Thursday 17 November 2016

Bosworth Marina Winter 2016/17 #5

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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