Sunday, 10th March, 2024
Pleasant, soft day of calm. You could almost think it was a Sunday. Things are so far gone that we have both forgotten Mothers’ Day. I struggle to remember, feel sentimental about the loss nowadays. I know, it says more about me but just being honest.
I have one job and one job only. I have to copy our old phones to our new phones and then the trouble starts. If you have never had to do this, you won’t understand but it is a nightmare!
When I swap Apple iPads, the copy across is easy and straightforward but I’ve been invested in Android phones for twenty years and I enjoy my Samsung phones, watches, etc so I am persevering. Today, with two, new phones, I am copying apps and data so that our lives continue seamlessly. Or not.
I keep all my texts back over the past 5 years, my social media connections and they are important to me. They copied across perfectly. Whatsapp messages copied across. Eventually, it all came down to Pauline’s smartwatch which gave me trouble. It took two hours before her data flooded into the phone and all was well. I don’t know why I put myself through it. I sent out Whatsapps and got successful replies. I sent out texts and got some successful replies. Emails are working.
It has been such a stressful morning, it will be good to get in the Gym and work off the aches of the day. Raining in the North this morning. It must affect their texts. Watched a few minutes of Huddersfield Town at home in strong rain. Not a pretty sight. They were winning for … 10 minutes but lost 1-4 to Kevin’s chagrin.
Monday, 11th March, 2024
Warm, grey and overcast. Oh, I know the feeling. Well, quite a few jobs to get through plus a couple of hours in the Gym. One of the bathroom sinks has developed a slow leak. Got to get the plumber. While he’s here, he can fix the flow of one of the bathrooms’ showers. This afternoon, the House Security System is doing the annual service so we have to be here. Don’t want him breaking in!
Finally agreed to sell our two, old (nearly new) phones for £642.00 to a resale company called Meelie Mobile in Newcastle-under-Lyme. According to their website, they will sell them on for about £1000.00. They are in perfect condition after two years of use having been protected by back cases and front screen covers. Good luck to them. I’m quite happy. I ordered all the extras – covers, screen protectors, etc, from Amazon Prime. I love it. Next day delivery ‘free’ and free and easy returns if you don’t like them … which I don’t. New ones ordered to be delivered tomorrow. Rejects going back tomorrow.
We’ve decided that our plumber isn’t as good as we first thought and I have to look for another. Our local Checkatrade has quite a few but how do I decide? I just pick one and call. If they’re rubbish, I won’t use them again. We’ve phoned Plumber on Tap because I like the name. He will be with us tomorrow.
Talked to Julie this morning. Kevin’s wife, Chris, is going up to see her this week which is both ironic and magnanimous. Both are in a flurry to get things at their best. Kevin won’t be there. I wonder why.
Anyway, I’m going in the Gym to hide away from the world. Until I go on a Kings’ drive to discover what lies beyond. Can you believe the Royal Family deliberately deceiving their slavering public by altering photographs. Is there anyone who actually cares? I certainly don’t. They are irrelevant to modern Britain.
Tuesday, 12th March, 2024
A truly horrible day of heavy rain. Warm but terribly wet. There is so much to do but the climate is revolting. Early this morning we had to go out for some purchases.
No wonder I use Amazon Prime who deliver ‘free of charge’ next day to my door. By the end of this week I will have received deliveries from them on 5 consecutive days. I know it sounds mad but phone covers and screen protectors. Some rejected and returned with new ones ordered. Computer/iPad Screen cleaner, specialist lighting tubes used in the bathrooms but which I can’t be bothered hunting for in the real world, Sellotape pack, mobile trickle charger for the side of my bed. It’s the delivery people I feel sorry for. They constantly looked shattered and stressed. Come to think of it, I remember that feeling …
The Home Security service man arrived yesterday afternoon. It took him precisely 15 minutes to check the system, PIRs, Alarm battery, sound box, etc. That costs £110.00 per year. Actually, it is more of an insurance policy because they come out immediately in crisis times when the alarm goes off. It would be incredibly stressful for the neighbourhood particularly if we were away.
Think I’m giving up the will to live. We have a dear friend who is struggling with terminal cancer. It is almost unimaginable. Sometimes death seems to follow us round. I was reading an article written by a Hospice nurse about the most common things people in their final days regret:
- ‘ I wish I hadn’t dedicated so much of my life to working so hard.’ …
- ‘ I wish I’d lived my life the way I wanted, not how others expected me to behave.’ …
- ‘ I regret losing touch with so many of my friends’. …
- ‘ I wish I’d been brave enough to express my feelings more’. ‘ …
- ‘ I wish I’d let myself be happier’.
So many of these things could apply to me. They are a wake up call for the now, for the alive. Learn from other’s mistakes. They Stay With Me.
I have a problem with sex. I am strictly heterosexual and I just can’t watch a homosexual kiss on screen or anywhere else. It is clearly becoming more acceptable in the media but I just cannot watch it. I have literally to avert my eyes. I have tried to examine my response but I really don’t know if it is cultural or physical or a blend of the two. Maybe, I am a product of my time when overt homosexuality was a crime and the generations coming after me will be much more liberal and accepting.
I am in my 70s and like to think I’m fairly open minded. I have no objection to same-sex couples even though I find it impossible to face it myself. I have much more discomfort with Gender Dysphoria which is the subject of action today as the NHS withdraws from the gender-altering process of so-called Trans Children.
Wednesday, 13th March, 2024
Pleasant, dry and fairly bright day. Really warm. Not feeling at my best today – old, fat, tired. Got to get going. Got some photo editing to do today. Making a card for a friend wearing bikini and wellies (her not me) in this weather.
I enjoy photo editing so the recent Royal debacle has rather amused me. Anything which undermines the Monarchy cheers me up and putting out a publicly sanctioned photo is a bit different to the personal things I do but anybody who uses social media trespasses into this sphere regularly.
Above, two separate photos of Littlehampton beach where the River Arun flows into the sea are then knitted together to create a more panoramic but untruthful shot.
Looks a bit cold and grey so I’ve warmed it up a little by adjusting the colour saturation and hue using a Photoshop precursor I’ve been using for years – Macromedia Fireworks.
There is plenty of speculation that Kate has been editing out the difficult parts of her life and not just the sleeve in a photo. It is possible that she wasn’t even there for the ‘officially published photo but superimposed he face in between kids on a computer. It isn’t difficult and it hasn’t taken the cartoonists long to see the funny side. If only Sunak could Photoshop his difficulties away.
Thursday, 14th March, 2024
Lovely warm and sunny morning. After the warmest Winter we have ever known and in which we have almost forgotten how to use the central heating, this morning we are …. having the central heating serviced. My secretary is nothing if not assiduous about such things.
A couple of days ago, we had the Security System serviced at an annual cost of £110.00 and the Central Heating service today is undertaken by British Gas at an annual cost of £310.00. Although we have been her for 7 years now from ‘new’, very little is showing signs of wear and tear. The central heating and security systems are working as good as new. The boiler is fairly small and hidden in a cupboard in the Utility Room. It’s a cupboard we never open. It’s unnecessary.
Everything is done remotely from phones, iPads and computers. It is so much more convenient. It is also so much more economical. You want the towel rails heating for warm towels after a shower. Turn them on just Upstairs while working in the Office downstairs. You want to cool the Gym, turn the fan on before you get there. This is how life should be organised. I bet you can’t do this on a canal boat!
My friend, Kevin, and I have exchanged memories. He’s done a 12 mile bike ride today for fitness. I reminded him that I did one in July 1972 to attend my sister’s wedding. There were no early morning buses to the station in Harrogate. I had to borrow my flatmate, Nigel’s bike. I had bought a new, black, 3-piece suit from Burton’s in Ripon – £99.00.
Dressed in my suit, I biked from Ripon to Harrogate at 5.00 am. The crows on the road were massive and very intimidating. After 12 miles, I got there in time because I was very fit then. I was at the wedding but that was the last time I ever rode bike.
Kevin did his afternoon ride this afternoon. It was just 12 miles but not in a Burton’s suit.
Friday, 15th March, 2024
Up very early to get through our own jobs before we set out to help others. Off to Sainsburys to shop for ourselves and then home to prepare for a drive to Surrey.
We were on a mercy mission this morning as we left early to drive up to Surrey. P&C had got into a muddle with the new television we had installed for them. They were only able to watch CNN …. a fate worse than death. Anyone who has been stuck in a foreign hotel room with the only English channel as CNN will know how hard it can be. I knew that the problem was that they had altered the source from the Freeview box. It took minutes to rectify even though the process wasn’t easy to explain over the phone.
The drive was typically Spring moving through warm sunshine and sharp rain storms and back again. We knew that the M25 around there would be closed at the weekend and it was absolutely packed this morning so we went through Cobham instead. It was a good decision.
The TV took minutes to restore and to rehearse with P&C so they could restore it themselves if anything went wrong again.
Pauline noticed their fridge was empty so we shot off to Tesco by the old, Brooklands car race track. We got a reasonable trolley of fruit and vegetables, meat and cheese, wine and chocolate and delivered it back to P&C before setting off on the 90 mins drive home. The drive was typically Spring weather moving through warm sunshine and sharp rain storms and back again. Beautiful blossom everywhere – May Blossom on the roadsides, Magnolia trees in gardens, Cherry blossom in public spaces.
Saturday, 16th March, 2024
Unfortunately P&C are finding life increasingly demanding to deal with. A BT engineer arrived while we were there yesterday. Nobody, including the engineer seemed to know why he had arrived. He left but, by the time we had driven home, their phone line had stopped working. Something had happened which we will have to spend this morning sorting out.
Everything is difficult because of Privacy and Public Liability laws. Even though Pauline shares Power of Attorney, BT will not discuss anything with her about someone else without specific information she just doesn’t have. Perhaps she could phone P&C … if their line hadn’t been cut. We could have driven up there again but the M25 is closed all weekend. Anyway, it turns out that P&C are now having their copper wired land line removed and switched over to a VOIP (voice over internet protocol) one. BT is pushing everyone in that direction. The only thing is that they are charging people £40.00 to fit a new broadband hub. If I’d known yesterday, I could have done it for them for free.
Kevin told me this morning that Julia – my goddaughter – had just completed a very successful Ofsted as SENCO of her school in York. I’ve had a nice chat with her this morning. She is a lovely girl and Kevin is justifiably very proud of her.
In the 6 Nations rugby this afternoon, I want all the away teams to win. The hardest one will be England in Paris but I would particularly like Italy to stuff the Welsh. They deserve it. I’ll be watching from the treadmill and pretending that I’m still playing. It’s quite difficult nowadays to face up to the fact that I will never play again. In fact, never work again. Still, we can all dream and there are still plenty of things that I can and will do again, Dear Reader.
My little sister, Cathy, was in London the other day. I asked her if she was visiting one of my many other sisters, Liz, on her house boat. No fear, she said, I can’t stand boats. All these years and I’d never know that …. a real testament to my sensitivity.