Winter Crick 2015 16 5

Monday 18^th January to Friday 12^th February

 Wednesday 20^th January

 Yesterday was a fun day, if you can call the following fun. After doing our shopping at Sainsbury’s, we came home and had a cup of coffee.

 Later in the morning we had a cup of tea and I noticed that the galley sink was blocked. This is not uncommon, but in this instance no amount of plunging would remove the obstruction. So, since I am unable to get down on my hands and knees, without some difficulty, it was down to Wifey to remove the pipework. But first we had to remove some stored items from the shelf under there.

 Fortunately, it was only the top pipe that needed cleaning out; the rest of that pipework is pretty haphazard. Equally fortunate is the fact that we have a length of 3 core cable in amongst our tools, so I was able to free up some of the gunge in the pipe. We already had the Immersion heater running, so it was then a simple matter of running the hot tap in the shower room, through the pipe and alternately the cold tap. You would not believe the amount of gunge that finally dropped out of that pipe.

 After lunch we walked over to the rubbish bins to dispose of our junk and recycling stuff and followed this up with a walk to the office for our mail. And, lo and behold, I had a letter from the hospital for an appointment with that nasty man who rummaged around in my bladder last year.

 Now, we have booked our boat in to have its bottom blacked. This takes a few days and so we also booked a short break in a cottage in Rutland Water. Believe it or not, the hospital has booked me in for the first day of that short break. So, once again I am obliged to cancel a hospital appointment. They weren’t too happy about my last cancellation; and nor was my GP, for that matter; so they won’t be best pleased this time. And, if they try to make an appointment for much later that April 1^st, that too will be cancelled.

 Such is life and all its praise, when you die, you’ve had it!!

 Thursday 21^st January

 I have a programme called Mediaface 4, which is a label design programme. When I bought the Acer I installed this, but an error message popped up, suggesting that it didn’t install correctly. So, I contacted the makers of the programme and they suggested I uninstall version 4 and download and install version 5. Unfortunately, the programme wouldn’t uninstall, so I returned to the makers and asked their advice. Their reply suggested I insert the CD and go through the install procedure but, when it gives me the choice, I should click on Remove. Once again, unfortunately, such a message did not appear, so I’ve emailed them again for more advice.

 Meanwhile I have found and downloaded Incredimail, a programme that allows the insertion of emoticons into emails. Whoopee!!

 Friday 22^nd January

 I am absolutely furious at myself! I downloaded and installed Incredimail, hoping to add some comical smileys to my emails and, guess what, it took over my emails. So much so that, when I opened Outlook, I didn’t receive any emails at all, they were all in Incredimail. In effect it replaced Outlook altogether. Well, I couldn’t have that, now could I? So, I uninstalled the programme, which led to further problems. After uninstalling the programme, I accessed my Internet account at Absolute Email and found that Incredimail had not only downloaded my emails, it had wiped them from the site. So, I now have no idea what emails were there.

 There was one email there, which came from the label makers, Neato and, it’s just as well I read that because I would now have no idea what to do with that programme either.

 Monday 25^th January

 As usual, we spent an hour at the club at lunchtime. As usual, we spent £2.00 on the meat raffle and, once again, we won a prize, this time it was the steak. That makes seven wins since we returned to Crick last October. Love it!!

 Tuesday 26^th January

 Sunday evening, we thought we might take the boat out for a few days from Monday morning. Unfortunately, after watching Country File and discovering we were about to be inundated with rain and high winds, we decided against such a stupid idea. As expected, the high winds came along yesterday, and the rain has now started, so we probably made the right decision.

 Wednesday 27^th January

 Wednesdays are usually ‘crumpet’ days. By which I mean, we have crumpets for breakfast. But, since we forgot to get crumpets the last time we went shopping, we’ll have to settle for toast.

 Now, when I bought the Acer, I assumed that the ‘ping’ I heard when booting up, was a normal thing with this laptop. However, when I played a music track the other day, I could hear that ‘ping’ in the background. That, I think, is not normal.

 So, I emailed Acer on Monday and back came their reply this morning. It seems I have a software issue and, if I would like to call their technical people, they would be happy to assist, but; yeah, there’s always a but; it will probably cost me, which means I’ll have to contact the person I bought it from and see what he has to say. Either that, or I get our local computer buff to have a look. Whichever way I go I can see this costing me.

 Saturday 30^th January

 Here we go again, more trouble with the car! I really am getting rather fed up with taking the darned thing to the garage. Only a few weeks back it was a problem with the exhaust, primarily the joint between the two catalytic converters. That job took Chris about four hours to complete. This time around it’s the exhaust again. I asked Malcolm to check it out yesterday afternoon, and he confirmed it is blowing, so in it goes again this morning. Hopefully it just needs tightening up at the aforementioned joint, but I’m not holding my breath. The trouble is, what with all this medical stuff; eye appointments and hospital appointments; I really do need a car. I guess I’ll just have to save a few more pennies and trade the Alfa in, for what, I don’t know yet!!

 Thursday 4^th February

 Well, almost another week has flashed past and I’ve been up to my neck creating a cartoon portrait for Wendy at the club. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be too much of a problem, but she has asked me to include her partner, Dean, and her two children, Ethan and Madison. So, I’m working of four photos, only the two of the kids being clear enough to work with.

So, what’s happened this week so far? Well, we’ve had high winds and lots of rain. We’ve also had some light frost. Other than that, well, Life Goes On, as they say.

 Another minor disaster was the zip breaking on my waterproof jacked, but since it’s as old as Methusalah, I’m now looking for a new one. That’s the lightweight one. My heavy, winter jacket has become very uncomfortable, especially when the weather is just cold enough for a heavy jacket, but not warm enough to wear a light jacket. So, I soon find myself sweating; especially on my arms; which sees me draping the sleeves over Wifey’s chair, in order to dry them out before wearing it again.

 More money has also been spent on the car, the exhaust again. Soon after that connecting part had been fitted between the two catalytic converters the darn thing started blowing again. Chris had done his best with that part of the job, but Malcolm decided it needed a couple of new bolts fitted; thus another £42.00. It’s only money!!!

 Today we popped into town in order to buy me one of my new jackets, but what we found were either too short or had those double zips in them. By double zips I mean those two slots at the bottom of the zip, the ones I have so much trouble lining up and fitting together with the toggle. Grrrr!! Damn things.

 Tomorrow we will be popping along to the huge Garden Centre that lies a little way outside Rugby. If I can’t get a decent waterproof jacket there, then I don’t know where I can.

 Friday 12^th February

 …..and there goes another week, during which time we’ve spent some time in Rugby; both looking for a new waterproof for me and taking my existing one in for a new zip.

 A couple of weeks ago I read about Dr. Michael Mosley and his Eight Week Diet, which is supposed to go some way towards improving one’s diabetes blood sugar levels, if not actually eliminating the problem itself. After reading about the types of food he recommended for his menus, I decided against it.

 However, last week sometime, I took a look on Amazon and found his book in paperback and costing only £3.75, so I took a gamble and bought it. Having read through about ¾ of it I have to say I’m pretty impressed. So much so that, after downloading a food calorie counter – and aiming to download a Glycaemic Index list – I am going to give it a try, once I’ve read through the rest of the book that is.

 Now, yet another weekend is almost upon us, so I guess I’d better post this blog.

 Take care and have a great weekend.

 Dave, Sheila and Alex.