14-09-27 Throwing Muses

I went to see Throwing Muses on Wednesday night in Brighton, with a couple of fellas, and the music was great; we saw a bit of Tanya Donelly supporting, and she was on stage again later with Kristin Hersh for a spooky rendition of 'You Cage', which was great. I need to listen to more Muses (not Muse!), I reckon.
 That's the beauty of live music, isn't it? You can get enveloped by the loudness of it and transported by the immediacy.
Two more gigs at least for me this year; Cud at the end of October and Carter USM in November. Bring it on.

Sunday 14-09-14 An Impromptu Barbecue

We were at home today and we got a text message inviting us to an afternoon bbq starting at 15:30. I don't think that the invitation mentioned '15:30' precisely, the invitation probably mentioned half past three, but I took it as 15:30.

I wasn't intending on snooping but I couldn't help but notice that other guests arrived at 15:25. So I quickly phoned TW and told her to get her skates on. We arrived en masse and started drinking (my head hurts this morning) but it was a lovely day and evening, a lot of merriment was had.

Saturday 14-09-13 - Laid Low by a Headache

So yesterday was a strange day. TW went to work early in the morning, and so I was left in charge of the girls. I was not doing much, upstairs and down, when I realised that my vision was not great. It was like I had masses of sunspots, or big sunspots, in my vision.
I was feeling okay though, so I carried on with what I was doing (the washing up, mostly). It was only after about 30 or 40 minutes that I started to get a hideous headache. We hadn't planned to do much in the morning anyway, so I let the girls veg out in front of the telly and I had a bath and put the washing on. When TW got home, we had lunch (she was due home shortly after 11, but only got home at 12:30, just after the youngest had had a creme caramel...) and then she took the girls out for the afternoon.
That was about 2pm, I went to bed and slept until 5pm, so I must have been ill... Never mind.
The evening was a bit of a non-event, the girls stayed up past 8pm watching the final of 'Tumble', another one of those shows where 'celebrities' attempt something they're not very good at. And it wasn't even as though the best gymnasts won, instead they gave the 'winner' award to the injured contestant. Some sort of sympathy vote going on, I think.
Anyway, that was my Saturday, I'm not sure what Sunday will bring, but it looks like the Winx Club is already here, thanks to the girls, let's see what else happens along.
TTFN.

Monday 14-08-25 - The GiL

Yesterday we headed to a big Sainsbury's nearby, to buy school uniform for the girls. On the way we stopped in to see the GiL. We'd phoned ahead and warned her that we were coming. When we got there we rang the bell, and waited for her to answer the door. Then we rang the bell again. And then a third time. At that point TW headed into the garden and through the back door, to check that everything was alright - after all, she is 96.
GiL was sitting in front of the TV, apparently watching F1, and was oblivious to the doorbell, and TW shouting "Grandma!" as she entered the house. It quickly became apparent that she was absolutely stocious, she was on a Gin bender. She had drunk herself into a stupor. She had to gather her thoughts before she  spoke, and every time she did speak, she had to speak slowly to enunciate her words properly.
I know that she's 96, and probably bored, but it seems like she's removing herself from living. She had drunk herself into a place where she didn't need to think or worry about time passing. If she had been an 18-year old on a Friday evening, she would have been saluted as a drinking hero. However, as a 96-year old on a Sunday lunchtime, she's a cause for concern. Still, I'm not sure that there's anything we can do about it. She's 96 and that's all  there is.

Monday 14-08-25 Glad to Not be Karen Carpenter

How does the song go? "Rainy days and Mondays always get me down."
Imagine how pissed she'd be to encounter a Monday which was also a rainy day. Well, right there you have the traditional British August Bank holiday. And so it has come to pass today, the heavens have opened and the rain has prevented us from handing the kids off to the grandparents. So we've been stuck altogether in the same room all day, looking at the grey skies outside, getting slowly more crabby with each other. We've played Scrabble and the girls have watched a film. The grandparents have been over for a cup of tea. TW has been out shopping. I can't believe I'm going to have to go back to work tomorrow having wasted a day here at home.
Ah, well. I'm sure it'll dry out soon, and maybe we can go out and get some fresh air.

Thursday 14-08-21 - Jessie

So my girls watch 'Jessie', a TV show produced by Disney.
It's awful.
The premise is that an aspiring actress becomes nanny to a family of adopted children. The parents are generally absent because they are very successful film stars. So you can see that the target demographic is very limited.
Because the parents are mostly absent, the show is about the kids, and they are damned annoying. There is a white kid who lusts after all grown women, and seems to think that Jessie is his girlfriend. There is an Indian kid who has a lizard as a pet (Mr Kipling) and is generally dorky. There's a black girl who is quick-witted and sassy but has poor grades. And there's a white girl to make up the numbers, by the look of it.
All the children are over-privileged and horrible to each other and everyone else.
And because they are children (apart from Bertram the neurotic butler / housekeeper), it degenerates into a high-pitched whiny insult-fest, with no redeeming features. Unfortunately it's not even funny.

I can't believe Disney have endorsed this tripe. There are no positive role models and it is not wholesome family entertainment. If you get the chance, avoid it at all costs. If there is any paint drying in your immediate vicinity, it would be more entertaining to watch that than 'Jessie'.

Of course, all of the above is my personal opinion and it may or may not have any bearing on reality as experienced by others.

Wednesday 14-08-20 - Sunshine and Showers

At Sussex County Cricket Ground again, for the last game of the season.  We've already had a shower, although it was nothing really to talk of.
So here I sit, mellowing in the afternoon tranquil atmosphere, in my raincoat and sandals. I brought my sandals with me because I thought it might be warm enough; as it is my shoes and socks were too  warm, so I've decided to dress down.

Monday 14-08-11 - Mercy Dash to the Post Office

So, we were up and at 'em early yesterday morning. I'd been awake since about 04:45, so I got up and read some stuff on the Web. Then back to bed,  and up again at 06:15. I had a shower and then listened to the news headlines,  then went downstairs for breakfast.
I was intending to get to the Post Office before going to work. I think that's why I woke up so early; I was excited. I'd been away for the weekend and there was a note through the door advising that there were TWO parcels waiting for me to pick up. I've ordered a case for my Nexus 7, which I'm using to write this, and I was hoping that one of the parcels would be the case. It's been over a week now, I think I ordered it last Sunday night.
So I headed off to the Post Office, replete with Weetabix and tea, and slightly anxious that there would be a queue of Twirlies so long that they would be spilling out onto the pavement outside. As it was, the drive in was fine, apart from not taking as much caution as I should have done while circumnavigating a bin lorry. No one was hurt, or in danger of being hurt, but I could have used more caution. At the Post Office there was only one chap in front of me, so when it was my turn I eagerly handed over my ticket, and I waited with bated breath.
You can imagine my disappointment when I was handed two flat packages. Comics. Not nice cosy things for my electronics. Comics.
Don't get me wrong; I love comics. I buy a lot of comics, and should read more of them. But I was really looking forward to receiving a snazzy case for my tablet.
So, I walked back to the car with less of a spring in my step. I drove home and took the appropriate care around the bin lorry, which was a bit further along the road this time. And I made my sandwiches.
I left for work, the comics unopened on the floor in the living room, worrying that I might have to do it all over again tomorrow morning.

Saturday 14-07-19 eBay Disputes

I don't use eBay that much, mostly to sell unwanted (but pristine) comics, and to buy some cheap electronics. I managed to get a lovely Barnes & Noble HD+ 9" tablet for under £100, which I was very pleased with, although I got stung on p&p charges :( But those fade in the memory over time and I am able to enjoy the tablet.
You may have noticed by now that I love a bit of technology. I was counting up the number of electronic devices I own the other day, or actually that exist in the house, and we arrived at the following answer:

HP Laptop - 15" running Vista, due for replacement
Samsung Netbook - 10.1" running Linux Mint
Samsung Chromebook - 10.1"
Barnes & Noble HD+ 9"
CnM 7" tablet
Nexus 7 tablet
Samsung Tab Original 7"
Barnes & Noble Simple Touch e-reader
HTC One X

I did buy a 'broken' Samsung Tab 2 cheaply off eBay, all it needed was a factory reset, then I decided that I didn't need it so I sold it on eBay, again, and made a few pounds. The trouble is, though, that eBay and PayPal fees eat into any small profits, and in the end it ends up costing money rather than being a benefit.

The one tablet I'd not tried was an Amazon Fire. So I bought one which was again sold as 'not working'. It switched on, but didn't get past the initial power-up screen. I thought that maybe I could do something following an XDA script, and possibly recover it? So unfortunately I didn't get it to work, and relisted it on eBay as 'spares or repair', and that's where the disputes bit comes in.

I was quite pleased with the price that the device sold for, but then the buyer started asking questions about the device. I had described my attempt to replace the bootloader, and I had also included the fact that I had taken the back off and tried to repair it. Admittedly, the focus of that was that I had damaged the edges of the Fire, but the information was there. I had also advised that returns would not be accepted as the device was described as not working.

So, the buyer's first gambit was that it wasn't the type of Kindle Fire he was looking for. I asked what his intentions were, and he advised he was thinking of returning it, which came as a surprise to me, as this was the first I'd heard. Then he claimed that I'd interfered with the tablet and it was not as described. At no point did he actually ask for a refund, and I think he was hoping that I would offer one. Unfortunately I had listed the item as 'no returns', so I wasn't going to offer voluntarily. And now there is a case open against me, because apparently the item is 'not as described'.

I think he was hoping that he would be able to plug the device in and get it to work, in a similar manner to the method I had employed with the Samsung tablet earlier. Unfortunately that wasn't the case; as I'd described in the sale, the device was completely unresponsive. And now the buyer is trying to back out of the sale, claiming it was not as described. And that's just part of the problem with culture today, in my opinion; no-one is willing to take responsibility for their actions.

If the buyer had asked for a refund, I would have considered it, which is the strange thing. If he'd said that actually he hadn't read the description, that he had made a mistake, I would probably have (reluctantly) refunded him. After all, I would then have to relist the device, or contact the 2nd highest bidder and offer the tablet to them. But I cannot accept that the device was 'not as described', I spent a lot of time ensuring that the description gave any reader fair warning of what to expect. And so we have come to an impasse. I rejected his claim, because in my opinion it is as described, and the buyer hasn't actually asked directly for a refund. Of course, we are now past the point where that kind of request might be accepted. So it is now 'sub judice' with eBay and we are waiting for their adjudication. We'll see how that goes.

This is all of course the turn of events from my point of view, and actual facts and happenings may have occurred differently in reality.

Sunday 14-06-29 - Party Day

And the day of the party arrived.
I was in bed at about 22:30 on Saturday night, and I woke up at 00:30. TW was still not back, and I was slightly concerned. I did think about texting her, but decided not to, and went back to sleep.
I was woken again at 03:30, when a very drunk TW staggered in and slumped into bed. I was a bit miffed at the time, as she didn't close the toilet doors or the bedroom doors.
To explain, we've recently moved up into the loft. Things are still a bit ad hoc, and we haven't got any blinds or curtains up in the stairwell or the bathroom. And, what with it being right at the height of summer, or at least the time of the longest days, it's important that we close the doors to keep the light out as the mornings creep up on us - it's only sporting to give them a chance.
So that was annoying. Then when I got up later, at about seven and went downstairs, I thought it was odd that I could feel a breeze. As I got to the ground floor, I spotted that the front door was open. So not only had she not closed the doors in our bedroom, to keep the light out; she hadn't closed the front door to keep the burglars out!
I did a quick check; of course, nothing had been taken. In matters of that nature we are quite lucky. Eldest had requested three types of sandwich for her party: ham, jam and egg mayonnaise. Once the others roused themselves and I had drunk a sufficiency of tea, and caught up with the latest events in 'The Winx Club', I headed to the kitchen and started buttering. I made the jam and the ham sandwiches, and then TW surfaced. I told her she had to make the egg sandwiches, but unfortunately she wasn't up to the challenge. She had boiled the eggs the night before; on Sunday morning she got the girls to peel them, and then mash them. When it came to loading the mixture into the actual slices of bread, she couldn't take the smell.
It was cruel of me to make fun of my wife at such a time, I admit it. But hangovers are self-inflicted and it wasn't like Eldest's party had come as a surprise: TW had booked it, planned it, and organised it. For her to lie on the sofa, groaning, asking me to take over, was a bit much, especially as I hadn't really been involved up to that point. She eventually knocked on a neighbour's door and asked her for help when I refused to make the egg sandwiches - which I wasn't expecting.
As it turned out the neighbour wasn't available but her daughter came round to help out. So once I'd cut up the carrot sticks and celery, I took over the egg duties, for my sins (I really don't like egg sandwiches).  And once we'd done that, it was time to go to the party.
Once others were involved TW perked up, of course. But that was good because obviously it meant that the girls had a good party. Of course, after we had cleared down and got everything home, TW went straight to bed, until about 5pm. We spent the rest of the day eating party food; all those ham and jam sandwiches I made earlier, and party sausages (no, not that type of party sausage...). And then, of course, it was bedtime.

Saturday 14-06-28 - Party Prep

So the weekend arrived. And the first thing I had agreed to was a work-related call at 09:00. How very relaxing. I logged on to the laptop in advance of the call and saw that the team had emailed me the results I needed to check, rendering the call unnecessary. So, I checked the results, provided some feedback and thought that would be it. 'Ah', advised my colleague over IM (Instant Messaging), 'now we can move on to the second stage of the change'. Oh, bugger.
'Do you need me online for that?' I asked. In three hours or so, came the reply. 'Okay, I'll log back on at one pm', I wrote back.
TW had, by now, taken the girls to gymnastics, and so I showered and went to pick them up. Once we returned, I was faffing around with something, then TW's best friend (and husband, and young son) arrived. So we had a very nice time chatting and drinking tea. TW made lunch, some lovely burgers in rolls, and by then the son was getting tired and so our visitors left, heading back to the Big Smoke. Or actually Maidenhead, I think it's where they've moved to. Anyway, then I checked the TV listings and saw that there was some T20 cricket on, so I sat and concentrated on that while TW was very active doing washing, and shopping and stuff. She does do things in a disorganised manner; if I was her I would arrange my life so that I actually got to sit down for a few minutes. But that's not her style; even when she's busy (or says she's got a lot to do), she's quite happy to sit and play Candy Crush for 20 minutes. So, I've given up trying to work her out. She was going out in the evening, some wedding reception which I wasn't interested in attending, and she wanted to make sure that things were ready and in place for Eldest's party on the Sunday.
At 6:30 or so she got a text message - we had arranged to buy a tent and the guy selling it was back and available. So I jumped in the car to go and pick it up, and guess what? Heavy summer showers. As soon as we do anything related to camping, it bloody well rains. We just don't have the luck. So I collected the beast (it was so big that light was bending around it)  and took it home.
Once I'd unloaded that, it was time to ferry TW in to town.
That evening I had a couple of EPAs from River Cottage and watched a bit of telly. I headed up to bed at about 22:30 I think.
I had forgotten to log back on to the work laptop to validate the second lot of results...

Friday 14-06-27 - Sussex vs. Middlesex at Hove County Ground

Friday came as a bit of a surprise; as I had taken Thursday off, I was in full-on weekend mode, and not really in the right frame of mind to be in the office with my nose to the grindstone. But I struggled through and made it to 4:50pm.
On a Friday it's one of my customs/traditions/habits to get a sausage sandwich from the canteen in the morning, but unfortunately on this occasion by the time I got to work they had run out. Just lately they've been pushing the breakfast items - sausage and egg muffins, bacon and cheese croissants, and I think they've created a bit of demand for cooked goods early in the morning. I had to take the second-choice option of a Danish, which is probably just as enjoyable, but it wasn't a sausage sandwich.
At lunch I decided to save my sandwiches (homemade by TW) for the evening, and I had a salt beef ciabatta with piccalilli. It was delicious, but I think that was down to the piccalilli rather than anything else; the salt beef was a bit chewy, but I managed it nonetheless.

So, anyway, on to the cricket. As ever, I left work slightly early and tried to get to the Hove County Ground in time for the opening of the gates. Of course I missed that, but I got there early enough to get a front row seat, which was pleasing to me.
The cricket was okay; Sussex managed to restrict Middlesex in the first innings, which was a surprise after seeing how Middlesex performed on Sky on Thursday night. One of Middlesex's sure-fire boundaries was stopped by a seagull, and the moment was captured for posterity by the cameras:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&CMP=EMCSPTEML942&v=g2C22nbwg2s

Sussex's response was pretty good, but inevitable. They completed their run chase in 16 overs. On the way out, people were saying that it was the best game of the season; somehow I don't think they were right. The first game of the season was a real thriller and that one was nip and tuck all the way, with Sussex winning off the last ball of the innings. I think that is the best game I've seen so far this year - and possibly for a number of years.
So I headed home a happy man that night :)

Thursday 14-06-26 - To Goodwood Festival of Speed

Thursday came, and I had booked a day off work. Dad had bagged two complimentary tickets to the Rolling Roadshow, the first day of the Festival of Speed at Goodwood.
The Festival of Speed (FoS) is a petrolhead's wet dream, a living record of the racing industry from its early days in the 1910s and 1920s, all the way through to the current day. They have Formula One cars, Nascar entrants, touring cars, winners of Le Mans and supercars, as well as trade stalls showing all the latest street-legal and concept cars.
We got there by about 9am, and wandered in. The first stand / stall is the exhibition of the cars who will be driving up the hill. The whole thing about Goodwood is showing the cars off, how they drive, and during the day there was a steady procession of Fiats, Peugeots, Fords, Audis, Ferraris and others going up the hill.
I did suggest to Dad that he ring up Audi and ask for a trip up the hill; to be fair, he did, but unfortunately the woman he spoke to advised that she had already allocated all the spaces and so he was fresh out of luck. But that didn't ruin the day; we enjoyed ourselves and the weather stayed with us.
We skipped past the first stand and proceeded deeper in to the FoS. Dad had done some research and apparently there was a GT40 somewhere in there; Dad used to own a kit GT40, and so that was a highlight he was looking forward to. The way that the cars are displayed at FoS, you can walk up and down and in between them, peering into their cabins and inspecting their engines and exhausts. As I said, it's a petrolhead's dream. Dad was in his element; I was just there for the day out. We talked about allsorts; the economy, work, family, you name it. It was a nice relaxing day. The Thursday is normally busy but not crowded, and so it proved. Dad got to see his GT40 in the 'Style et Lux' paddock, which is where it really belongs; I'm not any kind of car specialist but the smooth curves of the GT are something to behold.
We left at about 1:30 or 1:45 and headed home, Dad had seen all he wanted to see and TW was busy in the afternoon and relying on neighbours to look after the kids, so it made sense.
It was a good day; it was good weather and it was nice to spend some time with the 'old man' (i.e., Dad). Hopefully we can have a few more like that during the summer.

Monday 14-06-23 (II) - Delays Ahead

So, on Monday morning  I set off to work early, having already celebrated Eldest's birthday and opened her presents with her. As a family we were awake half an hour earlier than normal, and I thought I would take the opportunity to get to work early and start the week at a canter.
I headed to West Worthing station and jumped on the 07:47 and decided to change at Worthing; that normally means I can get a seat, and the train goes direct to Brighton. If I'm reading,  or  listening to a podcast, I can carry on uninterrupted. The other option is to change at Hove, which means (normally) waiting longer on Hove station, and then not getting a seat on the train. I know it's only two minutes from Hove to Brighton, but I like a sit-down if I can.
So I got on the train at Worthing, and it promptly went nowhere. The conductor advised that some piping had fallen off the bottom of one of the carriages, and they would attempt to fix it. This meant that they switched off the electricity feeding the tracks, and so all trains behind us were also delayed.
Eventually he advised that, due to the electric tracks and the hot train exhaust, they would not be able to rectify the issue, and so we were obliged to disembark and get on subsequent trains.
As a result, I didn't get into the office until 09:10, probably twenty minutes later than I would normally expect to arrive.

I am starting to believe that I am jinxed; life seems to plod on normally and all is well, usually, but as soon as I try something different or unusual, Fate slaps me down. So from now on, it's routine, routine, routine. I shall aim to be at the station in time to get the 08:02, and take it from there...

Monday 14-06-23 (I) - A Birthday!

Monday was our Eldest's birthday. She was nine years old. She is so grown up, though, it is more like she's 12 or 13. She so wants to be a grown-up, it's a bit sad. I spend most of my time wishing I was a kid again, while she's wishing her childhood away.
TW did well with the presents, as usual; she managed to procure some dungarees off of eBay, BNWT (brand new with tags, for those of you not keeping up with the modern yootspeek). Also we got her a baseball jacket, which is nice in pink. Her aunt and uncle sent some lovely turquoise headphones, and her other aunt and uncle sent a bag, which Eldest liked very much. M&P got her some weights, and we also agreed she can have her ears pierced at the start of the summer holidays, so we gave her a voucher entitling the bearer to have her ears pierced at the Leisure Centre. No, I don't know why the Leisure Centre are piercing kids' ears, but apparently they are doing it much cheaper than anywhere else, so that is what we're going to do.

Sunday 14-06-22 - The Day After

So it was the day after the Summer Fayre. And didn't I know about it. I had a horrible hangover, which I've not had in a long time, and in addition my body ached from all the standing I did while serving burgers and hot dogs on Saturday, as well as the lifting and carrying we did to tidy up afterwards.
Eldest wanted to go to Arundel Lido, which of course made my heart sink, as there was nothing I wanted more than to sit inside and not move all day, but I started to feel better about the possibility when TW advised there was shade. I could sit in the shade and read my newspaper, maybe? But then TW put her foot down and said no, it would cost £16 and that was too much. She was planning to take Eldest out for dinner the following day, so two treats in two days was out of the question.
We decided to go swimming instead at Splashpoint, which was a bit of a busman's holiday for TW considering she works there, but at least the kids were pleased and it was a good choice to soothe my aches and pains. Probably not the headache, given the noise levels, but you can't have everything, can you? We were joined in the pool by some friends and after the swim, when we were mooching in the cafe, they offered to look after the two youngest for the afternoon, which was nice. We arranged to go to theirs for a bbq later, so we dropped the kids off and went to Tesco to get supplies, and also a new phone for TW. She's been using a 7" tablet as a phone for the past three months or so, since hers just inexplicably stopped working. At least I get my tablet back. She got a nice Moto G, which I hope will last out the two year contract... We also bought a new TV, which was a bit unexpected, but we were planning to get one for the loft and they were selling them off, so I think we've done okay. Apparently though we do need an aerial, so I'll have to look into getting one - I'm hoping an indoor aerial might be sufficient, and they're only a fiver or so off of Amazon. We'll see...
The barbecue was nice and relaxed, despite the children all being in high spirits. It's amazing how much enjoyment can be extracted from a bit of sun and a paddling pool by five girls. I thought we had our hands full with three, it's quite crazy how much energy five children can expend when combined.
A couple of beers (quite literally, two cans) and then home. I could have quite easily gone to bed at nine I think, if I'd been on my own, but TW watched Masterchef and we headed up at ten, as usual.
It was a good day, despite the unpromising start. I really thought I'd prefer lying in my pit, but a bit of activity and conviviality goes a long way.

Saturday 14-06-21 Summer Fayre Day

So,  Saturday was the day of the summer 'fayre'. On Friday I was working like a Trojan to set it up, and Saturday afternoon I was drinking like a bastard to forget how involved I'd been.
In the morning, I served a *lot* of burgers and hotdogs. It was a hot, sunny day, and the barbecue stall was probably the busiest of the lot. Nothing like making things hard for myself. Oh, it started nice and slowly, but soon ramped up. At times it seemed that the queues were never-ending. In the two and a half hours we were trading, we sold all the meat we had - 250 burgers and 250 sausages, all at full price - which was a good deal. I think we were selling them cheaper than last year, so maybe we could have made more profit for the school funds, but we didn't have to discount any at the end to ensure we sold all the stock.
There was another helper, an old boy, who didn't appear to be interested in any system or organisation. He was a pain in the bum, swanning off and eating the burgers, or stealing the cheeseburgers I had asked for & planned to sell, or taking cash from my customers while I was sorting out the orders. Still, I suppose there always had to be at least one fly in the ointment.
So it was full-on for the full two and a half hours. And once the 'fayre' had ended, we needed to put things away, so we carried tables and hay bales, and deconstructed gazebos and drank beer. Did I say we drank beer? It didn't even feel like it touched the sides on the way down. Then, at about four pm we finished up and went to the pub, for more beers which slid down just as easily. That was a nice session; we all felt that we had achieved a lot, and we're all in a good mood. We were home by seven thirty or eight, to tell the truth I was quite drunk and can't recall precisely. But the kids were in bed and TW fell asleep on the sofa at a quarter to nine, so I brought her up to bed and went back down. I had another bottle of Fursty Ferret and a cider, and then came up to bed.
A full-on day, and I'm glad we only do it once a year!

Friday 14-06-20

Friday was spent at school, preparing for the school summer 'fayre'. It was a day of hard work, lugging tables about and generally faffing. We put up gazebos, because the weather was great, and left them up overnight. TW drove to school and I walked with the children, which was nice. I'd taken the day off work to help TW set up, and it was a bit manky really. Obviously she had a plan of what she wanted to achieve, but to be honest, she's not very good at sharing the big picture. So I did bits and pieces, and everyone else (all women) remarked on how 'good' I was for taking time off and volunteering. I don't feel I did very much; I went to pick up a shop from Tesco Click and Collect, and I also went to the Post Office to pick up a Kindle Fire I'd bought from eBay.
I was begging to leave by 4:30, but as Molly in the Middle had a final practice for her country dancing demonstration on Saturday, we stayed quite late on Friday, putting the finishing touches to it all.

When I got home I tried to fire up the Kindle, but of course it was sold as faulty, and so it turned out. It did get past the boot-up screen to where I should have been able to unlock it; but unfortunately as soon as I touched it, the damned thing rebooted. Since then, I've not been able to get that far again; it's stuck on the boot screen, displaying 'Kindle Fire' in white and orange, and steadfastly refusing to be recognised by my laptop. If my laptop was able to recognise the Fire, it would be relatively straightforward to fix. Unfortunately these things are never straightforward for me... :) So now I've ordered a 'factory cable' and I hope that that might work. I *think* the device is not in fastboot mode, and I'm hoping that the cable can help force that. We'll see. If it doesn't work, I shall just put it back on eBay and sell it, hopefully for about as much as it cost me - £30 inc. P&P.

Wednesday 14-06-18

Well, it's the third day and I think I've run out of things to say. I spent the day at work, the same as usual. I don't want to talk about work though, it's quite dull. It's just office work - relationship / account management.
I did hear a news item on Radio 4 this morning about making the school day longer, so that children will be able to do their homework at school. That doesn't make any sense to me; with my 'Dad' hat on, surely that means that the responsibility for bringing up our children is being taken away from us? And at Parents' Evening at the start of the year, it was stressed to us that bringing up the children was a shared responsibility between us as parents and the school. But if the school now take responsibility for the children doing their homework, surely that takes away our parental duties? Oh well, if that's the way they want it...

I've been quite busy on the Oneplus forums today, trying to get my greasy mitts on an invitation for a Oneplus One. I'm patient enough.
Anyway, that's enough for today - more of the same tomorrow, I expect.

Tuesday 14-06-17

So today I did something really Dad-like; I went to a presentation at Eldest's school about a week-long residential planned for September 2015. It looks like it's going to be pretty good fun; lots of outdoor adventure type stuff, but it's also going to be pretty expensive. We need to provide our £100 deposit by 11th July, and in total it's going  to be £350 for a week away.
There are going to be 140 kids or so, and I'm sure they'll have a great time, it looks like what the Eldest did previously at her First School, but that was only a three day residential, which I believe was two full days' worth of activity. They are not allowed to take their phones with them (aged 10!) or anything they can put a SIM card in, so no iPads either :)
Eldest loved the three day residential, and I'm sure that she will love this. She was apparently really good at orienteering last time, and I hope that she finds a new skill this time out too.
Now we just need to decide where we are going to find the cash to pay for it. And then that will set the precedent, and the other two, "Molly in the Middle" and Youngest will also want to go. That's over £1k in the space of five years for a week away each. I don't think we paid that much to go to EuroDisney - in fact, I know we didn't. Ah, well, the alternative is that she stays at home and has an "activity week" at school. It might be worth £350 to have her go away for a week. In fact, if we pay £1,050 now, can TW & I have a free week? It might almost be worth it... :)