Phone

A scary day . . .

/ Tony / Leave a comment

It started like any other Sunday. Up at 08:00, breakfast as usual and then K**h off to work at around 09:15. She works in Customer Services at a local supermarket. I was planning my day which was a shopping visit to Aldi to save me from going after work today (Monday). I was thinking about going for a sandwich and a beer at lunchtime, but that was just a maybe.

I went to brush my teeth and suddenly felt a little dizzy. That feeling you get when you stand up too quickly or move your head suddenly. I sat down on the side of the bath, closed my eyes and tried to do some deep breathing. I have had the dizziness feeling before, but a couple of breaths and a few seconds and it usually is all okay.

Not this time. I opened my eyes and the whole room appeared to be spinning around, with me spinning in the opposite direction. I reclosed my eyes and waited for a few seconds before opening them again, but rather than the feeling wearing off, it was getting worse.

I thought I would lie down to see if that helped. That was a nightmare. I could not walk straight. I was staggering all over the place and felt that I was going to fall over. I managed to crawl to the bedroom on my hands and knees and got to lie on the bed. I closed my eyes, tried to relax and had another go at deep breathing. Nothing appeared to be working and I was beginning to get a bit worried.

After about an hour, I thought I had better go downstairs in case I needed to telephone anybody. I didn’t take my phone with me when I went to brush my teeth. I managed to get down the stairs.

I realised what I was experiencing when I Googled the symptoms. I was suffering from a Vertigo attack. Not the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock movie, but the medical condition, which can be serious. Apparently, there are times when the condition can last a few seconds but can last hours or even days.

I was able to lie down on the sofa and dozed for a couple of hours, and although the feeling did dissipate somewhat, I was still feeling quite uncoordinated when walking. So I spent most of the day sleeping on the sofa or in a chair. I couldn’t face making any lunch, and in fact, wasn’t really feeling very hungry.

By the time K**h got home, I had decided that I was not going to work the following day and it was a good job I had. The boss has had Vertigo, so was quite sympathetic (unusually.) I still have that slight light-headedness this morning. So I now have to decide, before mid-day whether I’m going to work tomorrow. My feeling is that I shouldn’t.

Fingers crossed . . .

/ Tony / 2 Comments

© Nottingham Post

Well the youngest went off this morning. His lead care worker and another care worker picked him around half past ten. We hadn’t told him where he was going, only that his flat wasn’t finished (he knew it was being decorated) and he was going on an ‘adventure’. K*** told him last night, and we were on tenterhooks regarding his reaction. This was another change to the plan. People on the Autistic Spectrum often don’t react favourably to changes to a routine. But it surprised us both. He just looked up from his laptop with a bit of a confused look, smiled and carried on searching You Tube for his favourite videos. I went up later and asked if he was excited about his ‘adventure’ and he said he was. We now just have to wait and see how the two carers go with it. I’m not sure if it is his medication or the care staff, or a combination of both that means things can change without too much upset. A year ago, any slight change would often result in an autistic meltdown, but these days, he just appears to accept things better.

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New phone arrived today. It’s the same make, just a later model. The price on eBay was £142.99, but for some bizarre reason there was a discount of £28.60 on the deal, but I had to buy that day. It was the phone I wanted, so I went for it. I was just about to go through my Cashback site for another 1% off when K*** explained that if I went through her Cashback site, I could get another 10% off. After a bit of ‘umming and ‘arring I bit the bullet and bought the phone. It now looks as if the phone will cost me £102.99. Not a bad saving!

Giving it another go …

/ Tony / 4 Comments

I have this feeling that the Classic Editor my soon be on it’s way out.

Given that thought, I’m determined to have another crack at mastering this Block Editor. The issue I have is the formatting of images. I prefer to have my images either left or right aligned with the text wrapping justified at the side of the image. The only way that I have found to do this, is to insert the image before I start to write the accompanying text. This not the way I am used to. Often as I’m writing, I get the inspiration to add an image. I suppose, if I wish to use the Block Editor, I will have to think about images first.

Now, when you look at this post with it’s aligned random images, you can see another issue. The top of the images do not appear to align with the top of the text, which looks rather odd as you can see in the first image. .

Another issue is that there does not seem to be a way to remove the caption area from below the image. For most of my posts, the image is there to add a touch of personality to the post. I rarely need to add an attribution or a description of the image.

However, I’m beginning (slightly) to get to like parts of this editor. The posts do look reasonable on a tablet and a phone. I’m now wondering if there is any way to change the default font. I can see that there are a variety of font sizes available but not sure about font type. Need to do further digging.

It just didn’t work …

/ Tony / Leave a comment

After seeing a couple of my colleagues wearing them, I decided it might be good idea to get a smart watch. Nothing expensive as I don’t really like wearing watches as they tend to irritate my skin. But, I thought it may have it’s benefits. I trawled through eBay and there seemed to a lot of really cheap ones around the £3.00 mark with a larger number between £10.00 and £30.00. Then there were the popular branded ones going up to £150.00 +. I wasn’t that desperate, so I plumped for one at the lower edge of the mid-price range.

Everything went well, I bought and paid for the unit on Tuesday evening and it was delivered on the Friday, by first class post. All was good and it arrived within the stated time frame. I was surprised by the appearance, as it looked good quality and it felt quite comfortable to wear. The English instructions were well written and easy to follow. I plugged the charger in and left it overnight to fully charge.

It can only be a small battery and usually these kind of things need a good charge to start with, but after 12 hours it was still only 50% charged. I realised that when I placed the unit on my desk, the two pins that charged the unit were not in the right place. This time I got everything right and within 2 hours the watch was fully charged. I installed the software on my ‘phone and I was good to go. It correctly picked up the time and date from my phone, and I began to play around with the numerous displays. The only few things I wanted it for was:
a) a step counter
b) blood pressure monitor and
c) heartbeat monitor
It did all these and many more.

Skip forward to Sunday lunchtime and I became aware that the time on the watch was wrong. The clock said 11:40 yet the watch said 00:04 with a date of 01/01/01. I thought at first I had set it wrong. I re-synchronised the unit with the software on my phone and everything went back to how it should be, Except … all the data from the previous day was gone! This happened again later that day and it seemed that the unit was resetting itself back to its factory settings. I read some of the reviews and soon realised that the phone an watch connect via blue-tooth so both needed to be near to each other. That seemed to make sense, so where I went, the phone went with me.

All was now good, or so I thought! Monday morning and again, the watch was showing a random time. I wasn’t happy about this to say the least, so I contacted the seller with all the problems I was experiencing. About 2 hours later, I received an email telling me that I had been refunded in full and that there was no need to return the unit. I checked PayPal and indeed the refund had passed through and was now in my back account.

I was one happy chap, especially as I didn’t need pay for any postage to send it back. That bothered me a little. How much did the thing cost to make and sell, if he can simply refund me with getting the unit back?

Glutton …

/ Tony / 2 Comments

I’m forever downloading free apps for my phone, iPad and even my laptop. I hear or see someone mention some piece of software or app and immediately think “… that might be useful or fun or whatever …” They very rarely are and I usually end up uninstalling the things and questioning what I was thinking!

Here’s an example: I received an email regarding a regular local meeting that was due to be cancelled. Within that email, was a link to what seems to be a ‘collaboration hub’ called Slack. As mentioned I thought “that might be good for…” although I cannot remember what I thought it would be good for. But me being me, I downloaded and installed the software.

I then spent the following hour, firstly trying to understand how to use the program and the next 20 minutes trying to figure out what I would do with it. As a result, I think it is a piece of software that would be useful in a workplace environment or a user group, but I don’t think it was for me. I mean, who do I need to collaborate with?

So I needed to say goodbye and as usual my trusty copy of Revo Uninstaller comes into it’s own. It’s one of the very few pieces of free software that I have kept for a long time. It is so easy to use, and I haven’t used half of the features. I often think I should cough-up and pay for a full copy, but as it works as is, I think I will stick with what I’ve got.

Internet abuse …

/ Tony / 3 Comments

You may be aware that I work part-time in a local café. One of the many features of this café, is their free Wi-Fi. The access Wi-Ficode is displayed for anyone to use if you know where to look. Most customers will use the Wi-Fi for what it is there for i.e. so they can check their emails or show someone pictures on their phone, that kind of thing. However, there is an increasing number of customers that seem to visit the café with the sole purpose of accessing the the free internet.

On Tuesday this week, I arrived at work around 10:20, which is my usual time and noticed a customer sat at a 4 seater table. He had his laptop open and was also using his phone. I also noticed he was wearing Mikea pair of headphones and one of those ‘cheek mikes’ that seem to be the norm these days. I hovered around his table for a few seconds before entering the kitchen and realised that he was conducting some kind of interview Customerswith somebody. Over the course of the next couple of hours, he still seemed to be talking to someone and on a couple of occasions, he got quite animated. He eventually left at around 12:45, or at least that’s when I noticed he had gone. From what I could see, he had drunk one cup of coffee and who knows how many glasses of free water. I mentioned to the chef that he had gone and he explained that he had been sat at the table since about 09:00. Just one cup of coffee!! The table staff have been told not to move people on, but to keep asking if they require anything else. They call  it ‘good customer service’. But what about the ‘good customer service’ for the customers who cannot get a seat?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for getting free Wi-Fi in places I visit, but come on … lets not abuse it.



Some people …

/ Tony / 2 Comments

I normally park my car in the small parking area across the road from the house. We have a drive and a garage, but like many garages it’s more of a storage area than a place to park a car. So K*** parks her car on the drive and I use the parking area. K*** is out today so the drive is empty. I had a bit of shopping to do and on days like this, I would tend to park on the drive, just unload the shopping.

As I approached our house, I noticed a car parked on the road, but directly across the drive. So I i10 Classisparked in my usual place and got out of the car. I was a bit bemused as to who this mystery caller was so I tapped on the driver side window. The lady wound the glass down and I asked “Can I help you?” To my surprise, her reply was “No, it’s okay, I’m just waiting for a phone call.” A little taken aback, I asked her “Could you please wait somewhere else?” Before I could explain that wanted to use the drive she came back with “I’m not going to be long, and there are no parking restrictions so I can park where I like!” Now I worked in the Parking industry for over twenty years, so I do know a fair bit about the rules and regulations. I politely explained that as there was a dropped kerb on both sides of the road, it was technically an unmarked crossing area and technically  she was breaking the law. She then muttered something about me being childish and proceeded to drive further down the road. Amazingly, her next parking spot was directly opposite a junction. Thankfully she must have received her important call because after a few minutes, she drove off. Strange person.

Wasn’t expecting that …

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Ancient_Mexico.png

I got a text message from my boss, who is in Mexico at the moment for their annual holiday. The text said that she had received a ‘picture message’ from me, but could not open it. I quickly checked my phone, but I hadn’t sent a picture message to anyone, which I explained. It was then I noticed that there was an extra charge of £3.84 on my next bill. Very puzzling!

I went on to the providers website, but could find no nothing to say what the charge was for, until I got my next bill. The online ‘chat support’ was available, so I sent a message, basically asking questions: 1) who sent the picture and 2) what was the charge for.

thumb_new_year_HappyNewYear

I had a very informative ‘chat’ with someone using the alias ‘Zahir’. He explained that I had sent an MMS message to eight of my contacts on the 1st January. I disputed this and explained that I had only sent a text stating “Happy New Year” to a group of contacts. He then informed me, that a group text, with my provider is sent as a text to the first in the list, then as a picture message to the rest. The picture being charged at £0.55 per message. It was then that I vaguely remembered being told this before. I thanked Zahir (or whatever his real name was) and quickly closed the call.

**Note to self: NO MORE group text messages !

Still going – just …

/ Tony / Leave a comment

The issues with the laptop continue, although they seem to be not as bad as they were at the beginning of the week. After reading some the comments online, I’m more and more convinced that at least some of the problems are linked with the last Windows update. The annoying thing is that whereas at one time you could choose to update or not, now it is more or less forced onto you. I also think. that there may be some compatibility issues with some of the software I’m using. However, it is looking likely that I may have to bite the bullet and get a new one, with all the issues that brings.

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Coming back to my Blog Editor trials, I thought last night when R*** was using my laptop, that I had forgotten to include BlogPad Pro app on my iPad. It worked quite well when we were away and providing I can upload the manual to my phone, for reference, it might just be a contender. I have decided against using Notepad as it would me more effort than it’s worth copying and pasting, so I’m going to cross that of the list. This post is being written with my favourite application, Open Live Writer. This is the one that I started having problems with which prompted my testing.

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The village seems to be the target of a couple of gangs of thieves. Properties are being broken into and it appears that the thieves are after the car keys of high-end vehicles. These  cars are then stolen and either shipped abroad or broken-up for the valuable parts. The local primary school was also hit, but that was for the laptops. It’s a bit of a worrying time for all.

(Written with Open Live Writer)

All good so far …

/ Tony / 3 Comments

New phone seems to working well. It’s not taken too long to get used to, but I’ve not used all the features yet. As I thought, I needed to get a new, smaller sim card. Fortunately, we were going to Harrogate on the day New Phonemy phone was due to arrive. I thought it would be a good idea to call in the phone shop and ask for a new sim. I explained that I was picking up my new phone later and it needed a new card. The salesman tried to upgrade my plan, but when he looked at the details he agreed that I couldn’t get a better plan for the money. He then took a few security details and was able to validate and authorise the new sim ‘to save me time later ‘ he said. Now that was a mistake! When he validated my new sim, it automatically invalidated the old one. That meant that when I checked my email, I was charged for the data, as although the card was invalid, the account wasn’t. It was only a small charge, but I was a little bit miffed.

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Because both K*** and me are classed as carers, we are entitled to a free flu jab every year. I think also that since my MVR operation, I would be classed as being in a ‘vulnerable group’. It would seem that flu can have a serious effect on a person with a heart condition. R*** accepted the injection without any fuss and was even smiling  when the nurse pushed the needle into his arm. K*** thinks it was because he could see what the nurse was doing and that he remembered it from last year. Like me, he likes to watch the needle go in. I always try to watch because that way, it does not make me jump. Many years ago, when I was a blood donor, I had a bad experience with a needle. I was in the transfusion clinic which I had been doing every six months for years. I was looking around the room when the doctor inserted the main needle into my arm. I was not expecting it and it startled me a little. This reaction made the needle go into the vein too far, and instead of laying in the vein itself, it pierced the other side and from what I was told, blood was escaping into my arm. This resulted in a small haematoma forming. I was assured that it was not dangerous, as they had caught it in good time, but they said it could have been a lot worse. Ever since then, I’ve tried to watch for the moment the needle enters and I don’t have a problem.

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First one done …

/ Tony / 1 Comment

The first ‘official week’ of my new part-time job is over and done. After the trial day, it was very much as I expected it to be. It’s fairly physical and quite hot especially at the peak time of the day between 12:00 and 14:00. I did end the day with a bit of a sweat-rash (in a place that I have no intention of mentioning) and my legs do feel a bit tired today. It is understandable, I’ve not done a standing job for over 25 years!

I don’t think I made any mistakes and everyone seems to be quite pleased with me. Unfortunately, I did forget to turn off the water heater when I went home yesterday. The boss did say that it did not matter too much, but I was a bit annoyed with myself at forgetting. I think I’ll make a list on my phone of the jobs I need to do at the end of the day. See if that helps.

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Talking of phones, I’m getting a new one tomorrow. It’s bought and paid for and I just need to pick it up from the local Tesco in the afternoon. K*** bought a new iPhone as her old one just was not working properly. I just kept cutting out whenever she used it and the reception on it wasn’t the best. I like the phone I have. It was the phone I wanted when it came out and was top of the range at the time. However that time was about 4 years ago and the poor thing is starting to show it’s age. Apps don’t open properly and there is very little space to work with on the phone itself. So I’ve opted for a “Moto G6 Play Gold” which is a bit of a mouthful I know. Seems to have all the features I want, although I may have to order a new sim card from ‘3’ before I can use it.

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Really long days

/ Tony / Leave a comment

I was supposed to be posting a little every day. But, as with all plans on this trip, things seem to get in the way.

I am currently enduring enjoying a family break in the Scarborough area. The week didn’t start well. R***’s transport arrived 40 minutes early. As this was a new driver and escort it seemed bothered more than him. Then, we got a little lost at the end of the journey. It would seem that there are two places in the Scarborough area, that have the same name with almost the same postcode. Of course, I had got the wrong one. S**** was arriving later and as I/we had given him the wrong postcode, the same happened. The place is not too remote, but as this is England the mobile phone coverage is poor to say the least. To cap it all, K*** got a phone call from R***’s respite to say that the transport had arrived to take him home. Somewhere along the line wires had crossed. It could have been a huge problem if they had brought him home only to take him back again.

Accident ? What accident …

/ Tony / 1 Comment

I got one of those spam calls this morning. My phone is usually muted during the night, but whilst K*** and R*** have been away, I’ve left the sound on. It was one of those annoying 020xx xxxxxx calls. I don’t usually answer them on the basis that if it is a genuine call, then they’ll either call back or leave a voicemail. However, I was expecting a call or text from the Argos delivery driver for the package I was having delivered (yep it didn’t go in the car!). They had told me that delivery was between 7am and 8pm, but that I would get a call or text before they deliver. The guy in Argos told me that some drivers like to finish early on Saturday, so it would be likely to be early than later.

I heard my phone at around 6:15 and not checking the number just answered it. I knew straight away what kind of call it was when the lady (questionable) at the other end spoke. The recorded voice started with “Hello, sorry to hear about your recent FATAL accident …” It was at that point that I hung up. I still find it funny.

Communications …

/ Tony / Leave a comment

I’ve come to the conclusion that the work place is not an appropriate scenario for Instant Messaging. As the Council moves away from fixed office bases to a more mobile solution, the need for mobile communication has become greater. The reliance on mobile phone technology as opposed to fixed line, has increased some costs. Some see the way around these extra costs is the Instant Message provision that Microsoft offer. There are enormous benefits to this form of communications, but it also has its downside.

When it first arrived in the office, we were all amazed at the possibilities that email offered. However, it soon became a problem when it was a lot easier to email a colleague than to write a letter/memo and even more convenient than the telephone. Soon we were swamped with masses of email, that we either did not read, or spent most of our time reading rather than working.

Now we have the Instant Message. An email sits the receivers inbox until they read or delete it. Not the case with the Instant Message. The thing about Instant Messaging, is that it only works if both/all communicators are online. But I suppose the biggest downside (well for our scenario) is that, unless your ICT allows to to save your messages, once the conversation is over, all evidence of that conversation is gone. So when your manager says it is okay for you to leave early, there is nothing to back up your claim if your manager denies all knowledge of their agreement.

The other downside is that there is no hiding place. An email can be left until your ready to read it. A telephone can be ignored with the claim that the volume was turned down. An Instant Message is in your face. You cannot miss that persistent flashing icon on your task bar.

I will use the Instant Message tool at work … it’s Corporate. But I will always use email, if I need a record of a communication. It is so much safer.

Bit of a shocker …

/ Tony / Leave a comment

I was sat at work, chatting to one of the IT partners when I got a text message. By the time I had finished talking, I had almost forgotten the text. It was from the doctors confirming my next INR test date. Strangely, they had simply sent a previous message which was stating that I was booked in for a test on the 9th February.

I rang the wife and asked her if she had booked me an appointment and I explained that the date was wrong. She told me that the anticoagulation clinic had left a message and that I needed a test on the 8th March.

The shock was that my INR, which should be in the range of 2 to 3.5 with a target of 2.5 was actually 4. This is the highest it has ever been and was strange because my last test was  back to around 2.6.

Now I’m putting this down to a combination of stress and the fact that I had drunk a bit more alcohol (although not much more) than usual. The doctor has said that he has not heard of any research into stress and INR levels, but it was quite feasible given what stress can do. However, I think it may have more to do with the alcohol!

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Here’s a question for you. The clinic should have rung me on my mobile as that is my primary number, and the phone did ring at around 10:30. However, there was no number and the display simply said ‘Private Number’ which means nothing really. I tend to ignore calls like that, on the grounds that if it is important, then they will leave a message. I don’t like the fact that callers can hide their number and given that I already have 2 numbers for the clinic, I would have thought they would have used one of them.

I’m wondering how many of you answer calls from people that hide their number?

The Times they are changing .. of sorts

/ Tony / Leave a comment

It has reached that time, when my phone contract is just about to expire. For the past two years, I’ve been using a Sony Xperia T. It is not a bad phone on the whole, although I have had a problem or two. The main issue seems to have centred on the microphone. Mrs H has always said that she cannot hear me when I call, and I, being a male, have always thought that she must be holding her phone incorrectly. It never occurred to me that it might be my phone that was the problem!

So the contract is ending and I can now get an upgrade. The problem is that if I upgrade the phone, I have to take on a new contract, or Price Plan as the provider likes to call them. This ‘Plan’ is quite different from the one I currently use, but I think I can live with it.

The new phone is to be a Nokia 735, which is a Windows phone, as opposed to my usual choice of Android. How different this is going to be, only time will tell.

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I think I may have mentioned this, but our youngest son R*** (we have two) has Autism and sometimes getting him to comply with things that need to be done, can be a trial. One of the hardest tasks is shaving. It is not something he can do for himself, so it is down to me to tackle it whenever necessary. For a number of years we/I have relied on either disposable razors or the much more expensive multi blade jobs. Now, I have never liked shaving with an electric shaver. I have never found it gives a close enough shave. So, like R***, I have tended to utilise the same razors that we get for him. That is until just under a year ago. I had been browsing eBay for razors, in the hope of finding a razor with good reviews at a reasonable price. It was not going well, until I spotted what everyone calls an ‘old fashioned’ safety razor. The price was very cheap and I thought why not? If it is no good, then I would have only lost a couple of pounds (it was that cheap), and it could not be any worse that the ones I had been using.

It was a revelation! It was the best shave I had had in a long time. I quickly realised though, that I would need to get a shaving brush and soap. Squirty foam from a can, did not look right at all.

So this brings me round to the point of this part of my post. Two weeks ago, I was giving R*** his weekend shave and I was having real problems. The multi blade, disposable just was not shaving. It was dragging on his face, and I could see he was beginning to get upset, as it must have been very uncomfortable and possibly, quite painful. I was at a loss as to what I could do. I needed to complete his shave, but was not going to do it the way was doing. You may know where this is going, but I thought I would try using my razor. What was there to lose? Guess what? Revelation time again! It was so smooth and easy to do, and it was all over in 5 minutes, rather than the usual 10.

We now each have our own Weishi (that’s the brand name) razor and all is happy in the mens toilet procedures now.

 

A new era (or any other cliche)

/ Tony / Leave a comment

So here we are. A new Government and a ‘new’ type of politics. For my money, it has been clear from the very start, that Nick would be Dave’s stooge, and dance to any tune. It most probably will be different at national level, but Leeds has had a Tory/Lib-Dem coalition for the past few years, and you only have to look at how they handled the refuse dispute to see the way things could go.

Enough of politics. Well enough from me for the time being.

I just noted, in the local press, that a group of ‘angry residents’ are complaining that a phone company have put a temporary phone mast close to their gardens. I have to ask myself, how many of these people have mobile phones of their own, and how many of their kids have them !!!!

Quiz-night last night. We did quite well for a change. Still no win, but it was our highest score. Eldest is at home with us for a few days. He was supposed to be directing the village play this year, but has been let down by people who say yes then say no. He emailed everyone last week to say he was going to have to cancel the play. Everyone who had committed were disappointed, so a meeting has been arranged to see what can be pulled out of the fire. I have a strong suspicion, that he will not be directing again.

Friday is still a long way off ….

/ Tony / 1 Comment

   Another, more or less uneventful day. The IT guy I was trying to contact finally got back to me, so that was a success. I need to get some cases to the new company ASAP. Things are looking good for tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

   Not heard from the eldest, since Mrs H rang him on Monday to tell him that his phone bill was too high. I don’t know how anyone with 700 minutes call time can rack up another £26.00+ in call charges. He claims it must have been when he rang the ISP, but I’m not so sure. The final bill is due on Friday. I’ll know for sure then. I have an idea his flatmate has been using it !!!!

   Youngest was up very early this morning. First heard him at around 04:00am. He tends to make a kind of droning sound, which I think is an attempt to drown out the tinnitus, the we think he has. But he was making ‘his noise’ from the moment he awoke. We never got back to sleep at all really. Made for a tiring day. He is still awake now, although it has gone quiet.

   Watched the first half of the footie tonight. Not impressed much. I hear though, that they improved vastly in the second half ! Just my luck eh !

More panic ….

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Mrs H got a call from the letting agent this morning. They had tried to get hold of either of the two lads, as they needed the old flat key. They said they have to go and check it, but I suspect that they may have someone else lined up to move in. Of course, nobody could reach either of them. Both phones were going to voicemail, so I suspect they had switched them off. It appears that they had spent all night working on their Uni stuff, and had only got to bed at 05:00 this morning. Hence the difficulty in waking them.

Dad to the rescue!! I drove round to his new place, managed to knock them up and then drove to the agents with the keys. All done!

His room is a tip though. I know they’ve not been in long, but all his bags of clothes were still piled up on the bedroom floor. Hopefully he’ll get it sorted today.

A good start ….

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   The borders in the living room came off a treat. It lImage019ooks like the ones in the dining room will be the same. We/I think that I will have to decorate the living room  first, before I start on the dining room. The hardest part, I suppose, will be moving the large furniture. That is the sideboard and drinks cabinet. Both are full and very heavy. Fun times ahead !!

   I’m not too keen on the new facebook setup. The status update seem to be all over the place. The best idea would be to invite a number of people to test out the new ideas, then implement them, with the option of going back to the old version.

   Still having a few problems with the updated phone. The email seems to keep disconnecting. I will try and look on the forums tomorrow. There may be a setting that needs to be altered. I have also been having a bit of trouble with the bluetooth. I keep getting asked for authorisation, although I may have sorted that one, just now. I cannot seem to send files to the PC at the moment. The phone says they have been sent, but I have no idea as to where they are ending up. Certainly not in the place they went to before.

Sorted .. I think

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   I updated my phone yesterday !!!!! Well at least that is what I intended to do !! It did not go quite to plan. I misread what I was updating. I suppose, misread is not quite correct. To be more precise, I did not read what I was updating. As a consequence, I did not create a back-up. So after the update, I was left with a phone that was more or less in factory state. All the personalisation’s gone !!! What a tw*t !!!! Image018I have now got it back to a reasonable state, but am still having problems with the email client.

   I’m starting the big decorating job tomorrow.   Living room and dining room. I think it is going to take a week or two to complete. I’m hoping, that the borders in this room will not be as hard to get off as the ones in the kitchen.

Mid-life crisis … what crisis

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   I am old before my time I think. I downloaded a free music album by (what I’m reliably told) a ‘Grime’ artist call Chipmunk. It seems to be a free sampler album of Rap music. The singer ‘tweeted’ yesterday, that he would post a link to the album (called Chipmunk – For The Fun Of It) Of what I’ve heard, it’s very good. He is a talented singer.

   I bought an FM Transmitter for my MP3 player last week. I gave it a try today, in the car, and it seems to work quite well. It means that I can play the music on my phone or MP3 without having to use one of those cassette converters. They did not work too well, and you could hear the noise of the cassette motor, when it was playing. Now everything is sorted.

Late post

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   Yesterdays post was slightly late in uploading. I posted it by email, from my Nokia E71, whilst sat in the pub, at around 10:00pm. Unfortunately, there are many signal black spots in the pub, and if you are not in the correct seat, nothing gets sent. I also turned my phone off when I got in so the post did not go until 6:30 this morning. I shall continue later in the evening.

Whiskey is all gone .. Shock .. Horror (but don’t tell the Dr)

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   When I say that that the whiskey is all gone, I mean nearly all gone. Just a smidgen left, of which I am sampling now. If the medics have their way, it will be all gone. Question: how does making alcohol more expensive for me, stop the pissheads from buying the stuff in Europe, packing it into a van, and then selling it cheap to kids when they get back home ? So why not round up all the idiots that fall out of pubs and clubs totally wasted, and lock them up. Pay for their keep out of the exorbitant tax that is levied on alcohol. Rant over !

   Eldest has just texted me. He wants picking up tomorrow afternoon when I finish. He wants to go to drama. I think though, that he wants to see some of his friends. I have a strange idea, that he may have forgotten that is was ‘quiz-nite’. He seems to have got himself a few days work though. Sounds like it is luggage hauling at a hotel in the city. We will find out a little more tomorrow. He took his phone into the Three shop today. They could not do anything, and they did not have a replacement. So they packed him off to Carphone Warehouse, who will get it fixed under warranty.

   I needed to get a new battery for my bluetooth headset today. I thought it used AAA batteries, and it came a bit of a shock the find that I needed AAAA batteries. I did not know that they made AAAA size. Neither Asda or Tesco had them, so I tripped off to Maplins at lunchtime. £4.99 for a pack of four !!! It was either that or £3.99 for a pack of two. Ridiculous price. Still I’ve got them now.

   I must try and remember, that I do not really like whiskey from Islay. I do not know what it is, but it tastes like a some form of medicine !! I understand that it is the peat in the water that gives it the taste, but it is rather strange.

   Done for now.

Better than I expected

/ Tony / 2 Comments

   I got home in good time tonight. The roads were a lot quieter than was anticipated. I had visions of 10 miles queues Leeds Festival 2009 on the A1, after the problems last year. This morning was quiet too, although going north, the A1 was very slow and crowded. The Leeds Festival gates opened at 3am this morning, and as I understand it, there was a steady flow from about that time. S**** was dropped of at his friends house, around noon, and they were going from there. Although the whole thing does not get going until tomorrow, there seems to be some music playing this evening. It will be a bit of a test tomorrow afternoon. I need some petrol, and both the petrol stations that I use are on the A64. Not a road I want to go on, as part of it will be still be closed. I also need a haircut, and the hairdresser’s is also on the same route.

   Never got around to installing the new RAM this evening. It looks like it might be over the weekend sometime. I also need to work out when I should download the Office 2007 software. I think it may be a good idea to try on Sunday night, before the Bank Holiday. Still cannot get over the price. I hope that it downloads at a reasonable speed. I have an idea that download speeds sometimes depend on the site they are being downloaded from. It can take ages sometimes to grab a YouTube video.

   My new phone seems to have a lot better signal in the office. I have only noticed a signal loss a couple of times, and considering where I sit, and the amount of metal cupboards and electrical kit around me, I’m surprised I get a signal at all. Talking of electrical stuff, we have the Portable Appliance Tester (PAT) with us this week. And before anyone asks ‘Portable Appliance’ refers to desktop electrical equipment such as computers, desk fans etc, not ………although I do not know how portable a three drawer laser printer is. Well, it has to be the most boring job an electrician can be asked to do. As far as I can see, it is only the cables that get tested anyway. But it takes the guy forever. It’s my desk tomorrow. The last time, it took the tester nearly an hour to get through all my stuff, and he’d been doing it for years. The man we have today, has only been on this since last week !!!!

   Done for today.