23rd November to
28th November
Saturday 23rd
November
If you’ve heard of Open
Office, you’ll know that there are several varieties of this free alternative
to Microsoft, one of which is called Apache. But the one that I have on disc is
called Ubuntu, an African word meaning ‘shared humanity’.
I’ve already loaded Apache on
the Toshiba laptop, but this morning I decided to give Ubuntu a go. This is
much bigger than Apache, at 5 Gb and according to the blurb, also gives
completely free and secure access to the Internet via Firefox.
It kind of mirrors what you
would expect to see on a Windows screen, except that all the programme icons
sit to the left hand side.
Unfortunately, with the
limited time at my disposal first thing in the morning I really didn’t have
enough of that commodity with which to investigate further. It seems though, as
if it is necessary to manually select the means by which you wish to access to
the Internet, because this didn’t come up automatically.
Looks like a long learning
curve for this one. However, if you would like to try something completely
different, it might be worth your while to check out Ubuntu, which can be
installed alongside your current platform; be it MS or Mac; or it can be
installed as your only platform, eliminating the Windows or MAC System.
I’ll certainly be taking a
closer look at this over the coming weeks.
Sunday 24th
November
With all the problems with
our ‘Three’ WiFi and the weak signal from the marina one, we decided to fork
out £32 for a WiFi Aerial, which arrived yesterday. So, having fitted the
aerial to our top box and, having dug out the Toshiba, I plugged in the aerial but,
as soon as I tried to access the Internet, I was asked for a User Name and
Password, neither of which I had at my disposal.
In high dudgeon then I
traipsed across to the marina office, where Noel filled out a form for me to
sign, upon which were the necessary details. And that’s when my problems really
started.
Knowing I would still be
unhappy at having had to chase around for UN and P, Wifey had a cup of tea
ready for me. So understanding is that woman. Anyway, once again I connected to
the marina WiFi, but this time when I tried accessing the Internet, no nag
screen came up and, after several attempts at jiggery pokery here and there, I
finally gave up on the Toshiba. I have no idea what the problem can be, but I
may try carrying out a Restore sometime.
I then dragged out the VAIO,
but not for the WiFi, no, this time I wanted to do a full back-up onto an
external hard drive, of which I have two, a 160Gb and a 320Gb Verbatim. For
some reason, which still remains a mystery to me, neither laptop will accept
the smaller of the two as a back-up unit, so I always try the 320 first. But,
wouldn’t you know it, the laptop couldn’t see it. Then, when I unplugged the
HDD, a nag screen came up telling me the device needed formatting and ‘would
you like to format now’?
Of course, I clicked ‘yes’
and plugged it back in, but I then had another screen telling me the item could
not be formatted, by which time I’m pulling my hair out. Anyway, after much
faffing around with the Control Panel, I finally got the thing to format and,
because it took so long, removed laptop and HDD to the bedroom to await
results.
Eventually, after a couple of
hours; or so it seemed; formatting was completed and I then instituted full
back-up. This was at about 2pm, but, by the time we wanted to sit down to
dinner, only about 20% of the back-up was completed, so into the bedroom it
went again.
We usually retire at about
10pm, by which time only 60% of the back-up was completed and it wasn’t until I
answered a call of nature at about 2am, that I discovered it was finished.
The good news is that, after
plugging in the new aerial to the VAIO and connecting to the local WiFi, up
came that nag screen asking for UN and P, which I gladly supplied. I now have a
much faster, although insecure Internet access.
Naturally, whilst I was
online, up came another screen, this time from Avast, telling me I had an insecure
line and offering protection for an extra £5.95 per month. This would probably
be worth it, but I must first ask Wifey before committing to a regular outlay.
I can always cancel it when we leave here next April.
Other news? None whatsoever,
because I spent all day faffing about with the laptop.
Today is Sunday and, after
all the frustration of yesterday I really do deserve my Sunday lunchtime drink.
Now, like most pet owners,
I’m a big softy. I just can’t help it. So, when I contacted a very kind-hearted
family member about Rusty’s sad demise, she mentioned something called The
Rainbow Bridge. Of course, I thanked her for her kind thoughts, thinking no
more about the subject.
Realising that I obviously
hadn’t even heard of The Rainbow Bridge, this kind person – whose name will
remain between us, just in case she would rather not see her name in print –
then offered to tell me about it. The following what she sent:
THE
RAINBOW BRIDGE
There is a bridge connecting
Heaven and Earth. It is called the Rainbow Bridge because of its many colours.
Just this side of the Rainbow Bridge there is a land of meadows, hills and
valleys with lush green grass.
When a beloved pet dies, the
pet goes to this place. There is always food and water and warm spring weather.
The old and the frail animals are young again. Those who are maimed are made
whole again. They play all day with each other.
There is only one thing
missing. They are not with their special person who loved them so on Earth. So,
each day they run and play until the day comes when one suddenly stops playing
and looks up! The nose twitches! The ears are up! The eyes are staring! And
this one suddenly runs from the group!
You have been seen, and when
you and your special friend meet, you take him, or her, in your arms and
embrace. Your face is kissed again and again and again, and you look once more
into the eyes of your trusting pet.
Then you cross the
Rainbow Bridge together, never again to be separated.
Now, isn’t that just so slushy and warm? I love it.
Monday 25th November
We have to take the bus into Rugby today. Why?
Because, after just eight days of use, the new electric kettle we bought from
Argos has packed up. What makes this so annoying is that we searched high and
low, amongst all kinds of shops and stores, for a 1 litre kettle, which took us
several weeks, only to find one in Argos and that one’s no good.
I made a start on my pastel
of Rusty and, so far so good. This time though, instead of starting at the top
and working down, I started at the point where I made my big mistake, her eye.
After spending half an hour filling in the water and reflections last time, I
made a right mess of her eye and had to tear the paper up. This time it’s
looking pretty good and I can always turn the paper upside down to work on the
water.
This Crick WiFi Hotspot is
working quite well through the new aerial. It’s a funny operation though, when
it comes to connecting. When I plug the aerial in I have to wait a while until
the signal is recognised by the laptop. I then have to click ‘connect’ on the
appropriate icon. However, in order to make a proper connection, I then have to
go onto the web and sign in. If I don’t do that first then I am unable to
download my emails through Outlook. Still, it works and that’s the point of
shelling out £32 for the aerial. My ‘Three’ WiFi unit is now back in its box
until we leave here in April.
Tuesday 26th
November
Sister Carole is studying
Archaeology and has asked me to find some books for her. This is OK, I’m happy
to help. I use a site called Addall, which has access to most of the other
online book sellers, so it’s usually easy tracking down out of print books.
This morning, nice and early,
I accessed the site and easily found the first of three books that Carole wants.
After that, slooooow, with the screen sitting there, all blank and with the
cursor circling like a demented gnat. Will try again later.
Meanwhile, Wifey has a
fasting blood test this morning at 8.30, so she’s going to be ravenous when she
gets home.
Later……
After much faffing about at
Addall and, after overcoming my dear sister’s incorrect info, I finally managed
to order her books, all from Amazon although, after that Panorama programme, I
must admit to hesitating about that.
“Two women called at my door and
asked what bread I ate. When I said white they gave me a lecture on the
benefits of brown bread for 30 minutes. I think they were those Hovis
Witnesses.”
Wednesday 27th
November
Well, I once again set up the
Toshiba and attempted to get online via local WiFi, but still with no luck. The
procedure for doing so goes like this:
1/ Plug in the aerial lead
and click on the little triangular icon in the System Tray
2/ Click ‘Connect’ on the
marina WiFi icon
3/ Click on Internet Access
4/ Fill in the User Name and
Password.
Simple? No!
At stage 3/ of the
proceedings a blank Internet screen comes up and my cursor, once again, sits
there whirring away like a demented gnat. Then after what must be at least a
minute, up comes the sign-in screen.
So, not too happy with this
state of affairs, I carried out a Restore on the Toshiba, but still had the
same problem. I have now given up on the Toshiba for now.
Back to the VAIO and, because
I had already signed in on that one, I had no problems getting online. Ah well,
you can’t have everything.
Thursday 28th
November
You may remember me
mentioning a 1 litre kettle that we bought from Argos recently? Well, a few
days ago we returned that kettle for a replacement, because it simply stopped
working.
Today we’ll be returning the
replacement for another kettle, but this time for a different make and model,
because the replacement sprung a leak. Not just any old leak though, oh no,
this was around the base and ran onto the base that’s connects the kettle to power.
You can imagine the result had we not noticed the leak and switched it on. At
the very least the fuse would have blown but, since this is 13 amp, the charge
could well have bypassed the fuse and blown our Inverter/Charger or tripped out
the outside supply. Nasty!!
Considering the fact that
this particular model of kettle is unreliable and potentially dangerous, I have
reported the matter to Argos Customer Services. As to whether they will take it
up with the manufacturers, well, we can only hope.
After returning said kettle
this morning we’ll be heading for Watford gap Services, where I’m hoping to
find a decent pair of boots.
On that happy note I think
I’d better post this blog.
Happy days from Dave and
Sheila.
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