Drone Fairy

 Ellie joined the Gorse Fox for a quiet 45 minutes this morning before anyone else got up. We sat and enjoyed Match of Day's summary of the massacre at Old Trafford. Despite Pistol Pete, she will be brought up properly to appreciate Spurs.

Once everyone else was up, and sorted Urban-Cub took Ellie across to LA and the child-minder. The Gorse Fox spent the morning steam cleaning the hard floors and helping Urban-Cub go through some aptitude tests. They were a challenge, in that no answers were incorrect, it was only a matter of interpretation as to which answers they were looking for.

This afternoon, the Silver Vixen had her hair done and the Gorse Fox spent some time reading and preparing for Ellie's return. The Royal Mail had been, you see, and delivered a new toy that the Gorse Fox had ordered. The toy is a pink fairy. Not just any pink fairy. Oh no. This pink fairy was, in fact, a drone. Once charged it would fly (fairly randomly) until it crashed or ran out of charge. It took some practice, but in the end we could get it to hover, to dip and climb, and stay clear of obstacles. Needless to say, when Ellie goy home she loved it (and we are already charging it for the third time). The fairy has been named "Poppy". 

Visitation

 It was wet. It was so wet. The Gorse Fox was not going walking today! The day started with Ellie coming down to join the Gorse Fox while he had his morning coffee and to sit with him to watch her cartoons. As everyone else started to emerge, the Gorse Fox went up for his shower and by the time he returned,  Cousteau-Cub had arrived. She had dropped the Coventry Hobbit off at work, and had stopped off to join us for breakfast. She stayed for a couple of hours and then headed off for some shopping.

We had a very quiet day. Ellie played well for most of the day and spent some time doing "crafts" with the Silver Vixen. This culminated in her multi-coloured cat mask and a couple of pipe-cleaner spiders.  

Urban-Cub sat in the Gorse Fox's study developing her submission for another role in Gatwick. Fingers and toes are crossed, but it does appear that there has been a very large number of applicants.

Cousteau-Cub came back in the afternoon to join us for dinner, and hung on until the Coventry Hobbit was ready to be collected from work.

The day should not go go by with a mention of Spurs superb 1-6 score at Old Trafford. Let's hope this is an indication of how the rest of the season will proceed.

Jabbed

 There was some torrential rain overnight, and it was still raining heavily for the first part of the morning. Urban-Cub and Ellie were planning to go to see Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit to (belatedly) celebrate the Cousteau-Cub's birthday.

The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox had plans too. We were due to have our annual flu jabs. (Who says that oldies can't have fun?) Jabs done, we then treated ourselves to a quick spin round Sainsbury's. As before, we timed this well. When we arrived we went straight in. By the time we left, some 20 minutes later, there was a queue all along the side of the building.

The rain had cleared. The clouds were still looking pretty ragged and threatening, but the forecast suggest that there would be a few dry hours before the next front hit. The Silver Vixen had things to do, but the Gorse Fox decided to go for a walk. He headed down to West Field and then walked along the esplanade up past the pier,  on past Butlins and The Lobster Pot, and on towards Middleton. Then, turning on his heels he walked back the way he had come.

Perhaps one of the key things the Gorse Fox misses from Kingston Gorse is the ability to walk out of the door and onto the beach, or into the countryside and then walk for hours in relative peace. Walking along the front today was like that, but yesterdays walk was disturbed by the constant roar of the traffic.

Highways

 It was very wet overnight and the morning was a complete wash-out.

The Silver Vixen, Urban-Cub and Ellie went in to Chichester for some shopping. The Gorse Fox stayed at home and updated his knowledge of "Six Sigma" and "Lean". Not because the Gorse Fox is venturing back into the realms of work, but rather to help Urban-Cub. The department that she is applying to join have need of these skills and it would be beneficial if she can at least speak the the lingo!

After lunch, with everyone back home, Ellie was eager to do some baking. This seemed like a cue for the Gorse Fox to go out for a walk. He decided on a 5km loop. He passed the school on the estate, then down along North Bersted Street. This is the route of an old pre-14th Century highway between North Bersted and Shripney. It is now bisected by the Bersted by-pass and only open to walkers. It's a long time since the Gorse Fox last walked this route and he had forgotten how many lovely "chocolate box" cottages line the old road. Once at Shripney, the Gorse Fox looped back down the A29 towards Sainsbury's, then back across Aldingbourne Rife and back home.

When the Gorse Fox got home Ellie and the Silver Vixen were in in full "Bak-Off" mode. We now have a biscuit tin full of gingerbread men. Very tasty they are too!

Strolling

 Thursday has been very much part of a pattern. The Gorse Fox was up first, and was busy drinking his first coffee before he heard Ellie stirring. Usually she goes straight in to see the Urban-Cub but this morning she came down and joined the Gorse Fox. Cartoons were displayed on the TV as she sat on the Gorse Fox's lap and read the paper with him. Her analysis of the US (non) presidential debate was scathing.

Slowly, every one else emerged and the Gorse Fox went and got washed and dressed. Ocado turned up with the week's shopping and the Gorse Fox packed it all away. The Silver Vixen needed to top-up her meds so the Gorse Fox used the dry weather as a good excuse for  5km walk there and back to the pharmacy that handles her prescriptions.

This afternoon Urban-Cub took Ellie to a play centre to meet with one of her friends. This left the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox to have a quiet afternoon with their fabrics and spreadsheets respectively.

Throughout the day Urban-Cub has been preparing to submit her application for a different role within the airport. She has received a lot of helpful guidance and is scheduled to speak with someone else in a similar  role tomorrow. Application have to be in by Monday, interviews are on Wednesday and decisions on Friday. At least this won't be a long, drawn out, process.

Drips

 Again, there had been overnight rain but again, it had cleared by the time the Gorse Fox went down for breakfast. It was the usual Wednesday morning rush with the Silver Vixen getting ready to go to Pilates, Urban-Cub getting ready to take Ellie to the child-minder, and the Gorse Fox getting ready for football.

Urban-Cub left first with Ellie, then the Silver Vixen left. The Gorse Fox was in no hurry. The Wednesday game has now been put back until 11:30. He set off in plenty of time (though you would expect nothing else) and arrived in time to prepare in the car. Last week we got a stroppy email from the leisure centre reminding us about social distancing and asking that we wear a mask while transiting through the building. Yesterday, the Gorse Fox put his mask on and a staff member asked him why. He explained about the email. She said not to bother as we (the staff) don't wear masks. The Gorse Fox wore his mask anyway.

The football was tight with a 5-5 final score. It shouldn't really have been so close as our "yellow" team were playing some much better football. Our goalkeeper, however, was having a bit of a nightmare and managed to steer at least two (if not three) of the attacks into our own goal.

We had been under threat of rain and the Gorse Fox was expecting to get absolutely soaked. As it happens the rain held off. In fact, the Gorse Fox saw no rain until early afternoon but then it seems to have set in for the rest of the day.

This afternoon has been spent talking with Urban-Cub. Gatwick have now started to declare who is needed for each job. It's fairly clear that, at her level, it has been very much a case of "old boys network" (given that people with far poorer appraisals managed to maintain their position whilst she didn't). She was fairly resigned to this happening, and has taken it well. She has immediately applied for another role within the airport and has a call set up with the manager of that department on Friday.

The other background task this afternoon has been looking further into possible cottages for a family break in the Spring. The Gorse Fox's sister made a recommendation which, on investigation, looks very good. The only drawback seems to be lack of WiFi and (for BT Mobile) no phone signal. This, however, could be overcome with a Vodafone WiFi Hotspot (Vodafone seem to have very good area coverage there). Once things settle down for Urban-Cub, we'll discuss it and try to settle on date.

On the Score Sheet

 There had been rain overnight, but not a lot. It was still looking threatening though when the Gorse Fox was sorting out breakfast, but it didn't come to anything.

The Gorse Fox had football in Worthing this morning. By the time he got there, the clouds were drifting away and there was some warm sunshine that made the game a real pleasure. The luck of the draw today saw the Gorse Fox in a fairly strong team. Though we played some lovely football, we only won the first of our three games. The Gorse Fox was very happy to contribute our first goal with a bit of a pile-driver from the midfield. All the games were close, and all fought fairly, giving the referees very little to do.

Back home the Gorse Fox processed the week's shopping list which the Silver Vixen had prepared, then retired to the study for a bit of spreadsheet work and then some research. Now that we will have to consider school holidays, the Gorse Fox was looking to see if he could find a suitable cottage that we could all go to stay in during one of the official school breaks. This, obviously, boosts the price quite significantly but it would be nice to have a family break. The Gorse Fox has been looking on the Isle of Wight, Devon, and Cornwall. One potential candidate has bubbled to the top, but the Gorse Fox isn't too happy about the Terms and Conditions, so needs to think on it. It seems that a 30% deposit is required, and, even if you cancel, you are still liable for the whole amount. Given the current Covid circumstances, this seems unreasonable. Their answer is to make sure you have good insurance.

In the swing

 Back in the swing today.

The morning was taken up with some domestic chores and the accounts. Once they were tidied away, the Gorse Fox returned to the child-care spreadsheet for next year. It is time to start making it a little more sophisticated and next, the Gorse Fox will start developing some rules that will help determine the default child-care option for every day of the year (based on shift patterns, holidays, and any other predictable variable that he can think of).

Lunch-time saw a quick trip to Sainsbury's and a chance to top-up the fuel on the Silver Vixen's car. Then we had a quiet afternoon until Ellie arrived home. She, Urban-Cub, and Pistol Pete had been round to have a further look at the pre-school that she will be attending from November. It all passed muster, and is now a matter of waiting until after half-term. This, in its own right, is an eye-opener. the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen will, once again, have to consider school holidays when they schedule their own trips. This will be the first time that this has been relevant for about 22 years!

This evening the landscape chappie popped in with a sample of the porcelain paving we have selected. We both decided that it was ideal and gave him the go ahead. Hopefully, he will start in the second half of October and the work should take 2-3 weeks.

All is Quiet

It really has been a very quiet day. After reading the digital papers over breakfast, the Gorse Fox went back to filing photos. The primary job at the moment is identifying faces in old photos. He managed to add a lot of detail to some previously unprocessed images. There was, however, a batch of old photos from the Silver Vixen’s family that proved too challenging. Then he had an idea. There is a distant cousin in Devon whose father is still alive. She is very active in family research and may be able to help. The Gorse Fox sent her a link to the photos and now awaits any response with interest.

The Gorse Fox moved on from the photos. Urban-Cub was eager to get the child-care spreadsheet set up for 2021. It seems a bit early to the Gorse Fox but he’s always happy to work on a spreadsheet. Accordingly, the new spreadsheet has been created and takes into account (for the first time) school holidays as Ellie will be starting school next September.

Other than that, there’s nothing to report.

Late

We were expecting the Landscaper at 9 o’clock. He forgot. By mid-morning the Gorse Fox texted him. There was a most apologetic response and he is now scheduled to drop in on his way back from the current job. The Gorse Fox is a bit of a stickler for time-keeping so is not impressed.

Urban-Cub helped get Ellie up and about, and then retired to bed. She was scheduled work a night duty tonight and Pistol Pete was collecting Ellie for the weekend.

The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox had a quiet morning and early afternoon. She then had a call from her sister that wiped out the next few hours. The Gorse Fox used the time to find out how to update his Apple Watch, given that it was claiming to have insufficient space for the code. What a palaver! It was a matter of unpairing the phone, then re-pairing it, restoring the backup and then restarting the update. It has taken a couple of hours so far.

Urban-Cub is now up and about. She has received a message from work telling her she is NOT to come in, as they have already managed to cover her shift. Frankly, it’s quite a relief. We’d rather that she stays put and rests.

Trips

 

Much of today has been about Chichester. It all started when Urban-cub's GP said that she should go to A&E. In case she needed to stay, the Gorse Fox decided to drive her rather than let her drive herself. So, that was the first trip.

Back home for a coffee and to play with Ellie for a while then the Gorse Fox was off back to Chichester. This time it was for his regular appointment with the chiropodist. The traffic had built up by this point and he was a bit pushed for time. He arrived with minutes to spare and Tom (the farrier) carved away at his feet until he was happy that he had infected enough pain and discomfort, and drawn enough blood for the day.

Back home for a quick bite of lunch and then the Gorse Fox prepared to take Ellie for a walk. The idea was to drop her enrolment forms in at the local pre-school, but just as we we getting ready the message came from Urban-cub. She was being discharged and was just waiting for her meds from the pharmacy.

Ellie and the Gorse Fox leapt in the car and headed back to Chichester to collect her. There was no hurry. The hospital pharmacy is renowned for its glacial pace, and the promised 20 minutes was nearly three times that. Eventually, she emerged. Ellie was delighted to see her mum and all was again right with the world.

Growing up

So Ellie is learning from a young age that laptops can be used in a number of comfortable positions 

Smashed it

 Urban-cub arrived back from work; it was easy to see that she was quite happy. As the story unfolded she told us about the presentation and interview. It was clear that she absolutely smashed it. Considering she hadn't done a presentation before, the preparation we had done and the run-throughs that she did in the car park obviously set her up well. Now we just have to wait to hear the outcome.

Slide

 It was wet to start with, but then it dried up and we had a bright, if breezy, morning. After the Ocado delivery, the Gorse Fox was press-ganged into building a wooden railway, watching Paw Patrol, then building a tower with Lego. This was all punctuated by trips to get drinks and snacks for Ellie. Finally, she had had enough and suggested a trip to the park. The Gorse Fox grabbed coats and we set off to walk round to local play area.

Ellie loves the play area, and we had the whole place to ourselves. Ellie headed for the swings to start with, but we noticed they were higher than usual. The Gorse Fox fiddled about and realised someone had been rotating the seat and thus twisting the chain. A reverse twist sorted things out. Ellie promptly ran off to the slide, then the roundabout. We had a lovely hour as she ran from one piece of apparatus to the next and back. In the end the cool wind got the better of us and we headed home.

Urban-Cub had her big presentation at lunchtime. She gave us a quick call afterwards to let us know it had gone fairly well, but we’ll hear more later.

The afternoon seems to have been spent updating MacBooks, iPads, and iPhones. As the Gorse Fox mentioned in the previous post, he is very impressed by the new Scribble app.

This is rather interesting - Scribble

 

The Gorse Fox has updated his iPad to IOS14. One of the features of this new release is an app called Scribble. Scribble interfaces with several Apple products such as Pages or Notes and allows the user to write with cursive text on the screen using the Apple Pencil and it automatically reads and converts the handwriting to typed text. So far the Gorse Fox has found this to be very accurate and quick. Where there have been errors it has been because of his handwriting rather than anything he would blame on the program. This complete blog post has been handwritten with the only corrections being punctuation.

Powepoint

 Wednesday so it must be Pilates for the Silver Vixen and football for the Gorse Fox. Ellie was at the child-minder and Urban-cub was busy preparing for a big presentation at work tomorrow. The Gorse Fox helped out a bit before heading off to the game.

Football was greeted by some torrential rain, but fortunately, it didn't last too long. The game was a busy 8-v-8 which is a bit too crowded. It was close and at half-time, it was all square at 2-2. During the break, we had a vote on whether we should limit numbers to 7-v-7 in future and it was agreed with all but one vote. The second half kicked off and the other team scored twice more to our single response. 

Once home, the Gorse Fox returned to the presentation material for Urban-cub. It was really quite good fun to help put together a presentation again after all these years. Selecting the images, crafting the messages, discussing the background commentary, and so forth. He called Urban-cub and we had a long Face-time chat as she made the changes he suggested. The rest of the afternoon was taken up with some further background reading and then collecting Ellie.

After dinner, when Urban-cub arrived home, we returned to the presentation. The Gorse Fox presented it to her so that she could video it, and then replay it several times to help her get the flow and context together. After that, she was off to bed as she has an early start in the morning.

Celebration

It has been a pleasant day. The weather was warm in the morning but by early afternoon, some cloud or mist had settled over the Downs and it was a bit cooler.

The Gorse Fox had football in the morning. The teams were split, as usual, into 5-a-side (though it's usually 6-a-side) and we got started. It wasn't an auspicious start. We lost the first game 2-1. We then seemed to find our mojo and despite the stronger opposition, we won the second game 5-2 (and the Gorse Fox had a goal disallowed). In the final game, we again managed a hard-fought win 3-1. A good morning!

Back home the Gorse Fox got showered and changed and with the Silver Vixen and Urban-cub set off into the Downs to meet with Cousteau-cub and the Coventry Hobbit. Today is, after all, Cousteau-cub's birthday. This needed to be celebrated. (It's hard to believe that little bundle of joy is now such a big bundle of joy).

They had been up to The Trundle for a picnic and then headed to Charlton to meet us in the garden of "The Fox Goes Free". We had a lovely couple of hours with them and enjoyed an excellent lunch.

Once we were back home the Gorse Fox sat down with Urban-cub to help her gather her thoughts for a presentation she has to deliver on Thursday. Then, after collecting Ellie, he helped her start to format and illustrate the material. This is something she will need to sleep on and refine, but it's looking quite good so far.

Tags

 It's been a lovely day again. By mid-morning the washing line was full and it looked like a perfect drying day. The Silver Vixen was meeting a friend for lunch so the Gorse Fox got on with some chores before retiring to the study to do the accounts.

He returned to Lightroom and the face-tagging. He has now cleared the bulk of the missing names (at least for the folders he has looked at so far). He also spent a great deal of time working with the tags to categorise them - Family, Friends, School, Work, and so forth. This took a lot longer than expected, but when you have 45,000 photos (in this library alone) the Gorse Fox doesn't find it unreasonable.

Urban-Cub collected Ellie from the child-minder and took her to look at a pre-school here on the development. She was very impressed and Ellie clearly loved it. As a result, it looks highly probable that Ellie will start three-days a week at Dizzy-Ducklings from the end of next month. Ellie seems very excited by this.

Western Front

 As summer comes towards the end, we had another lovely day today. Urban-Cub was off out for the day, so the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox had the day to ourselves. As it was so nice, we chose to go down to the promenade again. Again we chose the western side of the Prom (between the pier and Aldwick). It is so much quieter there as most of the tourists seem to concentrate at the eastern end of the beach front.

We had a lovely walk from West Field down to the Pier, along the almost deserted Promenade and then on to the bandstand. This is currently being renovated, and is surrounded by scaffolding. There was an interesting plaque on the hoardings explaining the history of the bandstand and how it was originally erected in Cheltenham outside their Winter Garden, and then transferred to Bognor after the War. We sat on a bench for a while before turning and retracing our steps to the car. It had been a very enjoyable interlude.

During the afternoon, the Gorse Fox filed some more photos. While doing so he accidentally pressed a button and it displayed the facial recognition that has been completed for the photo library. What concerned him was that it also showed the faces that had been found but not identified. There were hundreds of them. This then destroyed the next couple of hours as he tried to "fill in the blanks". He's nowhere near finished, but the next batch can wait for another day.

Quieter day

 It’s been a quieter day today. Ellie didn’t stir until eight and was clearly in a very good mood and, once, fed and bathed, Urban-Cub took her off to see Pistol Pete for the rest of the weekend. 

The Silver Vixen spent the morning cleaning and doing laundry, the Gorse Fox vacuuming, spot-cleaning the carpets, and steam-cleaning some of the hard-floors. There was a quick trip to Sainsbury’s for cat food, then the Gorse Fox settled down for some photo editing and filing of recent photos and then some family tree research. It is clear that some new Canadian records have come online recently so the Gorse Fox has been able to fill in a few more blanks for that side of the family.