A Month of Joy...

So, the adaptor cable broke, so, I sent off for a new one.

Then we had the struggle to update the old, slow, laptop.

Then we waited the new adaptor.

We waited.

And waited.

Contacted the man.

Ina  day or two it came.

Different from the original, however the words looked OK.

It overheated.

I took it out.

I replaced it.

It went back in.

It went 'phut' and left a burning smell in the air. 

Darkness came on me.

I sent for a proper one.

'Hermes' were to deliver this.

I waited.

Refer to first paragraph here.

Nothing happened.
I contacted sender.

They said 'Hermes' had address problem, contact them.

Contacting 'Hermes' is as easy as searching through their many pages, eventually finding a 'thing' called 'Holly' who is delighted to speak to you like any other computerised machine would do.

I left my details, informed that the correct people would be informed, 'give time, etc...' 

I waited.

Eventually, having found one or two more delivery pages I noticed they had attempted to deliver, could not find me.  Now remember they have spent 6 months delivering to the woman next door easily enough, but could not find me, though we use the same door.

This road has stood here for over four thousand years.

The house was built in 1832.

The front door has had three brass numbers at the top for over 50 years.

Yet they could not find me.

I confess I lost it this week.

The lack of laptop, aching knees, tiredness, lack of ability to get through to Hermes' and inability to do anything about the situation bar go back to 'Holly' and vent my spleen rather more rudely than is acceptable.  I shouted at them I shouted at the roof, I shouted at God.

None of this helped.

Once again they attempted to deliver today.

I sat back, cool, calm and cheered.

About 11:30 their local office rang up, 

"Where are you?"  

"He can't find you."

By now I was laughing.  Here was a man honestly trying to do his job through a courier who still could not find me.  I gave some instructions, then afterwards remembered how I ought to have directed him, an easier way.  However, 40 minutes later he was at the door.

Now using what I assume to be Bulgarian drivers who not only do not speak English, this one refused to utter a word, but are unused to the street layout of English towns.  Made worse I must say by this councils daft way of numbering places.

Then it was I realised the difficulty.  

My number is 100, however the house almost opposite is numbered 19.

This driver, like others, notice high numbers far down the road and do not realise that also opposite at the  beginning of the road are an old school, court house and gardens, all which push the numbers down the road.  When you consider most find us easily enough we must add in East Europeans difficulty in adjusting to the ways of the locals.  Next door is a Polish lass, Poles find it easy, those further south struggle, much to the delight of the 'Daily Express' reader.

However, the part has arrived!

Trumpets were blared, crowds cheered, massed bands walked past playing 'Sousa' marches.

All was well.

I opened package.

I plugged it in to my better laptop.

I pressed the button.

Nothing!

There was some battery left, what happened?

What happened was the 'Phut' of the cheap adaptor has also 'Phutted' my laptop!

Instant online search for help brought no joy.

I have spent the rest of the afternoon sitting here staring into space, images of me falling from the Eiffel Tower, or the Empire States Building,' or the 'Forth Bridge' were running through my mind.  Thoughts of a small gun at the temple, US police style, saccharine (or is it strychnine?) swallowed while jumping off the Lowestoft Ferry hang about keeping me company... 

I will sleep well tonight.

I admit I let myself get too stressed by this.  Maybe 'Lock Down' has played a part, maybe I am just a miserable git!  Several tell me so, mostly female I should indicate.  This has not been a good month, and using this old laptop has not helped, so slow, keeps jumping about, and causes stress!

'Lighten our darkness O Lord.'

  

The Sea! The Sea! I Wish I Saw the Sea!

 

"Oh to go down to the sea again

          To the lonely sea and the sky."

Well I got as far as the front where I removed some weeds and cleared up a wee bit.  That and aches makes up my day.  I did this job because I thought 'Hermes' were delivering and I wished to be at the door to ensure he did not run away again.  Naturally it is tomorrow he is coming...

At least I was outside for a while.

How I miss the beach at Bournemouth!

There are other small coves around where it is possible to enjoy the sea, especially when few are around.  My dream home would have the right sea view in front of me and not far behind a railway, preferably a 'Heritage' railway, running steam every so often.  The view is somewhat different at the moment.  

One day when I am rich...

A stolen picture, taken from 'Edinburgh Past & Present' on facebook.  I even forget the lassies name, sorry.  She took this while landing at Edinburgh Airport (still called 'Turnhouse' by me!).  This is the area where I spent my first two years and then entered the school almost hidden high on the top left of the picture.  The view from the house we moved to looked over the Forth towards Fife, a super view, and on that page people often post pictures of sunsets and dawns to make me jealous.  I see trees and a park...  

This could be a worse view of course.  When I came here I was offered a basement in Dovercourt with a car park behind.  The view, and the mould on the wall, now attended to, was not to my liking, so here I reside.  Dovercourt is by Harwich which is a famous Submarine base, this was attractive but the flat was not.  The wee town itself was a bit rundown in spite of the tourist possibilities.  Not that I saw any submarines there now.  Sometimes I wish I had tried to 'go to sea' as so many used to in the past.  The idea of a rough crossing may have been what put me off.  Interestingly, my father was living just up from Granton Harbour having gone to the school just above the dock, yet he joined the army in 1925 when he could get no work.  I often wonder if he had tried for a seaman's job or if the waves put him off also?  The ships he saw as he grew up and paddled by the beach included the 'Grand Fleet,' or at least part of it based at Rosyth.  These must have impressed him, and he showed me where big guns once stood to defend the harbour, yet maybe a bullying corporal in the army was better than a ship rising and falling in the waves?

Better than most of the jobs I did have.

 

Cricket Saturday

 

Now, filling the day with cricket is fine if it means watching England lose.  It is less entertaining when they are running away with things.  Forced to endure this all day, until saved by the return of Scottish football at 5:30, my life was ebbing away as England piled on the runs.  

The Pakistani bowlers were not all failures, however the enemy made use of the watered pitch, yes another episode clouded by rain, and groundsmen working in the enemies favour.  When I returned after watching a decent football game for once, unfortunately Celtic did get their goal, I found Pakistan had already lost several wickets and were planning how to get home.  

Nothing else happened.

It is a surprise to me that at such a time as this I am not reading very much.  This may be because two books contain over 700 pages of small font filled stuff, the other books are not grabbing me the same, or something is holding me back, Lock Down I say.  I started to read one book the other day and realised it had been lying there for weeks.  Laptop trouble, sloth and other usual daytime time wasting activities may have hindered but I am surprised at how little I have read.

High Above Us...

 

This, as you know, is the 'Green Moon' from a week or two ago.  Quite why this is called a 'Green Moon' I forget, however the fact is the moon now changes colour with a regularity that did not happen in my youth.  

Up there, in the pale blue sky hidden behind Edinburgh gray clouds, lay a moon, known as, 'the moon!'  There was a song referring to a 'Blue moon,' but few if any know why it was a 'Blue Moon' and fewer still cared.  This past few years we have seen 'Blood Moons,' this 'Green Moon,' and was there not a 'red' or 'orange' moon also?  There appears to be more 'moons' today than in the past. 

I wonder why?

What would have happened if the US astronauts had landed on a 'Blood Moon' or a 'Blue Moon?'  Would this have meant they had to postpone the operation, or do it again when the colour changed?  Would the Commies have landed on a 'Blue Moon' or waited until a 'Red' one came along?  The world is full of questions we can never answer.

You may realise I am bored today...

Allowing for 'Easyjet' withdrawing from Stanstead and Southend airports, cash problems apparently, there are very few aircraft high above us these days.  Mostly it is the few 'Ryanair' flights to sunny, drunken Spain that pass above, though a lot do go to the Easter Europe hotspots for cheap beer nowadays I see.  Otherwise it is those 'Fed-Ex' types that are the most regular flights above us.  Daily one arrives from China, full of electronic equipment that explodes on use and coronovirus to keep the world spinning along.  When I first came here one such aircraft didn't quite make it.   A South Korean 747 took to the air but failed to beat the 'critical point' and came down across the road in Hatfield Forest.  I believe this was early in the day and only the three crew were lost, locals may have had their own views on this mind.  This means the skies are clearer, except when clouds bringing rain pass over, a wind storm coming tomorrow it appears.  If the skies are clearer, less traffic on roads, surely 'Lock Down' has brought many benefits in the air?  Too late for all the muck already about but at least life is a wee bit better now.

My attention was caught the other day by a woman (was she late 20's or early 30's, I canny mind) who had sex with a 15 year old male.  The Law sees this as a crime, the judge seethed at her 'abuse' while admitting the boy was 'enjoying himself immensely,' and jailed her for 2 years.

What got me was the fact this is seen as a crime while same sex marriage is considered normal, men claiming they are woman can do so legally, and make use of women's facilities to other women's annoyance, and gay acts bot male and female are considered normal.  

It is a strange world where a more normal sex act, even if rather unwise, is a crime while abnormal ones are legalised.

The lunatics are indeed running the asylum.

'Daily Star' & the NHS

 

I am beginning to like the front page of the 'Daily Star.'  

Each day they have more sarcasm/satire on the world around us than any other paper.  I sometimes get the feeling that as 'The Daily Mirror,' which owns them, keeps throwing out journalists from both the 'Star' and the 'Express' the people inside are less bothered about upsetting the folks upstairs.  They all expect the boot any time soon anyway so they are losing the fear.  

While all papers are free to attack Gavin Williamson these days, and they love a 'witch-hunt' don't they,  it is the 'Star' that appears to feel 'free-er' than the rest of the right wing pack.  Of course while Williamson or Hancock or whoever is in the news Boris can run around pretending he is in charge.  And let us not forget he is indeed in charge, as long as he obeys Dominic.

I await the 'Star' reporting on Dominic with a sad degree of glee I must say.

   

Because Hancock says 'Public Health England' has failed he, at around midnight last night, announced he was scrapping it and replacing it with something else.  Dominic's muppet has had this planned for a while, others have announced it already, but no surprise that the woman leading it is one who has aided a donation of around £100,000 to Mr Hancock already this year.  Dido Harding, for it is she, was head of 'Talk Talk' which got the 'wooden spoon' two years (her years) in a row for being the worst for customer service.  Naturally she became a Peer, as she is paying money to the Tories, then became head of the NHS (that is Serco) 'Test and Trace'  which has failed miserably.  She is therefore the right person to head this new organisation, one for which she has no knowledge off, no abilities for, and no experience.  Looks like another winner here.

U-Turn & Cricket

 

Another day another Government U-Turn.

The 'A' level results were chaotic and  clearly incorrect, in similar fashion to the Scots results. This is another of Dominic Cummings 'algorithms' at work.  It appears Cummings control of everything is not as efficient as he would like to believe.  Schools, the NHS, parliament itself, the Civil Service, the MOD and anything he has touched has shown a remarkable ability to fail when under pressure.  I will not even mention the PPE scandals!  

Where is Boris while this is happening?  Would Blair or Thatcher disappear when such an event has occurred?  Boris did appear to say something but he was only voicing Dominic's words, when will he use his own?

Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, is the one taking the flack.  Keeping their jobs like this can only go so far, one day one of them, possibly Williamson, might admit it is all Dominic Cummings doing and explain clearly what is actually going on.  I hope they have the guts soon.

BBC

With the help of pre-arranged thunderstorms England managed to avoid defeat against Pakistan by simply flooding the pitch.  How underhand can you get?  Enabling violent storms, followed by incessant heavy rain, just to ensure England do not lose, as indeed they would have had the game finished when it ought.  The ton of sawdust used on the pitch to limit the opposition bowlers did not help as much as they had hoped.  Indeed had the game continued more batsmen would have gone.

I wasted a whole afternoon watching this, once it eventually began.  Worn out by shopping, cleaning, soup making and other things watching cricket was all I had strength for.  

   

BBC Disappoint

 

Last night I watched some of the VJ-Day commemoration on the BBC.  To say I was disappointed is putting it mildly.  What ought to have been a time of listening to those who served became an excuse for absurd pictures and music designed to drown out the speaker.

Splashing the film of the speaker onto the buildings of Horse Guards Parade must have appealed to some joker in the BBC but it neither appealed nor did the job intended.  Not only was it difficult to see the individual it was hard to hear them with the music played over their speech.

The men who spoke on the 'Voices of the Great War' were allowed to speak, usually in answer to questions we do not hear.  On TV or Radio they come over clearly and respectfully.  Last night while the speakers were respectful the programme was not and clarity was lost.  This I thought insulted those recording their story for us.

The music, the bandsmen excellent as always, was used disrespectfully to cover the voice.  I suppose we were to see heightened emotion?  The story itself carries the emotion, we do not require childish additions from people who spend too much time in theatre and not in the real world. 

This was a failure for me, I turned it off after a while.  It appears the BBC today is incapable of understanding the war, the attitudes of the time, or how to reflect such people to the world outside.

Maybe of course it is the world that cannot understand and requires a 'Disney' like approach to subjects.

A Wander on VJ Day

 

When the rain stopped lashing down Costa Rica style I sauntered out to see if there were any pictures available.  The threat of more rain, it went off only for an hours, made me hurry somewhat.

Dripping leaves, berries, or whatever they are, knocked, along with the leaves, from trees.  Roads wet, drivers not slowing down, forgetful of slippy roads, and puddles aplenty but none in a place where I could make a picture!  Bah!

The market was suffering badly.  Few stalls, only three regulars and not even the fish van bothered to turn out today.  Heavy rain keeps people indoors, so off I went home.

Today however is VJ Day, 'Victory over Japan Day.'  This marks 75 years since the signing of the Japanese surrender and the official end of the Second World War.  Far too few understand this today, some only concerned with the dropping of two Atom Bombs on Japan, no concern for the millions suffering under Japanese occupation or the 12,000 British troops murdered in Jap POW camps.  Add to that the Empire forces from Australia, India and Africa who endured the longest soldiers campaign of the war and consider how happy people were at wars end.

There was therefore a short service at the public Gardens to commemorate this day and the men involved.  Only 16 were invited, and I, once informed by devious means, secured a place by boldly walking in uninvited.  The virus hinders crowds even at such ceremonies.  The thunder expected at that time remained far away and only now has the rain returned.  Very respectful of it I must say.

  

Thus satisfied, though ignored by most others, I made my way home to prepare for the evening football and other joys on offer tonight.  Pie and chips, all that was found in the fridge, was not found to be a joy in the end...

Dreicher Friday

 Dreicher Friday indeed!

Trapped by rain teeming down until after lunch.  More of this to come, lasting for several days they say.  Not doing much for the cricket or indeed anyone else.  Many paces near and far are having a wet time, many a car trapped in streams of water it appears.  

I risked a walk this afternoon, dressed for the rain, searching the new type pawn shops.  Last week my niece and her daughter, the car mechanic, drove up to Wester Ross with the dog for a few days away.  White sand beaches, no other people in sight, the Rottweiler happy paddling in the shallows chasing a ball, or anything else that moved.  With an Eagle soaring overhead, and they would quickly identify it, I suggested my great niece got herself a better camera so she could catch pictures of such, she has the talent.  I also suggested her dad bought one for her, much harrumphing in background, not just because he was left behind while they went north!  

So I checked Ebay first, then wandered into our two modern pawn shops, actually there is a third, a bit suspicious that one but I forgot all about him, and searched the cameras there hoping for a bargain.  I was shocked at how little they had in stock.  Usually there are an abundance of cameras today there were none bar a couple of old film cameras worth less than the £10 price tags.  Only one, too expensive, camera was suitable and so that was out.  I was surprised but the lass in one told me how bad things had been.  People are not buying, nor are they selling old phones or ipads.  Even the pawn shops are struggling, how much worse can it get.  I noticed both shops had only two employees, the larger shop usually has half a dozen.  When such shops suffer how can the rest cope?

So it was back to cricket before the rain comes on and stuff my face with yesterdays leftovers again.

Dreich Thursday

 

The day dawned with promises of thunder and lightning.  Both appeared shortly thereafter but I was so busy making what passes for breakfast that I did not notice.  Soon after the rain passed on and the sun came in and out.  This, the weather man says, is what we will have for the next few days.                        This is what they call summer time in England.                                                    The Pakistani cricketers will however be happy to see the game washed out down there in Southampton.  Batting is not going their way and they will be hoping for more thunder and lightning, with accompanying rainstorms tomorrow.  Other wise they will be wiped out.

      

The tragedy of yesterday has passed and the media and more concerned with England's 'A' level results being amended.  While they decried the SNP government for their 25% amendments yesterday in Scottish 'Higher' results they now grumble at England's 35% amendments, which is much worse.  Also by amending the Scots results the changes ensured the Education results produced the best results for many days.  The Conservatives now grumble at this...  Will they do the same in England?   Such things are more important than train crashes.  

However, whatever the results, whatever the grades, do these actually help the kid get somewhere?  Allowing for the lack of work as it is, with Brexit and Virus bringing more losses to the workforce, just what is the point of education?  I can understand some folks learning subjects they wish to pursue but I wonder how many are just collecting pass marks that they will never use again?  Education ought to prepare us for the real working world, does it do that these days?                                                      

Train crashes that produce several deaths are given much publicity, even though I think the last death in similar circumstances was back in 2004.  However most counties report around four or five deaths on the roads each month, about 30 - 50 a year, yet no-one appears to bothered.  What does this tell us?

Hot Politics and Railway crash.

 

Only 'Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.'  Having gone out in the midday sun, some 88% or so hot, and not being English I, er, ...well anyway.  Few in park as I passed by after dumping the old beer  bottles in the dump.  This is excellent weather and it gives me the chance to get my money's worth from last years sun tan spray.  The say thunder tomorrow like they have had up north, that will clear the air.

   Scottish Sun

Sad indeed to hear of the crash way up in Aberdeenshire.  This is a winding line and passes through many areas where landslides must be a temptation in heavy wet weather.  The rain was very heavy in places, Edinburgh had floods also, and the 'Royal Mile' saw water cascade down the slope.

Strange to see how the engine, if indeed there was only one, usually HSTs have a power unit at either end, strange to see this standing there while the coaches were thrown about.  Sad that the driver and two other s have died.

Wiki

Ruth Davidson returned to Holyrood today.  You recall she took time off to be with her family and was found 400 miles away sitting first, on Theresa Mays knees, then, uncomfortable for him, on Boris Johnson's.  While they saw her as useful which she rarely actually was, the media played on her, implying she may get a seat in the House of Commons, or as the 'Daily Mail' often said, possible a leader of the Tory Party!  As if the men in suits would have allowed that?

Anyway once Boris arrived she was out and knew it.  Dumped in the Lords, where she enters next year, she has decided to follow London's orders, remove the present leader of the Scottish Conservatives and replace him with Boris's boy Douglas Ross!  Not only is he the MP for Moray but he is not a member of the Scottish Parliament so he is unable to question the First Minister, which is just as well for him.

In his place temporarily sits the Glasgow Mouth Ruth.  This woman who has attended only one surgery in her constituency now claims to lead the Scots Tories on his behalf.  She started today, indicating the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon should not be loyal to her Education secretary John Swinney.  Nicola returned the point by indicating that a back stabbing meeting between her and Ross removed the then Conservative Leader and brought her back did not indicate 'loyalty.'  Sturgeon also pointed out that next year she and her party will go democratically to the Scots people while Ruth puts on Ermine (borrowed I suspect) and enters the un-elected House of Lords. Ruth has no answer.  This does not bode well for her.

 

As I was practising my growling this morning I had an email from the far of London seller.

 Dear friend,

Pls don't worry, I will urge the logistics for you later.
Hope you can receive it soon.

Best Regards

We await with trepidation...

Murder: Customer Service eh?

 

So, I awake this morning, almost in a good mood.  After breakfast I attempt to add an 'app' to m phone.  It adds, but whatever I do it is not easy to find what I consider the front page!  It takes for ever to seek out what I want and by then I have lost interest.  'No Adverts' they claim, which is true, no adverts except the ones they keep pushing in front of you for their books, their talks, their get -together's, their this and their that anything but the page I want!

I dumped it and got another.

This was almost as bad, easier, but not easy to work out either.

A third was obtained, almost straight forward and simple, but with adverts for woman's clothes!

Then I went looking for my adaptor I a getting via Ebay.

Was this simple and straight forward?

No!

It ought to be here yesterday, it aint here today and the Royal Mail tracker says we aint got it!

Fume!

Contact company by pressing 'contact.'

I get a couple of questions online then told 'Wait a few days and then contact company.'

I thought I was contacting company?

Try again, read advert through, at end it says 'You can contact us on email.'

Brilliant!

THERE IS NO EMAIL NUMBER!!!!

Whatever I did brought me back to where I was, very 'Catch 22' and I an now convinced this company (150% satisfaction) is false.

Having gnawed through the desktop while coming back to where I started I switched off and went for a walk, indoors, I could not risk outside.

When I returned and once again went through the many options that kept returning me nowhere I found a way to contact them direct!  How did that happen?

I scrawled a note, I pressed send, it did not work!

Several strained hours after starting I said rude words.

I once again clicked in all the right places, sent rude words, and pressed send - it went!

Now, relaxed and happy that some form of contact has been made I am now planning on what I will say to Ebay when I contact them tomorrow.

Will I be nice?

Royal Mail will be pleased when the packet is sent by them, if it ever gets sent....

All it takes is a simple contact number/email. All Ebay need do is ensure it is easy to find, they do not.

Is the result of such happenings 'murder' or 'manslaughter' does anyone know...?

This is becoming a habit worldwide....

Football on tonight, what's the betting that is will be off like tomorrows games...?

Update on Update...

To amend an old army joke re adjutants:

'Is it lawful to kill anyone connected to Microsoft?' 

'Yes, as there will always be extenuating circumstances.'

Things were going as well as can be expected today, Tesco had been visited, the self service machine and I fell out and had to be rescued by the young lady almost wearing a mask.  I had wandered home, decided there was nothing to do but watch the boring cricket, which was quite good in the end, and settled down to eat and sleep through the day.

Microsoft interrupted!  

As I put the brute onto 'sleep mode' they offered an update.  I took this and waited.  Naturally when this finished, quite soon compared to last time, I fond things missing.  'Avast' anti-virus had gone, other things were closed down, and 'Edge' filled the page and would not let me remove it!  This took time and several restarts before their blasted new browser was removed from my screen.  They do not half push their luck when they push their browsers!  

Eventually all was well and then I watched cricket in the heat.  At least 28 degrees in here all day, I hate to imagine what is was like for those working outside, and the site of em in shorts led to the mirror being placed elsewhere, for my sake, I also avoided windows.

Of course watching cricket only happened because there was no football.  Aberdeen ought to have been playing St Johnstone in Perth but some players went on a night out in 'Locked Down' Aberdeen, two tested for the virus and the others have to isolate for 10 days.  This led to an almighty row, rude words from the First Minister, and even ruder words from their manager when the game was put off.  They almost had to play with 8 players missing!  Good job it was postponed.  Such events may well happen more often during this season.

So no football, cricket takes all day, and now I am trying to find something stimulating for my mind, 'Pointless Celebrities' perhaps?  However I have no idea who any off them are!  Nothing else appeals, maybe the radio or better an old radio programme from the iplayer?  I will avoid entertaining myself by doing anything approaching work.

Venus!  These things have been hanging around the night sky for a few days.  I am glad that I can see them but why in the middle of the night?  That reminds me of Trump suggesting sending a man to the sun.  Angela Merkel indicates this is not wise and so Trump suggests 'Send him at night?'  Something about that appeals to me...

A friend has been made redundant as his company is suffering losses.  I passed a coffee shop today that has closed down, at the time I thought that this was the first of many.  My friends loss is an indication that many more jobs will go, not just because of the Virus but also because of Brexit.  In Sunderland 'Nissan' workers cheered the Brexit vote, several hundred have been made redundant and soon Nissan will go to Holland I suspect.  Today 'JCB,' who encouraged their people to vote Brexit have announced the paperwork is too long and expensive so they are off to Germany!  

What did people expect?

We are about to see thousands of job losses, redundancies and sackings, the rich will rise above it and the poor will remain the mass who suffer.  We have seen it before many time.  Pick up your Old Testament and read the Prophet Amos, he spoke of this concerning Samaria, similar causes and in the end destruction.  Somewhat different today, but not for those who are at the bottom, they will suffer most, and indeed worldwide!

Have a nice day...

Hot Friday

The day began with a swift visit to Sainsburys and then a walk over the park, all before 8 am and in the early morning heat. By midday it was touching 90 out there, I was asleep!  Fighting with the brute meant I forgot to eat again last night and this had me wondering why I was near fainting in the park.  Slowness of mind runs (slowly) in the family. 

So, once I realised this I made amends and spent much of the day watching the England cricket team fade away while playing Pakistan.  It really is not pleasing that nice Mr Farage that mere colonials are better cricket players than white Englishmen, not counting the English New Zealanders, Jamaicans and so on obviously.

With Boris hiding away on holiday again there is little news apart from continuing coverage of Beirut, coronovirus, Tory lies, Tory corruption, and heat.  I must say little in the free press covering Tory corruption mind, I have no idea why.   

First World Screams...

So, After much fuss I settled the aged laptop into an acceptable regime.  However, as I closed down at night the beast 'updated.'  The next morning as I opened up it then began to install updates.  From 7:15 until after one pm it continued.  I at this point, lost it!  I halted proceedings considering enough time was wasted and logged into the brute, ready or not. He was not ready. Much was inside the machine, this I discovered much later, and much was missed out.  Hours of striving led me to a new way to 'update' or continue to 'update.'  This finished round about 1:30 in the morning.Update had happened, even if the brute had reverted back to an older system, how come?  No idea.  This morning, after much ado, I have some semblance of an operation going.  Many things work, others work indifferently, but at least my proper laptop will soon be repaired, thanks to some group in London and Royal Mail. The word 'soon' is not to be taken literally! Now, attempting to post on Blogger it insists on using blue colour for font,and underlining each letter. Nothing makes it change, nothing, no matter how hard you hit the buttons!This was written on 'Notepad' and posted on Blogger, as yet I know not if it works.

It doesn't! Grrrrr!

That's Mars up there by the way, alongside a wee star.

Tuesday Scream!

I slept badly.

Awake every hour or near enough.

Too hot, too cold, too tired, too awake, on and on it went.

I stumbled up around 7 am, scampered unwillingly to Sainsburys masked like a bank robber, though they usually are not struggling to breathe or blinded by steam on the glasses.  Hurried back to find the laptop dying.

The adaptor wire helpfully broke meaning no power was entering and the battery was soon running out.

This meant a struggle to find a replacement, and an even greater struggle to get the old laptop, slow and difficult, to work.

By means of EBay I may have a replacement arriving soon...maybe, if it is the right one. Until then I must make do with this useless old one.

Herein the day got worse.

Not having been used since my failed Linux experiment naturally the beast was in a huff.

Nothing would work.

Eventually it worked but everything had to begin again.

Everything slowly, oh soooo sloooowly began to begin again.

It was at this point I remembered how sailors swore...

All day I played with browsers, downloaded, slowly, the required items, slowly got them to work slowly and often suggested to Toshiba what they could do with this laptop.  They did not answer.

By afternoon I not only had much of it working I even found the cricket, which I canny watch as I am watching things appear, often uninvited, onto the screen.  

Tired, weary, unable to sleep it off as I expected the workmen to knock and the postie to bring a packet.

She arrived eventually, just on one O'clock.  As she now works only three days she can survive the system, it is however not a good one.  Poor women needs an easy round, this once was, I did it myself, but changes, absurd changes, make the posties life hard.  Management, driven by paper wielding  non-posties in offices far away do not provide a service as in days of yore.   Blood from stone Tory style instead.  We must all expect more such work practices to abound under this government.

Now I comprehend that a Syrian women, endangered in a Turkish tented refugee camp with her children while her man abandons her to make his way to fame and fortune in Europe has more reasons to scream than I have.  I really do understand.  However, early this morning I was not understanding much, least of all how to get this brute to work.  

I wonder what fun lies ahead tomorrow... 

Monday Mope

Last week, for reasons unknown, I was full of energy, at least energy in my estimation.  Today I sit here like a fat lump unable to move, think or desire change.  What happened?  By my side lies a list of work to be done, some of it going back a year or two I admit, and I was planning on working on it today.  So far I have failed to generate sufficient energy as to even eat properly. 

This is the type of attitude that requires cricket to be played on TV.

Tat is because no effort is required to watch it, the majority of the time nothing happens, and what running is required is soon over, unlike with football where the ball never stops.  With cricket you see the audience, packed lunch by their side (are you old enough to remember when we called 'packed lunch' sandwiches?) and often their head stuck inside a book, always more fun than watching the cricket.  Naturally as I am in the mood, if sloth is a mood, for cricket there is none available today.

Naturally also, nothing is worth watching on TV land anywhere.

Back to bed maybe...?

As I scribble this an aircraft heading for the sun flies overhead.  This reflects the change in recent weeks.  For a time the only aircraft heading for Stansted were FedEx aircraft passing through from Europe and heading to or from the USA.  Occasional other parcel carrying planes were noted, also long haul flights from China which came without regard to health issues bothering them apparently.  What the opinion of ground staff at Heathrow was on this is not recorded.

The only other flights were the regular Apache helicopters heading for Salisbury Plain on training duties, preparing for Iraq probably, and Chinook helicopters also training.  The noise count from these service aircraft does not appear to be a problem for anyone who makes them! 

Now however people are slowly flocking to Spain, Italy, Eastern Europe and elsewhere, landing at unpronounceable airports and with only Ryanair's promise to get you back home again.  Good luck with that one. 

This is a change, in days past each morning I could see vapour trails from several aircraft heading to the London airports. Half a dozen at least for Stansted, others heading further on.  Today that is much diminished, sad for tourists, if sober, but much better for air quality all round.

That has worn me out.

Back to bed to gain strength to make the dinner...