I’ve not been having too good a day today. I need to do Chris’ tax return for last year, so settled down to do it. It should only take a couple of half days normally. But as soon as I started to sort out the interest on investments I ran into trouble. It appears I’ve mistakenly deleted my Spreadsheet of savings and investments, so have lost my record of what we’ve had where at any given time. The only back up I have was last updated in 2008. So it took me ages sorting out accounts before I could start. At least now I’ve done all the investment stuff, so I’m only left with his earnings & expenses. I will have to recreate the spreadsheet at some point though, unless I can recover it. The one program I’ve tried so far couldn’t find it, but that’s not too surprising. Although I didn’t delete it very long ago, my hard drive is almost full and I’ve been moving loads of photos to and from my external hard drive.
Other than that the only thing I’ve done today is go to Wimborne. I needed to go to Waitrose food shopping, and wanted to have another go at getting some wellington boots. This time I was successful in my boot hunting expedition, and managed to get a pair of Hunter’s in the sale. They are really expensive, even in the sale, so I hope they’re all they’re cracked up to be. Meanwhile I got Chris a normal cheap pair (that was what he wanted).
After I’d finished writing my update yesterday I sat and watched the last part of The Bear Family and Me, which is a 3-part wildlife film by Gordon Buchanan, who does a lot of filming for BBC’s Springwatch and Autumnwatch. I always enjoy watching him: I remember last spring when he got so excited because he got to film some killer whales in the North Sea. This particular documentary is a film about black bears. He filmed it with the help of a bear researcher who, controversially, has discovered that if you approach the bears with food initially and talk to them, they will then ignore you when the food has gone and let you observe them. As a result he managed to get up close and film an amazing insight into the life of these much feared creatures.
I also finished reading Stardust by Neil Gaiman last night. He has an excellent writing style, making his books very readable, yet at the same time very well written (although I have to admit I find it impossible to read badly written books). I was surprised how different the book was to the film: in the film they had changed some parts (including the ending) and some characters, significantly.
Finally, I am pleased to see that Gabrielle Giffords, the US congresswoman shot in the head two days ago, is responding to treatment. I was fascinated to learn that they have removed half of her skull temporarily (i.e. not just for the operation) to counter any swelling of the brain. If she survives, then I suspect she has a long, hard recuperation ahead of her. Sadly, brain injuries can change people completely, and I see that in this case the bullet went through the parts of her brain governing speech. But the brain is an amazing thing, and can quickly re-route itself. I truly hope she can make a full recovery.
Showing posts with label Reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reading. Show all posts
Monday, 10 January 2011
Thursday, 6 January 2011
I can't stand the rain
Twelfth Night. The decorations, such as they are, come down today. I’m going to miss my little Christmas tree. It lights up a dark corner on the dank, miserable days.
It rained virtually the whole of yesterday. Chris did at least manage to get Jez out for a 20 minute walk (or, rather, a 20 minute Staffy stomp) round the block last night. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been out all day. As it was she slept virtually the whole day. We awoke to heavy rain again today, which persisted until just after lunch. Jez was going stir crazy: poor Max was getting beaten up every 10 minutes. So when the rain eased I grabbed my chance, wrapped myself up well in waterproof clothes, and set off over Upton Heath.
For the first half of our walk we didn’t see anyone. The Heath was sodden. Little streams had sprung up everywhere and were cascading across the paths, and the centre of the Heath was underwater. The dogs loved it, though, and so I put in an extra loop to give them a bit better run out. Then about three-quarters of the way into our walk we met Jess, a young and very lively black Labrador that we know. So the dogs ran round together until we bumped into Wilbur, another black Lab, when all four of them had a good game of chase. Poor old Wilbur kept getting well and truly beaten up by Jess and Jez though. But it’s worn them out, which is a good thing.
What I was not happy about was the fact that one of my expensive, Gore-Tex lined walking boots that I bought earlier in the summer has sprung a leak. I’ll have to dig out the receipt and see about taking them back to the shop.
Back onto the subject of the new TV: I wasn’t very happy with it last night. I had watched Best in Show late in the afternoon (I just love that film, especially the commentary of the dog show by Buck Laughlin and Trevor Beckwith), and was intending to catch up some programmes on BBC iPlayer in the evening while Chris watched the football. But the TV lost the internet content (although it still had the wi-fi connection) and couldn’t find it again. I suppose it’s possible it had something to do with Chris streaming Sky to my iPhone, but we have 16-17Mb actual broadband speed, so it should have coped. In the end I had to watch Indiana Jones and the Raider of the Lost Ark (again!).
I’ve been getting on with my reading of teenage fiction. The first book I read was ‘Underworld’ by Cathy Macphail. I have to say that at first I wasn’t very keen on it. It’s about a group of schoolchildren and their teacher who get trapped in some caves in Scotland which supposedly house a giant worm. The story was ok, but the dialogue and characterisation were not good. I was particularly annoyed by her continual use of the euphemisms ‘zonk’ and ‘zonking’. The least she could have done was go with the American ‘freaking’. I persisted though, and once I got into it found the story line quite gripping. I finished it this morning and am now reading Neil Gaiman’s Stardust. I have the film on DVD, but thought it would be nice to read the book. I also picked up a couple of the books on my reading list at Tesco yesterday as they were on one of their BOGOF offers. And then, I found that Kindle (which I have on the iPhone) are doing some books for £1, including one of the books I was looking for, so I bought a further 3 from there. I’ve certainly got a lot of reading to do.
It rained virtually the whole of yesterday. Chris did at least manage to get Jez out for a 20 minute walk (or, rather, a 20 minute Staffy stomp) round the block last night. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been out all day. As it was she slept virtually the whole day. We awoke to heavy rain again today, which persisted until just after lunch. Jez was going stir crazy: poor Max was getting beaten up every 10 minutes. So when the rain eased I grabbed my chance, wrapped myself up well in waterproof clothes, and set off over Upton Heath.
For the first half of our walk we didn’t see anyone. The Heath was sodden. Little streams had sprung up everywhere and were cascading across the paths, and the centre of the Heath was underwater. The dogs loved it, though, and so I put in an extra loop to give them a bit better run out. Then about three-quarters of the way into our walk we met Jess, a young and very lively black Labrador that we know. So the dogs ran round together until we bumped into Wilbur, another black Lab, when all four of them had a good game of chase. Poor old Wilbur kept getting well and truly beaten up by Jess and Jez though. But it’s worn them out, which is a good thing.
What I was not happy about was the fact that one of my expensive, Gore-Tex lined walking boots that I bought earlier in the summer has sprung a leak. I’ll have to dig out the receipt and see about taking them back to the shop.
Back onto the subject of the new TV: I wasn’t very happy with it last night. I had watched Best in Show late in the afternoon (I just love that film, especially the commentary of the dog show by Buck Laughlin and Trevor Beckwith), and was intending to catch up some programmes on BBC iPlayer in the evening while Chris watched the football. But the TV lost the internet content (although it still had the wi-fi connection) and couldn’t find it again. I suppose it’s possible it had something to do with Chris streaming Sky to my iPhone, but we have 16-17Mb actual broadband speed, so it should have coped. In the end I had to watch Indiana Jones and the Raider of the Lost Ark (again!).
I’ve been getting on with my reading of teenage fiction. The first book I read was ‘Underworld’ by Cathy Macphail. I have to say that at first I wasn’t very keen on it. It’s about a group of schoolchildren and their teacher who get trapped in some caves in Scotland which supposedly house a giant worm. The story was ok, but the dialogue and characterisation were not good. I was particularly annoyed by her continual use of the euphemisms ‘zonk’ and ‘zonking’. The least she could have done was go with the American ‘freaking’. I persisted though, and once I got into it found the story line quite gripping. I finished it this morning and am now reading Neil Gaiman’s Stardust. I have the film on DVD, but thought it would be nice to read the book. I also picked up a couple of the books on my reading list at Tesco yesterday as they were on one of their BOGOF offers. And then, I found that Kindle (which I have on the iPhone) are doing some books for £1, including one of the books I was looking for, so I bought a further 3 from there. I’ve certainly got a lot of reading to do.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
I give my complete attention to a very good friend of mine
VAT went up by 2.5% to 20% today, as if things aren’t expensive enough these days. But prices seem to be all arse about face. Some things that we used to think of as expensive, such as music, dvds, or clothes are relatively cheap. Food and fuel, meanwhile, is now becoming astronomically expensive. As is postage. It is shortly going to cost us just under 10 shillings to send a letter first class! It’s outrageous. If I’m not careful, or if interest rates don’t start to go up soon, I’m going to have to rethink my whole budgeting strategy. ‘Luxuries’ appear to be fairly safe as they are relatively inexpensive, but we may have to starve, shiver and walk everywhere in the future. If nothing else it will help with the Christmas weight gain.
Talking of luxuries, we finally bought a new TV yesterday. We’ve been looking seriously since about last May, but there are so many to choose from, and so many different things to take into account (half of which we don’t understand), that we just kept wandering out of the shops in a daze, having spent around 30 minutes talking to an assistant. Choice is not necessarily a good thing. It’s a bit like information overload. Too much, or in this case, too many, and your brain just can’t take it all in. Who knows what the differences are between leading brands and their different technologies. And brands that were reliable in the past aren’t necessarily reliable now. Chris and I decided that in the end, you pays your money and you takes your choice. We opted for a Sony Bravia with internet connection. It was expensive, but at least there was £400 off in the sale. And we’ve found that the built in Freeview works absolutely fine (rendering our cable virtually useless).
So we bought our new TV, then we had to queue at the collection point to pick it up. Once we got it home the fun began. Connecting things like TVs, DVDs, cable and games consoles falls to me: Chris has got no idea, and wouldn’t even know where to start. So while he prepared dinner, I set about setting the thing up. It took some time. The cable and DVD recorder only have scart outlets: the set was supposed to have two scart compatible inputs, but it turned out it only has one. Oh, and neither the cable nor the DVD player have component or HDMI outputs, which is what the TV requires. Even the Wii, which is less than a year old, only comes with a composite cable, and there is no composite input on the TV. Apparently you can buy component cables for the Wii (at around £18) but no shops seem to stock them – I can only find them via the internet. Modern technology is not downwardly compatible: a ploy by the manufacturers to ensure that we have to upgrade our equipment every few years, even though the old model is perfectly serviceable.
I managed to eventually get to the TV working last night, although I still had not got everything connected properly, and while we had dinner we watched an old Morecambe and Wise from the 1970s – as Chris pointed out, it was somewhat ironic that we chose an old show as the first thing to watch on our new TV. After dinner, and after Chris had taken the dogs for a quick walk, we sat down to watch the Christmas edition of Doctor Who, which we had not yet got round to watching. We were pleased with the picture we got, as we were taking high quality streaming from BBC iPlayer. We enjoyed the programme as well: I thought the fish were very imaginative. And at least this year it wasn’t some sort of Christmas disaster set on Earth.
Today has been another grey, miserable day, where everything appears drained of all colour. After I took Max for his morning swim in the smaller of the two Creekmoor ponds, a ploy to help reduce his weight and help repair his injured shoulder, I went back to sorting out the TV. I’ve concluded that I cannot plug both the DVD recorder and the cable box into the TV, but now we have a decent Freeview decoder on the TV I don’t think it’s important. I can use the cable box to provide a signal to the DVD recorder, whilst we watch something else on Freeview on the TV. Eventually we will most probably get a Freeview recorder, but as our old one is working fine at the moment we don’t see the point. We’re also hoping that they will come down in price. I sorted out the Wii, at least temporarily. I worked out which component sockets to use for the composite lead, such that I get a picture and sound. That means at least I can go on playing my new game (the original Mario Galaxy). I’ve also set up my Flickr account on there, so that I can view photos from Flickr on the TV, and I’ve set it up to go to my You Tube account. The TV comes with a connection to the Love Film dvd hire service, which now offers streaming of many titles. Currently we are with Tesco DVD rental, which is run by Love Film anyway, but which doesn’t provide streaming. So I’ve signed up for a free trial of Love Film and we have 14 days to decide whether we want to swap. I’ve noticed that most of the newer films, which are mainly the ones we watch, and the US TV series we tend to hire, are not available for streaming. Also, although streaming of over 4,000 films is free, they charge for many popular titles: this is in addition to your monthly membership fee. Oh, and one last thing I didn’t mention, is that as I am using a Wi-fi internet connection for the TV it has found my PC, so I can play any photos, videos or music that are on the PC on the TV without having to go to all the trouble of connecting the two.
Sorting out the TV and doing a bit of cleaning took all of the morning. This afternoon I went to Wimborne to do some shopping, but was not wholly successful. The cook shop didn’t really have a sale on, and I tried to get some new wellies in the outdoor shop, but they were so busy and only had one person serving, that I gave up. Even in Waitrose I had to queue for the Quick Check checkout, and then had to have all of my shopping re-scanned, which is a real pain. I came home via Broadstone where I called into the library. I was armed with a long list of teenage reading (part of my writing project) but could not find a single book on my list. And when I did find one of the authors, they only had the book that was second in the series. So I picked books at random. I did bring home a couple of Neil Gaiman books to read though: Stardust (I really enjoy the film) and Anansi Boys.
Well, that pretty much brings me up to date: time to think about getting dinner. Tonight we’re having Gordon Ramsay’s Bengali Prawn Curry, something I’ve made before which is fairly quick and easy and definitely very tasty. I’ve bought some baby Pak Choy to go with it.
Talking of luxuries, we finally bought a new TV yesterday. We’ve been looking seriously since about last May, but there are so many to choose from, and so many different things to take into account (half of which we don’t understand), that we just kept wandering out of the shops in a daze, having spent around 30 minutes talking to an assistant. Choice is not necessarily a good thing. It’s a bit like information overload. Too much, or in this case, too many, and your brain just can’t take it all in. Who knows what the differences are between leading brands and their different technologies. And brands that were reliable in the past aren’t necessarily reliable now. Chris and I decided that in the end, you pays your money and you takes your choice. We opted for a Sony Bravia with internet connection. It was expensive, but at least there was £400 off in the sale. And we’ve found that the built in Freeview works absolutely fine (rendering our cable virtually useless).
So we bought our new TV, then we had to queue at the collection point to pick it up. Once we got it home the fun began. Connecting things like TVs, DVDs, cable and games consoles falls to me: Chris has got no idea, and wouldn’t even know where to start. So while he prepared dinner, I set about setting the thing up. It took some time. The cable and DVD recorder only have scart outlets: the set was supposed to have two scart compatible inputs, but it turned out it only has one. Oh, and neither the cable nor the DVD player have component or HDMI outputs, which is what the TV requires. Even the Wii, which is less than a year old, only comes with a composite cable, and there is no composite input on the TV. Apparently you can buy component cables for the Wii (at around £18) but no shops seem to stock them – I can only find them via the internet. Modern technology is not downwardly compatible: a ploy by the manufacturers to ensure that we have to upgrade our equipment every few years, even though the old model is perfectly serviceable.
I managed to eventually get to the TV working last night, although I still had not got everything connected properly, and while we had dinner we watched an old Morecambe and Wise from the 1970s – as Chris pointed out, it was somewhat ironic that we chose an old show as the first thing to watch on our new TV. After dinner, and after Chris had taken the dogs for a quick walk, we sat down to watch the Christmas edition of Doctor Who, which we had not yet got round to watching. We were pleased with the picture we got, as we were taking high quality streaming from BBC iPlayer. We enjoyed the programme as well: I thought the fish were very imaginative. And at least this year it wasn’t some sort of Christmas disaster set on Earth.
Today has been another grey, miserable day, where everything appears drained of all colour. After I took Max for his morning swim in the smaller of the two Creekmoor ponds, a ploy to help reduce his weight and help repair his injured shoulder, I went back to sorting out the TV. I’ve concluded that I cannot plug both the DVD recorder and the cable box into the TV, but now we have a decent Freeview decoder on the TV I don’t think it’s important. I can use the cable box to provide a signal to the DVD recorder, whilst we watch something else on Freeview on the TV. Eventually we will most probably get a Freeview recorder, but as our old one is working fine at the moment we don’t see the point. We’re also hoping that they will come down in price. I sorted out the Wii, at least temporarily. I worked out which component sockets to use for the composite lead, such that I get a picture and sound. That means at least I can go on playing my new game (the original Mario Galaxy). I’ve also set up my Flickr account on there, so that I can view photos from Flickr on the TV, and I’ve set it up to go to my You Tube account. The TV comes with a connection to the Love Film dvd hire service, which now offers streaming of many titles. Currently we are with Tesco DVD rental, which is run by Love Film anyway, but which doesn’t provide streaming. So I’ve signed up for a free trial of Love Film and we have 14 days to decide whether we want to swap. I’ve noticed that most of the newer films, which are mainly the ones we watch, and the US TV series we tend to hire, are not available for streaming. Also, although streaming of over 4,000 films is free, they charge for many popular titles: this is in addition to your monthly membership fee. Oh, and one last thing I didn’t mention, is that as I am using a Wi-fi internet connection for the TV it has found my PC, so I can play any photos, videos or music that are on the PC on the TV without having to go to all the trouble of connecting the two.
Sorting out the TV and doing a bit of cleaning took all of the morning. This afternoon I went to Wimborne to do some shopping, but was not wholly successful. The cook shop didn’t really have a sale on, and I tried to get some new wellies in the outdoor shop, but they were so busy and only had one person serving, that I gave up. Even in Waitrose I had to queue for the Quick Check checkout, and then had to have all of my shopping re-scanned, which is a real pain. I came home via Broadstone where I called into the library. I was armed with a long list of teenage reading (part of my writing project) but could not find a single book on my list. And when I did find one of the authors, they only had the book that was second in the series. So I picked books at random. I did bring home a couple of Neil Gaiman books to read though: Stardust (I really enjoy the film) and Anansi Boys.
Well, that pretty much brings me up to date: time to think about getting dinner. Tonight we’re having Gordon Ramsay’s Bengali Prawn Curry, something I’ve made before which is fairly quick and easy and definitely very tasty. I’ve bought some baby Pak Choy to go with it.
Saturday, 6 February 2010
My, my, but time do fly
I suddenly realised I’d better update this as I don’t know whether I’ll get the chance tomorrow. Dad & Pat are coming over for lunch. That means I’ll be cleaning & cooking all the morning. I did clean on Friday, but with two very mucky dogs around you’d never think so. I don’t know what I was thinking, actually. I bought the meat (a locally reared pork) and put it in the freezer. Then Dad phoned & was going to invite me to lunch over there. But I said I’d bought the meat so would they like to come here. The upshot is that I’m going to be cooking on my birthday, and then we’re going to Dad’s the following week. See what I mean? What was I thinking?
So, tomorrow is my birthday. As a treat (and because I’m cooking tomorrow) we’re having a Chinese take away tonight. I can’t remember the last time we had Chinese takeaway. I have a feeling it was either for my birthday last year or the year before! Chris always prefers Indian, and as we now only get to have a takeaway half a dozen times a year it is normally Indian. Anyway, this time I’ve chosen, so Chinese it is. But we’re not going to the really nice restaurant in Poole for it, and the Chinese round the corner has gone rapidly downhill. So we’re going to try one of the Broadstone ones again.
I may not have to cook tonight, but I have been shopping to Tesco this afternoon (after I walked the dogs) and I have made a cake for my birthday (well someone had to!). I was going to buy one, and they had some really nice chocolate ones, but Dad doesn’t like chocolate much (& I’ve got profiteroles for dessert) and anyway the dogs couldn’t have any! So instead I’m just making a jam & butter cream Victoria sandwich, then everyone’s happy.
I went and picked up my new prescription contact lenses at lunchtime, and have got them in. But I still don’t seem to be able to see properly with them. I was trying to read a label on a bottle in Tesco and it was hopeless. We are part-way there though – I can see the computer screen better.
I don’t think there’s much else to say. I finished reading my latest library book this morning: ‘Living with the Dead’ by Kelley Armstrong. I really like her books – they’re all about werewolves & supernaturals. I think the series is called Women of the Otherworld. I’ve started on a new Linda Fairstein (Lethal Legacy) now. I’m a bit confused though. It’s a paperback, and on the front it says ‘Includes exclusive extra material’. WTF? Surely a novel is a novel. How can you suddenly add bits for a new edition? It seems like they’re trying to copy DVD & music sales, but I just don’t see how it’s supposed to work with a book. I notice that the reviews on this book aren’t great on Amazon though. So perhaps they’ve tried to pep it up a bit.
I’d better sign off now and post this. I need to phone for the takeaway.
So, tomorrow is my birthday. As a treat (and because I’m cooking tomorrow) we’re having a Chinese take away tonight. I can’t remember the last time we had Chinese takeaway. I have a feeling it was either for my birthday last year or the year before! Chris always prefers Indian, and as we now only get to have a takeaway half a dozen times a year it is normally Indian. Anyway, this time I’ve chosen, so Chinese it is. But we’re not going to the really nice restaurant in Poole for it, and the Chinese round the corner has gone rapidly downhill. So we’re going to try one of the Broadstone ones again.
I may not have to cook tonight, but I have been shopping to Tesco this afternoon (after I walked the dogs) and I have made a cake for my birthday (well someone had to!). I was going to buy one, and they had some really nice chocolate ones, but Dad doesn’t like chocolate much (& I’ve got profiteroles for dessert) and anyway the dogs couldn’t have any! So instead I’m just making a jam & butter cream Victoria sandwich, then everyone’s happy.
I went and picked up my new prescription contact lenses at lunchtime, and have got them in. But I still don’t seem to be able to see properly with them. I was trying to read a label on a bottle in Tesco and it was hopeless. We are part-way there though – I can see the computer screen better.
I don’t think there’s much else to say. I finished reading my latest library book this morning: ‘Living with the Dead’ by Kelley Armstrong. I really like her books – they’re all about werewolves & supernaturals. I think the series is called Women of the Otherworld. I’ve started on a new Linda Fairstein (Lethal Legacy) now. I’m a bit confused though. It’s a paperback, and on the front it says ‘Includes exclusive extra material’. WTF? Surely a novel is a novel. How can you suddenly add bits for a new edition? It seems like they’re trying to copy DVD & music sales, but I just don’t see how it’s supposed to work with a book. I notice that the reviews on this book aren’t great on Amazon though. So perhaps they’ve tried to pep it up a bit.
I’d better sign off now and post this. I need to phone for the takeaway.
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