Sarah's Transition Diary .. weeks 317 - 320

.... is for those who might want to contact me about my diary.

Day 2213. Thursday 30th December 2010.

Memory Joggers ...

Well that was an odd night .. I woke up a few times, but not for long .. generally I slept really well.

09.12 .. Karen wakes me up with a cup of tea ..

10.05 .. Karen gets up cause she’s meeting friends at the garden centre at 11.00 ..

10.35 .. Up and at it .. I do a quick weight check .. 14st 9 1/4 lb .. only 1lb up since Saturday !!!!

While Karen is out I do some web surfing .. and watch some TV .. I’m feeling quite tired and cold again.

12.40 .. Karen is back ..

12.55 .. Lunch is served .. a ham sandwich, crisps and dips .. and some (2) Welsh cakes that are out of date today .. so I need to eat them up ..

14.17 .. I call Frankie in the USA on her home phone, using “skype out” .. interestingly her phone came up with my skype account ID .. “sarah.gts” .. weird. We chat for a while, the main reason I called was to try and correct something passed between us about a friend in Thailand and something I may have misconstrued .. due to trying to translate a Thai language comment into English from that friend .. but I think we have it sussed now. 

14.32 .. I finally head upstairs to shower .. << grimace >>.

15.10 .. I’m dressed and sorted post shower .. I’ve decided to go out while it’s damp and quite warm outside .. now would be a good time to wash off our three cars .. so I done my ancient sailing oily’s and wellies and go do the business.

While I’m outside, Karen is doing some Amazon ( ing ) .. she’s ordered a Flymo 3Kw leaf vacuum cleaner / blower and one of those George Forman meat grills .. but one with removeable plates so they can be soaked, and one that can do “melts” too .. a bit different to the one Robert had here when he lived here which was quite basic with fixed plates, making it difficult to clean sometimes.

16.55 .. The cars are clean, Violet was in a terrible state really as I’d been using her for work .. Karen had been using Red a lot recently, the poor old girl was really filthy .. I’m just worried now if it freezes hard before they can dry out, the door seals may get welded to the doors, as I cleaned the door slams and steps too .. in hind site I should have left that little bit of salt there !!!

Karen makes a cup of tea and I go do things on the PC ..

17.50 .. I start Skype

18.04 .. I start a Yahoo chat with Maria near Oxford ..

18.40 .. Dinner is served .. a roast duck leg with roast potatoes, roast carrots and peas .. dessert 1 was some cherries, dessert 2 was some Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough ice cream ..

19.39 .. back at the PC .. Maria has gone ..

19.43 .. Kylie pops up for a chat ..

19.50 .. Kylie has to make a quick exit ..

I start writing an e-mail to my group looking for volunteers to take up some moderator positions .. time will tell ..

20.03 .. Lucinda pops up for a chat ..

20.25 .. Lucinda wishes me a happy new year and says good night.

I send off a couple of e-mails and think about calling it a night ..

I go make a cup of tea and suit with Karen watching TV .. I give her feet a massage . .she doesn’t complain about it anymore, so either I’m getting it write or she’s resigned to my torture .. LOL.

22.10 .. Just checked my company e-mails and found a reply from Nanda, my dutch friend. She’s out in Thailand for her annual 10 week holiday .. really nice to hear from her even if it wasn’t all good news about others there .. it’s sad sometimes to learn about people you like out there.

I have a chat with Teraina on Yahoo, she’s volunteered to be a mod on my group for Dr Sanguan, we’ve never “spoken” directly .. it’s clear she’ll be an asset.

As for Emily .. I’ve chatted with her many a time, including when she was in Thailand with Dr Suporn .. so I know her quite well, she bilingual too .. speaks excellent German .. so she has other skills to bring to the group.

I do some changes to the group to reflect the changes in the team, and I send out a couple of e-mails, to the two girls and to the rest of the moderator team.

00.40 .. time to head up to bed .. oop’s

01.20 .. I finally climb into bed ..

More to come ...

Day 2214. Friday 31st December 2010.

Memory Joggers ...

I slept quite well

I wake up momentarily .. well an eye flicked open to see Karen looking out of the window and closing the window .. I was out again instantly .. I must start getting to bed earlier.

10.15 .. I wake up .. I’m shocked by the time on the clock ..

10.35 .. Up and at it ..

11.02 .. I check my e-mails .. as Karen heads for the shower.

The adverts used to say that self assessment tax filling shouldn’t be taxing .. but it is. I’ve used “TaxCalc” for ten years .. so I go buy and download the latest. Problem is the new version will only import detail from last years .. and due to the hard disk death on my old PC I lost last years, without a backup.

Luckily after a little searching I managed to find my 2008 TaxCalc directories, copied and hidden in a safe place. When I signed up for the new version it gave me the option of downloading the last 5 years of software versions too .. so I did.

Having installed the 2009 version, I managed to import and save the 2008 version. Having run up the 2010 version, I’ve imported the recreated 2009 and my info seems to be intact .. << PHEW >>.

At this point I think I’m in a recoverable position, especially as I bought and downloaded the new TaxCalc utility that works out all your share stuff for you. So I shut TaxCalc down and can relax a little more again, but this time I’ve created a master copy of all my files back to 2001 on my NAS server, where hopefully they’ll remain safe for the future.

13.05 .. Lunch .. potato and leak soup with a slice of yummy bread .. followed by more cakes than I’d like to own up too .. << sighs >>..

14.09 .. Dr Who has finished ..

15.38 .. Karen returns from her sisters ..

15.42 .. I need to shower and wash my hair .. except that once I got into the bath and shower I thought I’d treat myself to a relaxing bath .. so I did. Weeks ago I bought some “relaxing”bath foam .. it’s half gone and I’ve never used it .. Claire has 2 baths a day when she’s home .. it’s down to her.

17.05 .. I’m back down stairs to dry my hair .. relaxed .. maybe.

17.20 .. I sort out a few mass e-mails to various groups I belong to wishing people a happy new year ..

My mother calls .. apparently she’s had another call from Juliet, wanting to know if we staying overnight tomorrow .. why mother is acting as the go between I don’t know.

18.45 .. I ring my sisters, following my mothers instructions .. and leave a message saying we are not staying overnight .. tomorrow.

18.50 .. I order a chinese mini feast for us from the Chinese in Bagshot, a selection of what we normally have and 1/4 crispy duck to share .. one of Mary’s boys answered the phone and says 20 minutes .. hmmm.

19.35 .. I finally walk away with our food ..

19.45 .. Karen and I tuck into our crispy duck starter .. the wine for tonight is not a Virgin Wine drain cleaner .. it’s Menetou Salon Blanc 2007 from Gosellin’s in St Vaast .. gosh we have missed that .. << smiles >>.

During the main part of the meal, where we always share a sample of our “mains” .. Karen drops mine on the floor as she hands it back, the container landing on it’s side .. so some goes in the bin .. it’s Garlic Chicken too .. sob, sob.

One of my fortune cookies is a little worrying .. “YOU ARE SOON GOING TO CHANGE YOUR PRESENT LINE OF WORK” .. oh dear .. does this mean I won’t get my contract finalised in March .. << sighs >>.

21.50 .. I break away from the TV and check my e-mails and both Facebook pages ..   

I open a bottle of “Cornish Lust” .. it’s a Strawberry and cream liquor .. we bought it on a day trip to Cornwall during our 2nd honeymoon back in August .. it’s very moreish, but at 15% by volume, you’re going to have to drink a lot of it to get tiddley on it .. and consume a lot of calories to do it.

Karen’s clearly got a lot of friends who are busy texting tonight .. I’ve had one from Karen, but no others after I commented on the volume she’s received .. so many, her phone demanded a recharge while she’s been answering them.

23.00 .. I’m heading for bed .. leaving Karen to her non stop bleeping phone ..

23.50 .. I’m in bed .. I watch the fireworks alone ..

00.15 .. Karen arrives in the bedroom .. little is said .. thinks .. “Yeah .. Happy New Year !!”

I was asleep before Karen returns to bed.

More to come ...

Day 2215. Saturday 1st January  2011.

Memory Joggers ...

07.20 .. The alarm goes off ..

07.35 .. Karen gives me a brief cuddle but nothing is said ..

07.50 .. Up and at it ..

08.35 .. I’m dressed and ready to go .. I have my breakfast and meds.

08.55 .. I nip into the drive and get a bucket and brush from the garage, to wash off the area’s on Violet and Sparkle that I missed the other day .. annoying little patches.

I check my weight with all my clothes on .. what ??!!?? .. so I take my denim skirt off and try again .. it’s still a guestimate but I suspect this might still be an over estimate .. 14st 11 lb .. Christmas bar humbug ...

09.30 .. Time to get ready to go to collect my mum .. this is going to be a fun day .. 

09.58 .. We are at my mum’s .. but she’s not ready and she has a couple of jobs for me to do before we go .. fab mum.

10.10 .. We are on the road .. I’m driving down, Karen will drive back.

10.50 .. A few miles up the A30 from the M3 we pass the most expensive rip off shell garage in the country .. I’m staggered .. their ordinaire unleaded is 132.9 !!! .. and stupidly .. there’s a car in there !!! .. there is one born every minute, hopefully only buying enough to get the next 15 miles to the next A303 garage.

11.50 .. I stop for fuel a few miles short of Juliet’s at a shell garage charging 123.9 for ordinaire .. 131.9 for V-Power .. I give Violet a treat.

11.58 .. We arrive at my sisters .. and catch them by surprise, Chloe is doing something in the garden / yard and Juliet has just worked her way to the outside washing her kitchen floor .. we are on time, they were banking on us being late ( as usual Juliet says ).

13.15 .. ish .. lunch .. Champagne and canapes .. they are lovely.

The afternoon is low pressure .. Karen, mum and I spend a lot of time watching TV later while Juliet preps for dinner.

18.00 .. ish .. nibbles and wine before dinner .. mother pronounces that I’m allergic to nuts and can’t eat what has just been put out .. this is news to me .. I love nuts and eat stacks .. Robert and Juliet find this mildly amusing as I wind mother up.

19.00 .. ish .. dinner is served .. as always Juliet’s cooking is fabulous .. it’s a massive Rib of beef that her husband Robert carves .. roast vegetables and all sorts to go with it. After some cheese and biscuits dessert follows, a double wammy of a rich chocolate torte dessert and her infamous sticky date and toffee pudding.

20.20 .. Dinner is over .. we start to get ready to leave ..

20.48 .. We are in the car and head for home ..

22.58 .. We are home ..

More to come ...

Day 2216. Sunday 2nd January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

10.15 .. I’m awake sort of .. disyurbed by Karen getting up ..

10.25 .. Karen returns with a cup of tea .. I need a comfort break and go weigh myself how I normally do .. 14st 12 3/4 lb .. not bad after yesterday, 31/2lb up for the holiday so far .. better than a lot of years for sure. I’ll start my diet on Tuesday .. no more PABS lunches .. back to PAB for the foreseeable future.

10.55 .. Up and at it ..

11.30 .. I head for a shower ..

12.35 .. I head for Waitrose ..

Waitrose is packed out and they are clearly running low on things like potatoes and other vege’s, milk, all sorts.

13.38 .. I’m back by the car loading it up, the Range Rover that I parked next to got out without damaging me .. there’s now a maroon BMW M6 parked across two parking bays in the Range Rover’s place. As I’m packing my boot the owner returns .. my comment of “nice parking across two bays” gets a cursory look down at the floor and a shrug of shoulders. Strangely, or not so, a BMW 5 series is parked in a similar way just opposite .. maybe this how the BMW owners club tells it’s members to park nowadays.

13.50 .. I’m home ..

14.16 .. Lunch is served .. “French” bread with brie, cranberry and hot bacon .. true comfort food lunch .. I follow it with a hunk of M&S mini christmas cake Karen gave me as a christmas present .. and a couple of chocolate mini roll bites.

16.15 .. I go to make a cup of tea .. but get side tracked into some washing up and rubbish clearing ..

17.15 .. I sit to drink a cup of tea while sorting a pile of junk mail from the kitchen for address labels to destroy separately ..

17.35 .. Back to the PC .. emails I sent earlier still haven’t been passed on by my ISP .. so I resend a couple to GRSinThailand via the groups web mail interface .. I then do some diary for yesterday.

18.30 .. back to the kitchen .. I end up helping Karen

19.10 .. Dinner is served .. how to describe it .. a mixture os onions, ham, mushrooms, roats potatoes, carrots .. mixed with egg and cooked in a frying pan .. served with half a toasted bagel with foie gras .. lovely .. dessert was a slice of Juliet’s chocolate truffle tort with a splash of cream .. all washed down with some red wine.

19.40 .. Back to the PC to sort some e-mails .. my ISP that handles my sarahhelene.com domain is having e-mail problems .. incoming is fine .. but anything I send out isn’t going anywhere .. so I have to copy and paste emails to my groups via Yahoo’s groups web mail interface ..

20.47 .. I head north to do my drudgery .. 

21.29 .. I’m finally in that position ..

22.25 .. Time to give up .. I’m not even going to try number 3 .. this has been the worst session in months ..

23.10 .. I check my e-mails ..

23.30 .. I head for bed ..

More to come ...                                 

Day 2217. Monday 3rd January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

07.45 .. The alarm goes off and wakes me up ..

08.32 .. I wake with a start .. DOH .. I get up and make a cup of tea ..

10.03 .. Up and at it ..

11.30 .. I’m in the bathroom to shower, but get called down to help Karen to pack the Christmas tree back in it’s box ..

12.15 .. I’m dressed and back down stairs ..

13.30 .. Lunch ..

14.30 .. I hit the PC intending to buy a new TomTom, having said I’d never buy another of their products .. I end up getting a TomTom 950 Live Europe, USA, Canada with an extra 3 year warrantie .. time will tell if I’ve made a good choice.

15.50 .. I start working on the mess left by the BT engineer when my broadband was updated .. this has uncovered a serious bag of worms, in the original BT telephone install. I want to remove the original double outlet plate for our two lines, and relocate the horrendous BT Openreach box that is now surface mounted and a plate with the other telephone line master socket along with installing a Cat5 point to connect through to the lounge ..

18.45 .. Partial victory . .all the old BT stuff  is out in the dinning room and it all looks neat .. except for the red Cat% cable that needs running under the skirting board and wall ..  

19.10 .. Dinner is served .. jacket potato with two different “smotherings” with a salad, washed down with red wine. Dessert was a ginormous chunk of my sisters chocolate torte .. “to finish it off” .. hmmm .. it’s finished me ..

19.45 .. To the PC to see who’s around ..

20.15 .. Back to my cable running. I need to empty most of my wine store in the under stairs cupboard .. so I can drill both ways .. into the dining room one side and into the toilet the other side. I now discover my box of pale grey Cat5 cable .. DOH .. that would be easier to hide / disguise than bright red !!! .. but it’s to late .. I’m not going to back track now.

Karen helps me unload the cupboard .. about 50 - 60 bottles. Gosh the bottom 3 layers, about 30 bottles, we have some wonderful wines laying there .. and the diamond .. a 1995 Chateau Nausea .. terrible name, but memories of the other 5 consumed .. awesome is not enough. There’s quite a few fine years stored there .. some 1994 and 1996 Haut Medoc and St Emilleons.

Biggest problem is the wall from the loo .. I decide to drill from that side .. problem is my drill won’t pass through the two walls of plasterboard .. PO 6 screwdriver to the rescue .. I squirm and punch the hole through to the wine store.

Next problem is feeding that Cat5 through the partition .. it’s got to go through a 4" gap. I strip of an inch of Cat5 outer sleeve, and attach the wire to a length of piano wire with heatshrink and superglue. It takes me a good 5 minutes of cursing to find the whole on the toilet side, then as I drag the last half inch through the toilet side, the piano wire detaches .. aaarrghhh. Looking into the hole I can see a couple of strands of Cat5 conductors .. I manage to grab them with some long nose pliers and drag it through. Phew.

21.40 .. I just need to restack my wine store and tidy up .. I’ve had enough for tonight. 

21.55 .. My wine store is back together .. and the cable is now tucked in a coil behind the pipe to the toilet cistern .. to be continued.

22.45 .. Everything is tidy .. well as tidy as it gets around here .. ready for the gasman coming tomorrow .. allegedly .. to service our central heating. Second time lucky we will see .. maybe we’ll get another £30 cheque for a no show .. like last time.

23.00 .. I’m just about to head to bed, I quickly log into Yahoo in invisible mode to check for any messages .. not been in there for a few days .. there’s an off liner from Kirsti .. so I answer it, before I can get out she replies .. she’s hiding there too .. we chat briefly. Sadly she and her boy friend have split up .. we’ll have to go do a meal soon to commiserate. 

23.15 .. I head for bed ..

23.48 .. Nightie night.

More to come ...

Day 2218. Tuesday 4th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.30 .. The alarm goes off .. I’m shattered ..

06.47 .. Up and at it ..

07.45 .. I’m dressed and downstairs drying my hair ..

08.24 .. I’m a little late leaving for work ..

09.04 .. I follow Mark in his Jag into our complex and the car park ..

Well part of my new eating regime is blown away by Peter producing a box of chocolate biscuits, then he insists I take two !!

12.25 .. Lunch .. PAB only .. my new years resolution ..

Phil is interested in my old Traffic receiver for my TomTom 720 .. he’s got a 720 too but no receiver .. as our receiver socket is useless, and I’m probably going to sell our old one sans receiver .. I might make something out of this.

17.32 .. I finally leave the office .. the last from our section but I catch the others up on the path through the woods to the car park ..

I stop for petrol in Egham .. unleaded ordinaire .. so I can park Violet in the bottom of the drive when I get home, to be stored till she’s really needed again.

18.23 .. I’m home .. Karen has moved Sparkle out of the drive .. leaving it empty for Violet.

In the kitchen is two large boxes .. one is the Flymo 3Kw leaf vacuum cleaner / blower for the garden, the other should have the electric meet grill .. a George Forman product.

18.55 .. ish .. Robert arrives .. he’s come “home” for dinner ..

19.05 .. ish .. Dinner is served .. roast chicken with roast vegetables, stuffing, cranberry and peas .. it’s lovely, but not diet food. Dessert is another black mark .. a portion of Juliet’s sticky date and toffee pudding with some ice cream ..

20.08 .. Kylie pops up on Yahoo ..

20.47 .. I say goodbye to Kylie .. intending to have a cup of tea then head for bed ..

21.15 .. I head for bed .. my back is killing me .. and I’m so tired .. my Cat5 cable can wait another night.

More to come ...

Day 2219. Wednesday 5th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

08.53 .. I’m 1/3 mile from work .. my doctors secretary rings my Sarah phone .. so I have to stop. My GP’s need to see me to discuss the results from Frimley Parks coronary care team regarding my angiograms on the 23rd of April last year !!!! I settle for an evening one on the 17th Jan .. 06.45.

12.50 .. Finally time for lunch .. PAB .. it’s a diet thing .. LOL.

17.36 .. I finally drive away from work .. but I need fuel, so I drive out to my favourite Esso garage .. but sadly it seems to have lost a little of it’s competitive edge .. 126.9 for ordinary unleaded. I’m surprised to get over 39 litres into sparkle .. it’s a 42 litre tank .. allegedly.

18.01 .. I leave the garage and head for home .. I call home ..

18.49 .. I’m home .. Karen asks about some mystery calls here before 9 this morning .. I explain the doctors calls .. she hands me a letter from the hospital.

29.12.10
“Dear Dr *
I apologise for the fact that you may not have had an update regarding this lady who I saw in clinic in March 2009. She had a coronary angiogram performed by one of my colleagues on 23rd April 2010. This reported as showing smooth coronary arteries. I understand she may still be having symptoms. On reviewing the coronary angiograms today, it is possible that she may have some minor spasm of the distal coronary arteries, which could be responsible for her symptoms.

I would be grateful if you could start her on Diltiazem 90mg bd to see if this improves her symptoms and let me know if you would like her to be seen in my clinic again”

Dr V Achan MA PhD MRCP
Consultant Cardiologist.

... hmmm .. 23rd April till now .. and now probably because I phoned and hassled his secretary about 5 weeks ago !!

The NHS is fabulous .. 

19.05 .. Dinner is served .. chicken and leak tagliatelle in a cheesy sauce .. it was very nice .. dessert I’m ashamed to say was a diet busting pair of mince pies, brandy butter, a little cream and ice cream .. << sighs >>.

19.50 .. Time to finish my wiring ..

It’s a bit of a nightmare going around the toilet and trying to drill a whole in the skirting board and wall along side the toilet pan .. lovely job .. not.

22.15 .. Well the wiring is complete .. but I’m getting odd results on my line speed test .. I’ll have to check it over the next few days ..

Time to clean up and pack up ..

23.00 .. A trip into the garage to try and find some more of my decent keyboards, having discovered that one I’d got ready to take into work is missing a key cap from the tab key.

23.30 .. Everything is away .. time to go to bed, just need to do some notes for today ..

23.39 .. Kirtsi pops up on Yahoo after I answer an offliner from her a couple of hours ago .. we chat briefly ..

23.47 .. I say goodnight to Kirsti ..

00.05 .. I finally head north ..

More to come ...

Day 2220. Thursday 6th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm wakes me up ..

06.23 .. Up and at it ..

07.07 .. I’m back in the bedroom .. time for a little pampering .. out with the epilator ..

07.55 .. I do a speed check on my ADSL ..

Download speed achieved during the test was - 35631 Kbps
 For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 12000-38717 Kbps .
 Additional Information: IP Profile for your line is -38717 Kbps

Upload speed achieved during the test was - 8190 Kbps
 Additional Information: Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 10000 Kbps

08.02 .. Time to head out for work ..

09.03 .. I’m in the office ..

A cup of tea while I check my e-mail .. there’s a fault in Booth1 .. I go investigate. An ArcMaster unit has a “funny” display .. due to a D type connector hanging out of the back. While I’m investigating Mark comes in, intending to do the same job .. I continue. Problem is the securing thumb screws have been sheared off in the mating half on the back of the unit.

I take the unit out, and replace the D type mounting pillars on the unit, then replace the thumb screws .. I replace the unit .. job done properly.

10.30 .. ish .. Today’s mission, once I’d completed the duty engineer checks .. is to get my head around our Audionics audio routing system. It’s miserable outside .. and I’m making a lot of trips across a courtyard to CTA .. lovely.

12.55 .. I finally sit down to eat my lunch .. PAB ..

17.37 .. I’m in the car ready to head for home ..

18.24 .. I’m home ..

18.50 .. Dinner part one is served .. spicy chicken soup .. lovely.

19.02 .. Dinner part two is served .. “chargrilled” chicken, with roast carrots and gnocchi with petit poi .. delicious .. dessert was a small portion of bio yoghurt and some fresh cherries.

Well the evening doesn’t go as I planned ..

00.58 .. I finally climb into bed .. nightie night.

More to come ...

Day 2221. Friday 7th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

I slept pretty soundly, not surprising really, till just before the alarm went off ..

06.10 .. The alarm ..

06.22 .. Up and at it, gosh I feel stiff this morning ..

07.10 .. I’m back in the bedroom and my chest is hurting .. Karen nips and gets my handbag, I take a dose from my GTN spray ..

08.12 .. I’m on the road to work ..

Friday morning roads .. lovely .. this is quieter than “normal”, even for a Friday.

It’s really wet and miserable, and knowing I’m early and David is still in Afghanistan, I pinch his parking space first just outside the office.

08.57 .. I’m in the office.

I need to do a few routine things today .. and as it’s first week on the month there is a pile of extra things to do too .. including simulating a power failure and checking the generator kicks in ..

I go sort out the daily check stuff first, then do a solo trip to Arqiva’s MCR to check our kit there .. it’s OK.

11.05 .. ish .. Seb agrees to show me through the monthly generator test .. he pulls our CTA main breaker on the incoming supply .. the UPS takes over and shows a 12 minute count down to failure .. for me this is a nervous time.

After 5 minutes, as we stand watching it, the generator starts and after a few moments of warming up takes the load from the UPS. The delay is so that small breaks in the supply don’t cause instant starts of the generator.

Our 40KVA diesel is a secondary backup anyway, because in a real National Grid failure the whole site is protected by a couple of massive generators anyway, so in a normal situation, in theory, our little won is surplus.

While the generator runs for 20 minutes on load, seb goes through a couple of the other things we are supposed to do monthly .. he admits he hasn’t done these himself for a very long time.

11.28 .. The generator has been on load for 20 minutes .. so I put the mains breaker back in. Seb and I head for the generator. The UPS continues to take the generator for another 5 minutes till it’s sure that the mains in stable .. before switching and indicating to the generator to start it’s cool down sequence.

We stand there waiting for the generator to signal it’s off line .. I ask how often the tank is checked, Seb’s not sure .. so we go and check it, this involves unscrewing the main cap and putting a dip stick in .. it’s only half full .. so I try and organise a top up.

11.52 .. While back in the office, I hear the generator shut itself down .. so I go back out and make sure it’s gone back into auto mode, and shut the flap.

12.10 .. The others head for the canteen ..

12.20 .. I finally get to my fruit ..

I check the where about’s of my missing new TomTom 950 Live .. this is from Belgium Post .. not that my parcel goes from a UK supplier to Belgium, then back again to just sit in a warehouse .. what carbon footprint !!

Date - Time Place Status

04-01-2011 21:12:00         Parcel is announced

05-01-2011 00:00:00  GB  Departure towards sorting center

05-01-2011 04:37:00  BE   Parcel is accepted

05-01-2011 04:37:00  BE   Parcel is handled

05-01-2011 04:45:00  BE   Parcel is Routed

05-01-2011 17:23:00  GB  Sorting

06-01-2011 02:38:00  GB  Not Delivered - Parcel put physically in Warehouse

So it’s been sitting static in a warehouse for 36 hours .. today is the last day for delivery ..

16.00 .. Having seen boss Jon .. I do some of the cheques I need to do, Seb apparently had lead me astray slightly ..

16.58 .. I try calling “Pixmania” .. supplier of my new TomTom .. there customer services shut at 17.00 according to recorded message so I missed them . .they’ve gone home early

17.05 .. The others troop out, led by Seb and Mark .. I need to organise my departure ..

17.17 .. I drive away in my car .. my new TomTom is a no show .. the wrath of Sarah will decend on the supplier on Monday.

I stop in Egham to top Red up .. 127.9 for ordinary unleaded is steep I know .. but it’s senseless to drive towards Wycombe unless the car is really low or I’m going shopping anyway.

18.12 .. I’m home ..

I set to clearing out one of our food cupboards .. to see what is archived at the back .. I find about 25 cans and jars that are past or well past there “best by” dates .. some items have to be binned .. what a waste. Karen says she’ll use the other stuff as a priority.

18.50 .. Dinner is served .. butchers sausages with roast new potatoes and baked beans .. serious comfort food .. some Chateau Fontbonne Cuvée Marie 2003 washes it down .. liquid velvet, gosh it’s lovely .. dessert is another raid on the cheese and biscuits hanging over from Christmas and new year .. The Brie de Meaux is now stunning.

20.00 .. I go to the PC briefly .. I spend a lot of time chilling with Karen ..

Got two members waiting on the GRSinThailand group .. one is possibly OK the other, with a profile that is dated the same as the application day will probably be denied access .. somebody trying to hide a lot I suspect.

21.50 .. To the PC .. to make some diary notes ..

23.25 .. I head up to bed .. 

23.58 .. I climb into bed ..

More to come ...

Day 2222. Saturday 8th January  2011.

Memory Joggers ...

I slept pretty well if my cup of water is anything to judge by.

07.15 .. The alarm goes off ..

07.45 .. Up and at it .. sun rise is still 15 minutes or so away, but it looks fairly bright outside even if it’s been raining.

08.15 .. It’s the Saturday morning weigh in .. 14st 11 3/4lb .. well it’s pound down on last Sunday.

09.17 .. We are on the road .. I set the old TomTom up and aim it at Northampton services .. we have 15 minutes in hand allegedly.

09.35 .. We join the M25 .. it seems strangely quiet .. even the roadworks are spookily quiet ..

10.00 .. We join the M1 .. the skies ahead of us are now pretty grey .. Karen eases off on our forward velocity a bit the M1 is also very quiet .. and we are going to arrive 17 minutes early, not allowing for the road works.

10.08 .. Karen’s phone rings .. it’s Claire’s home .. they haven’t got a driver in yet who can drive Claire .. arghhhhh !!!! Karen slows to 40mph .. the MPG figure starts to rise drastically.

This is ruddy typical of the current homes control, leadership and management, they must have known there was a problem an hour ago that they could have informed us so we could have delayed our start. It’s not rocket science .. as we meet half way our travel times are similar. Another complaint for Karen to bring up at the meeting on the 27th.

About 4 miles before M1 J15 I spy a massive church spire a couple of miles off to our left. I’ve not noticed this before, probably cause now the trees are leaf less and “see through”, gosh it’s really imposing .. shame I haven’t got a camera with me, we could go and waste an hour and find it.

10.55 .. We arrive at the services .. and get a front row parking slot so we can watch the car while we have a coffee. Post dual comfort breaks, where to have a coffee .. Costa LOT or “The Hot food company” .. the hot food company wins on price by a long way .. and to be honest the coffee’s where good ( a Latte for Karen and a Cappuccino for me ), as was my double chocolate muffin and Karen’s lemon cake.

11.26 .. We are back in the car, and relocate to the back of the car park where we normally do the swap overs. I reboot the laptop and put my BT dongle in .. to see who is around.  

12.21 .. Karen starts the engine to get us warm .. this is ridiculous ..

12.27 .. The homes car finally arrives .. we do a quick transfer and we off .. the home hasn’t sent a coat with Claire .. !!!

12.29 .. We finally head for home .. we should be nearly there at this time. Claire isn’t a happy bunny .. we know she’s just “come on” .. she’s saying she doesn’t feel well ..

As we head for home, the traffic is really good all the way ..

I have a couple of typed chats.. one using that near useless Facebook chat system with Tracy in Gibralter, the other on Yahoo with Bambi whose near a very wet Brisbane in Australia .. she sends me a picture of a lake 15 metres from where she’s sitting .. apparently it’s a normally dry “creek” .. but not this summer ( down there ).

13.58 .. We are finally home .. the sun is shining, though there is some light clouds around .. tomorrow should be wall to wall sunshine .. 

Once Claire is sorted on the settee, Karen goes to make lunch and I open the box of my new toy, ordered last weekend .. a Flymo Scirocco 3000W .. it’s a big one .. a leaf vacuum cleaner blower.

A lot of parts are left to self assembly .. more than necessary. I’m nearly finished when ..

14.20 .. Lunch is served .. a ham sandwich, 4 cocktail sausages, some olives and Doritios .. all washed down with orange juice. A couple of chocolate mini roll bites and a flapjack bite .. sorted ..

14.45 .. Lunch is over .. I finish assembling my toy, put my wellies on and head for the garden ..

Well what can I say .. it does what it’s supposed to. I think this is a discontinued model, all the “current ones” are less powerful and look smaller, they, by specification, way less. But complaints I’ve read about the cheaper smaller ones, is that they do have problems, especially with wet leaves .. but not his one .. and the leaves today are wet.

 

16.20 .. I’ve had enough, all the patio and paths are clear, and about half the lawn, I’ve got two very heavy compactor bags of wet, collected leaves ..

16.45 .. We head for my mum’s .. Claire is whingeing at times but did say she wanted to go to grannies ..

17.15 .. Post petrol and cash machine stops .. we arrive outside grannies .. now Claire doesn’t want to go in .. bribery doesn’t do it .. so I go in briefly alone.

Mum’s a bit narky that I’m alone, I have to read a piece of paper about rubbish sorting .. it was a flyer to all households about recycling .. I reassure her that the flats will have there own scheme to mirror that .. she won’t have 4 different bins just for her.

17.23 .. ish .. I’m out again .. rubbish dumped .. and back in the car ..

17.40 .. We are home .. I have to order the Pizza’s immediately ..

18.10 .. I’m back with the Pizza’s .. Claire’s really tetchy again  .. so the food stays well away from her, the plastic plates are out !! .. Claire is drip fed Pizza and trimmings bit by bit .. in the end nothing is thrown.

18.25 .. Feeding time is over .. phew.

20.55 .. Claire is finally in bed .. we head back down stairs .. a cup of tea ..

One recent applicant to GRSinThailand is causing me and others some concern .. now she’s sent in the joining form .. which in ways is causing more concerns.

21.55 .. Claire is out of bed .. Karen and I go up to attend ..

21.59 .. Kirsti pops a message up on Yahoo ..

22.06 .. We are back down stairs .. I find Kirsti’s message .. I answer and we chat for a while .. 

22.35 .. I say goodnight to Kirsti .. intending to head to bed .. but I get way laid again ..

23.30 .. I head for bed ..

23.45 .. I’m in the bathroom and hear Claire start to move around .. so I stop and hope she quietens down .. she does .. but it’s ages, flushing the loo as I exit was a mistake ..

00.58 .. I get into bed .. brrrrrr it’s cold ..

Claire is moving around again and eventually disturbs Karen who goes and sorts her out ..

01.20 .. ish .. Karen returns to bed and see’s I’m cold, and puts my dressing gown over me as an extra layer .. I soon dose off.

More to come ...

Day 2223. Sunday 9th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

Apparently Claire was awake on the hour, every half past the hour, like clockwork .. sadly I slept through it all.

08.59 .. Karen wakes me up ..

09.05 .. Karen returns with a cup of tea ..

09.10 .. Up and at it .. taking my undrunk tea with me ..

I sort the kitchen routine and have my breakfast .. I check my e-mails.

10.20 .. I head for the bathroom to shower .. a quicky routine, my hair can wait till tomorrow.

11.05 .. I’m back down stairs .. Karen takes Claire for her bath ..

I do some stuff on the computer .. and think about going outside after doing Claire’s hair .. but even though it’s wall to wall sunshine out there, where sun hasn’t shone in the shadow of the house, the lawn still has a frost on it .. brrrrrr.

Lorraine, organiser of the Theale meal has sent me the picture she took of me at the Christmas meal .. I save it off then load it up to one of my Facebook profiles .. my openly TS one.

I chat with Kylie for a while on Facebook chat .. she’s looking to replace her DSLR .. 

12.58 .. Lunch is served .. 

13.22 .. I pick up my laptop and prepare it for today’s trip to Northampton .. then start on some diary notes ..

13.45 .. We need to get ready to head for Northampton early .. and stop at Waitrose on the way to get some lunch fruit for next week.

13.55 .. We are on the road in Sparkle again .. Claire’s second choice, she chose Violet to start with but she’s behind Sparkle .. to Claire “Red or Grey” .. Claire says Grey .. to Claire “Grey or Red” .. Claire says Grey, so Sparkle  .. to Waitrose .. Karen parks up in the service road slip rather than the car park.

In Waitrose I am surprised as to how many shelves in the fruit and vege department are empty or down to the dregs .. good news is that now the christmas lines are dead they’ve bought back our favourite yoghurt .. what no cold box in the car .. that will have to wait then.

14.33 .. I’m back in the car .. and head off after manoeuvring around a car dumped by the old man who got out of it, we could almost have gone up the inside .. but not quite !!

As we head to Egham, I copy the contents of Claire’s memory stick to the laptop hard drive. Sparkle can’t play direct from USB, but she has got a 3.5mm stereo “Aux” jack the laptop can play through. It takes 8 minutes ( good old USB 1) to copy 5 albums across ( 320kbs res rips ).

14.44 .. We join the M25 .. it seems as good as yesterday .. till we get into the roadworks .. it keeps moving but there is a lot more traffic. Just before the M1 there is a loud bang that makes me jump and look up. A stone has hit the windscreen and left a mark .. great .. not.

Claire’s now enjoying her music care of the old laptop .. she’s happy. Sadly the odd “bing” can be heard as I do things in Windows and on my diary .. such is life.

15.07 .. We join the M1 .. still with 8 minutes “in hand” according to Jayne ..

15.17 .. We enter the first set of M1 road works .. it’s travelling at the 50mph limit .. 
Karen gets frustrated behind a diesel van and blasts past it ..

15.42 .. Clear of the second set of roadworks .. we’ve still got 5 minutes in hand with 11 miles to go to the J15a exit .. the sun is getting ready to set .. the skies been clear and blue all this short day .. 7hrs 58 mins of daylight only .. tomorrow we hit 8 hours ..

15.48 .. Mrs Schummaker makes a brief guest appearance .. not sure why .. we are time in hand by 5 minutes still ..

15.53 .. We arrive at Northampton services .. the homes car is waiting .. we do a quick transfer and hug and kiss goodbye. Overall not to bad a visit, though after the last one we were really on our guard.

15.56 .. We are on the road .. back home to open a bottle of wine .. next week I’m on call, will have to see if a friend will cover for me on Thursday for the Ladies that Dine group home venue meal .. 

16.00 .. The traffic is building .. southwards .. but keeps moving ..

Gaynor and then Kirsti pop up for chats on Yahoo ..

16.37 .. We join the M25 .. it is busy but the roadworks are flowing fine ..

Just before leaving the M25 I say goodbye to Gaynor and then Kirsti.

17.08 .. We leave the M25 ..

17.12 .. Karen drives into the BP filling station at the bottom of Egham Hill .. it’s a M&S simply food as well .. petrol here is 129.9 for ordinaire .. so no way, the cars got 2/3rds of a tank still, so will see Karen through the next week or two on her school run.

17.17 .. We drive away .. now with 2 bags of Clementines .. a BOGOF deal .. so  £2.99 for two bags isn’t too horrendous.

17.31.. We are home .. time to relax.

I go put some washing in the dryer while Karen makes a cup of tea ..

17.55 .. A cup of tea and some cake .. deep breath .. relax ..

18.13 .. Kirsti pops a message up on Yahoo soon after I go visible ..

18.22 .. I say goodbye to Kirsti ..  

18.38 .. Lucinda pops up on Yahoo ..

18.59 .. Dinner part one is ready to nibble .. so I say goodbye to Lucinda .. Karen and I sit and nibble on olives, Doritoes and a salsa dip .. 

Dinner part two is 2 ½ slices of reheated spicy Pizza .. roast carrots and new potatoes .. comfort food ..

I’m back at the PC ..

Karen and I sit and nibble

20.04 .. Karen presents me with a Magnum Mini .. Irish Cream flavour .. lovely.

20.14 .. Kirsti pops up again ..

20.59 .. I say goodbye to Kirsti .. I close down Yahoo and Skype and check my e-mails for a last time .. then finish off rationalising the storage of MP3's on my NAS server, then copy the missing folder on Claire’s key.
 
More to come ...                                   

Day 2224. Monday 10th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

The car was frozen solid .. appeared to have rained on the frosted car .. making large frozen rain drops to chip off !!

09.04 .. I’m in the office ..

Lunch time trip out for Benylin and milk for the office ..

17.37 .. I’m on the road home .. I decide to go the “fast route” via the M3 home .. Monday night is supposed to be the quiet night .. wrong ..

18.33 .. I’m home ..

21.40 .. I finally head for bed ..

More to come ...       

Day 2225. Tuesday 11th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

07.05 .. Back in the bedroom ..

08.11 .. I’m on the road .. via the M3 ..

08.58 .. I’m in the office ..

Warning to all, don’t ever let a supplier persuade you to accept delivery from inside the UK by “Bpost International” .. other wise known as Belgian Post International .. there deliveries don’t arrive and customer services don’t answer e-mails or phone calls .. come to think Pixmania.co.uk who use them don’t answer emails about deliveries either !! I suspect my new TomTom is lost forever, stuck in a Bpost UK depot for 6 days undelivered !!

17.42 .. I finally drive away

18.32 .. I’m home ..

19.03 .. Dinner is served ..

A text message from Amanda .. she now wants to come on Thursday to the group meal .. so now it’s a table for 5 .. I change the booking .. it’s ok.

20.00 .. Stress doing Tax return ..

00.35 .. I head for bed ..

More to come ...

Day 2226. Wednesday 12th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

06.23 .. Up and at it ..

08.13 .. I’m on the road

08.33 .. On the A30 at J13, I have a run in with a motorcyclist who thinks he can mess around ..

09.01 .. I’m in the office ..

Between work stuff .. I make a few calls trying to locate the where a bouts of my new TomTom.

Pixmania.co.uk have been little help, not answering emails or anything. Often there customer care line times out after 5 minutes and dumps you ..

I eventually get a phone call answered in Belgium .. with Bpost. They inform me they use the “Home Delivery Network” as there UK agents and give me the tracking number for them. A phone call to there help line is a waste of time, and the tracking site effectively shows the bottom two lines of the Bpost one.

After a little google search I find the telephone number for the “warehouse” in Wembley .. so I call it .. and I’m given little hope of ever seeing that TomTom package .. it’s not been “barcode read” since last Thursday .. it’s probably been lost .. technical term for stolen.

11.52 .. I head across to “the big house” for a medal ceremony. This is actually quite an important one .. two of our guys are getting medals that require 1080 days “in theatre”, in fact they had clocked up 1400 and 1600. One of them is an ex Gurkha, who received 3 different campaign medals. There was others including one female journalist. I hope that one day I’ll be on the receiving end for an Afghanistan service medal.

13.20 .. post buffet lunch I head back to the office ..

16.00 .. I head for CTA to do the labourious job of documenting somebody elsies jumpering .. I’ve got to blocks at the top of column C that according to the documentation, aren’t jumpered .. oh yes they are. So it’s the old martial art of jumper jiggling to find where they go. Some are tricky because they go between our 3 columns, some have been wired so tight they are like guitar strings, and nearly impossible to jiggle .. DOH.

17.10 .. Job sort of done, I head back to the office.

17.45 .. I’m ready to go .. so try and raise Karen .. third phone lucky .. I get my head bitten off .. byeeee then.

18.37 .. I’m home ..

19.05 .. Dinner part one .. spicy chicken soup. My main course is a ham, brie and coronation chicken salad .. a massive portion .. dessert is cheese and biscuits, what no wine .. I shouldn’t cause I’m on call .. and I don’t.

A chat with Barbi in Brisbane .. she’s still escaping the floods thank goodness ..

22.35 .. I head for bed ..

23.28 .. I finally climb into bed ..

More to come ...

Day 2227. Thursday 13th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

02.28 .. A phone call from Arqiva ..

09.05 .. I’m in the office ..

12.25 .. Lunch .. PAB ..

The noise problem on our “listen again” recordings seems to be sorted !!

14.40 .. I go and see Paul to get the OK to take control of the two main “net” outputs of our studio’s .. he does a quick bit of matrix reprogramming and gives me the nod to continue ..

I’ve opened another can of worms ..

16.15 .. I set the two “Net” controlled outputs back to “normal” ..

17.34 .. I’m out of the office door ..

18.28 .. I’m home ..

19.33 .. Linda and Susan arrive ..

19.45 .. We arrive at the pub .. I get a round of drinks in, as we get the last drink Amanda arrives .. just in time.

19.55 .. We head through to the dining room

22.38 .. Bill paid, we leave the pub ..

22.50 .. After a chat in the drive .. Linda and Susan head for home ..

Karen heads north pretty quick .. I decide to check my emails .. to discover my BT Infinity broadband is down again .. I reboot the modem, the router and then the PC .. eventually I’m back in business.

00.15 .. I head for bed ..

00.38 .. I finally climb into bed .. nightie night.

More to come ...

Day 2228. Friday 14th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

07.06 .. I’m back in the bedroom ..

08.11 .. I’m on the road to work ..

08.58 .. I’m in the office ..

11.30 .. I take a break and call the Home Delivery Network depot in Wembley .. the person I speak to, the same as 3 days ago .. confirms they have searched the warehouse and it’s not there now .. so it’s been stolen then .. they will tell Belgium Post so they can tell Pixmania .. so I might get an e-mail next week offering me replacements or my money back .. hmmmm.

12.50 .. Lunch time .. PAB.

17.53 .. I’m finally on the road ..

18.36 .. I’m home .. amazing for a Friday ..

19.10 .. Dinner is served .. a heaped plate of tagliatelle in tomato sauce with mushrooms and sausage .. it’s actually very good .. dessert is a Cream rice pot with a splash of strawberry conserve.

20.07 .. My friend Linda pops up on Yahoo for a quick chat .. she thanks us for last night and enjoyed Amanda’s company too ..

20.14 .. I’m off in the kitchen putting the kettle on when Linda dashes off ..

20.35 .. I make the tea ..

21.00 .. I head north .. I really do want an early night ..

21.50 .. I’m in bed .. I lay and watch TV waiting for Karen to come up .. it’s a long wait and I dose off during the news ..

More to come ...

Day 2229. Saturday 15th January  2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.30 .. Karen wakes me as my phone is lit up .. I check it thinking I’d slept through a call .. but no missed calls .. odd, and the battery is fine. I soon dose off.

09.00 .. Karen is out of the door for a hospital appointment. I’d wanted to go with her but she refused adamantly .. I suspect she’s taking her sister !!

09.12 .. I have to get up .. to answer the call of nature ..

It’s the Saturday morning weigh in .. 14st 1 1/2lb ...

10.00 .. Country kitchen starts .. Claudie Blakely is the guest, she used to live next door and play with our son, Robert, her mum still lives here.

10.58 .. Karen is home ..

I head for a shower ..

12.25 .. I’m back down stairs .. apparently lunch is covered so ne need for Waitrose today ..

12.50 .. Lunch is served ..

14.05 .. I head for the cars .. the bike hasn’t been run for a while .. so I start it and let it run. Next I top up all the washer bottles and hunt down the tyre pressure gauge .. which I find in Violet. Violets tyres indicate she needs to run higher pressures so I go 1.5 lb above recommended for five people .. 34.5 psi, by my gauge, to see how that changes things .. the tyres have a 38lb limit.

Last weekend I did 3 out of 4 of Sparkles tyres in a garage before my 20p ran out .. so I check the 4th .. it’s OK.

Red needs air in all 4 tyres .. I up those 1psi over recommended for 5 people .. see how the MPG goes next week, last week I’ve averaged 51.5 on the work run.

14.45 .. cars sorted, and both legs aching from my foot pump .. time to get dressed for the garden and my new toy .. last weekends skirt seemed practically comfortable .. lesson learnt. My old sailing “oily” trousers over my jeans ..

14.50 .. I start work with my newish toy, I do the drive and the entrance to the garage wear leaves have backed up .. do the drive in front of the side gate, the kitchen flower bed and the front lawn.

15.15 .. ish .. I head for the back garden. There’s quite a brisk Northish wind blowing .. its spread what I left last week back all over the rest of the garden .. I get stuck in ..

15.45 .. ish .. Karen has crept up behind me while I’m hard at it, it’s only when I release the power switch that I hear Karen giggling behind me .. I turn around .. Mrs Bailey has been snapping away. She’s amused particularly by my hat .. M&S one size fits all is a very tight fit .. think purple berri stretched to Benny hat proportions .. OK .. this is the picture ..

16.15 .. I’ve had enough .. I’ve filled another 2 compactor bags with shredded leaves ..

16.25 .. I’m back indoors .. a cup of tea ? .. yes please.

18.23 .. Dawn pops on Skype type chatting ..

18.44 .. Dawn is off for the TV and food .. 

18.55 .. I order the Chinese ..

19.23 .. I’m back with the food .. I open what should be the last bottle of Virgin white wine in the house .. phew ..

My two fortune cookies today are, in order .. “YOU WILL SOLVE A PROBLEM BY SHEER FORCE OF WILL” .. and .. “PROSPERITY WILL COME YOUR WAY IN DECEMBER” .. time will tell ..

20.20 .. back to the PC ..

22.00 .. Karen heads for bed .. so I’ll have to wait for the bathroom ..

22.15 .. Was just about to switch PC off when Kirsti pops up for a chat on Yahoo ..

22.40 .. Kirsti says goodnight ..
 
22.45 .. Time to head to bed .. not as early as I’d hoped .. such is life.

More to come ...

Day 2230. Sunday 16th January 2011. (3rd Anniversary of my SRS with Dr Suporn).

Memory Joggers ...

09.50 .. I’m awake .. things to do so I better get up ..

There’s a lot going on on my GRSinThailand support group .. I have to spend sometime rattling off e-mails ..

11.40 .. I head for the shower ..

12.35 .. I’m back down stairs ..
           
13.10 .. I head for Waitrose ..

14.25 .. I’m home ..

14.45 .. Lunch is finally served .. school bread, more cheese ( still some way to go to finish the Christmas supply ..

18.56 .. Robert arrives ..

19.14 .. We are in the pub ..

21.10 .. We are home ..

21.22 .. Kirsti pops up on Yahoo ..

21.52 .. I say goodnight to Kirsti .. my intention really was to go up and have an earlier night .. however .. 

The GRSinThailand rumblings .. are well .. still rumbling .. I need to answer some more e-mails and create another moderator .. based in the USA .. Gina offers.

23.45 .. I head for bed ..

More to come ...                                   

Day 2231. Monday 17th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

08.57 .. I dash into the office and collect a few pieces I might need ..

09.00 .. Back on the road .. Jane’s ETA is 10.00 .. but she’s having a laugh for sure .. “fastest route” .. no way ..

10.55 ..I’m in the offices of “Wired for Sound” ..

The bad news is that their broadband isn’t working .. so they have to use another Viprinet 1610 to create an internet connection .. I use my personal BT 3G dongle to get a connection.

As it turns out both these attempts prove futile to a large degree .. seems North London is experiencing a major internet connectivity outage.

We struggle on .. and Johnny puts some settings into our 1610 to enable the three 3G cards installed .. Vodafone, Orange and “3" .. sadly with the outage going on .. we cannot access other bits of kit back at base .. so I’ll have to do quite a bit myself later, Johnny will help me out by phone.

13.55 .. I say goodbye to Jonny and head back to the office ..

15.05 .. ish .. I’m back in the office and oh so hungry .. lunch .. PAB.

17.31 .. I leave the office ..

A dice with a prat in a Merc who typically tries to byepass a queue and cut in .. I don’t give an inch .. he’s annoyed I think ..

18.18 .. I’m home .. 

18.39 .. I head for the doctors ..

18.44 .. I book in with the doctors receptionist ..

18.46 .. The doctor calls me in ..

19.02 .. After getting put on the waiting list with the receptionist for “minor surgery” on my foot .. I head home.

19.08 .. I’m home ..

19.28 .. Dinner is served .. 2009 Christmas vintage turkey make into a Thai red curry .. not sure the Mango Chutney and nan bread was right .. lol .. but it did taste good. Dessert was a portion of Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough ..

A chat with Bambi on Yahoo, Maria pops up and gives me congratulations on my 3rd anniversary yesterday ..

22.30 .. I head for bed ..
           
More to come ...

Day 2232. Tuesday 18th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

06.59 .. I’m back in the bedroom ..

Well it’s an eventful day .. I’m duty engineer so I have the daily checks to do ..

During the morning we have several power dips, sufficient to put the tube lights out and dump Tracy’s PC .. she’s about the only person who doesn’t work from a laptop . .the laptops obviously aren’t effected.

12.35 .. I finally sit to have my lunch .. PAB ..

13.05 .. Post comfort break I head for Amersham .. to Superdrug ..

13.18 .. I’m in Amersham on the Hill, having done a complete circuit of the town because the High Street is closed .. it’s Market day, so I park where I can and walk back.

Superdrug at least has most of what I want .. I’m in need of some “Quickies” .. they come in packs of 20 and remove waterproof eye makeup .. I buy 3 packs cause they aren’t easy to find .. they’ll last till 2012 !!.  I need a new Loriel waterproof mascara .. Superdrug don’t do that brand .. and Boot’s don’t have the waterproof one .. DOH. On the way back to the car I wonder into a gift shop .. this is a great place .. somewhere for future anniversaries.

14.07 .. I’m back in the office ..

The afternoon is spent trying to talk to the chap I spent the morning with yesterday .. we do communicate in the end .. advice is he messed up on a port number yesterday and we also need to redirect another port ..

With the help of Karim, Head of IT .. we finally get the Draytech router to do what was intended ..

17.15 .. ish .. I’m back in the office preparing to call it a day .. Yippee .. the Viprinet 1610's “on line” LED is now on, and not flashing it’s warning .. this means the two halves are finally connected !! To prove it I plug an old dog of a laptop I’ve been given for personal use and surf the net .. job done !! .. well almost .. just need to test it with the Comrex tomorrow .. 

17.51 .. I’m on the road for home ..

18.40 .. I’m home ..

19.02 .. Dinner part one .. spicy chicken soup with a slice of school bread.

19.18 .. Dinner part two .. linguine pasta made up with Thai turkey curry .. well it almost works !! .. Dessert was a glass of bio yoghurt with oat granola and almost the last of one of my pots of Thai honey.

19.46 .. Dinner over, I head for the PC .. putting the kettle on as I do ..

I continue into my e-mails ..  a couple of reminders from work .. one is to take some “tape editing” single edge safety razor blades into work .. a stranger ( to me ) walked into our office and asked for one this afternoon .. I’ve put 20 in a bag ready for work tomorrow .. 

21.00 .. A cup of tea and some chocolate ..

21.40 .. I’m not feeling great .. time to head to bed ..

More to come ...

Day 2233. Wednesday 19th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

I slept pretty well again ..

06.10 .. The alarm ..

08.45 .. I find the A40 blocked as I head west from M40 J1 .. so I head up the A412 to try and cut across. Without my TomTom there is a lot of guess work .. but my inbuilt GPS does a reasonable job ..

One thing I must say, is the roads across from Denham to Chalfont must be the most badly sign posted roads in England .. so many road junctions .. no road signs .. luckily I seemed to make the right guesses. For sure, in future, I’ll have to keep a TomTom in the car ..

09.20 .. I’m finally parked up

09.22 .. I’m finally in the office .. conversation is all about the A413 being closed .. the road I needed.

12.05 .. I’m persuaded by boss David, to go to the canteen to eat my fruit after being accused of being anti social .. I normally guard the phone, while the others eat in peace .. but he takes it with him .. so I go.

17.31 .. I head for the car and home ..

18.27 .. I’m home ..

19.22 .. I head for Theale in Sparkle .. to give her a run and try and dry her out a little ..

19.50 .. I arrive at the pub in Theale ..

It’s a pleasant enough meal and I chat for a long time to one of the older girls there. She’s really nice, but after 40 years plus of marriage she finds herself in a really hard place .. her wife has known about her cross dressing for a short while and now this girl wants to try some HRT to help her moods .. I’m sure she’s on the right track .. but she doesn’t think her wife would let her.

22.35 .. I leave the pub ..

23.10 .. I’m home after a steady drive home .. and just in time .. gosh I need the loo .. Theale pub food has struck again !!! I go to Theale to see friends .. sadly 3 out of 4 meals I end up like this .. stomach upset .. it must be poor food handling

23.50 .. I’m in bed ..

More to come ...

Day 2234. Thursday 20th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

I didn’t sleep quite as well as the last few nights ..

06.10 .. The alarm ..

06.22 .. I’m in the bathroom .. my lips look slightly swollen .. hmmm .. last nights meal ..

07.03 .. I’m back in the bedroom ..

08.08 .. I’m on the road .. the roads are amazingly quiet for a Thursday .. this is more like a Friday morning.

08.53 .. I’m parked up, despite my slower than usual drive in using the best Sarah economy technique ..

I phone Linda to let her know about a Maplin offer on a Wireless access point she really needs for her wi-fi at home.

A call to Pimania over the missing parcel from a fortnight ago leaves me frustrated ..

12.15 .. Lunch .. my fruit at my desk ..

12.30 .. I order another TomTom from Pixmania .. on next day delivery .. using a slightly different name with work contact details and another credit card .. the order is accepted and payment taken ..

13.20 .. ish .. I get a call from Pixmania .. I’m sure it’s the customer service person I spoke to earlier .. she asks me about every question she can .. she can’t trip me up so she says thanks and rings off .. hmmm.

In the afternoon I rig a wireless access point to

17.42 .. I’m on the road for home ..

18.32 .. I’m home ..

18.50 .. Dinner is served .. grilled chicken with roast carrots and giant potato wedges made from very large “jacket potato”, potatoes. Dessert is bio yoghurt with a little honey and some fresh cherries ..

19.50 .. I head for the PC ..

Well the parcel tracking for the new attempt at delivery shows the unit is coming from France by UPS !! The good news is that UPS expect to deliver to my office by close of day 21st Jan ..

Note the delivery that failed to get to me a fortnight ago, was despatched from a UK warehouse .. sent to Belgium then back to the “Home Delivery Network” idiots in Wembley UK where it was lost .. this time it’s started in France .. now it’s in Germany .. the Carbon footprint of this unit will be amazing .. again ..

From the UPS tracking site .. note it reads from the bottom up !!

Shipment Progress
Location                                          Date               Local Time         Activity.
Koeln, Germany                               20.01.2011     23:40                  Arrival Scan
Roissy Charles de Gaulle, France      20.01.2011     22:38                 Departure Scan
                                                       20.01.2011     21:30                  Arrival Scan
Chilly Mazarin, France                      20.01.2011     19:30                  Departure Scan
                                                       20.01.2011     18:02                  Origin Scan
France                                             20.01.2011     12:45                 Order Processed: Ready for UPS

23.05 .. I head for bed ..

23.42 .. I’m in bed .. nightie night.

More to come ...

Day 2236. Saturday 22nd January  2011.

Memory Joggers ...

I slept well, but initially I was laying in bed giggling at the noises Karen was making while a sleep .. she was snoring in but blowing little raspberries as she breathed out .. in hind site I should have crept down and got my Marantz recorder .. it could make a funny ring tone for her phone.

07.10 .. The alarm ..

07.30 .. Up and at it .. I have a quick comfort break then head down to turn the heating up ..

It’s the Saturday morning weigh in .. 14st 10 lb .. well that’s amazing, given yesterdays pig out on cream cakes.

09.17 .. We are finally on the road .. I rig the new TomTom .. at least the windscreen mount is better than the old 720 .. outside it’s grey and damp .. the new TomTom takes us out via Sunningdale, the way I’d choose to go ..

09.34 .. Post petrol stop, we join the M25 .. the new TomTom isn’t saying anything .. when I try and change voices it crashes .. at one point it just crashes and restarts .. I’m not happy ..

10.03 .. We join the M1 .. well the good thing is the roads are really clear ..

10.41 .. Karen’s phone rings .. it’s Hazel, Claire’s favourite carer, they are running 30 minutes late due to traffic .. Karen slows to under 60 ..

10.54 .. We arrive at the services, I need to set a new mark on the TomTom .. seems my mark on the map I made last night on the new TomTom was a few yards to far North .. the TomTom wanted us to go to the next junction and turn back .. Karen’s read my uncompleted diary entry for getting off to sleep .. when I explain she’s in fits of laughter .. made worse when I try to emulate what she did.

11.00 .. Karen heads for a comfort break .. I’ve noticed my old laptops screen is flickering a bit .. this could be a indicator that the back light is starting to go ..

11.17 .. I return from a comfort break, no sign of Claire yet .. so I get my BT 3G out ..

I go on line on Yahoo and find a recent off liner from Gillian in Kentucky, USA ..

11.46 .. The home’s car finally arrives .. she’s in a good mood, one of the other carers has put makeup on Claire .. terribly !! Claire greets me with a hug ..

11.52 .. I’m cold standing around in the wind, I leave karen talking to Hazel and get back in the car .. Claire is in a very good mood .. hope this lasts ..

11.58 .. We are finally pull away ..

12.20 .. Claire asks for “rock you” .. we decode that .. she wants Queens Greatest Hits on .. we don’t have the CD here in Sparkle .. but it’s on the laptop .. so I plug that into the aux jack on the car radio .. she’s happy ..

13.09 .. We leave the M25 motorway at J13, directed by the new TomTom rather than ignoring the old one that always insisted we went up the M3 to J3. This clearly justifies the way we’ve always gone .. LOL.

13.25 .. We are home .. some post has arrived, including an appointment for me with the Gynae’s in Guildford to sort my HRT out, I hope .. but not till Monday 28th Feb .. 

13.48 .. Lunch is served .. ham and pickle rolls, crisps and a Moroccan style dip and some olives .. cake is some flapjack “bites” ... all washed down with apple juice.

Post lunch I’m really not feeling well .. I feel exhausted and I’m really feeling cold, I can’t warm up even under a double upped blanket .. brrrrr. I take some paracetamol for my head ache, I really don’t fancy going to mothers later.

16.22 .. We head for grannies ..

It’s more of the usual from mothers ..

18.18 .. We head for home ..

18.34 .. We are home .. I have to order the Pizzas straight away ..

18.45 .. I’m in the Herbies pizza place in Bagshot, and question the bill £24.49 .. I’m informed they have put £1 on all Pizza’s to cover the VAT increase .. without putting the prices up on the sides. I make the point that the VAT increase on a £10 Pizza would be 25p .. not one pound .. I’m given the over charge back .. and I should think so !!!

Apparently they are still going to use the old menu’s, with the old prices till they’ve run out .. but charge folk more anyway. There is a sign near the door, advertising the new prices .. but even that seems misleading cause they are only for the basic margarita pizza’s.

I put the pizza’s in the car and nip into the other pizza place next door .. Domino’s .. and collect some menu’s .. we don’t usually use them but being ripped off, or attempting to .. I do not like.

18.53 .. I’m home with the food .. it quickly disappears ..

19.42 .. I head upstairs to the bathroom to get ready for bed ..

20.10 .. I’m back in the lounge .. ready for bed .. Claire looks surprised to see me in my “gown” .. her term for ready for bed .. Robert has also arrived to see his sister.

20.30 .. I go to the PC and do some things there ..
 
21.35 .. Karen finally takes Claire up to bed .. which means I can go too .. time to finish off on the PC.

21.40 .. I head for bed ..

More to come ...

Day 2237. Sunday 23rd January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

It was a very disturbed night with Claire, especially for Karen who gets up to her each time .. not sure If I woke up every time ..

05.00 .. ish .. I’m awake

06.35 .. Karen gets up to Claire again ..

09.35 .. I wake with a start, gosh my back is killing me .. I think it’s got cold .. Karen’s still beside me .. she flips the TV on to view Claire cam .. Claire is clearly awake .. so Karen gets up ..

09.45 .. I follow Karen and Claire down .. I sort the kitchen routine

10.40 .. Mick calls on the phone checking a time to collect an old PC .. gosh I’d forgotten about that .. I need to shower and wash my hair, so we agree 11.30 ..

10.45 .. I’m in the bathroom ..

11.25 .. I’m in the bedroom getting dressed ..

11.30 .. I’m drying my hair, as karen heads up with Claire to give her a bath .. I need to listen for the door .. hmmm

11.42 .. I head out to the garage to dip out an old ex works HP pc .. I was going to use this for my office PC before my 3Ghz Athlon hard disk died and I built my latest PC in celebration of the new job. I’m nosing around in boxes for the disk set I know I bought home for this PC when ..

11.45 .. ish .. Mick arrives .. and joins me in the garage entrance .. third box lucky .. I’ve found the disk set, Mick is impressed they are still in there cellophane wrapping with what passes as manuals with HP. I apologise to Mick for not doing the social thing and inviting him in for coffee, sighting Claire, he understands. 

11.50 .. Mick heads for home .. I head in doors and wait to dry Claire’s hair .. I do some diary while I wait ..

12.02 .. Claire arrives .. I dry her hair .. it’s getting nice and long again .. long enough to be clipped up like mine, she wants a hair elastic for a pony tail ..

13.02 .. I click complete on an order with Amazon for my first brand new shiny laptop ..  a "Toshiba Satellite A660-1DZ Core i3 Blu-ray Laptop - PSAW3E-0F503HEN" .. it's not the hottest machine around, but has everything I want including blu ray and LED back light screen and a 4 hour battery life for those ferry trips across the channel .. not a bad price on Amazon !!

13.15 .. Lunch is served .. a ham and pickle sandwich, olives, crisps and dip from yesterday and a couple of the cakes “Claire” baked earlier ..

14.18 .. We are in the car, but the USB keys with music on are missing .. I nip back in doors to find them .. mission failed .. I did some updating recently and now I have no idea where they are ..

14.22 .. We are finally on the road in Violet .. I find an odd USB key laying in the middle of the tray in the car .. I check it on the old laptop .. it has Claire’s favourite two CD’s on there .. “Enigma” and “voices” ( Labi Sifre “So Strong” .. with the track “Listen to the voices”) .. so she’s happy ..

I break out the 3G dongle and log into Yahoo and Skype ..

14.41 .. We join the M25 .. the traffic isn’t bad so hopefully no major delays, at the moment the new TomTom is saying +13 minutes .. so we should be there with plenty of time ..

15.05 .. We join the M1 .. gosh it’s grey and horrible outside ..

15.53 .. We arrive at Northampton services .. Claire’s minders are waiting ..

16.01 .. We are back on the road .. eta home .. 17.30 .. time will tell ..

16.18 .. I fall of line and the BT connection manager gets it’s knickers in a twist .. and I’m struggling with the “cigar lighter” in Violet .. the plug on my Y split lead doesn’t like the short socket, so when it gets warm .. it keeps popping out.

16.50 .. We join the M25 

Kirtsi pops up for a chat on Yahoo .. but it’s difficult to carry on when the power keeps popping out .. and the battery on this old laptop is pretty dodgy .. it doesn’t give me long to get the power back on before it crashes out ..

As we approach J13 I have to give up on Yahoo and say a quick goodbye to Kirsti ..

17.12 .. We leave the M25 .. and head for the Shell garage in Egham to refill Violet for Karen to use on Thursday to travel to Claire’s care home for the review .. just wish I was going.

17.36 .. We are home ..

19.04 .. I order a Chinese .. Jason answers the phone .. Sunday is mary’s day off.

19.07 .. Back at the PC I discover Lucinda has said hello on Yahoo .. I answer ..

19.15 .. I’m going to be late collecting the Chinese, so I have to say goodbye to Lucinda ..

I head for Bagshot .. but there are some traffic lights controlling traffic through a tiny little bit of roadworks .. and they appear to be stuck on Red both ways .. the traffic myside surges through the red light .. I follow through.

19.23 .. I’m in the Chinese .. it’s empty and the food is waiting .. Jason asks if we normally have prawn crackers .. I reply no “but we used to have Lychees” .. apparently we used to be the only ones to get them, he says .. adding that as we went through a spell of “not having Chinese very often last year they stopped buying them in, cause they only came in boxes of 24 tins” .. ho hum.

I head for home, bypassing the faulty lights by driving past the pizza places.

19.34 .. I’m home ..

The food is washed down with a whole bottle of Gosselin’s “Pouilly-Sur-Loire” .. and a can of our “remaining stock” of Lychees follows it down. Sometimes in the past we didn’t always want the Lycheees .. now we are down to the last few cans we built up over the years.

My fortune cookies tonight were .. “YOU WILL RECEIVE A GIFT YOU ALWAYS WANTED” followed by .. “A WEIGHT WILL BE TAKEN OFF YOUR MIND”

20.25 .. Back to the PC ..  

21.03 .. Karen brings me a cup of tea ..

21.16 .. Maria from Teddington pops up on yahoo with a “X” .. I reply with a “x” .. it goes no further .. hmmm ..

21.30 .. I start war on the new TomTom again ..

23.55 .. I’ve finally got the “computer” voices working .. well the ones I can install on this device .. so now it should give proper directions ..

00.15 .. I’m going to head to bed ..

More to come ...                                   

Day 2238. Monday 24th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

From my FaceBook account today ..

“.. seems to have cracked the new TomTom 950 Live tonight .. well I've got a working USA/Canada map installed again, and "English" computer voices ( essential for proper instructions ) working. I've bought into "Live " technology .. but this morning when I tried it to work, it offered me a new route saving 5 minutes .. I chickened out !!”

More to come ...       

Day 2240. Wednesday 26th January 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

Today I was on a training course in Evesham ..

From my FaceBook account today ..

Today's training course at Eddystone Broadcast was good, a good learning experience with a little odd "funny" story thrown in for good measure .. went for a walk into Evesham earlier this evening, it's changed a lot in 30 years, for the better for sure .. tonight’s meal was another gastronomic delight .. hope we get the chance next week to do similar when we return for another course.

The lectures have to end at 16.00 ( ish ) as our teacher works 08.00 till 16.00 ..

16.50 .. We are back at the hotel .. I go for a walk into town .. to get a couple of things from Boots chemist .. I also buy myself a cheap nightie after my discovery last night .. 

In the evening plans to go out else where vanish when we all agree the food in the hotel restaurant is just too good to miss ..

More to come ...