Thursday 1st January 2015 to Sunday 18th January
Friday 2nd January
I have yet to receive a reply to my latest moaning email to Epson, but
then it was New Year’s Day yesterday. Still, it will be a nice surprise for
them with which to start 2015.
Am I wrong to expect a Wireless Printer to work with my 3G/4G WiFi
Network? OK, it’s a Network of just one computer, but it’s still a Wireless
Network. I’m beginning to wonder if it’s just me expecting too much of modern
technology, or if we’re all being subjected to a load of BS from manufacturers.
Yesterday, since our local shops live in the Dark Ages and close on New
Year’s Day, we had to drive over to Daventry for the Daily Mail. Other than
that we really didn’t do much for the rest of the day, and today won’t be much
different as we’ll be shopping at Sainsbury’s.
I’ll be off to Harlow on Saturday, mainly to collect Alan’s Galaxy
iPhone and to have Wifey’s new one unlocked. Naturally there will be a few
pints in the offing in the evening, as you would expect.
Saturday 3rd January
I have been sending and receiving emails from Epson, trying to discover
why my printer won’t work with my ne 3G/4G WiFi, when it worked perfectly well
with my old 3G WiFi. So, here’s the griff:
It seems that this particular printer is designed to work through a
WiFi Router; as you would find in many homes these days. It is not designed to
work with the type of WiFi that we are using. Indeed, should you decide to
purchase an Epson printer, be aware that they do not employ the technology for
using Mobile WiFi. How strange then that our one did indeed work with our
Mobile WiFi.
Confused.com!!
Anyway we are still able to use it with the USB Cable, so I guess we’ll
just have to put up with it. But we’ll be especially careful when choosing our
next printer and it won’t be an Epson.
I’m off to Harlow this morning and it’s raining quite heavily here.
Monday 5th January
I think I must have had the two most unpleasant journeys to and from
Harlow, ever! On the way down all I could see was the cloud of spray from the
vehicle in front, and on the way back it was thick, freezing fog, right up
until the exit before mine, when we ran into bright sunshine. The transition
from fog to sunshine was immediate. The fog didn’t thin out, it just wasn’t
there anymore. Amazing!
We sorted out Wifey’s iPhone at Tesco first and it seem that the
on-screen padlock is a defence against inadvertently hitting an app with your
ear. Apparently, the double tap on the padlock is supposed to free the phone
for dialling. Sheila has yet to try it again.
While sitting in the pub we also sorted out a couple of things with my
iPhone. I can now download emails through Outlook and Yahoo, but I am still
unable to access my account at Absolute Email when I go online. I can’t imagine
what the problem can be, but I suspect it will take an awful lot of effort to
find out. But, since I don’t really need to access the account from my phone, I
think I’ll pass.
Tuesday 6th January
My trip to Harlow was partly to collect Alan’s old Galaxy, which had
been in the repair shop and had cost him quite a bit to have repaired.
Unfortunately, when he tried to use it, it still didn’t work, so I still have
my Nokia Lumia. Alan has now got to do battle with the repair shop. In the
meantime he’s put the Experia that Steve gave me when we were at Mercia, in for
repair. This I know will cost me £35, but it will always come in handy as a
spare, since I already know that it will work with my SIM.
Yesterday we hunted around eBay for a phone cover for Sheila’s new
Galaxy Young 2, and found a very pretty white one with flowers on. It seems
though that eBay are first with this cover, because none of the shops seem to
stock them yet as the phone is too new for them!!
Our plan this morning, if it isn’t pouring with rain and windy to boot,
is to take the boat round for a diesel top up, which is long overdue. We still
have a few gallons in there, but it is still quite low. If the weather is too
bad for such a short trip, we’ll probably take the bus into Rugby. We won’t be
buying diesel there, just doing a bit of retail therapy.
Wednesday 7th January
Well, it didn’t rain yesterday morning, but it was far too windy for
traipsing the boat around to the diesel point, so we took the bus into Rugby
instead.
This morning is much colder and frosty and, if the wind stays away, job
done!
Thursday 8th January
It was rather difficult to make a decision about taking the boat for a
top up of diesel. At first it was quite windy and, if it’s windy along the
canal, then it’s sure to be even windier in the marina. However, after walking
up to the Co-op first and seeing that it wasn’t really too bad at all, I
decided to take the chance.
Backing out of our moorings was OK, and taking the boat around to the
diesel point was also OK, but it was after we had finished that we noticed that
the wind was quite a bit stronger. Fortunately we were facing into the wind, so
reversing up from the pump wasn’t too difficult. However, getting out of the
marina was another matter because, as I manoeuvred the boat towards the
exit, the wind started taking the stern
away from where I wanted it to be, with the resultant mini-disaster that
followed. I hit the edge of the protective strip at the exit channel.
Thankfully no damage was done, but I will give greater consideration to taking
the boat round there again, especially if there’s a strong wind.
Friday 9th January
Yesterday, apart from a walk to the surgery and around the houses, was
a pretty relaxing day; lots of reading a puzzle doing filled up most of the
day, interspersed with walks with Alex.
I have probably told you before, but Alex is quite an intelligent
pooch. Most evenings at about 8pm he sits in front of me and stares. By this
time it’s only an hour since he’s been out, so he doesn’t need another walk.
Anyway, we’ve been puzzling over what the heck it can be that he wants.
We’ve tried throwing his ball along the boat, but that doesn’t seem to be it.
We’ve tried playing tug-of-war with his rope toy, but that’s not it either.
Last night it suddenly dawned on us what was making him do this. We
usually feed him at about 4pm but, by 3pm he’s already waiting for his dinner.
Similarly, he knows that we usually have a cuppa and sticky bun at about
8.30pm. All he’s doing is reminding us of this, but far too early for our
liking. Being the rotten dog owners that we are, we simply make him wait until
we’re ready. Is that cruel, or what?
Saturday 10th January
As we didn’t have much shopping to get this week, due to the extras we
bought for the Christmas period, we took the bus into town and shopped at Asda
instead of Sainsbury’s. Unfortunately this doesn’t give us time to have a
coffee, so it’s a case of a quick top up of cash for the weekend, then straight
round to Asda and so on to the bus stop.
I received a text from Alan yesterday, telling me he had posted off the
Experia phone to me and that he’d sent it Guaranteed Next Day Delivery, which
means it should arrive here sometime today.
I also received a text from Alan Oxley, telling me that he and Chris
are now here in the U.K. and will be leaving again next Thursday. Also, as we
now have a new dog and their flat is in Newcastle under Lyme, it’s now
difficult to arrange a get together. We’ll just have to see what we can arrange
when they return from Malta.
Sunday 11th January
Yesterday was cold and wet, today is cold and windy. What can you make
of our changeable weather these days?
Well, I received the old Experia phone yesterday and even managed to
insert my SIM Card, but I can’t say I was all that impressed with it. For
instance, it doesn’t seem to have the facility that comes up with possible
words for whatever you are typing. I’ve become so used to that particular
method of texting that I don’t want to be without it. I certainly don’t want to
resort to texting shorthand. So, I’m in a bit of a quandary because, having
checked the price of the Samsung Galaxy Young 2, which is the one Wifey now
has, I’m afraid they are a wee bit expensive. I guess I’ll just have to give
the matter some more thought.
Thursday 15th January
It just goes to show that our lives aboard a narrow boat tend to be
much of a muchness; my last entry was on Sunday!!
However, we have had there are one or two odd things I need to comment
on. The first of these is a scare that Alex gave us on Tuesday evening. At
about 7pm he started making funny noises in his throat. It seemed as though he
may have had something stuck there and was trying to swallow it or bring it up.
This went on for a while, until finally we decided to give the Vet a call. Of
course these things never happen during normal opening times, so we had to ring
the emergency number.
The first thing the person asked was, “Have we seen Alex before?” To
which I replied, “No, you haven’t”, at which point I was told that the call out
fee would be £150.00. Luckily, after explaining the problem, I was told to give
him a piece of bread to see if that would shift it and, since he didn’t seem to
be in any distress, that’s what we did. It didn’t cure the problem, but he did
eventually settle down. On reflection we think he may just have had hiccups
and, when Wifey took him out later she met up with Peter; who also has a Jack
Russell called Tommy; who told her that Tommy sometimes has this problem, but
that it soon passes. Well, thank goodness for that.
Alex finally got over his ‘hiccups’ and we went to bed without being
too concerned.
For our dinner yesterday Wifey decided to do Toad-in-the-Hole, which we
now call Frog-in-a-Bog. Why? Well, a few days ago she was reading an article in
the Mail under the heading, “Out of the Mouths of……”. This related the story of
a young lad who, when asked by his teacher what he had had for his dinner,
actually said Frog-in-a-Bog. When asked what he meant he told the teacher that,
although his mum had told him it was called Toad-in-the-Hole, he simply
transposed it into Frog-in-a-Bog. How smart is that?
We also took the bus into Rugby on Tuesday, just to collect my jacket,
which was having its sleeves shortened. This should have been ready on Friday
but, since we couldn’t go into town on that day, or on Monday either, we fully
expected to be able to collect it on Tuesday. The lady who runs this little one
woman band became all of a dither and said she would start on it immediately
and asked us to ‘come back in 20 minutes’. Obviously the job was a wee bit
trickier than expected, since it still wasn’t ready when we returned.
Anyway, so as not to put too much stress on her, we told her we had to
catch a bus home and said we’ll come back on Thursday. Hopefully she will have
it finished this morning. She was halfway through the job when we left her, so
we fully expect it to be done.
The weather here of late has been a mixture of wind and rain, a
smattering of snowflakes and freezing cold mornings with clear skies. Today
looks set to continue with strong winds and the ‘experts’ have told us to
expect even more rain; our barometer suggests the same, so we know what to
expect.
Sunday 18th January
I’ve done it again, left the blog alone for a few days. Muy bad!!
Never mind though, not a lot has happened over that period, so you’ve
not missed much.
Friday we took the bus into Rugby and I finally collected my jacket
which had been put in for sleeve alterations. I suffer from short arms – and deep
pockets! – so the sleeves had to be shortened.
Yesterday was a quiet Saturday, although our neighbours on both sides
have been on board for part of last week, they were quite considerate. The
system here at Crick is for residential boaters to have non-residential boats
moored both sides, thus avoiding any friction from close neighbours. Occasionally
those people turn up and carry out necessary jobs at times, but we’re left in
peace most of the time.
Today will be a normal Sunday, with a walk to the Co-op and another walk
to the club at lunchtime. And, on that thought I think I’d better publish this
post. We’ve had some problems with the Internet of late, so I’d better do so
while I have a strong signal.
Cheers for now
Dave, Sheila and Alex
