Saturday 12th November to Thursday
17th November
Saturday 12th November
It’s still persisting out there and it’s
pretty windy too, so I’m afraid our wee Alex will have to wait awhile before he
goes out. He doesn’t seem to be all that concerned and is laying by the fire.
Besides which; just in case you consider me to be a heartless dog owner; when I
go down to Harlow; Wifey still doesn’t get up until her normal 7.30 on Sunday
morning, and he doesn’t seem too concerned. I only wish I could hold myself for
such a long time. He goes out at 10 pm and I usually take him out at 5.45 am;
almost 8 hours later. How does he do it?
Today we don’t have much to do and, if this
rain persists, we won’t be walking into town this morning. Fortunately, the
marina office sells the daily papers over the weekend and, since that’s all we
need today, we’ll wait until they come in.
Tomorrow I test drive the SAAB.
Sunday 13th November
Yesterday we had rain, lots of it. So much in
fact, that we didn’t bother walking to the village for the paper. Instead, I
took the car up there.
Now, as you all know, we’ve bought a new,
Bosch cylinder vacuum cleaner which, as we expected, is much quieter that the
old Electrolux. So, having packed the old one in the Bosch box, I lugged it out
to the car, ready for disposal to the tip in Barwell.
Yesterday afternoon, realising that we
couldn’t take it with us to check out the SAAB today, I went out there
intending to bring it back to the boat. Along the way I bumped into Daz – Darren
– and, purely by chance, asked if he was in need of a cleaner. Lucky me, he agreed to take it off
my hands. What a stroke of luck!!
Monday 14th November
Hallelujah! The problem of a newer car is
solved. We drove over to Toton and the Evans Halshaw site yesterday morning.
Although the car we were to test drive was only 2007, I didn’t harbour any
thought of it being perfect. The car in question, was a SAAB 9-3 1.8i SE and
had done less than 100,000 miles.
However, we were both pleasantly surprised at
the clean condition of the car. We took it for a spin around the local streets;
although that was probably no very wise, because the fuel tank was banging on
empty. After that there was no doubt in either of our minds, that we would buy
the car.
When we bought the Alfa, back in 2009/10, we
did so from a man who worked from home. The process of buying that car was
short and sweet. A short spin around the streets and a good look over the car
and, after signing on the dotted line, the Alfa was ours.
Where the SAAB was concerned the process took
forever. We left here at about 8.45 in the morning and arrived at 9.30. The
site doesn’t open until 10 am, so we had to wait for that half hour. Even so,
by the time we had test driven the car and signed away our money, it was well
past 12.30 by the time we had driven home, making us somewhat late for our
lunchtime drinky poohs.
I have to say, I am well pleased with the car
so far. However, at some point in the future; before we set off for our 2017
cruise; I’ll ask Dale to check it out. We don’t want to be landed with a hefty
bill when the car goes in for its MOT in August.
This morning we’ll take a walk into MB for a
wee bit of shopping and then chill out for the rest of the day.
Tuesday 15th November
The story so far: We’ve had no end of trouble
with our mobiles, because the transmitting tower at Twycross has been out of
action. This has caused problems with insuring our pretty, new SAAB, because
the insurance companies will not accept two addresses online when applying for
cover. Why this is so baffles me, but then I’m easily baffled.
Anyway, our existing insurers; Bradford and
Bingley; have offered us cover at double what we were paying on the Alfa, so
we’ve looked elsewhere and, through LVE have saved £300 on B&B. So far so
good. Well, no, actually, because of their rules governing two addresses.
Living on a boat does have its difficult points, and this is one of them.
Yesterday, whilst trying to arrange our
insurance with LVE, we went to Live Chat in order to try sorting out this
problem with where our bank details are registered – Harlow – and where we
currently reside – Market Bosworth.
Unfortunately, since the mobile transmitter
was still down, I was unable to phone them to discuss the situation and they
were unable to call me. This morning, thank de lawd, our mobiles are back
online. So, since my LVE quote is valid until Thursday, I will call them today
and get this sorted.
Wednesday 16th November
Yesterday, after our stroll into town, our
coffee on our return and reading of the paper thereof, we settled in for a
quiet day. Around midday I took Alex for a walk and introduced him to our new
car. Thankfully our pooch is able to contain his excitement and didn’t pee all
over the upholstery. So, as I happened to be there anyway, I set up the time
and date and then the radio. I’m hoping that the reception will be better as I
leave the M1 and onto the A414, when visiting Alan. I always took a couple of
cds with me when driving the Alfa, because reception went all haywire at that
point. No amount of retuning solved the problem.
Today I ‘m not sure what we’re doing. We do
need to replace the radiator in the bedroom though and that requires a visit to
B&Q in Hinckley. I’ve also noticed staining along the skirting of the SAAB,
which will require a visit to Halfords for paint. No doubt they will be able to
advise me on that. B&Q and Halfords are both located in Hinckley, but in
opposite directions to each other. Well, of course they are!!
Other than the above I also need to tackle
sending and receiving emails on my new phone. This has been a problem with the
last three phones. Even when accessing the Internet through Yahoo, going to my
Absolute Email site and entering my details, I have never been able to get to my
email Inbox. Fortunately Absolute Email have directed me to the relevant
instructions for the correct settings. If I’m still unable to send and receive,
they have asked that I send them precise details of the fault. Happy days.
At the moment this phone is pinging me, at
about 15 minute intervals, complaining that an email I tried sending cannot be
sent. Well, I know that and have tried to delete that email, all to no avail.
Where are all the schoolkids when you need them? I was watching the news last
night and was appraised of the 14 year old who is a multi-millionaire. How did
he do this? He set up a small business, sending out reminder stickers to car
owners, that reminded them of when their car tax was due. How simple is that?
He then went on to but a huge patch of land for £40k and sold it to a developer
for £2million. He, no doubt, would sort my phone problem out in a flash!!
Later…..
First thing this morning, I tried using the
mobile but, once again the transmitter is down. So, after walking to the shops
and back and enjoying our coffee, I went on to Live Chat with 02 again. Of
course, apart from the usual platitudes, I got absolutely nowhere and we’re
still without our mobiles.
So, at the suggestion of the nice man at 02,
I downloaded TUGO from the 02 site. This is a WiFi programme that allows
messages to be sent through WiFi on a mobile phone. This would have allowed me
to contact my daughter, using my mobile, through my WiFi unit. There’s only one
problem with this, the PIN for the signing in of the programme, is sent to my
mobile, which, as I’ve just explained, is not in use, because the transmitter
is down.
So, being the clever so and so that I am, I
thought I might download and use WhatsApp. But, as I soon discovered, this only
applies to all but Windows Laptops. Oh, Joy!!!
Thursday 17th November
After downloading TUGO yesterday, to this
computer, I noticed that, each time I booted up the programme it took over my
screen. I’m sure there must be some way of stopping this but, since I don’t really
need it on the laptop, I deleted it, pronto!
Now, the skirt along the sides of the SAAB is
looking pretty stained, so we needed to get to Halford’s for something to tidy
them up. We also need mats for the car and, just in case we get a bit low; like
the Alfa did from time to time; we also needed a container of oil. So, off we
trotted to Halford’s for said items, which gave me an excuse to spend time with
my shiny, new SAAB.
I have to say, compared to the Alfa, the SAAB
is a joy to drive. We seem to keep our cars for several years and, during that
time, certain things tend to deteriorate, but we don’t seem to notice the
deterioration. As a consequence of this, when we drive a newer car, we notice
the difference. For example, the engine is much quieter and the drive is
smoother. Also, as you would expect, the gear change is easier too, thank
goodness.
When we got back to the boat, I decided to
get the laptop out and do some printing, But, having set it all up I
discovered, to my horror, that our printer had disappeared from the list of
hardware. This has happened in the past and always seems to be after a
Microsoft update. Remember you folks who think about upgrading from Win 7 to
Win 10, you won’t have a choice. Windows 10 insists on periodic updates,
whether you like it or not.
So, we now had the task of finding the
printer and, after many attempts at reinstalling the software and such, our
only recourse was to restore the laptop to an earlier time. I don’t much like
doing this, because it can cause other upsets, but I had tried everything I
knew to get the printer back, so I set to it.
Unfortunately, the first attempt failed, so I
returned it to a restore point of my own making. Now, from time to time, at a
point where I know the laptop is performing reasonable well, I make a restore
point of my own and apply a name to it that I recognise. This action meant that
I had a point at which I could return the laptop to where, I hoped, the printer
was still there. Thankfully, this worked, although I did take an age to
complete. The only trouble is, I notice that there was an icon missing from the
desktop and, to this time, I have no idea what it was??
Now, TUGO! This is the programme I downloaded
to the laptop and then deleted. Well, later in the evening I discovered, to my
extreme anger, that our mobile phone transmitter at Twycross, was out of
action, yet again. Poor old Wifey, she really suffers when I rant and rave at
the incompetence of big business. But, she remains stoical and tries her best
to ignore my tantrums.
Anyway, I really wanted to get in touch with
my daughter, Teresa, so I turned on the WiFi unit and proceeded to download
TUGO to my mobile via the Internet. This worked perfectly and I was able to
text Teresa and Alan without a problem. So, lucky me and very happy me, I have
no need to go online to 02 and have another online chat session, with someone
totally anonymous and someone who can do absolutely nothing to solve the
problem. All he or she can do is commiserate with my plight.
Today, if the weather improves; and it
doesn’t look as though we’re in for a pleasant day; I might just give the
skirting on the SAAB a going over. However, even if the weather is unpleasant,
I could still fit the mats. Who knows? Who cares? It’s just another day.
Later…..
The weather has not improved. Well, it did
brighten up for a while, but it is now chucking it down, some of which is
sleet. So, apart from dragging the dog out, we’re not doing much today.
However, many years ago; in fact, back in the
late 80s; I started collecting Danby Mint Jaguars. Sadly, due to circumstances
beyond our control; i.e. the fact that our customer base deserted us for a
Safeway store just four miles away; we became quite skint and I was unable to
complete the set.
So, what is this leading to? Well, I managed
to collect seven of the 12 cars and they have been nicely boxed up since the
day I bought them. This morning, therefore, I have, with the help of my ever
loving Wifey, been photographing them and intend to list them on eBay. The
trouble is, I can’t make my mind up whether to list them separately, or
collectively. Horns of a dilemma come to mind.
Meanwhile, while I stew on that particular
conundrum, and while I’m sitting at my laptop and have nothing better to do, I’ll
post this blog. I do hope you enjoy reading these six pages and that you enjoy
the forthcoming weekend. We certainly intend to.
Take care all.
Dave, Sheila and Alex.
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