw with her. Then, when the Silver Vixen was ready and could take the handover, the Gorse Fox prepared to go to Sainsbury's. In the end, the take-over never occurred as Ellie decided she wanted to tag along. The trip wasn't quite as smooth as it might have been. Not because of Ellie, but because the Smart Shop app didn't seem to work. The only solution should have been shutting the app and restarting. That didn't work as it would not allow the Gorse Fox to log back in. This was all very fine, but the app also contained his shopping list. In the end he had to use the magic wand and his memory of the list. He managed to recall about half of the items on the original list. He was, however, disappointed that they had none of the cat food that Jasper likes. (Fortunately, we have another 9 days supply at home).

This afternoon, the Silver Vixen and Ellie have been making cup cakes. They used a recipe from one of the Bake-Off winners and the Gorse Fox must admit that the results were delicious.

Challenging

 Ellie was awake so came into bed with us until 0700. She was her usual chirpy self until it came to getting ready for school. Then, despite the sub-zero temperatures, she decided she was not going to wear a coat. This argument continued until the Gorse Fox put her coat on her and zipped it up. She moaned and whined as we walked towards pre-school then, halfway there, she decided she was not going. We did an about-turn.

Once home, the Gorse Fox spent the following hour loading and transporting all the piles of cardboard from the Orangery to the tip. Then, it was all of the polyurethane packing foam. With all of that gone, the Orangery looks more like a ballroom!

The rest of the morning was spent moving the floating shelf and filling all the old screw holes. Finally, it was all done. After lunch, we all took a walk to the village so that the Silver Vixen could get some birthday cards, and get the urgent one sent off. Ellie fell asleep in her buggy and woke up in a much better mood when we got back.

Surprise

 There was a fine covering of snow when we woke this morning. It hadn't settled on the grass, but the pavements and roads we cold enough for it to settle. The Gorse Fox saw some of the workmen wading into work through drifts of nearly 5 millimetres. Such dedication.

Urban-Cub dropped Ellie round to us before heading off to do a morning's training, then going on into "her" new store. We took Ellie round to Dizzy Ducklings. Though it was colder than yesterday, it didn't feel as cold as the wind had dropped. Despite the cold, she refused to wear her gloves, and only condescended to zip-up her coat after threats were issued.

The morning was essentially consumed with reading the paper and catching up on admin. The Gorse Fox was pleased to be informed of a Tax Code change which, for a change, worked in his favour (even if it was catching up on changes from last summer).

Soon after lunch, a truck turned up with Ellie's new wardrobe (flat-packed). It's construction took most of the afternoon. While this was being assembled, Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit knocked and met up with the Silver Vixen to walk round and surprise Ellie when she was collected from Dizzy Ducklings. They had the dog, Bruno, with them. Ellie was very excited.

The Gorse Fox stayed put and continued with the assembly of the wardrobe. It went pretty smoothly really. The Gorse Fox took a couple of missteps, but in both cases managed to retrieve the situation before it caused problems. (Why oh why don't the manufactures provide clearer pictures, labelled pouches of the various screws and fittings, and drawer sliders that identify left and right, front and back?). With the wardrobe built, the last problem that needed attention was the floating shelf. This was in the way and prevent siting the wardrobe where we wanted. Floating shelf was taken down. Tomorrow the Gorse Fox will re-site it.

Ellie's staying with us overnight tonight as Urban-Cub has an early start in the morning.

(The Gorse Fox's dad, and his twin, would have been 95 today).

Smoking

 There are some things that you do not expect to see up close. This is what was parked in the car park by the apartments. As we went to collect Ellie.

Drifts

 It was cold again overnight. The temperatures remained around -1C through most of the day. When the Gorse Fox opened up the shutters he could see that we da been hit by a significant blizzard (as evidenced by the attached photo).

Obviously, with snow this thick we are awaiting snow ploughs to clear the roads. We put on our winter weather gear and took Ellie round to Dizzy Ducklings. 

Back home, after a coffee, the Gorse Fox set about dismantling an old double-wardrobe. This has freed up further space in the Silver Vixen’s sewing room. The wardrobe came apart remarkably smoothly and is now nestling in the Orangery awaiting sale or disposal (we haven’t decided which yet).

We waded through the snow, by now it was nearly a millimetre thick in places, and went to collect Ellie. We have spent much of the afternoon playing her version of “pass the parcel”. This has no resemblance to any game we had played when we were young, with the exception of music that started and randomly stopped. There was no parcel. There was no wrapping. There was, however, a series of bowls containing Pom-poms that we had to pass round... and stop when the music did. That was it. 

Update

 It was very cold overnight. The "Beast from East" was threatening and snow was forecast for the eastern side of the the country. Looking at the weather maps, we seemed to be at the extreme edge of the threat. It turned out that other than a couple of snowflakes that didn't even make it to the ground, we remained clear.

The morning was a leisurely affair. The Gorse Fox was helping the Silver Vixen ditch "WhatsApp", starting by informing all her usual contacts. She has now switched over to Signal and iMessage (like the Gorse Fox). Once that was done, the Gorse Fox started to apply the latest update to his watch software. The problem is that, as before, it didn't fit. The cure is to unpair the watch, pair the watch and re-install WatchOS, then restore the backup taken when you unpaired it. This always take significantly longer than you expect. In fact, halfway through the Gorse Fox went round to see Urban-Cub.

The plan was to install the kitchen blind (a Roman blind, not roller blind), and to install her security cameras. The installation of the blind went pretty smoothly. (The Gorse Fox had bought some new, short Fischer wall plugs - which really made the difference). The security cameras weren't quite such a success. The problem is that the base station needs to be connect by Ethernet cable to her network. So far, she is relying on a MiFi, so has no Ethernet port into which it can connect. We took the opportunity to partly charge the cameras, but in the end packed everything away until her Broadband is properly connected.

Back home, the watch was just reaching the last stage of the update and Amazon were due. We had ordered another "Alexa" for the Silver Vixen's new sewing room. (The Gorse Fox had tried to repurpose the one from his study but it was playing up). That package arrived mid-afternoon, and the device was installed in no time. The Silver Vixen is very pleased.

Gone!

It's been a pretty quiet day. It was bright and sunny first thing, though a little chilly. Ellie had woken at 6:30, played in her room for 15 minutes, then came into bed with us until 7:00.

After breakfast the Gorse Fox found himself playing hide and seek with Ellie, while trying to do the odd chores. Pistol Pete came along  in the late morning and collected her for the rest of the weekend.

The double-bed frame that the Gorse Fox advertised on Facebook Marketplace during the week was snapped up. Today, after and exchange of messages, the purchaser came along to collect it. The success was such that the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen have just advertised some more superfluous stuff. We will have to see if that goes too.

G-Force

 It was a misty, but dry and mild start top the day. It was also Urban-Cub's first day back at work after the move. Ellie was dropped off after her breakfast and we took her to Dizzy Ducklings, while Urban-Cub continued to her online course.

There wasn't a vey full agenda for the rest of the day. A few domestic chores, and a few bits in the garden saw us through until it was time to collect Ellie. Once she was back here, she played quietly throughout the afternoon.

Now supper complete, she's getting washed and ready to go to bed in her new, huge, sleigh bed.

That's about it for today.

Some Assembly Required

The day started much as usual. The Gorse Fox was up first and enjoyed his first coffee before the Silver Vixen came down. Breakfast was consumed and the Gorse Fox went off to meet Urban-Cub and Ellie and walk with them to Dizzy Ducklings.

The usual Ocado delivery was followed by the Gorse Fox's weekly visit to Sainsbury's. He was a little surprised on this trip. Though everyone wore masks, and most people were careful about social distancing, there seemed to be a cohort of elderly "ladies" who seemed totally oblivious to the current social mores and had no compunction about stretching over you or standing right next to you. I don't know of they've had their vaccines and felt invincible, but unless it was more than 3 weeks ago, they haven't got their full immunity yet!

At lunchtime, the chaps arrived with the new bed.

Oh that was fun.

Firstly, it was big and heavy. It is a sleigh bed, after all (though we have to supply our own reindeer). Also the instructions were about as legible as the the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the diagrams were inaccurate. This triggered a great deal of head scratching (and the casting of spells, soto voce, against the manufacturer). In the end, we concluded that it would be best to put it all together and see what was left over. Well, the bed has now been assembled and is very sturdy and robust. There are, however, 8 large bolts, 4 smaller bolts, and 8 dowels left over. The Gorse Fox has gone back through the instructions and understands where the dowels were supposed to be. The bolts, however, totally superfluous. No holes that haven't been used, no apparent weaknesses in the structure; just a free gift from a factory in Malaysia.

Urban-Cub and Ellie popped in after school only to be summoned by the electrician who came and knocked to tell her that her fire alarms were going off again. They clearly have a problem with the alarms that needs to be solved quickly. Urban-Cub cannot continue with the alarms disabled, and random alarms are disconcerting, to say the least.

Just Pottering

 It was very wet overnight and the rain was still hammering down when it was time for Ellie to go to Dizzy Ducklings. Urban-Cub decided that, discretion being the better part of valour, she would take her in the car. The Gorse Fox’s early morning walk was “stood down”. 

We had a number of bits and pieces on the schedule, but nothing outstanding. The Gorse Fox dismantled Ellie’s cot-bed to make room for a full sized bed which is due tomorrow. She had clearly outgrown the old cot-bed. The Silver Vixen set about getting the (new) bedding for the new bed washed.

Still aware that Urban-Cub has a a big task ahead at work, the Gorse Fox spent a little more time looking for some apps that may help. He came across Trello. This rang a bell, and the Gorse Fox realised that he had seen it discussed recently by some of his old Starfleet colleagues. He signed up and installed the app. The next hour or so was spent trying to get to grips with how it works and how best it could be used by Urban-Cub. In the end he was very impressed by its simplicity of approach. He told Urban-Cub and it is now installed on her iPhone and iPad.

I popped round to Urban-Cub to put up a rack for her letters and keys. While there, the alarms went off again. Clearly, the fault was not caused by the units themselves. After the Gorse Fox left she contacted the site electrician again. We await a resolution.

The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox met up with Urban-Cub again later and walked down to Dizzy Ducklings to collect Ellie, then leaving them to go their home, we went home and had a quiet afternoon until it was time to go out to “Clap for Cpt Tom”

Mr Shifter

 The Gorse Fox went along to walk Ellie to Dizzy Ducklings this morning. She had had a late night and was a bit quiet this morning. Once home and suitably primed with coffee the Gorse Fox returned to Urban-Cub's in order to pick up some of his tools....

The Silver Vixen's move round continues. Another IKEA shelving unit was moved and placed next to the one we shifted yesterday. Once they were position correctly, the Gorse Fox fixed them to the wall. (They are big and heavy, an if they toppled they could cause a lot of damage - so they are screwed to the wall). Most of the rest of the day was spent reloading all of the shelves, drawers, and cupboards. This was predominantly done by the Silver Vixen as she needs to know where everything is stored. The Gorse Fox helped where he could.

Urban-Cub had some good news. She was contacted by work. Now, you should remember she has only worked for them for 2 months, and is meant to be doing a 6-month training. Despite that she has been asked to go into a large store near Portsmouth, with a young graduate manager, and jointly run the place. Needless to say, she is very pleased and starts in her own store on Monday.

Laundry

 The Silver Vixen didn't sleep well. The Gorse Fox got up as quietly as possible and took her a cup of tea to encourage her no to come downstairs. At the appropriate hour, he slipped out the back door (it's quieter) and went along to meet Urban-Cub and Ellie and escort them to Dizzy Ducklings (and catch up on any overnight news).

Soon after he got back the Silver Vixen emerged and we had a quiet breakfast. During the morning the old bed that Urban-Cub had been sleeping on was photographed and advertised online. It was then dismantled ready to go - or at least ready to get out of the way.

Urban-Cub rang. The washing machine and tumble drier had arrived. The Gorse Fox set off around the corner. The washing machine was quickly prepared (drum locks removed), and then shuffled across the lounge, down the hall, and into the utility cupboard. Graceful as a gazelle, the Gorse Fox leapt over said machine and started the installation. Water pipe fitted and tightened: check. Water switched on and no sign of leaks or drips: check. Waste pipe attached to wall: check. Machine levelled and legs tightened: check. Calibration run completed: check. Urban-Cub can now do laundry.

While all this was going on, an electrician was working on the smoke, heat, carbon monoxide alarms. He was kind enough, when finished, to help the Gorse Fox lift the tumble drier into position.

Today's jobs completed, the Gorse Fox returned home.

The Silver Vixen was reorganising. She has decided that she will acquire the large back bedroom as her sewing room. The old sewing room, which doubled as Ellie's room, will be emptied and a new full size bed acquired for Ellie to use when she's here. We spent the whole afternoon moving bolts of fabric, knick-knacks, books, and heaven alone knows what else. Some went to our bedroom, some were stacked up in the bathroom, some filled half the landing, and some covered the console table. (The Gorse Fox hasn't got a sufficiently wide-screen lens to show it all). Finally, the existing wall unit was empty and could be relocated to Sewing Room 2.0. It was at that point the activity ground to a halt. The unit needed to be attache to the wall... and all of the Gorse Fox's tools were round at Urban-Cub's house. That seemed like a good excuse to break for the day.

Nemesis

 Roller Blinds are the Nemesis of the Gorse Fox. He hates them. It's not that they don't look nice. They do. It's the problems you encounter when mounting them. The roller blind for Ellie's room was a case in point. The instructions clearly show the blind's brackets attached to the window frame. Well, modern houses have plastic frames and the Gorse Fox is not going to trust screws into that. An alternative is to screw the bracket into the top of the window recess. Like most modern houses, this has a steel lintel the other ide of the plasterboard, and too close to successfully use a plug. In the end, the Gorse Fox had to get a block of wood, screw that into the wall, and screw the bracket into the wood. This took an inordinate amount of time but was finally completed successfully. (When we bought our house in Hook, back in 1985, the builder had inserted a piece of wood beneath the lintel and behind the plasterboard so that you could easily fix curtains and so forth. Genius idea, but unfortunately not replicated through the years).

Once the roller blind was up, the Gorse Fox then started on reconstructing Ellie's wardrobe. It was a bit of a jigsaw puzzle but it slowly started to make sense. It wasn't easy, and at times Urban-cub and the Silver Vixen were both helping as we maneuvered the carcass up and round and tried to refit all the dowels and locknuts into the right places. Finally, it was done. Urban-cub and the Silver Vixen tidied things away, and we headed home. There's still a list of things to do, but we'll work through them during the week. 

Construction

 It was a bit wet and windy, but we had slept well and were in no hurry to get going. In then it was nearly 8 before the Gorse Fox wandered down for some coffee. While contemplating the day, it dawned on him that a template would be useful to locate the position of the curtain pole supports. Raiding the piles of cardboard (did you know that there is a National cardboard shortage?... well we know where it is!) he grabbed suitable sheet and with the help of some measuring, some geometry, and a Stanley knife he soon had the template cut to size.

The Gorse Fox wandered round the corner and was greeted at the door by Ellie. She had slept well and woken at a very suitable time. Urban-Cub and the Gorse Fox discussed the plan and he got straight down to work. Using the template and his own wall-plugs (those supplied were, as usual, absolutely useless) he had the poles up in about 15 minutes a piece. It was about then that the Silver Vixen arrived with her trolley full of freezer food and other items that Urban-Cub had left at our house. As they put that away she then started work helping Urban-Cub get her bedroom sorted out before starting on the curtains. The Coventry Hobbit arrived and went up to start on one of the cabinets for Ellie’s bedroom, and the Gorse Fox put together and IKEA unit for the lounge. It was a hive of activity.

Urban-Cub had decided that the ladder that enables Ellie to get into and out of bed was at the wrong end of the bed. We swapped it over then the Coventry Hobbit and Gorse Fox got on with constructing the chest of drawers. (Cousteau-Cub was looking after Ellie throughout this).

We were rudely interrupted by the smoke alarm bursting into life. It took a while to switch off (we didn’t find the reset switch until later). This happened a couple of times and scared the hell out all of us. In the end an emergency electrician was called and the alarms disabled until Monday when the builders will send in a “sparky” to check it all out.

Everyone was pretty tired, and Ellie was definitely finding all of the excitement a bit too much. We called it a day by five o’clock. There’s still a lot to do, but that can be spread over the next few days.

Movin’ On

 It’s a big day. Urban-Cub should get the keys to her new house. There was lots of excitement as we emerged from our slumbers. We had all the normal things to do to start with so that we could get Ellie to pre-school, then Urban-Cub had to get across to her lock-up in order to get the removal men going. Then the waiting game kicked in. There was nothing further we could do until we got the alert from the Sales Office that we had completed and Urban-Cub could have the keys. Even the there was a delay while the builders tried to clean up the road outside the house... but eventually, it was all systems go.

This, of course, coincided with us needing to collect Ellie from school. She was bubbling with excitement and as soon as we got home, she grabbed her “holiday Bag” ready to “go to our new house”.

Off she trotted, with the Silver Vixen tagging along behind. The Gorse Fox stayed put to load the car with some of the bits we would need for the big construction push during the afternoon. Actually, it didn’t go quite as smoothly because the removal men had to empty the first load before loading up the stuff from our Orangery.... and that was where moist oil the stuff was that needed building.

The Gorse Fox is sitting back in our house at present while the chaps deal with that second load. As soon as they’re done, he’ll hot-foot it back round the corner. 

Vulpus Domesticus

 The Gorse Fox has been very domestic today. After we had dropped Ellie at Dizzy Ducklings, he made an attempt to retire to the study. On Thursdays, this action is a magnet for Ocado to arrive with the shopping. So it was this morning. 

With all of the delivery unloaded and packed away, the Gorse Fox went back to the study. Then he remembered there was a separate Sainsbury's list. He grabbed his mask, some bags, and the car keys and headed out into retail jungle. He was surprised by the number of cars on the roads, but pleased to see everyone in the Store was wearing a mask. His only disappointment was that, despite the posters on entry, there was clearly a large number of people shopping in pairs. For some of the more elderly, that's understandable, but there seemed to be a fair number of young couples and yummy mummies wandering around.

After lunch the Silver Vixen, Urban-Cub, and Ellie concentrated on getting all the clothes, boots, shoes, and heavens knows what else packed and ready for tomorrow. The Gorse Fox acted as Sherpa, carrying the stuff down to the Orangery. Finally, they seem ready for the big day. Now we just await two further deliveries during the evening - Urban-Cub's sofa, and a FreeView box.

The Gorse Fox cooked up a huge batch of Bolognaise that we can take round to new house tomorrow and thus save anyone from having to cook anything other than some pasta or rice. He suspects it will be a long day.

Dreich

The Gorse Fox thinks that "dreich" sums up today's weather. It was milder than the previous few days, but it was dull, misty, and damp. It was also and early start. For some reason, best known to herself, Ellie was wide awake around 5:00 this morning. She played moderately quietly in he room but occasionally called out to Urban-Cub for one reason or t'other. At the allotted time, (when the light on her clock turned green) she charged out of her bedroom informing all in the house that she could "get up now".

Urban-Cub and the Gorse Fox took her round to Dizzy Ducklings before returning home for our own breakfast and coffee. The morning was filled with lots of little jobs: a little vacuuming,  a little modification to the rods in the Roman blind, a little consolidation of the tools the Gorse Fox will need for Friday, a little of this, and a little of that.

Urban-Cub and the Silver Vixen collected Ellie from Dizzy Ducklings, then Urban-Cub took Ellie to "her" store over at Whiteley. She has lots of basic shopping to get for the house and by going to "her" store she can make use of the staff discount, and introduce Ellie to her co-workers. It sounds as if it was very successful and that Ellie made a lot of new friends.

The Silver Vixen made the most of the quiet afternoon, sitting and reading in the lounge. The Gorse Fox retired to the study and completed the lesson on "Views" for Ninox before using the new knowledge to create a view in the database he has been building. He's very pleased with the outcome, and Urban-Cub seemed happy when she saw it.

Ice ice baby

 It was cold again overnight. Ellie was awake early and came in to us soon after 06:00. We did, however, resist getting up until about 6:45. When the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox took Ellie to Dizzy Ducklings, we were greeted by black ice at the end of our path, and all across the road. It really was quite lethal, but we did manage to get her there without incident. As we turned to come home the heavens opened. A sleeting rain dumped on us for the whole walk home. We were well and truly soaked.

The rest of the morning  the Gorse Fox spent on YouTube with NINOX training and then on the computer to further develop the database for Urban-Cub. When Urban-Cub got home, early, she was able to provide a lot more background data with which the Gorse Fox could seed the database. The biggest problem is that  it looks like she will have to get her own license and a copy of the whole database on her own iCloud.

More parcels have been arriving during the day. Despite the weekend's clear-up, the Orangery is filling up again. Urban-Cub is on leave now for the next 9 or 10 days.

More Screen Time

It was very cold overnight. Urban-Cub had a relatively late start (10:00) so she was able to take Ellie to Dizzy Ducklings in the car en route.

The Gorse Fox had a quick march into the village. There was Urban-Cub's signed contract to send back by registered post and as we don't want any delays the Gorse Fox insisted it was for next day delivery.

Once home, he returned to the NINOX database. Most of the time was spent looking at training videos, but in the end he concluded it would be ideal for what we want and paid for a license and downloaded it to iMac (Condor), the iPad, the iPhone, and the MacBook (Harrier). He started again from scratch ad started to build the database and its various tables. He's making progress, but it will take a few days to get it all done and tested (there's so much to learn along the way, and YouTube videos run for 30-60 minutes).

Due to self-isolation of one of the teachers, DD finished 90 minutes early, so the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox wandered round to collect Ellie. She had a fairly quiet afternoon playing with her flash cards (for letters), and the Lego.

Little Grey Cells

 It was cold overnight and great swathes of the country were hit with snow. Here, on the coast, all we got was some rain.

Urban-Cub spent the morning studying the contact document for the new house and getting it signed. This will be returned by registered post in the morning. Much of the rest of the day was spent reorganising the Orangery to make it easier for the removal men on Friday.

The Silver Vixen continued with her adjustments for the Roman blind. It was fiddly, but by the end of the afternoon the job was done. The Gorse Fox now has to finish trimming the horizontal rods to size.

The Gorse Fox has spent the day using the free online version of the NINOX database and following some of the YouTube training. In the end he had a workable model of an App that Urban-Cub could use at work. She had a look at the prototype, made a couple of suggestions, but concluded it would be ideal and something she could really make use of. There's still a few outstanding questions and ideas, and also a licensing issue that needs to be answered. If everything comes back to our liking, then the Gorse Fox will buy a license. His assessment, at this point, is that it is actually better than Microsoft Access. It certainly has the little grey cells buzzing.

Pistol Pete brought Ellie back. Apparently she was a bit of handful over the weekend. Let's hope she has got it out of her system! The Gorse Fox suspects that she is just caught up in the excitement of moving to her new house.

Starting the engines

 It was another cold night and Urban-Cub was up and out early for her 5:30 start. The Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen had a slow start, enjoying our coffee and a quiet read of the papers without the background of Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol, Fireman Sam or Butterbean Cafe.

The plan for the day was that the Silver Vixen would adapt the fabric form the old Roman blind to fit the the track the Gorse Fox had prepared yesterday. The first question was "what's the drop?". The Gorse Fox didn't know. He wandered round the corner and spoke with the finishing foreman. He measured it for us and the Gorse Fox was able to relay it to the Silver Vixen. While he was there he observed that they were landscaping the front garden, and had already planted the shrubs. The engines are definitely starting.

The Gorse Fox had a trip to Screwfix to collect the rest of yesterday's order.

The rest of the day was spent at the computer. Urban-Cub has, over the last few days, explained a number of the problems that the store managers have to work through each week. He started to wonder if there were any apps available that might address some of these. Again, he has found several possible solutions. He will have to look into these a bit further. It seems bizarre that such a "lean and mean" organisation relies so much on time-consuming manual processes for so much.

On the runway

 It was a cold but very bright day today. Silver Vixen took Ellie around to Dizzy Ducklings in the car as she was nervous about the slippery pavements and the Gorse Fox had to stay put for another delivery. 

Much of the morning was spent with the Roman blinds that Urban-Cub wants for her kitchen. The fixtures and fitting for the old blind have been mislaid and the width has to be adjusted. In the end we decided to get a new header rail with new fittings. 

To start with, the Gorse Fox went round to the new house and asked one of the workers to double-check the width of the window. Clutching the confirmed width, he went back and prepared to cut the new header to size. (First, however he went to Screwfix to get some new hacksaw blades to ensure a good clean cut.) Once the header was the right size the Silver Vixen presented him with the old blind and asked him to remove the clips that held the pull strings to the curtain. This turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. The clips were quite small, were an inflexible, hard plastic and maintained their hold on the curtain with a sort of barb that locked through the curtain tapes. It took a great deal of patience, and the exercise of some silent vocabulary, to remove each of them so that the Silver Vixen could start on the various adjustments tomorrow.

We collected Ellie from Dizzy Ducklings and she insisted on a detour to the swings and slides on the way home. We didn't stay long but it helped her let off steam. Pistol Pete came along after she had finished dinner, and she's gone back to him for the weekend.

Non Quantum Ad Famum

 That's better. It was 6:30 before Ellie woke, and nearly 7:00 before she ventured in to us. It was a dry, bright, and sunny morning - though quite chilly. Ellie insisted that she wanted to ride her bike to Dizzy Ducklings. The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox escorted her across the road and the Gorse Fox trotted alongside her for 50m before she got bored and decided to walk. This meant the the Gorse Fox ended up dragging the bike on a strap/lead the rest of the way to and from the school. It's a bit like walking a dog, but without the plastic bags and pooper scooper.

We had the usual Ocado delivery and then the Gorse Fox popped round to Sainsbury's. There wasn't much to get, and the store was very quiet.

The rest of the day has been the usual mix of collecting Ellie, keeping her amused, feeding her, and then preparing our own dinner. (Our usual 6pm dinner time has moved forward 30-60 minutes to accommodate Ellie's evening bath/story/bed schedule - this hasn't been an issue, but if lockdown ever lifts and we ever go out to restaurant again, it may seem strange eating at 7 or 8 o'clock).

Just in case you hadn't noticed, today is the 21st day, in the 21st year, of the 21st Century..!

Wet and windy

 It was very windy overnight. Unfortunately, the wind was loud enough on the back of the house to disturb Ellie. So it is that we've all been awake since about 3:30. AT one point we brough her into bed with us, but she's like a Mexican jumping bean, and fidgets and wriggles the whole time. She may have dropped off, but we certainly didn't.

Urban-Cub was on the early shift this morning, so she missed most of the fun.

By the time we did get up, it was thrashing down with rain. The idea of walking Ellie to Dizzy Ducklings didn't bubble to the top of our "wouldn't it be fun to..." list. We drove her round, then came home to settle down with some strong coffee and the papers.

The Silver Vixen had her Zoom Pilates scheduled for the morning, so the Gorse Fox retired to the study. He was randomly ruminating on different things when he started to think about Lotus Approach and Microsoft Access. They were such useful database applications providing for design, reporting, GUIs, and an underlying database. Why, he thought, does he not have something equivalent on his MACs. Google pointed him at several products that could, loosely, be described as alternatives. He started to read up on these choices. In the end, he found that something called NINOX appears to be a very thorough and fully featured solution. He watched a few of the YouTube videos and was quite impressed. All of the was an entirely intellectual exercise as he hasn't actually got any current requirement or project that might need such a tool.

The Gorse Fox should report on his progress with the "Notes" app on the Mac platforms. The more he has used it, the more he finds that it is really an excellent tool and provides just about everything he wanted such a tool. He has also introduced it to Urban-Cub. She is now becoming hooked and  was absolutely amazed to find that  she could use it as a scanner.

Ten more huge and heavy boxes arrived today. These are the components for Ellie's bed for the new house. Having seen how many components there are, the Gorse Fox expects it will take a good few hours to construct.

Rest day

 Now many of you may look at the title and think, "Hold On! He's retired. Every day's a rest day". That is true. The title refers to his walks. It was a foul and wet morning, which didn't exactly encourage outdoor exercise. In fact Urban-Cub took Ellie to Dizzy Ducklings by car, because it was so wet. The Gorse Fox does, nevertheless, have waterproof gear and could have ventured out. He had decided overnight that today would be a rest day. He had been woken by some discomfort in his knee which lingered until he got up and about. It seemed eminently sensible to give it a rest today.

Much of the day has been spent preparing for the catalogue of DIY jobs that the Gorse Fox will have to perform when Urban-Cub takes ownership of her new house, at the end of next week. What equipment would be needed? What tools? Is there anything that he will need to acquire in the interim? Slowly the checklist built up. He has also started reading the installation instructions for various blinds, curtain poles, TV wall mounts, and so forth. There's nothing like being prepared!

The rest of the afternoon has been spent reading a book on Maths: "Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors". It's been an excellent read so far, though the Gorse Fox is nearing the end. Some of the examples given in the book make you want to slap your head and ask how people can be so dumb. One of the best quotes is "Excel is a spreadsheet, not a database" - and from the Gorse Fox's professional life he can confirm that in many government departments that fact is not understood. 

Other side of the tracks

Another quiet day, weather-wise. It was bright and chilly, but not too bad. Ellie was up very early today and now, come the evening, she is in a stroppy mood and is going to bed early.

The Gorse Fox went with Urban-Cub to take Ellie to Dizzy Ducklings then settled down with his second coffee of the day to read the paper. After that there were odd bits of admin to clear before he headed out for a walk. It was another zig-zag route round various local streets (avoiding the main roads). Again, he was listening to Simon Evans. In doing so, he learned that he had gone to school in St Albans. So did the Gorse Fox. On checking, however, he went to the school on the opposite side of the valley, which was the other side of the tracks - or would have been if Dr. Beeching hadn't closed that railway line. Never mind, this won't be held against young Evans (after all, he is 13 years younger than the Gorse Fox).

What?

 It was a lovely bright day. We had all slept well, and the Gorse Fox treated himself to a lie-in, not emerging for his coffee until 7:40. 

Urban-Cub and the Silver Vixen had plans. They were intent on clearing all the various deliveries that have been accumulating, and sorting out Ellie's toys, books, crafts, and clothes so that everything was ready for the move. The Gorse Fox got on with some admin then headed out for a walk. This had to incorporate Sainsbury's as Urban-Cub needed a few bits picked up.

The Gorse Fox zigged and zagged in the general direction of the retail park. He was listening to his "Simon Evans Goes to Market" stream and quite lost in the moment when he did a double take. Parked outside a house was a small car (Peugot, Vauxhall, or the like). It was displaying large decals on each side. These decals identified it as something to do with the Macmillan Nurses. For those not familiar with the wonderful people. They care and support cancer patients throughout their treatment - whatever the outcome. Sitting in the driving was a chap with a cut glass ash try stuck to the dash board, and puffing away at a cigarette. This clearly was not a one-off as the car absolutely reeked of stale smoke. The Gorse Fox is not implying he was a nurse (though he may have been) but suspects he was something to do with patient transport. The Gorse Fox can only say that if he was a patient he would not go near that car.

Pistol Pete dropped Ellie off late afternoon. She's clearly had a nice time, and is very chirpy at the moment. 

Wet and dry

 Parts of the country have suffered from snow again today. We had some rain overnight and that rolled on into the morning. Urban-Cub had to take Ellie across to Pistol Pete, and while she was out, the Gorse Fox nipped round to Sainsbury's for a few essentials that had been out of stock with Ocado. The Gorse Fox was pleased to see that everyone was behaving and wearing masks, and with one exception, everyone was shopping alone.

The rain dried up and during the afternoon the sun came out. The Silver Vixen and Urban-Cub were busy in the Orangery sorting out Ellie's toys (which ones stay here, and which ones go to the new house). The Gorse Fox helped make some space by putting the boxes of Xmas decorations away (now that he could get to the back of the garage). He then spent some time on the web reading up on the various places that our 2022 cruise is scheduled to visit. He made copious notes and shared them with J&T when he was finished.

He did manage to go out for a walk during the afternoon. He was only out for about 40 minutes, but it was nice to get some exercise. He does feel the urge to do some programming, but at this stage he has no particular project in mind.

Sad Day

 It's been a sad day for Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit. Their beloved dog, Tyson, had to be put to sleep. They had given him a good life by looking after him in Thailand, caring for him when he lost his sight, and eventually bringing him back to England. He was sick and very weak at the end. They decided that it was time to do the hard thing, and let him go quietly.

Cold and dry

 It's been a very cold, but dry day. Urban-Cub was unable to go to work as she wasn't feeling well. The Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen took Ellie across to Dizy Ducklings then came home to warm up with steaming mugs of coffee.

There was't anything specific on the agenda today. The Gorse Fox guesses that's the thing about Lockdown 3.0. The Silver Vixen didi, however, have a prescription to collect so the Gorse Fox put on his big coat and headed out for a walk that would circle past the pharmacy. The prescription hadn't been filled when he arrived, so he had to wait outside until it was ready. He was glad he'd chosen his big coat!

Like yesterday, the Gorse Fox was listening to the Simon Evans programmes. Today saw the completion of his dissertation on Marx and a complete episode about John Maynard Keynes. Now, the Gorse Fox should explain that economics is a subject in which the Gorse Fox has absolutely no interest. He has learnt over the past forty years or so that whatever forecast is made by economists, is certain to be totally wrong. Despite this, he found these episodes to be quite riveting - and very funny. He has discovered that there are 4 further series that he can enjoy on his walks.

As it was cold and dry, the Gorse Fox did get a chance to get a proper look at the new patio in daylight, and when dry. He's still very pleased with the results - fortunately.

We just need to move the furniture and plants back where they belong. That, however, can wait for another dry and bright day.

Exchanged

 The last bit of paperwork may have arrived this morning, but there was still time for yet another glitch. Finally, the contact exchange took place, but the completion date had to slip by 24 hours. This was all very fine but for the fact that Urban-Cub had already arranged various services to be fulfilled on the original date. This meant that she spent much of her day off rearranging everything.

It was very wet today and Urban-Cub and the Gorse Fox got soaked taking Ellie to Dizzy Ducklings. By lunchtime, it was easing off so the Gorse Fox took the opportunity to go out for a walk (wearing his waterproof trousers). It was only a gently 5km round the local roads, but it was nice to get out and have a stretch. He listened to a an old radio show while walking. It was Simon Evans' "Market Report". The Gorse Fox thoroughly recommends it. It was educational and very funny. In the episodes he listened to, he learnt about the economists (social philosophers) Adam Smith and Karl Marx. The next episode will deal with Keynes.

Seismic

 Seismic moves today as Urban-Cub finally got the last paperwork to allow her exchange and purchase of her new house to go through. The relief is huge. 

Mixed Messages

 Even though the Gorse Fox uses Facebook, he despises the platform and the ethics of the company. It is, however, the only game in town when it comes to keeping up with friends and colleagues around the world. He also uses WhatsApp. WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, but until now has been fairly well separated from it. They have announced new Terms and Conditions which allow them to share your information with Facebook. Now, the Gorse Fox is not happy about this. One item that could be shared is his contacts list, another is the makeup of his various chat groups. This is more information than Facebook should have.

The Gorse Fox has decided to extract himself from WhatsApp. Today he has been messaging his contacts to explain that he is dropping off the platform and will be using "Signal" as an alternative. It is interesting how many of his contacts were considering similar moves, judging by the responses he's getting from round the world. WhatsApp may have shot themselves in the foot.

Done

 Simon the Landscaper returned for the final gravel traps and then to go round all his work with a fine toothed comb. He is meticulous. By mid-morning he was finished and we are delighted with the outcome. It'll be a few days before we can move the furniture and plants back because the resin-based grout takes a while to cure in damp weather. It's no problem, however. We weren't planning a garden party or any sunbathing in the next few days.

Ellie was at Dizzy Ducklings during the day. 

Several metric tonnes Amazon-cardboard has accumulated over the past few weeks. The Gorse Fox attacked it with a box-cutter and flattened it all down so that it would fit in the car. A quick trip to the tip saw the end of it and has revealed the running machine, which had been buried underneath. In the current inclement weather, that seems like a good alternative to cold, wet walks.

 The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen made the most of the quiet time to do bits of admin and some reading before popping back to collect Ellie. After the disturbed night she had last night we had expected her to be a bit grumpy, but she was fine. She was quiet and obviously tired.

Almost

 As predicted last week, Simon the Landscaper did have to return today. The main tasks outstanding were the grouting, the base of the storage space, the gravel traps, and the tidying up. He had Tyler with him to help, but it was still a tall order. It was all done except the last gravel traps, by the end of the day. He'll be back tomorrow, but suspect he'll only be here for half an hour. We're very pleased with the way it has come together.

 It might have been a bit slow, but the advantage of a contractor with OCD is that you get a fabulous finish. We particularly like the embedded lighting. We're so pleased with his work that we have asked him to quote for some more work.

We've had a couple of trips to LA today - dropping Ellie off, and picking her up from the child minder. She's back at Dizzy Ducklings tomorrow. Urban-Cub was on an early shift (05:30 start) today but that meant she was home just after we got back with Ellie.

The first documents for our re-arranged cruise arrived this morning. Excellent service considering that it was Saturday evening before we made contact.

Risk Averse and Safety First

 After the experience we had last year regarding the refund of our monies for the cancelled Jamaica trip, we had been discussing the forthcoming cruise. In the end we concluded that it would be sensible to reduce our risks, both health-wise and money-wise, by deferring the cruise until 2022. J&T had reached a similar conclusion. After a Zoom call, we had a plan. T would contact the cruise people and arrange the deferment. We would then, individually, book into an hotel near St Austell for the time we would have been on the cruise. The plan seems to be going well. Cruise booking is shifted and the hotel booking is confirmed.

It was very cold again last night. The Gorse Fox left it until late morning before venturing out for a walk. He didn't even manage half a kilometre. Now, the Gorse Fox is very steady on his feet, has good balance, used to ice skate, and isn't unduly troubled by the odd bit of ice or frost. The pavements, however, were so icy that he wasn't willing to risk it, and even if it was clear down at the promenade, he has a 3km walk to get there. Hopefully, he can make up for it during the week as the temperatures are set to rise.

Cake walk

 Urban cub managed to get away from work on time and was home soon after eleven last night.  She had seen that Lidl was discounting some end of date items and ended up bringing home two huge cakes (not that we eat cake as a rule). Goodness knows how we'll get through this 40p investment.

It had been very cold again overnight. Simon the Landscaper sent us a message to say he would return on Monday, when the weather is forecast to be a little warmer. This makes sense as we don't want problems caused by ice crystals in the resin or the mortar.

It was lovely and bright, and having been limited in opportunities to walk for the last couple of days, the Gorse Fox headed out. He made his way down to Bognor and dropped into Morrisons. He had arranged to collect a prescription from the Coventry Hobbit. (They have car trouble and are limited to bus routes for the moment). Having fought through the usual zombies who seem to frequent the store, he found the Hobbit and squirrelled the prescription away. He headed down to the seafront.

The sea was as calm as he had ever seen it. There were people about, but not many. The Gorse Fox was able to stride down toward West Fields without too much zigging and zagging. Then he looped back inland and headed for West Meads so that he could post the prescription through the surgery door. Finally, he headed home. It was a nice 5-mile loop and it really got the blood pumping.

Chilly

 It was very chilly overnight. This proved to be a problem for Simon the Landscaper. The sand he needed for the last couple of tiles was as solid as a brick. Water used to wash down the tiles turned quickly to ice. This meant that he spent the day working on the electronics. The lights are now all installed and working and the cable to the rill pump was also replaced. 

We took Ellie to Dizzy Ducklings and then had a quiet morning.

This afternoon we spoke with J&T regarding the planned cruise. One option to consider is to defer until next year. This appears to be a strong possibility. Instead, we may well book a hotel in Devon or Cornwall and pop down there for a couple of weeks (assuming that is permitted by then).

Pistol Pete has been along to collect Ellie for the weekend.

Perchance to dream

 

It's important to be comfortable when you sleep. Ellie decided to adopt a new sleeping regime. This is how we found her when we came up to bed.

Cold

 It was cold overnight. There was a hard frost and the pavements were quite slippery when Urban-Cub and the Gorse Fox took Ellie to Dizzy Ducklings.

The rest of the day has been fairly quiet. Urban-Cub had to go into work at lunchtime and won't be back until after we're in bed tonight.

Simon the Landscaper couldn't lay any tiles at first - the temperature was too low. He used the time to get the first few lights installed. They look very good and it will be nice to see it all finished. As the day warmed up, he switched back to the tiling. The last few tiles are now in place, though there is a small area - which we hadn't expected to tile - that he is trying to find sufficient off-cuts to tile anyway. The Gorse Fox still isn't convinced he'll finish this week, but the overrun will probably be no more than a day.

We collected Ellie from Dizzy Ducklings. She had insisted on riding her bike home, but only got about 50 metres down the road before she fell off while trying to get up a small ramp. She caught her knee and decided that was enough. No more bike for her today. The Gorse Fox had to wheel it home while the Silver Vixen comforted Ellie and held he hand all the way home.

In the Spirit

 The Gorse Fox had an appointment scheduled with the chiropodist on Friday. They phoned in advance, as they always do, to remind him of the appointment. The Gorse Fox was surprised that they were open, but apparently, under Lockdown 3.0, they were claiming exemption as a "medical treatment". The Gorse Fox thought about this for a moment, then told them that whilst their operation may be justified under the letter of the Lockdown rules, he didn't feel that it conformed to the spirit of the Lockdown. He would not be attending. 

With the high transmissibility of the current Covid-19 mutation, sitting in a small room with a stranger who has been meeting people all day seems like an avoidable risk.

Bitty

 It's been bitty today. A bit of this, a bit of that, just bitty.

The Silver Vixen had Zoom Pilates during the morning and as Urban-cub had errands to run, the Gorse Fox stayed put so that he could take in the day's deliveries as the fleets of couriers vans turned up every few minutes. One of the deliveries was the keyboard for Urban-cub's iPad. It is a newer model than the one used by the Gorse Fox and it fits the body of the iPad a lot better, providing front and back covers as part of the keyboard. Very neat.

The Gorse Fox spent a while investigating "Drafts". As you can see from the previous post, he is very impressed with its simplicity and function. There is also a version for the Mac, but he hasn't tried that yet. Certainly, the version for the iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch achieves exactly what was wanted. The Gorse Fox isn't too convinced he needs it for the Macs.

Apps

 I've just come across the "Drafts" app. This seems to be an immensely useful tool on both the Apple watch the iPhone and the iPad. It is a single place for inputting text which can then be shared with whichever application you wish. Better still, you can use voice dictation.

Unlike Siri, the dictation isn’t limited to 45 seconds. It should be good for taking messages or notes or blog posts while on the move

Lumbering around

 Simon was back this morning and has made sterling progress throughout the day. This afternoon we all traipsed out to view the options for the mortar that would be used between the tiles. We narrowed it down to two choices, but in the end, selected "basalt".

Urban cub's new iPad arrived this morning so the Gorse Fox got involved to help give her some useful hints and tips. He must say the that new, 4th Gen iPad Air for 2020 is a fabulous bit of kit. Urban-cub is very chuffed.

The Gorse Fox went out for a walk at lunchtime. It was the first time he has done the Shripney loop for a while. Once he gets off the main roads he likes the fact that he seems to have dropped back a century or two. One piece of wall caught his eye

He's walked past it many times before without really noticing how interesting all the moss, lichen, and flints were. From there, he carried on through the old Shripney village, past the smallholdings, and up over the by-pass. Coming down the other side, his attention was caught by the crashing of branches up ahead.

Glancing up, he could see an arborealist perched up at the top of a tree with a chainsaw dangling from his belt. He clearly has a head for heights.

Back home, the Gorse Fox was collared by Urban-cub. She wanted a different design for the built-in wardrobes in her new home. She needed a diagram that reflected her vision and which could be given to the builders. The Gorse Fox settled down with SketchUp and, bit by bit, the diagram emerged. Finally finished, the diagram was taken straight to the builder's Sales Office and they are now going to contact their contractor.

DeDec

 It was a grey and damp day. The temperature hardly rose above 4C, but at least there was little or no wind. Simon the Landscaper returned today and cracked on with the patio. From several places in the kitchen it looks as if it's all finished and the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen are very happy with the effect. He's hoping to be finished by the end of the week, but the Gorse Fox suspects he may just overrun.

Urban-Cub took Ellie across to the child-minder in LA this morning. Urban-Cub was on a late shift, not starting until 12:30. She spent much of the morning debating and then selecting a new tablet. She hasn't had a tablet for about a yer. Even then, it was a hand-me-up from her step-daughter. It was fine until it just stopped and refused to recharge or switch on.

The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox have been de-decorating. All of the Christmas decoration have now been removed and packed away in their boxes. The boxes can't be stored away yet, as we need access to the garage and Simon is still doing that bit of the patio. It's nice to have them all packed away, though. It always makes the house feel bigger.

Late afternoon we went across to LA to collect Ellie, then settled in for the evening.

Noted

 Another late start for the Gorse Fox. Again it was eight o'clock before he shook himself into action (well, he went down and made a coffee). Urban-Cub's shift times had changed, so she was next down, not having to leave until after nine.

Once breakfast was over, the tea/coffee consumed, and everyone was showered and dressed, the Gorse Fox returned to his study to continue yesterday's exercise with "OneNote" and "Notes". The Silver Vixen returned to her sewing project.

The Gorse Fox has now managed to move all relevant items from OneNote to Apple's Notes. He will retain OneNote as an archive on the iMac, but remove it from the iPhone and iPad. It's been an interesting exercise.

At lunchtime the Gorse Fox headed down to West Park and went for a walk. He completed just under 7km at a brisk pace and, despite the 4C temperatures, came back glowing.

Like yesterday, the promenade was very busy with dog-walkers and people out for a stroll. The Gorse Fox just zigged and zagged and kept up his pace, averaging 9'10"/km which was quite reasonable - his fastest kilometre was 8'50". He timed it all rather well. The sun was out and the slight breeze was against him for the first half of the walk - this meant it gave him a push on the return leg. As he approached the last 5 minutes or so, the sun disappeared behind some rather threatening clouds but he reached the care without getting wet. (Well, as it happened, he wouldn't have got wet anyway. The clouds may have looked threatening, but it didn't rain).

Calm

It has been a day of immense calm. Urban-Cub was up and out in the early hours for an early shift. The Gorse Fox didn't stir until eight, and the Silver Vixen emerged soon after. A very leisurely breakfast was taken and then the Gorse Fox decided the lights had too come down from the bay window. The problem is, you see, that the cable has to run through a window left on night-vent. This is all very fine, but with the low temperatures we are experiencing at present, that does leave the lounge a little chilly. Enough was enough and the lights are now down an the window closed.

The Silver Vixen has spent the day divided between a sort out in her wardrobe and the sewing project she had started yesterday.

The Gorse Fox enjoyed a nice walk along the promenade.

 The sea was as calm as a millpond and people were making the most of the dry weather to make the most of the promenade. It was a bit busy near the pier but the Gorse Fox soon powered past the dawdlers and strollers. It was a very satisfying walk.

Back home he has been working with Apple's "Notes" app. For a year or two he has been using OneNote for general notes and filing but OneNote suffers the limitation that you cannot control the printing (from a Mac). This means that a slight page overflow will cause numerous blank sheets to spray out of the printer. The question that the Gorse Fox was trying to answer was "are there any OneNote features that he uses that aren't available in Notes"? SO far he hasn't found any show stoppers, but has found one irritation. The irritation is that though Notes supports the use of tables it provides no mechanism for controlling the width of the table, nor the width of the columns.

Fresh book

 Ah ha, 2021. A fresh book in which to write the stories of our lives. Twelve chapters, three-hundred and sixty-five pages. Let's hope it is a more uplifting book than than the last one.

For the Gorse Fox 2021 started with a coughing fit at about five o'clock in the morning. He had been fighting a cold for several days, but it decided to fight back in the early hours. It was clear that iw was not going to settle, so the Gorse Fox went downstairs for a cup of hot lemon. That settled the cough and he managed to sneak back into bed around six.

It was a fairly quiet day. Urban-Cub had a day-off and she took Ellie out to the park to meet with Cousteau-Cub and walk the dog. Then, in the early afternoon she took her across to spend the weekend with Pistol Pete.

The Gorse Fox went out for a walk in the afternoon while the Silver Vixen worked on a sewing pattern. Then late in the afternoon we had a nice long Zoom call with J&T. We caught up on everyone's Christmas, they caught up on Urban-Cub's job, and preparation for her move, and then we discussed the planned cruise. Well, the Gorse Fox say "planned". It was booked last year, before the pandemic hit. It is still far enough ahead that it may go ahead, but who knows? We are assuming that there will be restrictions - no buffets, masks in public areas, negative test prior to boarding, and maybe proof of vaccination. Then there is the question of whether excursions will be permitted and what restrictions may be imposed. Let's just say that it's all a bit "up in the air" (which isn't the usual environment for a large cruise ship). Trevor is going to contact the travel agent this week to get the low-down. Meanwhile the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox need to start looking at which excursions we would like to do, on the assumption they go ahead.

Good Riddance

 The last day of 2020 and, quite frankly, good riddance to it. We have been immensely fortunate, compared with many people, we have remained healthy, we have a pleasant house and garden, and we have family nearby. Though it has been a stressful year for Urban-Cub with her relationship and her job, both she and Ellie have blended into our day to day life and now she has a new job and is about to move into her own house. Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit moved into a nice house in Chichester and seem to have settled well (though their older dog is not at all well). There are many people for whom 2020 has been a lot worse. We are blessed.

It's been a fairly quiet day. Urban-Cub was on an early shift again so G-Force were in charge throughout the day. This morning seemed to be the Gorse Fox being focussed on Paw Patrol figures and the Lookout, followed by a game of hide and seek, and that was followed by some jigsaws. This afternoon Ellie was focussed on the Silver Vixen and cycled between her various games, spending at least a nanosecond on each before discarding it and demanding another.

It may be New Years Eve, but the Gorse Fox suspects we will have a very quiet evening and go to bed at our usual time.

Lego

 With the Urban-Cub leaving for work in the early hours, G-Force were in charge again. Ellie didn't wake until 7:15 then happily lay in bed with us until 7:45. Quite acceptable.

Once everyone's ablutions were complete, the Gorse Fox found himself sitting on the lounge floor with Ellie building random structures with Lego. It was fun, though not very productive. 

After lunch the Silver Vixen and Ellie progressed to Play Dough. The Gorse Fox took this as a cue to go for a walk. He didn't go too far, but was pleased to get a few kilometres under the belt.

Not really much else to report. The Gorse Fox has decided that, even if organised outdoor sport is allowed, he will not return to football until the current highly transmissable coronavirus is back under control. He isn't willing to take the risk of carrying the virus back into the house.

Scooter

 Urban-Cub was up and on her way to work in the early hours. Fortunately, Ellie didn't wake until eight. This was a real bonus and somewhat unexpected.

During the morning, the Gorse Fox found himself playing a version of hide and seek. This involved Ellie explaining that she was going to hide and where she would be. The Gorse Fox then had to count and tell her he was searching for her, while pretending not to know where she was. The converse was when she insisted that the Gorse Fox hide. This is not so easy. He did, however find several locations that completely stumped her. Not because he was well-hidden, but rather because he had placed himself in places she wouldn't think of. 

Around lunchtime, the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox sorted out this week's order for Ocado, but as soon as that was done the Gorse Fox offered to take Ellie out on her scooter. Well, she was enthusiastic at first. Then she realised she would need some leggings, a coat, a hat, and some gloves. That was enough to dissuade her until the Gorse Fox conceded and sat down to do something else. Then she changed her mind. This flip/flop occurred a couple of times but finally she got wrapped up and we headed out.

"Do you know the way to your new house?" asked the Gorse Fox. She did and we went round the corner so she could show the Gorse Fox her new house, and which window was her bedroom. That done, she decided she had had enough and wanted to go back home. That was a quick five minutes! The Gorse Fox took her home, then went out for a quick walk by himself.

The Gorse Fox has also been investigating whether there are any sensible solutions to cast TV from a controller on one wall to a TV on the opposite wall without running cables round the room. Bizarrely, Urban-Cub's new home has the media combination panel on the least sensible wall and not where you would sensibly expect to put the TV. No sensible solution has come to mind so far but the Samsung One Connect box is close. The problem is that the transmission cable to the TV, though almost invisible, is only 5m long and cannot tolerate tight bends. This needs more thought.      

Delivery

It was very cold overnight but we didn't see any of the snow that had been prevalent in other parts of the country. It was a fairly relaxed morning, though we did wade into the mountain of cardboard boxes that had accumulated over the holiday period. In the end the were all squirrelled away in the boot of our car and taken to the local tip. The Gorse Fox was expecting a long queue, but was pleased to find that he could drive straight in, dispose of the rubbish, and leave without any delays at all.

The Gorse Fox had a new toy on order from Amazon. It is a laser measuring device. Since it arrived this afternoon the Gorse Fox has measured everything that's stationary in the house. Nice little bit of kit! The Gorse Fox mentioned it came from Amazon. The Silver Vixen also had a delivery, as did Urban-Cub. The Gorse Fox isn't sure but he suspects we had an Amazon truck all to ourselves. When we opened the front door we could hardly see over the pile of boxes that had been left on the doorstep.  

Sentient

 The Gorse Fox seems to have developed a cold. It came on yesterday evening and this morning he has a voice like the late Barry White. He doesn't feel too bad, but is frustrated to have succumbed.

Storm Bella hit last night. It seems that we were lucky. Many parts of the country are flooded or clearing up from blown debris. We didn't get off scot-free but picking up an empty dustbin hardly constitutes a major clear-up. Once it had blown through, we had a sunny day. Urban-Cub took the opportunity to go out with Ellie and meet up with a friend.

The Silver Vixen spent some time planning things for her sewing room (which will probably move when Urban-Cub and E~llie move to their own house).

The Gorse Fox spent much of the day working on the budgets and refining the accounts spreadsheet for next year. Each year he starts with the previous year's s/s and refines it a bit more for the new year, then goes though the various items to estimate the new budgets. This year is no different. A further refinement has added another level of sophistication. The s/s is becoming sentient.

Boxing Day

 It's been a quiet Boxing Day - well as quiet as any day with a 3 year old can be.

Storm Bella is due to hit the South Coast today. There are weather warnings across the region. The Gorse Fox decided to go out for a brief walk before the weather set in. He really wasn't in the mood for a walk, but it really was important that he stirred himself into action.

Storm Bella was due to hit this afternoon, but at the time of writing, has been a complete non-event.We can only assume it has been delayed and will hit later.

The Gorse Fox has spent much of the day working on a 3D model of Urban-Cub's new house. We have managed to get some further measurements which have allowed further progress, but it is a long way from what the Gorse Fox would consider to be an accurate model.

Urban-Cub brought home a huge chunk of beef a week or so back. We had scheduled it for today's dinner. In practice, the first thing he had to do was to divide it into 3 separate joints - two of which went into the freezer, but one was slow roasted all afternoon. The joint was a bit gristly but, avoiding the gristle, it was delicious. As today's bit was the end of the the joint, the Gorse Fox has every expectation that the remaining cuts will be excellent.