Winter 2014/15: Crick 10

Monday 2^nd to Sunday 15^th February

 Tuesday 3^rd February

 We took a run into Northampton yesterday morning and stayed a bit longer than expected; we left at 9am and were back on the boat just before 1pm. Alex was lying on Sheila’s armchair when we came in, but he didn’t seem to be his usual chipper self. Normally he can jump up the front step and off the boat very easily, but he just didn’t seem to have enough energy at that time.

 We kept an eye on him for the rest of the day, but he seemed to be very downcast. This morning I found a solid lump of matter and other material by his bed, which I assume he has thrown up sometime during the night.

 Anyway, I took him out for his usual morning walk, but he still seems short of energy. Even now, at 7.30am he is on his bed, whereas he would normally be staring up at me awaiting his breakfast. We’ll make an appointment to see the vet later today and have him checked out.

 Thursday 5^th February

 Yesterday we took a run over to Sainsbury’s for a weekly shop but, since it has been a couple of weeks since we last paid that store a visit, we came away with far more than usual. In fact we filled the trolley and two shopping bags up.

 Today we’ll be taking the bus into Rugby, because I need some new underwear and because, well, just because………. This afternoon I’ll be spending more time on the laptop, listing a few things on eBay on a 10 day auction. Why am I listing them today? Well, this is an idea I picked up some years ago. If you list your items on Thursday afternoon, and if you list it on a 10 day auction, then the listing will end on a Sunday afternoon, which is when most people will be available to bid on your items. Simple!!!

 The weather now seems to be warming up; even though we had more snow overnight; so I’m more hopeful of getting down to Harlow for Saturday.

 Alex seems none the worse for his lack of energy yesterday, so a visit to the Vet has been avoided. He’s a funny lad, and no mistake.

 Monday 9^th February

 I drove down to Harlow on Saturday morning and had two visits to make; one to my old work colleague Les, the other to an even older work colleague, Chris and his wife Marilyn. However, because Chris was going out with his son by 12 noon, I needed to leave a little earlier than usual.

 After giving Les a lift to her daughter’s flat we returned to her house for a cuppa and a chat, as we usually do. I then drove over to see Chris and Marilyn, where I had an even longer chat and a coffee. Dead on the dot of 12 noon Chris’s son Paul turned up and I left at the same time, to arrive at Alan’s place at about 12.30 – the traffic along Southern Way was very heavy.

 Before doing anything else I had to set up my laptop and list a few items on eBay. I could have done this on Alan’s computer, but I took the laptop in order to check its behaviour on his WiFi. I had been worrying that my laptop may have been at fault when I’m on the Internet. However, I had no problems on Alan’s system, so I have to assume it’s a signal problem here on the boat. This means I’ll have to drive over to Maplin’s sometime and see if I can get an extension lead for my antenna.

 We spent our evening in The White Admiral as usual, but it was pretty quiet in the Saloon Bar, because most of the regulars were watching the Spurs/Arsenal match. Spurs won, if you’re interested.

 The drive home was pretty quick; I love that Sunday morning drive up the M1, when it’s pretty easy.

 Today I have no idea what we’ll be doing; the weather is somewhat milder so we may take a run over to Daventry Country Park.

 Tuesday 10^th February

 The weather turned out to be really quite mild and sunny, so we did take that run over to Daventry Country Park. On the way out; after just a short-ish walk; we studied the main board that highlights the different walks, and discovered that the last time we visited the Park we actually walked for 2½ miles. Not since our 4 mile round trip on the Llangollen Canal, where we walked down to Horseshoes Falls, have I managed a walk of that length.

 Today will be rather more sedate as it’s changed to cold and foggy out there.

Wednesday 11^th February

 Well, as I mentioned yesterday, we didn’t do very much with our day, just a walk to the Co-op for a few bits and pieces, then chill out for the rest of the day.

 I’m still having problems with the Internet though. For example, I have purchased several items over the past couple of years, from a guitar tutor called Mike Herberts, who makes learning much more fun. However, he’s now come up with a new, fingerpicking video and has sent links to his demos. Unfortunately my signal here is so weak that I can’t actually watch them without having them stall after just a few seconds. Yes, seconds.

 What I really need to do is raise our antenna so as to have a better line of sight to the nearest transmitter. But, having scoured the Internet for possible suppliers, I’ve come to a full stop. I’ve even tried Maplin’s, who are usually pretty good at these things, but even they don’t stock extension leads to my WiFi unit. This is a twin cable and I’m reluctant to cut it and splice an additional length of plain cable to it. I may be able to raise it a few inches if we put one of Wifey’s flower boxes on the roof and positioning it closer to the window upon which the WiFi is mounted, but that will only succeed in raising it a few inches at most. I think it needs to be a few feet higher if I’m to get that stronger signal.

 What peeves me about this situation is that there are four transmitters in this area, and we still have a weak signal. Even the marina WiFi is pretty useless, so there’s no point reverting to that. Life’s a bitch, etc, etc!!

 The only thing I haven’t tried; apart from raising the antenna a few inches; is to point it in a different direction. But I have my doubts about that being any better. Still, I suppose it’s worth a try.

 Thursday 12^th February

 Well, we took the bus into Rugby yesterday and I paid a visit to the ‘Three’ shop, again! This time I asked where I might be able to find an extension lead to the WiFi unit. Naturally they were unable to help. Why do I even bother??

 Today we’ll take a drive over to Daventry and, before visiting the Pets at Home store for Alex’s food, we’ll call into Homebase, just in case they have the necessary connectors for an extension lead. I’m not hopeful, but I might as well take a look. You never know, I might come up with an idea. Like I said earlier, I’m reluctant to splice a piece of cable to the existing one.

 Friday 13^th February

 No joy at Homebase, but I did find the eBay listing for the 4G Lte antenna and have asked the vendor if he can help with the extension lead. Meanwhile, I repositioned the antenna to a slightly higher position, which has certainly improved matters, although not as much as I would like. So, I still need that extension lead.

 Saturday 14^th February

 Having emailed the vendor of the antenna on Thursday morning, I received a reply from him yesterday. My message to him was, could he help me to find an extension lead for the antenna, as I needed to raise it in order to get a stronger signal. There are times when I wonder how these people make a living on eBay because he said in his reply, “doesn’t the antenna work?”

 I’ve now had to go through the whole question and answer routine again, simply because this idiot hasn’t bothered to read my email properly. Still, not to worry, I’m sure I’ll find what I want eventually. Meanwhile the signal is somewhat improved now that I have re-positioned it slightly.

 Sunday 15^th February

 I’m not surprised that the vendor of that antenna was so befuddles by my question, because I received another message from him this morning and, from the wording of the message, he’s not completely au fait with the English language. However, he’s going to try to help – he says – but his engineers are on holiday (?) for 15 days. What? All of them? We’ll see!!

 Now, I’ve only written four pages of this blurb, but it is quite a while since I last posted, so I’ll do that now.

 Have a good week folks.

 Dave, Sheila and Alex.

 

 

 

Winter 2014/15: Crick 9

Sunday 18^th January to Monday 2^nd February

 Tuesday 20^th January

 I now have a new iPphone, the same as I bought Wifey for Christmas, a Samsung Galaxy Young 2. This is so much better than the Nokia Lumia 630 that I upgraded to a few months ago, because it’s not a Windows phone and therefore not tied to Microsoft. There’s nothing wrong with Microsoft I suppose, but I had so much trouble accessing and downloading apps, that I eventually gave up on it.

 A couple of years ago, at the behest of that ‘nasty’ brother of mine, I upgraded my old flip-top phone for a touch screen phone and, every time I touched the screen to scroll up or down, the darned thing would go to the item I had touched; most annoying. Anyway, I phoned the 02 shop and explained my predicament and asked what I could do about it. The answer rather surprised me, because I was told to sell it, which I did, to a company that buys these things. Alright, so I still had to pay for it through my 02 contract, but at least I got rid of the thing.

 The point I am making here is that, now that I’ve bought a better phone I can now sell on the Nokia, but this time I’ll list it on eBay.

 On Sunday morning we took a drive over to Tesco at Junction 1 and bought the above mentioned mobile, SIM Free of course. Wifey’s one is tied to Tesco; which uses the 02 signal, but ‘roams for others if the 02 one is not available. It cost a bit more than I paid for her one, but that’s probably because they were selling them cheaper for the Christmas season.

 Of course, come lunchtime we were safely ensconced in the local club, in the company of Alex, naturally.

 Yesterday was too cold to go anywhere, and today is even colder, but we might just take the bus into Rugby and pay a visit to the ‘3’ shop. Sometimes when I’m online and flittering about between eBay pages or similar, I get this web page from ‘3’ pop up, which suggests my Internet signal is a bit weak. The trouble is, I can’t log in to my account at ‘3’, simply because I don’t know how.

 This website recognises me when I do attempt to log in, because it welcomes me with a ‘hi David’ at the top of the screen. The problem seems to be because I don’t have a mobile phone account with them, only my WiFi unit and the login info asks for my telephone number; which was allocated to me when I first signed up and which I’ve never used. It also asks for the last six digits on the back of my SIM card, which I obviously don’t have, since I don’t have a ‘3’ phone.

 So, with all that in mind, and not wishing to run up a phone bill by calling them on my 02 mobile, I’ll have to pay them a visit in order to find out how to log in to my account. Yeah, long-winded I know, but at least it kept me busy on the laptop, and I’ve succeeded in typing two pages of gumpf!

 Friday 23^rd January

 I recently scanned through eBay, looking for finger picks to use with the uke and guitar. I found an interesting one that advertised metal picks that fit over the fingers and thumb and nestle up against the finger/thumb nail. They seemed to be just what I was looking for, so I sent for them. They took a while to get here because they came from China. Sadly the only one that fit was the thumb pick, the others were too small.

 Anyway, I contacted the seller and explained the problem and he replied asking for a photo of my hand and measurements of my finger and has promised to send a couple more thumb picks, which I can adjust downwards in size to fit my fingers. Now, that’s what I call a great after sales service.

 I called into the ‘Three’ shop earlier this week and asked how I could access my account online. They thought this should be an easy matter, until they realised that I only had a WiFi account and no mobile phone with them. Their only suggestion was that, if I still had the box that came with it, I could download an app and run my iPhone over that Sudoku type black and white picture and access my account from there.

 But, I don’t still have the box! If we kept all the boxes from items we had bought we’d need a butty dragged behind the boat. So, anyway I went back to the ‘Three’ site and tried again. It seems though that the only way to contact ‘Three’ is to phone them on a premium rate line. If I had a ‘Three’ phone it would cost me nothing. I finally gave up on this quest and have written to them asking why, just because I don’t have mobile with them, I am unable to access my account. I’m hoping they will email me with an answer, but I’m not holding my breath.

Today, just for something to do, we’ll be taking the bus into Rugby.

 Saturday 24^th January

 Yesterday was the first day in living memory when we haven’t had to race around Rugby, do our shopping and catch the next bus home, only an hour after arriving there. This time we only needed to visit Asda for a small amount of shopping, which gave us plenty of time for a coffee before strolling over to the bus stop.

 I received a message from the eBay dealer this morning, advising me that he had been unwell and apologising for the delay in answering my last message. He also suggested that, should I require any other items he has up for sale, then he could package that and the thumb picks together. I suspect he’s worried about eBay’s reaction to him selling off-site, if they ever found out. Alternatively he’s simply pulling a fast one and hoping I’ll spend more money with him. So, the question is, ‘will he send them or not?’ Hmmmm!!

 We don’t have anything special to do today, except perhaps getting some coal, so we’ll probably take a walk up to the Co-op for the paper and milk. Oh what an exciting life we lead!!

 Sunday 25^th January

 The Fuzz paid the marina a visit yesterday and attended a boat further along the same pontoon as we’re moored at. Goodness knows what they were after, but there were three of them and they had two cars in the car park. If somebody has had their boat broken into, I feel sure they would have spoken to everyone on this pontoon, if only to ask if we had seen anything suspicious. No doubt the local grapevine will filter down to us in due course.

 And that was the extent of our excitement yesterday.

 Today? Well, it’s Sunday. I think you can guess how that will go!!

 Tuesday 27^th January

 About six months ago I upgraded my mobile phone, from a flip-top basic one to a pretty Windows iPhone. Having realised my mistake, after spending hours with Alan trying to access the Internet with it, I finally decided to buy a different phone; in fact the same a Wifey’s; and sell the Nokia Lumia 630. Yesterday morning I listed the Nokia on eBay and was most surprised when, later in the day I received confirmation of the sale. Naturally I posted it off straight away.

 Having experienced such success I am now going to be taking photos of other stuff I want to sell and hoping to make a few bob. This will all help towards trading in the Alfa for something more sedate; like a Merc or a Jag; but I haven’t quite decided which yet.

 Thursday 29^th January

 We took the bus into Rugby yesterday to pay a visit to Ryman’s for packing boxes and found just two that would meet our needs. So far I’ll be able to post off a couple of old cameras.

 I also have a very old Yashica half-frame 35mm camera and, since it doesn’t have a user manual with it, I took a quick look online and managed to download a .pdf copy. This item will make it much easier to sell, I think.

 Friday 30^th January

 We had to go to Northampton yesterday and the weather stayed fine for the couple of hours there. But, later in the day we had a pretty heavy fall of snow, which gets Alex running around like a loony. He really can be quite a laugh at times. Last night we had even more snow and I’m hoping we don’t get any more today, because I’m supposed to be going down to Harlow tomorrow.

 We also need to go shopping today, so I’m hoping the roads will be clear. The weather has been worse further north, so I guess we should be grateful for that.

 You will probably remember the problem I am having in accessing my ‘Three’ account online. The trip to their shop in Rugby and emailing the company, well, I received a reply from the a few days ago advising me on how to log in. In short they told me to go to their home site and click on the Inbox, where I would find a password. Of course, knowing these people of old, there was no Inbox and therefore no password. However, there was a New Message icon at the top of the screen but, as you would have guessed, I was required to log in before I could read it. Here we go again.

 So, I have now sent another email and have attached two screen shots of their Home Page and the Log in Box. Maybe they will sort it out from there, who knows? But I’m not holding my breath.

 Monday 2^nd February

 I can now access my account at ‘Three’, thanks to a recent email from them. It seems that the User Name of ‘admin’ was also the Password, but they hadn’t made that clear in the earlier email. Anyway I’m now good to go.

 So, now to the weekend, when I should have been going down to Harlow, well, due to adverse weather conditions I didn’t make it. We had snow on Friday and some of Saturday, and then it miraculously cleared, by which time it was too late to change my mind. From then on it was a normal weekend; a bit of shopping Saturday and the club on Sunday.

 Just for a change though, we met up with Annie and Dave; who have a boat moored along our pontoon; and we had a nice chat with them. Also, and much to our surprise, the club filled up pretty quickly, which is quite unusual for a Sunday lunchtime. This is probably because people had been paid at the end of the month and could now afford to splash out. It did make a pleasant change to hear so many voices around us.

 This morning is probably the coldest we’ve had this winter. Indeed, it was so cold in the boat that I put the heater on at 5 am. It will be something of a job to de-ice the car this morning, and that’s for sure.

 So, that’s another week over, the lady who bought my Nokia for her daughter is well chuffed, and so is her daughter as it’s her first mobile phone. We still haven’t discovered why the police were here a few days ago, but there’s still time for that. Hopefully I’ll get down to Harlow next Saturday, because I really do need to bring Alan’s HiFi unit back and transfer some vinyl to CD.

 And that’s it for now.

 Take care folks.

 Dave, Sheila and Alex.