Winter Crick 2015 16 3

Saturday 28^th November to Friday 18^th December

Thursday 3^rd December

 Well, it’s been a pretty busy week, especially first thing in the morning, when I’ve been sorting out stuff to save from the VAIO and also setting up the new Acer, so, my apologies for being so lax in keeping this blog up to date.

 Now, on the 9^th of November I ordered a seat support for my armchair, because one of the springs had broken and I’m not in the market for a new armchair. I ordered this item from a catalogue call Home Shopping Selections, with whom we have shopped in the past.

 On the day that this was ordered a pretty screen popped up with details of the order and, as is my wont I saved this as a .pdf document on my desktop.

 It is now the 3^rd of December and, a few days ago I contacted Customer Services at said company, asking where my item was. No reply to that one. So, I left it for a few more days and contacted them again. Still no reply. This I consider to be very rude and, in an attempt to get satisfaction I have now drafted a letter to their Managing Director; whoever he/she may be.

 Today I am putting my beloved Alfa Romeo in the garage for repairs to the exhaust and, quite possibly a new wheel bearing. Only then can I even consider a pre-Christmas jaunt down to Harlow.4^th

 Friday 4^th December

 Just for a change I received some good news from the garage and I have the car back with nothing having been done to it. I took the Alfa up to the garage at 9 am and waited around for Malcolm to return and give me a lift back to the marina. It’s a pretty long walk from there, which I could probably manage but, with no pavement whatsoever, the easiest option is a lift.

 Anyway, I digress. After Chris checked out the exhaust; which is blowing slightly; he discovered that the problem lay with the connecting flexi-pipe between the two sections of the catalytic converter. Now, to buy this item from Alfa would necessitate buying the whole unit, including the CC. However, our Chris managed to find the connector online and has ordered that, saving me quite a few quid in the process. Not only that but he feels that the wheel bearings are only slightly worn and suggested we leave them for a later date.

 All in all I’m pretty pleased with Chris and I’m looking forward to the exhaust being hushed up.

 Last night we had a pretty severe storm at just about the time that Wifey takes Alex out before bed, so we had to stay up for an extra half hour. I don’t believe we’ve ever gone through such a fierce downpour. You can imagine torrential rain and the deafening noise it makes on our steel roof.

 Monday 7^th December

 We had a pretty good weekend, culminating in an hour at the club, followed by a pretty good evening of TV.

 Today, despite the problem with the exhaust, we drove over to Waitrose in Daventry and, on the way back, called into the chandlery in Braunston for a few bits and bobs.

 The rest of today will be spent as lazy as possible.

 Thursday 10^th December

 I took the car to the garage yesterday morning in order for the exhaust to be repaired. Chris, the mechanic, had told me that the link between the two catalytic converters had a crack in it and that if we were to order from Alfa, the cost would be astronomical, because they would insist on supplying the whole unit, including the catalytic converters. However, having looked around online, he found the necessary link. Great!

 This link cost just £45.00, but with his labour costs of £120.00 plus VAT, the total came to almost £200.00. Not so great! However, I can now pop down to Harlow on Saturday without worrying if the exhaust will blow.

 Today we’ll drive over to Daventry and top up with petrol.

 Saturday 12^th December

 Yesterday was taken up with installing Windows 10 on the new Acer, but it wasn’t plain sailing. The first message I received on screen was to tell me I could now upgrade to Windows 8.1 for free. So, I pressed Install and waited for something to happen. But, when nothing seemed to be going on and I received another message telling me I could upgrade to Windows 10 for free, I pressed Install and up came a screen with the progress of the download.

 Now, this process, judging by the %age ticking away on screen, seemed as though it would take about 3 hours, so I sat back and waited. Eventually, just as Win 10 was finishing, up popped wide band of green, which told me Win 8.1 was almost finished.

 It was now a race between the two and, you’ve guessed it, Win 8.1 finished first, wiping out all the Win 10 download. So, off we went again, downloading Win 10. Thankfully this didn’t take as long as it did whilst downloading 8.1. Eventually all of Win 10 downloaded and I then had to wait quite some time whilst it finished the installation process.

 I have to say that Windows 10 is far superior to Windows 8. I have no idea how it compares to Windows 8.1, since I didn’t take the time to check it out.

 One thing did give me a problem though, and that was that Win 10 doesn’t have a Control Panel as such. Instead, if, as I wanted to do, you need to uninstall a programme, you first have to find it in the list of Apps. You then simply click on the App and will be presented with a drop down window where you can uninstall.

 Unfortunately, the programme I wanted to uninstall hadn’t installed properly in the first place; I think because it was too old to run effectively in Win 10. I’m going down to Harlow today, so that job will have to wait until tomorrow, along with the installing of Office 10.

 Tuesday 15^th December

 Today we went shopping at Sainsbury’s and, whilst we were there picked up a copy of Computer Shopper magazine, which contains loads of tips regarding Windows 10. One section list a whole bunch of Anti-Virus products that their experts have checked out and, the one that comes top of this list, with a 100% success rate, is Kasperski, which will be the next item I download.

 Unfortunately I’ve already ordered McAfee from eBay, but I can always resell that unopened and should get much the same as I paid for it.

 I’ve installed Gimp on the new computer; that’s the Cartoon Portrait programme; but am having trouble finding the executable file. It must be somewhere simple, but seems to be somewhat elusive at this point. I know where it resides in Windows 7, but Windows 10 is another gether altomatter.

 Friday 18^th December

 I realise I have been neglecting this blog, and for that I apologies. In mitigation all I can say is that the transfer of files from this VAIO to the new Acer, is causing me something of a headache. There’s also the problem with Office 10; which was ‘loaned’ to me by a friend; the main problem of which has been trying to send emails through Outlook. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be an answer to the problem, mainly because the programme has already been installed on the maximum number of computers.

 So, I’m now on the horns of a dilemma, or, between a rock and a hard place; do I install my own Office 7 Home and Student, or go for the annual subscription for Office 365??

 I’m still cogitating this problem.

 Now, the weekend is almost here and I think I’ll post this rather short blog. But, before I do so I’ll relate what we did today and how I’ve saved myself a couple of hundred quid.

 We took a run over to Daventry with the express intention of arranging for me to have a new set of specs. However, after booking an eye test and having my current pair adjusted for a better fit, I went through with the test and discovered I need a cataract removed from my right eye. I also discovered that my current prescription is OK and that, after my cataract is removed, I’m even less likely to need new specs.

 Now, that’s what I call a result.

 And, with that I’ll wish you all a very pleasant weekend. Also, with the fun I’m having sorting out these two laptops, please do not expect another posting before Christmas.

 Have a good ‘un folks.

 Dave, Sheila and Alex.