Will you still need me, ... When I'm 64?

What sort of fair-weather writer am I? One day of being busy and my blogging goes by the board. You have to wonder: I’m retired and yet I can’t find half an hour to update my blog. I was pretty busy yesterday though: updating & reconciling the finances, mending, cleaning out the fridge, cleaning the house, going to Tesco to pick up the Blu-ray player, setting up the Blu-ray player, trying to get the PC to play via the TV…

It’s those last two items that need further comment. I hate technology! I try to explain to my Dad that all this plug and play, easy to use technology takes up hours and hours of your time; firstly to get it working and then to sort it out when it goes wrong. To be fair setting up the Blu-ray player was pretty simple – it was just a case of plugging it in and following on screen instructions. I’m a bit perplexed over what Sony had in mind when they created a TV controller that you can sync with the DVD, but which doesn’t have a pause button on it. It makes it worse than useless as a controller for a DVD player. If I had an additional out port on our broadband modem I could link it to the internet as well, but, typically, the modem only has one out port, and that goes to the wi-fi box. Looking on Amazon I may be able to get an adaptor though, in which case I’ll be able to connect the player to the internet, as apparently some DVD’s have connections to additional internet content.

We’re pleased with the DVD player. Our old one is getting a bit flaky when it comes to playing back DVDs, although we still use it to record TV to as that function is working fine. The upscaling means we’re getting a really good picture from normal DVDs – I was particularly impressed with the picture quality from Monsters Inc., which I tried out as it just happened to be lying next to the TV.

My real problems came when I tried to connect the PC to the TV. I’ve found that on Love Film there are lots of old TV series that you can stream to a PC for free, which are not available for streaming direct to the PC. They are the sort of thing we watch a lot when they pop up on TV so I thought it makes sense to see if I can get the PC to play through this TV. I could also connect to 4OD and ITV player which aren’t yet available on internet TV. I used to connect it to our old TV, but sadly I’ve lost the S-video lead I use (not that there’s anywhere to plug it in on this TV that I can see). So having looked on the Sony site and at my laptop manual I bought a VGA lead. Connecting it wasn’t a problem: getting the laptop to work was. I don’t know what was going on with my laptop, but it chose to have a funny 5 minutes while I tried to connect it to the TV last night. First of all I lost the picture completely and had to re-boot. Then it lost the internet and couldn’t find it anywhere, so I had to re-boot again. Finally, when I did get it working it was streaming so slowly it was hopeless. I’m going to have another go today and see if I can get it streaming properly so that we can judge whether this is a go-er or not.

At the end of all of that I had a headache and felt worn out. It was supper time though, so I poured myself a G&T to fortify me, and tackled dinner. I did a Rick Stein recipe for Omelette Arnold Bennett last night – it was very good. After that we watched the second episode of the new series of Primeval, a Homicide: Life on the Streets, and then the new series of The Hustle.

The other thing that happened yesterday was that I aggravated my foot where it had been healing nicely. When I went to Tesco I squeezed into my Ecco sheepskin boots, which were a bit tight but which I thought would be ok. Wrong! Half way round Tesco my foot really started to hurt. I couldn’t wait to get home and get my boot off. It hurt all last night, and is still hurting this morning.

Jez, meanwhile, seems a lot better. She brightened up yesterday, was almost walking properly, and spent a lot of time playing with her toy giraffe and hassling Max. I gave her another half a Previcox last night in case she needed it, and she had a much more settled night. I only felt her stir once, which suggests she was a lot more comfortable. We weren’t going to walk her today, but she seems so much better Chris is trying her and Max on a short walk at them moment. If he can do a short walk, that is. Jez tends to boss him while they’re out on walks, so if she wants a long walk, a long walk it is.

Today is David Bowie’s 64th birthday. I’ve post a greeting on his website, not that I expect him to see it as he hasn’t been on there in years. But, as they say, it’s the thought that counts. And I have a lot to thank him for. Unbeknownst to him, he helped me lose weight and change my look back in 2003-2004 (I could do with that help again now David), partly by showing me I didn’t have to be old and frumpy at 47, and partly because I used mainly his music as the rhythm for my lunchtime power-walking. And, via his website, he introduced me to other fans all over the world, some of whom have become my friends (whether I have met them or not). And when everything was going so badly wrong for me in 2005, it was those people who helped keep me sane. So happy birthday Sailor – I hope it’s a good one. And if at any time you feel like reconnecting with us again, we’d love to hear from you, and, yes, we do still need you.

Well, that’s it for now. I want to post this and see if I can find a way of increasing the font size on my blogs. It’s a real struggle to read when there’s a lot there, so it hardly encourages people to stop by and see what I have to say.