Pillings Lock blog #4

Pillings Lock Marina 2009 #4

Hello, good afternoon and welcome to this, our fourth blog from Pillings Lock, called PLM from this day forward. It is still Saturday 14th November, but we are now into the pm part of it.

Prior to posting blog #3 this morning I reported the state of our wee pooch who, once again seems to be off her food. She is now lying down at the bottom of our bed and is fast asleep. Fortunately the bed is high off the floor otherwise she would probably snuggle up under the duvet.

During the night we were buffeted a bit by the wind and the boat has had a pretty good soaking. Despite my best efforts during the summer months, a couple of our windows still leak along the top edge, as a result of which the rain tends to find its way in if we close the windows. Leaving them open does reduce the effect but, with the high winds last night, the rain was simply bouncing off the glass and finding its way inside anyway. I eventually pulled the curtains back and released them from their bottom rain and closed the windows again, this time with a towel underneath to catch the drips.

Now, since we now seem to have a decent Internet connection, and just as soon as Wifey has give names to the photos she took last year, and just as soon as I have downloaded my contribution to the gallery and named those, I will try to include some in this blog. That’s a promise!

It is now 4 pm on Saturday and we have been trying to download photos from our cameras to this nice, shiny and new laptop. Would you believe it, the card from Wifey’s little Fuji will not fit into the slot in the laptop. We do have a multi-card unit that the laptop will read and I will be able to download my card, but we have had to use the Acer; into which the Fuji card will fit; to download those pictures onto our external hard drive, and then transfer them to the Tosh. What a bloody palaver, and it’s a brand new laptop!! I really am absolutely gobsmacked.

Sunday 15th November 2009 and I am beginning to think that I will have to install the 32 bit version of Win 7 because, unfortunately some programmes simply will not run in 64 bit. Yeah, I know, it’s all gobbledegook to me too, but at least this laptop came with the disc for 32 bit, so I can at least scale it down if necessary.

Monday 16th November and, once again, we have more wind and rain. According to Ridsey, who just happens too be a close neighbour – well, that’s the name of his boat and wee JRT – we are supposed to enjoy fine weather for the rest of this week. Sadly he seems to be the only one aware of this good news because, according to TV and newspaper forecasts, we are set to endure even more wind and rain this week.

I have in my possession two programmes that I use quite a lot, one of which is Pdf 4 Create and the other being eBook Starter. The first is useful for converting Word to the universally accepted .pdf files. Not all computers are able to read MS Word documents but, apparently, the same cannot be said of .pdf. The eBook Starter programme is the one I am using to write my recipe book, and it is displayed on screen very much like an open book. Having actually paid good money for both these programmes I was somewhat miffed when, on installing them on the Toshiba, they both came up as Demo versions, this despite entering the correct registration codes for both.

Naturally I emailed both companies but have yet to receive a reply from either. The Pdf site, which is called Nuance, list the programme as past its sell by date, but that should not mean I am unable to use it on a new machine, unless of course this version is incompatible with Win 7. The same goes for eBook Starter, which I bought less than a year ago.

Watch this space because, even if I have to bombard these two companies with emails, I will eventually get satisfaction.

Our HP Printer, which we have had for a number of years now and which can copy, scan, print and fax, has not been printing in the correct colours. We have some pretty good examples of winter on the canal that we tried printing yesterday, but the clear, white and virgin snow came out a sort of bluey grey colour. We had hoped that it was the Acer at fault but, as suspected, the printer is obviously due a thorough overhaul. Instead we are going to pop into Leicester tomorrow, weather permitting, where there is a Comet and a PC World store. Hopefully we will find a cheapo printer with a flatbed scanner in it. The auto-feed scanners are OK if all you want to do is copy documents into the computer. However, if you want copies of book pages, then the flatbed is the thing to have. And anyway, the one we have is far too big and so a smaller one is an absolute necessity.

Tuesday 17th November and it is still rather blowy out there, but that won’t prevent us from going to Melton Mowbray. I know, I said Leicester for a new printer, but I had forgotten earlier plans for market day.

The good news is, that I have finally received a reply from the eBook Starter people with instruction on how to download and reinstall the programme. Apparently, despite me sending several emails complaining about this problem, my latest email is the only one they have received. Kinda makes a mockery of their support service, which sent up an error message each time I entered an email address, to the effect that it wasn’t a real one. I tried three, all of which are real and none of them was accepted. So much for technology.

I now have to download the Demo version, install this Demo version, check to find my system info and send it to them, at which time they will generate another security code for me to activate the programme. I will then be able to use it as before.

It’s a pity Nuance couldn’t be bothered to reply because, had they done so, I might have agreed to update Create 4 to Create 6 and paid a little bit extra for the privilege. Instead I have downloaded a free Pdf file maker, which seems to do the trick.

We are really being hammered by some serious winds this morning. Indeed, this all started yesterday evening and hasn’t stopped all night.

Today is Wednesday 18th November and Wifey has booked up to have her hair done this afternoon, which we’ll follow by a pub lunch. It was also our intention to go get a Daily mail so that I could have a read of it in the Fox whilst waiting for Wifey’s hair to be done, but that will now have to wait ‘cos I don’t really fancy braving these winds and the accompanying rain twice in one day.

Luckily for us yesterday was fine for our visit to Melton Mowbray and, quite naturally, we made a few delicious purchases. Sausages were top of the list and, once again, some of them contain garlic, which kinda tends to stink the fridge out even though Sheila has put them in a sealed container. I suppose we’ll have to eat them pretty soon. We also found meat pies and quiches that we have sampled in the past and the local street market, which is always run on Tuesdays, provided us with a couple of different cheeses.

W. H. Smith are offering the new Stephen King novel at a £5 reduction to £15, but I’m waiting to see if Alan can pick it up at Tesco any cheaper. Mind you it’s a huge volume but, since his accident several years ago, he really hasn’t made it back to his previous literary level of expertise. One of his first books after being run down and seriously injured was about a rogue Buick 8, but that really wasn’t up to par but, with luck and a tail wind, perhaps this latest offering called Under the Dome, might just be the one that tells us that he’s back to normal.

Thursday 19th November and the weather has gone mad with yet another blustery night.

I had hoped to receive my new coding for eBook Starter by now but, as usual, nobody seems to be in any hurry these days, especially once they have your money. Give it today and I’ll have to chase them up again.

Today we plan to do absolutely nothing, zilch, sod all, so I’ll probably try my hand at a bit of canal art painting.

The weather seems to have calmed down somewhat after all the high winds and rain, but we are promised even more of the same from the weather experts. The weekend is here again and it is now 07.10 on Saturday 21st November.

On Thursday, as I think I may have mentioned earlier, our toilet started making some peculiar rattling sounds, almost as if the motor bearings were breaking up. To be honest we were both a bit worried about it because, as you will appreciate, electric motors do not come cheap. Anyway we telephoned our friendly, but not so “neighbourhood” expert on the matter, that’s Ashley who lives in Banbury. He’s the young lad who replaced the gizmo that controls the flush a couple of weeks ago.

Come yesterday morning the loo stopped making that graunching noise, and so I texted Ashley to put him off coming at midday, which is when he was due to call. This, we thought, now left us free to go to Leicester as planned, to buy a new printer. However, as you would expect, and taking Sod’s Law into account, the damned thing ‘graunched’ again, so I had to phone Ashley again.

As promised and at the appointed time, he turned up an proceeded to dismantle the loo. Now, it’s not like my dear wife to make such a boo-boo, especially not such an expensive one but, when she poured the last of our Blue down the loo, she also dropped something else down. When you buy a 1 gallon plastic container of just about any liquid, the lid is secured by a serrated ring of plastic. Well, when Wifey first opened the container of Blue, she neglected to dispose of that plastic ring. And, my dear readers, dropping that ring down the loo is, what cost us £40.

Ah well, it’s only money!!

Eventually, at about 1 pm, we set off for Leicester to purchase our new printer. Because we prefer a flat-bed scanner to the current auto-feed type, and because I have found from experience when buying the new laptop, that Comet are just a bit cheaper than P C World, we called in there first. However, when I asked the floor walker what came with their printers, he said, and I quote, “Nothing, just the printer”. “What”, I replied, “No mains lead or ink cartridges?” “No”, said he, “Just the printer, the manufacturers no longer include these items, you have to purchase them separately.” My reply to that silly statement was something like “Yeah, right, bye bye”, and off we trotted two doors away to PC World.

We found a good choice there but, on enquiring about a couple of them, the floor walker explained that, due to a recent sale, the boxes with all the bits in – like mains lead and ink cartridges – were missing. We eventually settled for an Epson at about £60, which came with all the necessary peripherals except, of course, the USB connecting lead, which has been the one item missed out from almost all electronic equipment. The thinking behind this, I think, is because most people would already own these and would have been included with the item they were replacing.

Having set it up and given it a test drive, I have to say that the results far exceeded those of the old HP that it replaced. For a start the colours were much sharper and clearer. No doubt the HP only needed a service to bring it up to scratch but, since we wanted a flat-bed scanner anyway…..!

Sunday 22nd November and winter is surely drawing nigh because, once again we have been subjected to some pretty high winds and rain.

I had intended to continue with my recipe book but, as with many things electronic, the programme I installed on the new laptop simply would not play with the files from the original, well, not immediately anyway. Even if I do say so myself I generally get my own way with computers, even if it does mean a little cussing and swearing. Eventually, after deleting folders and replacing with others, along with a bit more mucking about, I finally got it to work to my satisfaction. That’s not to say it won’t mess me about again tomorrow, but at least I seem to have all the recipes in the book.

All I have to do now is compile the thing. Compiling consists of the ebook programme taking all relevant files and turning them into a book that can be read directly from the computer screen. This finished article then becomes a stand alone book, but without all the system files and such that take up all the space on the computer hard drive. Once that is done I can then move the folder containing the files to another location, such as a DVD or external hard drive. If necessary I can then alter those files with additional recipes.

Naturally, it being Sunday, we popped off out for our lunchtime drink. It is now almost 5 pm and, if I ask Wifey very nicely, I’m sure she won’t mind putting dinner on. With a bit of luck and a tail wind I’ll be able to post this blog tomorrow, in doing so I will also try to include a photo or two.

Tuesday 24th November and, despite my best efforts, I am still having trouble with this recipe book. You would think wouldn’t you, that any book compiling programme worth its salt would be able to handle 300+ pages, but it seems that this one can’t. Today, having spent an hour or more placing all the chapters and pages in the sequence required, I then tried to save the new project to the home folder. I then received an error message telling me it couldn’t be done. So I closed it down in order to start again. However, since I have been advised that this programme doesn’t like too many pages, I have now decided to spread the book over four volumes. At present this seems to be working, but I have had to uninstall and re-install the programme first so as to really start from scratch.

Thursday 26th November and more about eBook Starter.

For some unfathomable reason, known only to those who built the programme, it still comes up with the message ‘not responding’, but, thank goodness, it does eventually respond and open up. Ditto for saving the project when I have finished faffing about with it.

I wouldn’t mind a little aggravation with the programme but, having emailed the company concerned, they had the nerve to suggest that, since I am compiling a book with more pages than it can handle!, I should perhaps consider writing it in Pdf format. It seems even they do not have a lot of faith in this baby of theirs.

Now, on to the matter of posting this blog, which, I’m very much afraid, is going to be delayed somewhat. The reason for this is the fact that our photos are rather large in information, usually 3Mb or more, which makes them rather difficult to upload at our slow speeds. I know I had several programmes on the Acer that could have dealt with this and reduced the sizes somewhat, but I am not sure if they will work with Windows 7, nothing else seems to have much joy with it and that’s for sure. Sometime soon perhaps?

It is now Saturday 28th November and we have just over a month until 2010. A few weeks ago a neighbour of ours asked if we would be going to the New Years Eve get together. At just £2.50 per head, which included a snack, we thought it would be a good idea and would allow us to get to know a few more boaters. Now the powers that be have decided to put on live music and have changed the price to £15 per head. So, that’s a no no then!

Sorry to say, what with the current problems with my ebook programme and with that wretched Information Bar, that is now blighting my very existence, I haven’t had time to organise the photographs that I want to include in the blog. And, now that the size of this blog has reached seven pages, I really think I should post it now and worry about photos next time.

If anybody reading this knows how to remove that Information Bar permanently I will be forever grateful.

Cheers for now and have a good weekend.

Dave, Sheila and Rusty.