Winter 2014/15: Crick 10

Monday 2^nd to Sunday 15^th February

 Tuesday 3^rd February

 We took a run into Northampton yesterday morning and stayed a bit longer than expected; we left at 9am and were back on the boat just before 1pm. Alex was lying on Sheila’s armchair when we came in, but he didn’t seem to be his usual chipper self. Normally he can jump up the front step and off the boat very easily, but he just didn’t seem to have enough energy at that time.

 We kept an eye on him for the rest of the day, but he seemed to be very downcast. This morning I found a solid lump of matter and other material by his bed, which I assume he has thrown up sometime during the night.

 Anyway, I took him out for his usual morning walk, but he still seems short of energy. Even now, at 7.30am he is on his bed, whereas he would normally be staring up at me awaiting his breakfast. We’ll make an appointment to see the vet later today and have him checked out.

 Thursday 5^th February

 Yesterday we took a run over to Sainsbury’s for a weekly shop but, since it has been a couple of weeks since we last paid that store a visit, we came away with far more than usual. In fact we filled the trolley and two shopping bags up.

 Today we’ll be taking the bus into Rugby, because I need some new underwear and because, well, just because………. This afternoon I’ll be spending more time on the laptop, listing a few things on eBay on a 10 day auction. Why am I listing them today? Well, this is an idea I picked up some years ago. If you list your items on Thursday afternoon, and if you list it on a 10 day auction, then the listing will end on a Sunday afternoon, which is when most people will be available to bid on your items. Simple!!!

 The weather now seems to be warming up; even though we had more snow overnight; so I’m more hopeful of getting down to Harlow for Saturday.

 Alex seems none the worse for his lack of energy yesterday, so a visit to the Vet has been avoided. He’s a funny lad, and no mistake.

 Monday 9^th February

 I drove down to Harlow on Saturday morning and had two visits to make; one to my old work colleague Les, the other to an even older work colleague, Chris and his wife Marilyn. However, because Chris was going out with his son by 12 noon, I needed to leave a little earlier than usual.

 After giving Les a lift to her daughter’s flat we returned to her house for a cuppa and a chat, as we usually do. I then drove over to see Chris and Marilyn, where I had an even longer chat and a coffee. Dead on the dot of 12 noon Chris’s son Paul turned up and I left at the same time, to arrive at Alan’s place at about 12.30 – the traffic along Southern Way was very heavy.

 Before doing anything else I had to set up my laptop and list a few items on eBay. I could have done this on Alan’s computer, but I took the laptop in order to check its behaviour on his WiFi. I had been worrying that my laptop may have been at fault when I’m on the Internet. However, I had no problems on Alan’s system, so I have to assume it’s a signal problem here on the boat. This means I’ll have to drive over to Maplin’s sometime and see if I can get an extension lead for my antenna.

 We spent our evening in The White Admiral as usual, but it was pretty quiet in the Saloon Bar, because most of the regulars were watching the Spurs/Arsenal match. Spurs won, if you’re interested.

 The drive home was pretty quick; I love that Sunday morning drive up the M1, when it’s pretty easy.

 Today I have no idea what we’ll be doing; the weather is somewhat milder so we may take a run over to Daventry Country Park.

 Tuesday 10^th February

 The weather turned out to be really quite mild and sunny, so we did take that run over to Daventry Country Park. On the way out; after just a short-ish walk; we studied the main board that highlights the different walks, and discovered that the last time we visited the Park we actually walked for 2½ miles. Not since our 4 mile round trip on the Llangollen Canal, where we walked down to Horseshoes Falls, have I managed a walk of that length.

 Today will be rather more sedate as it’s changed to cold and foggy out there.

Wednesday 11^th February

 Well, as I mentioned yesterday, we didn’t do very much with our day, just a walk to the Co-op for a few bits and pieces, then chill out for the rest of the day.

 I’m still having problems with the Internet though. For example, I have purchased several items over the past couple of years, from a guitar tutor called Mike Herberts, who makes learning much more fun. However, he’s now come up with a new, fingerpicking video and has sent links to his demos. Unfortunately my signal here is so weak that I can’t actually watch them without having them stall after just a few seconds. Yes, seconds.

 What I really need to do is raise our antenna so as to have a better line of sight to the nearest transmitter. But, having scoured the Internet for possible suppliers, I’ve come to a full stop. I’ve even tried Maplin’s, who are usually pretty good at these things, but even they don’t stock extension leads to my WiFi unit. This is a twin cable and I’m reluctant to cut it and splice an additional length of plain cable to it. I may be able to raise it a few inches if we put one of Wifey’s flower boxes on the roof and positioning it closer to the window upon which the WiFi is mounted, but that will only succeed in raising it a few inches at most. I think it needs to be a few feet higher if I’m to get that stronger signal.

 What peeves me about this situation is that there are four transmitters in this area, and we still have a weak signal. Even the marina WiFi is pretty useless, so there’s no point reverting to that. Life’s a bitch, etc, etc!!

 The only thing I haven’t tried; apart from raising the antenna a few inches; is to point it in a different direction. But I have my doubts about that being any better. Still, I suppose it’s worth a try.

 Thursday 12^th February

 Well, we took the bus into Rugby yesterday and I paid a visit to the ‘Three’ shop, again! This time I asked where I might be able to find an extension lead to the WiFi unit. Naturally they were unable to help. Why do I even bother??

 Today we’ll take a drive over to Daventry and, before visiting the Pets at Home store for Alex’s food, we’ll call into Homebase, just in case they have the necessary connectors for an extension lead. I’m not hopeful, but I might as well take a look. You never know, I might come up with an idea. Like I said earlier, I’m reluctant to splice a piece of cable to the existing one.

 Friday 13^th February

 No joy at Homebase, but I did find the eBay listing for the 4G Lte antenna and have asked the vendor if he can help with the extension lead. Meanwhile, I repositioned the antenna to a slightly higher position, which has certainly improved matters, although not as much as I would like. So, I still need that extension lead.

 Saturday 14^th February

 Having emailed the vendor of the antenna on Thursday morning, I received a reply from him yesterday. My message to him was, could he help me to find an extension lead for the antenna, as I needed to raise it in order to get a stronger signal. There are times when I wonder how these people make a living on eBay because he said in his reply, “doesn’t the antenna work?”

 I’ve now had to go through the whole question and answer routine again, simply because this idiot hasn’t bothered to read my email properly. Still, not to worry, I’m sure I’ll find what I want eventually. Meanwhile the signal is somewhat improved now that I have re-positioned it slightly.

 Sunday 15^th February

 I’m not surprised that the vendor of that antenna was so befuddles by my question, because I received another message from him this morning and, from the wording of the message, he’s not completely au fait with the English language. However, he’s going to try to help – he says – but his engineers are on holiday (?) for 15 days. What? All of them? We’ll see!!

 Now, I’ve only written four pages of this blurb, but it is quite a while since I last posted, so I’ll do that now.

 Have a good week folks.

 Dave, Sheila and Alex.

 

 

 

Winter 2014/15: Crick 9

Sunday 18^th January to Monday 2^nd February

 Tuesday 20^th January

 I now have a new iPphone, the same as I bought Wifey for Christmas, a Samsung Galaxy Young 2. This is so much better than the Nokia Lumia 630 that I upgraded to a few months ago, because it’s not a Windows phone and therefore not tied to Microsoft. There’s nothing wrong with Microsoft I suppose, but I had so much trouble accessing and downloading apps, that I eventually gave up on it.

 A couple of years ago, at the behest of that ‘nasty’ brother of mine, I upgraded my old flip-top phone for a touch screen phone and, every time I touched the screen to scroll up or down, the darned thing would go to the item I had touched; most annoying. Anyway, I phoned the 02 shop and explained my predicament and asked what I could do about it. The answer rather surprised me, because I was told to sell it, which I did, to a company that buys these things. Alright, so I still had to pay for it through my 02 contract, but at least I got rid of the thing.

 The point I am making here is that, now that I’ve bought a better phone I can now sell on the Nokia, but this time I’ll list it on eBay.

 On Sunday morning we took a drive over to Tesco at Junction 1 and bought the above mentioned mobile, SIM Free of course. Wifey’s one is tied to Tesco; which uses the 02 signal, but ‘roams for others if the 02 one is not available. It cost a bit more than I paid for her one, but that’s probably because they were selling them cheaper for the Christmas season.

 Of course, come lunchtime we were safely ensconced in the local club, in the company of Alex, naturally.

 Yesterday was too cold to go anywhere, and today is even colder, but we might just take the bus into Rugby and pay a visit to the ‘3’ shop. Sometimes when I’m online and flittering about between eBay pages or similar, I get this web page from ‘3’ pop up, which suggests my Internet signal is a bit weak. The trouble is, I can’t log in to my account at ‘3’, simply because I don’t know how.

 This website recognises me when I do attempt to log in, because it welcomes me with a ‘hi David’ at the top of the screen. The problem seems to be because I don’t have a mobile phone account with them, only my WiFi unit and the login info asks for my telephone number; which was allocated to me when I first signed up and which I’ve never used. It also asks for the last six digits on the back of my SIM card, which I obviously don’t have, since I don’t have a ‘3’ phone.

 So, with all that in mind, and not wishing to run up a phone bill by calling them on my 02 mobile, I’ll have to pay them a visit in order to find out how to log in to my account. Yeah, long-winded I know, but at least it kept me busy on the laptop, and I’ve succeeded in typing two pages of gumpf!

 Friday 23^rd January

 I recently scanned through eBay, looking for finger picks to use with the uke and guitar. I found an interesting one that advertised metal picks that fit over the fingers and thumb and nestle up against the finger/thumb nail. They seemed to be just what I was looking for, so I sent for them. They took a while to get here because they came from China. Sadly the only one that fit was the thumb pick, the others were too small.

 Anyway, I contacted the seller and explained the problem and he replied asking for a photo of my hand and measurements of my finger and has promised to send a couple more thumb picks, which I can adjust downwards in size to fit my fingers. Now, that’s what I call a great after sales service.

 I called into the ‘Three’ shop earlier this week and asked how I could access my account online. They thought this should be an easy matter, until they realised that I only had a WiFi account and no mobile phone with them. Their only suggestion was that, if I still had the box that came with it, I could download an app and run my iPhone over that Sudoku type black and white picture and access my account from there.

 But, I don’t still have the box! If we kept all the boxes from items we had bought we’d need a butty dragged behind the boat. So, anyway I went back to the ‘Three’ site and tried again. It seems though that the only way to contact ‘Three’ is to phone them on a premium rate line. If I had a ‘Three’ phone it would cost me nothing. I finally gave up on this quest and have written to them asking why, just because I don’t have mobile with them, I am unable to access my account. I’m hoping they will email me with an answer, but I’m not holding my breath.

Today, just for something to do, we’ll be taking the bus into Rugby.

 Saturday 24^th January

 Yesterday was the first day in living memory when we haven’t had to race around Rugby, do our shopping and catch the next bus home, only an hour after arriving there. This time we only needed to visit Asda for a small amount of shopping, which gave us plenty of time for a coffee before strolling over to the bus stop.

 I received a message from the eBay dealer this morning, advising me that he had been unwell and apologising for the delay in answering my last message. He also suggested that, should I require any other items he has up for sale, then he could package that and the thumb picks together. I suspect he’s worried about eBay’s reaction to him selling off-site, if they ever found out. Alternatively he’s simply pulling a fast one and hoping I’ll spend more money with him. So, the question is, ‘will he send them or not?’ Hmmmm!!

 We don’t have anything special to do today, except perhaps getting some coal, so we’ll probably take a walk up to the Co-op for the paper and milk. Oh what an exciting life we lead!!

 Sunday 25^th January

 The Fuzz paid the marina a visit yesterday and attended a boat further along the same pontoon as we’re moored at. Goodness knows what they were after, but there were three of them and they had two cars in the car park. If somebody has had their boat broken into, I feel sure they would have spoken to everyone on this pontoon, if only to ask if we had seen anything suspicious. No doubt the local grapevine will filter down to us in due course.

 And that was the extent of our excitement yesterday.

 Today? Well, it’s Sunday. I think you can guess how that will go!!

 Tuesday 27^th January

 About six months ago I upgraded my mobile phone, from a flip-top basic one to a pretty Windows iPhone. Having realised my mistake, after spending hours with Alan trying to access the Internet with it, I finally decided to buy a different phone; in fact the same a Wifey’s; and sell the Nokia Lumia 630. Yesterday morning I listed the Nokia on eBay and was most surprised when, later in the day I received confirmation of the sale. Naturally I posted it off straight away.

 Having experienced such success I am now going to be taking photos of other stuff I want to sell and hoping to make a few bob. This will all help towards trading in the Alfa for something more sedate; like a Merc or a Jag; but I haven’t quite decided which yet.

 Thursday 29^th January

 We took the bus into Rugby yesterday to pay a visit to Ryman’s for packing boxes and found just two that would meet our needs. So far I’ll be able to post off a couple of old cameras.

 I also have a very old Yashica half-frame 35mm camera and, since it doesn’t have a user manual with it, I took a quick look online and managed to download a .pdf copy. This item will make it much easier to sell, I think.

 Friday 30^th January

 We had to go to Northampton yesterday and the weather stayed fine for the couple of hours there. But, later in the day we had a pretty heavy fall of snow, which gets Alex running around like a loony. He really can be quite a laugh at times. Last night we had even more snow and I’m hoping we don’t get any more today, because I’m supposed to be going down to Harlow tomorrow.

 We also need to go shopping today, so I’m hoping the roads will be clear. The weather has been worse further north, so I guess we should be grateful for that.

 You will probably remember the problem I am having in accessing my ‘Three’ account online. The trip to their shop in Rugby and emailing the company, well, I received a reply from the a few days ago advising me on how to log in. In short they told me to go to their home site and click on the Inbox, where I would find a password. Of course, knowing these people of old, there was no Inbox and therefore no password. However, there was a New Message icon at the top of the screen but, as you would have guessed, I was required to log in before I could read it. Here we go again.

 So, I have now sent another email and have attached two screen shots of their Home Page and the Log in Box. Maybe they will sort it out from there, who knows? But I’m not holding my breath.

 Monday 2^nd February

 I can now access my account at ‘Three’, thanks to a recent email from them. It seems that the User Name of ‘admin’ was also the Password, but they hadn’t made that clear in the earlier email. Anyway I’m now good to go.

 So, now to the weekend, when I should have been going down to Harlow, well, due to adverse weather conditions I didn’t make it. We had snow on Friday and some of Saturday, and then it miraculously cleared, by which time it was too late to change my mind. From then on it was a normal weekend; a bit of shopping Saturday and the club on Sunday.

 Just for a change though, we met up with Annie and Dave; who have a boat moored along our pontoon; and we had a nice chat with them. Also, and much to our surprise, the club filled up pretty quickly, which is quite unusual for a Sunday lunchtime. This is probably because people had been paid at the end of the month and could now afford to splash out. It did make a pleasant change to hear so many voices around us.

 This morning is probably the coldest we’ve had this winter. Indeed, it was so cold in the boat that I put the heater on at 5 am. It will be something of a job to de-ice the car this morning, and that’s for sure.

 So, that’s another week over, the lady who bought my Nokia for her daughter is well chuffed, and so is her daughter as it’s her first mobile phone. We still haven’t discovered why the police were here a few days ago, but there’s still time for that. Hopefully I’ll get down to Harlow next Saturday, because I really do need to bring Alan’s HiFi unit back and transfer some vinyl to CD.

 And that’s it for now.

 Take care folks.

 Dave, Sheila and Alex.

 

 

 

 

 

Winter 2014/15: Crick/8

Thursday 1^st January 2015 to Sunday 18th January

 Friday 2^nd January

 I have yet to receive a reply to my latest moaning email to Epson, but then it was New Year’s Day yesterday. Still, it will be a nice surprise for them with which to start 2015.

 Am I wrong to expect a Wireless Printer to work with my 3G/4G WiFi Network? OK, it’s a Network of just one computer, but it’s still a Wireless Network. I’m beginning to wonder if it’s just me expecting too much of modern technology, or if we’re all being subjected to a load of BS from manufacturers.

 Yesterday, since our local shops live in the Dark Ages and close on New Year’s Day, we had to drive over to Daventry for the Daily Mail. Other than that we really didn’t do much for the rest of the day, and today won’t be much different as we’ll be shopping at Sainsbury’s.

 I’ll be off to Harlow on Saturday, mainly to collect Alan’s Galaxy iPhone and to have Wifey’s new one unlocked. Naturally there will be a few pints in the offing in the evening, as you would expect.

 Saturday 3^rd January

 I have been sending and receiving emails from Epson, trying to discover why my printer won’t work with my ne 3G/4G WiFi, when it worked perfectly well with my old 3G WiFi. So, here’s the griff:

 It seems that this particular printer is designed to work through a WiFi Router; as you would find in many homes these days. It is not designed to work with the type of WiFi that we are using. Indeed, should you decide to purchase an Epson printer, be aware that they do not employ the technology for using Mobile WiFi. How strange then that our one did indeed work with our Mobile WiFi.

 Confused.com!!

 Anyway we are still able to use it with the USB Cable, so I guess we’ll just have to put up with it. But we’ll be especially careful when choosing our next printer and it won’t be an Epson.

I’m off to Harlow this morning and it’s raining quite heavily here.

 Monday 5^th January

 I think I must have had the two most unpleasant journeys to and from Harlow, ever! On the way down all I could see was the cloud of spray from the vehicle in front, and on the way back it was thick, freezing fog, right up until the exit before mine, when we ran into bright sunshine. The transition from fog to sunshine was immediate. The fog didn’t thin out, it just wasn’t there anymore. Amazing!

 We sorted out Wifey’s iPhone at Tesco first and it seem that the on-screen padlock is a defence against inadvertently hitting an app with your ear. Apparently, the double tap on the padlock is supposed to free the phone for dialling. Sheila has yet to try it again.

 While sitting in the pub we also sorted out a couple of things with my iPhone. I can now download emails through Outlook and Yahoo, but I am still unable to access my account at Absolute Email when I go online. I can’t imagine what the problem can be, but I suspect it will take an awful lot of effort to find out. But, since I don’t really need to access the account from my phone, I think I’ll pass.

 Tuesday 6^th January

 My trip to Harlow was partly to collect Alan’s old Galaxy, which had been in the repair shop and had cost him quite a bit to have repaired. Unfortunately, when he tried to use it, it still didn’t work, so I still have my Nokia Lumia. Alan has now got to do battle with the repair shop. In the meantime he’s put the Experia that Steve gave me when we were at Mercia, in for repair. This I know will cost me £35, but it will always come in handy as a spare, since I already know that it will work with my SIM.

 Yesterday we hunted around eBay for a phone cover for Sheila’s new Galaxy Young 2, and found a very pretty white one with flowers on. It seems though that eBay are first with this cover, because none of the shops seem to stock them yet as the phone is too new for them!!

 Our plan this morning, if it isn’t pouring with rain and windy to boot, is to take the boat round for a diesel top up, which is long overdue. We still have a few gallons in there, but it is still quite low. If the weather is too bad for such a short trip, we’ll probably take the bus into Rugby. We won’t be buying diesel there, just doing a bit of retail therapy.

 Wednesday 7^th January

 Well, it didn’t rain yesterday morning, but it was far too windy for traipsing the boat around to the diesel point, so we took the bus into Rugby instead.

 This morning is much colder and frosty and, if the wind stays away, job done!

 Thursday 8^th January

 It was rather difficult to make a decision about taking the boat for a top up of diesel. At first it was quite windy and, if it’s windy along the canal, then it’s sure to be even windier in the marina. However, after walking up to the Co-op first and seeing that it wasn’t really too bad at all, I decided to take the chance.

 Backing out of our moorings was OK, and taking the boat around to the diesel point was also OK, but it was after we had finished that we noticed that the wind was quite a bit stronger. Fortunately we were facing into the wind, so reversing up from the pump wasn’t too difficult. However, getting out of the marina was another matter because, as I manoeuvred the boat towards the exit,  the wind started taking the stern away from where I wanted it to be, with the resultant mini-disaster that followed. I hit the edge of the protective strip at the exit channel. Thankfully no damage was done, but I will give greater consideration to taking the boat round there again, especially if there’s a strong wind.

 Friday 9^th January

 Yesterday, apart from a walk to the surgery and around the houses, was a pretty relaxing day; lots of reading a puzzle doing filled up most of the day, interspersed with walks with Alex.

 I have probably told you before, but Alex is quite an intelligent pooch. Most evenings at about 8pm he sits in front of me and stares. By this time it’s only an hour since he’s been out, so he doesn’t need another walk.

 Anyway, we’ve been puzzling over what the heck it can be that he wants. We’ve tried throwing his ball along the boat, but that doesn’t seem to be it. We’ve tried playing tug-of-war with his rope toy, but that’s not it either.

Last night it suddenly dawned on us what was making him do this. We usually feed him at about 4pm but, by 3pm he’s already waiting for his dinner. Similarly, he knows that we usually have a cuppa and sticky bun at about 8.30pm. All he’s doing is reminding us of this, but far too early for our liking. Being the rotten dog owners that we are, we simply make him wait until we’re ready. Is that cruel, or what?

 Saturday 10^th January

 As we didn’t have much shopping to get this week, due to the extras we bought for the Christmas period, we took the bus into town and shopped at Asda instead of Sainsbury’s. Unfortunately this doesn’t give us time to have a coffee, so it’s a case of a quick top up of cash for the weekend, then straight round to Asda and so on to the bus stop.

 I received a text from Alan yesterday, telling me he had posted off the Experia phone to me and that he’d sent it Guaranteed Next Day Delivery, which means it should arrive here sometime today.

 I also received a text from Alan Oxley, telling me that he and Chris are now here in the U.K. and will be leaving again next Thursday. Also, as we now have a new dog and their flat is in Newcastle under Lyme, it’s now difficult to arrange a get together. We’ll just have to see what we can arrange when they return from Malta.

 Sunday 11^th January

 Yesterday was cold and wet, today is cold and windy. What can you make of our changeable weather these days?

 Well, I received the old Experia phone yesterday and even managed to insert my SIM Card, but I can’t say I was all that impressed with it. For instance, it doesn’t seem to have the facility that comes up with possible words for whatever you are typing. I’ve become so used to that particular method of texting that I don’t want to be without it. I certainly don’t want to resort to texting shorthand. So, I’m in a bit of a quandary because, having checked the price of the Samsung Galaxy Young 2, which is the one Wifey now has, I’m afraid they are a wee bit expensive. I guess I’ll just have to give the matter some more thought.

 Thursday 15^th January

It just goes to show that our lives aboard a narrow boat tend to be much of a muchness; my last entry was on Sunday!!

 However, we have had there are one or two odd things I need to comment on. The first of these is a scare that Alex gave us on Tuesday evening. At about 7pm he started making funny noises in his throat. It seemed as though he may have had something stuck there and was trying to swallow it or bring it up. This went on for a while, until finally we decided to give the Vet a call. Of course these things never happen during normal opening times, so we had to ring the emergency number.

 The first thing the person asked was, “Have we seen Alex before?” To which I replied, “No, you haven’t”, at which point I was told that the call out fee would be £150.00. Luckily, after explaining the problem, I was told to give him a piece of bread to see if that would shift it and, since he didn’t seem to be in any distress, that’s what we did. It didn’t cure the problem, but he did eventually settle down. On reflection we think he may just have had hiccups and, when Wifey took him out later she met up with Peter; who also has a Jack Russell called Tommy; who told her that Tommy sometimes has this problem, but that it soon passes. Well, thank goodness for that.

 Alex finally got over his ‘hiccups’ and we went to bed without being too concerned.

 For our dinner yesterday Wifey decided to do Toad-in-the-Hole, which we now call Frog-in-a-Bog. Why? Well, a few days ago she was reading an article in the Mail under the heading, “Out of the Mouths of……”. This related the story of a young lad who, when asked by his teacher what he had had for his dinner, actually said Frog-in-a-Bog. When asked what he meant he told the teacher that, although his mum had told him it was called Toad-in-the-Hole, he simply transposed it into Frog-in-a-Bog. How smart is that?

 We also took the bus into Rugby on Tuesday, just to collect my jacket, which was having its sleeves shortened. This should have been ready on Friday but, since we couldn’t go into town on that day, or on Monday either, we fully expected to be able to collect it on Tuesday. The lady who runs this little one woman band became all of a dither and said she would start on it immediately and asked us to ‘come back in 20 minutes’. Obviously the job was a wee bit trickier than expected, since it still wasn’t ready when we returned.

 Anyway, so as not to put too much stress on her, we told her we had to catch a bus home and said we’ll come back on Thursday. Hopefully she will have it finished this morning. She was halfway through the job when we left her, so we fully expect it to be done.

 The weather here of late has been a mixture of wind and rain, a smattering of snowflakes and freezing cold mornings with clear skies. Today looks set to continue with strong winds and the ‘experts’ have told us to expect even more rain; our barometer suggests the same, so we know what to expect.

 Sunday 18^th January

 I’ve done it again, left the blog alone for a few days. Muy bad!!

 Never mind though, not a lot has happened over that period, so you’ve not missed much.

 Friday we took the bus into Rugby and I finally collected my jacket which had been put in for sleeve alterations. I suffer from short arms – and deep pockets! – so the sleeves had to be shortened.

 Yesterday was a quiet Saturday, although our neighbours on both sides have been on board for part of last week, they were quite considerate. The system here at Crick is for residential boaters to have non-residential boats moored both sides, thus avoiding any friction from close neighbours. Occasionally those people turn up and carry out necessary jobs at times, but we’re left in peace most of the time.

 Today will be a normal Sunday, with a walk to the Co-op and another walk to the club at lunchtime. And, on that thought I think I’d better publish this post. We’ve had some problems with the Internet of late, so I’d better do so while I have a strong signal.

 Cheers for now

 Dave, Sheila and Alex

 

 

 

 

 

Winter 2014/15: Crick/7

Sunday 21/12/14 to Wednesday 31/12/14

 Wednesday 24/12/14

 I eventually took the M1 South, then the A414 through Hatfield and Hertford and then Harlow on Monday morning. Unlike most times when we cross the motorway bridge on our way to Daventry, and the motorway is one huge tailback, it was pretty clear and made my trip so much faster.

 Now, up until this time I had no idea what to buy Sheila for Christmas. Indeed, I hadn’t even found a suitable card either. So, having dropped in on Les, dropped cards into David’s place and paid a visit to Marilyn, I finally found my way to Alan’s place and dragged him out to find a suitable present for Wifey.

 Our first destination was The Range, at which I fully expected to find a card at least, but they didn’t seem to have any of those. So, in a complete panic, I then phone Wifey and asked if she could PLEASE, think of something, which was when she told me her mobile had been playing up and could I get her a new one.

 Well, thank goodness for that, I thought and so we made our way to Tesco, where I found a pretty good card and, most importantly, a nice, new Galaxy phone. Hallelujah!!!

 From there we treated ourselves to a couple of drinks in celebration.

 In the evening, after a light meal of sausage, egg and chips, we paid a second visit to the White Admiral, where we found Alan’s son Jason already in attendance and where, somewhat later, our sister Carole also joined us after her visit to Aunt Mabel and Cousin Rita. And a good time was had by all.

 The return trip on Tuesday only took me 1½ hours, which was pretty good even for me. The only fly in the ointment was that I forgot to bring the turkey home with me, so we had to run over to Waitrose in Daventry in order to correct that mistake. Alan has promised to keep it in the freezer for me, so that I can collect it next time I’m down there.

 25/12/14

 It’s Christmas day and, of all days for it to happen, I have no Internet access through my 4G WiFi unit. It started out OK and I received a mass of emails, but when I attempted to send one, no luck. I am not a happy bunny. The rest of my day will be wooined because of it!! But not my visit to the club and my Christmas dinner.

 Friday 26/12/14

 Well, that’s another Christmas over and done with. As usual we spent an hour at our club yesterday lunchtime but, thinking it would be as busy as it was last year, we didn’t take Alex with us. However, although many of the usual crowd did turn up, the joint wasn’t exactly heaving. Still, we passed a very pleasant hour there.

 My job today will be to pull the turkey carcase apart, which comes with the usual benefits. Some will be used for our cold meat and pickle dinner today, while the rest of the meat will be put in a turkey and ham pie.

 This morning we’ll be taking Alex over to the Country Park in Daventry and, whilst we’re there we’ll be looking for the Ukulele Club meeting place. I should have joined last Tuesday evening but, to be honest I was just a little knackered from all that driving. I’ll get there next week though, for sure.

 Talking about ukuleles, we bumped into Annie and her husband yesterday morning, just as they were on their way to visit family for Christmas dinner and, to my surprise, Annie’s husband had a rather handsome banjo in his hand. Hopefully we’ll be able to get together sometime.

 Saturday 27/12/14

 We’ve had our first snow of the winter. When Wifey took Alex out at about 7pm last night she found about an inch of the stuff on the bow. By 10pm, when she took him out for his last walk, it had been raining and most of the snow had gone. Then, thinking it was going to be icy this morning, I switched the heating on early, only to find there was no frost, although we do have a pretty cold wind now.

 Wifey is well pleased with her new Galaxy Young 2 mobile and we have printed out the ‘destructions’ for it. She now knows how to switch it on and off!! I bought the phone in Tesco’s on Monday and it came with a SIM, which has a different number of course. Wifey has been hemming and hawing as to whether to change it to her old number, or keep the new one. If she decides to change to her current number we’ll take a bus ride into Rugby and visit the 02 store for a PAC Code, then we’ll have to visit Tesco’s in Daventry to get the number changed. With all that palaver I rather think she’ll keep the new one.

 As for my new phone, well, new since July, I still can’t log into my email account at Absolute Email, even though I have opened a Microsoft account. Nor can I download any apps, for precisely the same reason. I even set up a new account with Microsoft and they sent me an email at my Yahoo account, with which I verified my details. Even then, when I tried logging in my details were refused.

 I rather think I’ll be buying a different mobile and selling this one. It really has become a trial!!

 We used up some more of the turkey yesterday evening and enjoyed a portion of Christmas pud and mince pie with cream. The rest of the turkey will be put in a turkey and ham pie, one of my favourites at this time of year.

 Sunday 28/12/14

 What a day we had yesterday! We decided to take the bus into town and visit the 02 shop to see what could be done with the new phone I bought Sheila. After transferring the details from the old phone, onto a new, slim line SIM for the new one, the nice man told us the new phone needed unlocking, so we scurried around to a little shop and asked them to do so. “No can do,” says the techie, “we’re not geared up for that phone.”

 So, off we trotted to another, bigger shop and, surprise, surprise, they couldn’t do it either. It appears then that we are stuck with a locked phone that nobody, other than Tesco, are able to unlock.

 Later in the day, after we returned to the boat, I phoned my dear brother Alan who, whilst we had been out, had paid a visit to the Tesco store in Harlow and discovered that our new phone should have been unlocked in store when we bought it. This means another visit to Harlow, although we could drive over to our nearest Tesco store that has a phone shop inside, but that would deny me the pleasure of an after-New Year drink with Alan. So, off I go to Harlow next weekend.

 Staying with the subject of iPhones, I’m still having no success with my new phone either. I am still unable to access my account at Absolute Email from it and I am still unable to download any apps, simply because I am unable to log in to my new Microsoft account. This particular iPhone is a Windows one and has given me no end of trouble. So much so that Alan has now agreed to give me his old Galaxy 3, which is already on 02 tariff and works perfectly. If Alan wants my phone in a swap, that’s fine by me, otherwise I’ll reset it to its original settings and sell the darn thing. I’ll be glad to get rid of it too.

 Monday 29/12/14

 While we were in town on Saturday I also called into the ‘Three’ shop and asked why my Epson Wireless Printer wouldn’t work with my new 4G WiFi unit. The answer was very simple really; all I had to do was re-install the printer software. So, yesterday afternoon, after our visit to the club; I know, not the best time to be tackling something technical; I set to and re-installed the Epson software.

 The re-installation went well, except for one minor problem, the printer doesn’t work at all now, not even with the USB lead plugged in. Isn’t that great?

 This morning I decided to carry out a System Restore and took the laptop back to 24^th December, which was the earliest Restore Point I could go back to. All other Restore Points were about the re-installation of the Epson software. Whether or not this has been successful won’t be known until I try the printer later. However, since one of the programmes that were installed yesterday, doesn’t now appear in my list above the Start Button, I’m hoping all is now well, even if I still have to use the USB lead.

 In addition to the printer problem we also found that, despite being told Wifey’s new SIM would work within 24 hours, it still wasn’t up and running yesterday evening. So, if it is still not working this morning we’ll have to take another bus ride into town, at which time I can have another chat with the staff at ‘Three’ about the printer. Hopefully I’ll speak to somebody who knows what he’s on about.

 Tuesday 30/12/14

 After returning my laptop to an earlier date via the Restore facility, I then visited the Epson site to ask them how to correct the problem with the printer. Later in the day I found their automated reply, which told me that someone would contact me. Sure enough I received another email from them this morning, which told me to check their Knowledge Base. In other words they have no idea what to do! I haven’t checked to see if it works yet, but will have to do so later today. You never know, I might just be lucky.

 It was such a beautiful day yesterday that, at about midday I suggested we take a drive over to Daventry Country Park. We probably arrived there at 12.15 or so and started walking along the path by the side of the lake. Normally we would walk for about 20 minutes or so but we just carried on walking until, about an hour later we arrived back at the car park.

 Now, you might suppose that this kind of walk is not unusual, and you would probably be right, depending upon your own circumstances. However, for me this is quite a feat, because my calf muscles would normally seize up on such a walk. Instead I found it quite rewarding as I haven’t been able to walk that far in ages. We haven’t checked the length of this walk but, at the steady pace that Alex set, it must be around four miles, and the last time I managed such a walk was with Rusty on the Llangollen, and that was several years ago.

 Today, of course, is a rest day. Well, it certainly is for me!!

 Yesterday morning, whilst browsing through eBay products, I spotted a book about how to make a banjo. It looked quite interesting and, compared with newer books on the subject; the banjo depicted on the front cover looked quite old. Indeed the book was written in 1926 and the vendor does describe it as ‘an antique banjo’.

 Anyway, not wishing to waste money on something I might never use, I gave it a miss. The listing ended at around midday and I do like to give these things a bit of thought before I buy.

 I mentioned this to Wifey while we were walking around the lake later and, between us we decided that perhaps I should have bought it after all. “Too late,” I said, “the listing ended earlier today.” However, just to be sure I checked again this morning and, much to my joy and amazement, it had been relisted, so I bought the book. Whether I actually make a banjo is debatable but, since I do have plenty of spare time, I might just do so.

 Over recent days, when we’ve been sitting and reading and listening to the radio, we’ve noticed some odd behaviour from Alex. Suddenly, quite unexpectedly, he’ll jump up and look around himself as if he’s heard somebody outside wandering around. But, when we look out of the window there’s nobody to be seen.

 Yesterday afternoon we suddenly realised what was setting him off. It’s an advert on Classic FM, which includes the sound of a doorbell. This tells us that our new pooch had not been abandoned in Ireland, but had lived in a house at some point before being sent to a rescue centre. This would also account for the fact that he does obey some common commands, like sit and stay and even fetch. Once again we have to wonder why nobody had even asked to see him during the six months he spent at Dog’s Trust.

 Wednesday 31/12/14

 Well, so much for Epson Customer Services. I received another, very unhelpful email from them this morning, telling me my printer will not work on a mobile WiFi system. Strange that, because it certainly did so on my old 3G WiFi.

 I suppose I’ll now have to go out and buy another printer, but I’ll have to be sure it will work with my new WiFi. Some companies are just useless when dealing with customer’s enquiries. All they seem able to do is point you to their Knowledge Base, through which it’s necessary to wade through countless problems that other owners have encountered.

 On a much lighter side, today is the last day of 2014, and a very cold one at that.

 So, I’ll post this now and wish you a very Happy and Healthy New Year.

 Dave, Sheila and Alex