Sunny Saturday

 Saturday. 8.25 a.m. I haven't quite got the hang of using and operating the DJI Pocket. I didn't actually record any footage when I walked around Oldbrook Green, but I have since discovered that you have to give the record button a couple of presses to make it work. I know it sounds simple, but you only discover this sort of detail when you find YouTube videos which teach you how to operate the camera. You get an extremely basic instruction leaflet with the gadget (I think this is the case with most devices today.) Also, merely playing with the various buttons on the device to find out which one does what. I am now discovering how the wireless microphone connects to the camera. It uses Bluetooth and WiFi to connect. Another YouTube video explains the procedure.

As the title of this post suggests, it's a sunny day. What more can I say on the subject?

4.00 p.m. I have been out once more with the DJI Pocket and been around Oldbrook Green. I have now viewed the footage, and I'm more than pleased with the result. I didn't have the wireless microphone attached, although I have discovered how to connect it, having viewed a YouTube video on the subject. The secret of using a camera with a gimbal is that, don't play around with the settings. Once you have it how you want it, leave it alone. I had the camera facing away from myself, and the gimbal managed to keep the horizon level. Perhaps I should hold the device a little bit higher, but that's a minor point. I think if the manufacturers were going to make any adjustments to the DJI Pocket, or any of their next generation, to make the handle more rounded, so it's comfortable to hold.

Sunday. 8.25 a.m. I have now managed to extract the microcard from the DJI Pocket 2 put it into the adaptor and into the reader, and then plug that into my MacBook. I have to say that removing the card is very fiddly and because it's so tiny, no bigger than the nail of my little finger, and, if you're not careful, it could easily spring out and then shoot across the room and get lost. But I have managed to watch the footage I took when I walked around Oldbrook Green yesterday, and I'm more than pleased with the result. For a first attempt, it's better than expected, and I have high hopes for using it for future work.

4.05 p.m. We had Café Church this morning. I was doing the usual refreshment thing. There is a new coffee machine installed in the café area. It produces a range of coffee, latte, Americano etc. It's easy enough to use. It has coffee syrup in cartons inside and a touch screen to select what a customer wants, so it's easy to use and more or less foolproof.

Monday. 3.00 p.m. I need to have video editing software so that I can manipulate the footage I film on the DJI Pocket. I did a Google search and I discovered that my MacBook has it's own software for that purpose, called iMovie. 

Tuesday. 7.45 a.m. I am definitely sleeping a good deal better than I have been. I think the sertraline tablets are partly responsible. 

Yesterday I started to transfer some handwritten material into word processing. I was looking through all that I had written, which is in various notebooks, and I discovered some which hadn't been transferred. I'm editing as I go through it.

The day has begun and the conditions on the weather-front looks as if it's overcast and, according to BBC Breakfast weather, it looks as if we can expect rain later in the day.

A Slight Chill

Friday.3.10 p.m. It's April Fools' Day. I have seen so many that are so obvious they don't deserve to be even considered as 'April Fools' stunts or jokes. I think if you spot them immediately, they haven't worked. It's the ones that more or less merged with the rest of what's in the newspapers, then they're worthy of the title of 'April Fool' and people are more likely to be sucked in and fall for them.

3.50 p.m. I'm attempting to connect my new Canon printer to wi-fi. After a great deal of searching, I found a video on YouTube which shows how to do this. But attempting to put my wi-fi router's password in it is next to impossible as the digital screen is very small, so it's extremely difficult to key in the upper and lower case letters and numbers of the password. I suppose if I keep on with it I will eventually succeed, but it really is hard work and my eyesight isn't good enough to see it. Ho-hum! What do they say about persistence? 'If at first, you don't succeed, try, try again!' How very true! It seems to be the same with most gadgetry you buy these days, you never get a printed manual of instructions. As with this Canon printer, you get extremely basic 'set-up' instructions with the item and some of it online, but then you really have to search the internet to get more detailed instructions, such as I have on YouTube. The printer is supposed to 'find' the wi-fi signal by showing the username (for want of a better way to describe it.) but when I attempted this it would find everyone else's Wi-Fi signal except my own.

Saturday. 2.45 p.m. I found I have several voicemails on my iPhone. One from Mears, asking me to phone to arrange an appointment for them to come and inspect my bathroom ahead of having an upgrade. I was near the phone when they rang on Friday afternoon, so I don't understand why I didn't hear it ring (actually, it doesn't 'ring.' It plays music from 'Star Wars.' I think it's the Darth Vader theme.) Well, does that mean I'm a step closer to them actually doing something about my bathroom? Don't hold your breath, but it does look as if my emailing that parish councillor has probably paid off.

Sunday. 8.05 a.m. Golly gosh! The sun is shining, even though not very powerfully. Another church service on Zoom this morning. Not entirely sure that it works, but I suppose it's better than nothing. Next week we're back at the Oaktree Centre.

Monday. 4.45 a.m. It's still too dark to really know what the weather is doing. As far as I can tell, no rain, and it's probably windy, but I'm not entirely sure.

It's raining, although not a heavy downpour. Alfie was not amused and was out only briefly and then shot back indoors when he felt the rain. Who can blame him?

8.30 a.m. I have responded to the voicemail from Mears, It was from a mobile number and there was nobody there to answer (now THERE'S a surprise!) so I have left my name and number. So do this mean I have to sit around with my mobile waiting for a callback? The plot thickens as they say . . .

8.55 a.m. Goodness! A fairly rapid callback and I have someone coming from Mears tomorrow at 9.30 a.m. to inspect my bathroom. Things are moving forward at last.

6.15 p.m. I have again attempted to try to get the Canon printer to connect to the router so I can in turn connect my iPad and iPhone so I can print from them, but no go. It remains stubbornly resistant to working. I am going to leave it so that I don't end up throwing the thing out of the window. Can you blame me?

Irksome Inking

Wednesday. 7.15 a.m. My Canon printer is being annoying. I don't think it's just my printer that plays up relentlessly. I have been fiddling with it to get it to work, but it still won't play ball. All I want it to do is print out some of my work, but it refuses. As a result, I have decided to replace it and have looked on the Argos website and have found what I think is a better printer, also a Canon, which can be connected to my MacBook via Wi-Fi and will also connect to my iPhone and iPad via an app. Just shows that if you upgrade technology, there are benefits. I have been looking for a way of connecting my iPad in particular to a printer, as there is material on there that I would like to print out.

Still no word from Mears regarding my bathroom being upgraded. I live in hope that something might happen regarding this, but I don't put a lot of faith in any of the organizations involved.

Thursday 7.20 a.m. It's icy this morning. My digital thermometer currently reads 55ºF. It was well over 70ºF up until only a couple of days ago. Mind you, that's indoors. It was something of a shock to find it bitterly cold when I took Alfie out around an hour ago. Then I discover ice on my kitchen window, which is left open to, ironically, let the heat out, because the flat is so over-heated. 

I have now purchased a new inkjet Canon printer. I am signed up to something where I use an app on my iPhone and scan the barcodes of everything I buy, and I earn points which can be redeemed for vouchers and other items and I had enough to transfer into Argos vouchers, which I did yesterday and ordered the new printer on the Argos website and collected the printer from the Argos store. This printer will work using wifi and can be connected to my iPad and iPhone, but I have only managed to get it to work via a cable. I hope to eventually get it connected to Wi-Fi, which would mean not going into the bedroom, where the printer is set up and being able to print from the lounge via Wi-Fi.

9.00 a.m. Goodness, gracious! It's now snowing. I think it's a good idea to turn the heating up and probably diving back under the duvet for the rest of the day. I can't take Alfie out in this. He won't like the wet or the cold, and neither will I.

4.50 p.m. We had a tenant's meeting this afternoon. There was a lady there who is from an independent organization researching tenants' grievances about Mears, the maintenance company who are supposed to look after Dexter House. They don't seem to have a very good reputation, and it's not just this project which is having problems with them.

Welcome To 2022!

Sunday 2nd January. Here we are, Christmas the  New Year are over and a brand-new year. I just only hope that it can be better than the past two years. Being cooped up in a small flat with just a small Yorkshire Terrier isn't really my idea of any sort of life. Although I should just point out that Alfie has been and is still an excellent little companion, although he has become very demanding, probably because we spend so much time together.

 It doesn't seem like a week has flown by since we went to Worcester for the Christmas weekend. We left on the Friday morning (Christmas Eve) and came back on Sunday (Boxing Day.) It was quite foggy on the motorway, but we made good time, arriving in Worcester just after midday. The three grandsons, George, Eddie and Arthur, were watching my arrival through the window as I drew up. I am called 'Grandad and Alfie Dog' almost as if we are an attached couple, although in some ways I suppose we are. Alfie just doesn't understand young children, probably because they move around faster than the average adult, have higher pitched voices and have a tendency to grab and stroke. This is entirely understandable since we have been leading a somewhat simple life since the pandemic and definitely since Carol's death. Chloe and Steve put a childproof stair gate across the entrance to the utility room, which is off the kitchen at their house in Worcester. Alfie had his bed, water and food if he needed to have a feed and the back door could be opened so he could get out into the garden. He did not like it, although he did settle down eventually and made little noise, but we did let him come out and wander around the house once the children went to bed in the evening. During this time he was quiet and seemed far more settled, wandering around after me like a shadow, even following me to the toilet.

We came home on Sunday afternoon and got back to the flat at around 5 o'clock. I'm so glad I didn't leave any later as I didn't want to drive on the Motorway in the dark, or at least, in reduced light. I'm not too keen driving in lights. On both the journey out and the journey back home I needed to stop at the  Moto Cherwell Valley service area. I had a need to use the toilets. It's a long walk into the building where all the shops and restaurants are. But it fulfilled my needs and I was soon back in the car completing the journey. Alfie is quiet minutes after being placed in the cage in the rear of the car, with the parcel shelf down which must make it dark, and he feels safe. But as soon as I draw the car up in a carpark or the drive at home, he starts barking and getting excited. 

Monday 3rd January. 11.00 a.m. I have turfed out the Christmas tree, which has been shedding it's needles for the past week or so and consequently looking somewhat thin and a real mess. I then vacuumed up the needles and have since given the floor a mop with the Vax steamer, and it's beginning to look a good deal better for the work it has entailed. 

For some unaccountable reason, my Panasonic Free view box stopped connecting to the internet. Without this connection, you cannot get any of the catch-up services such as BBC iPlayer to work or Netflix or other streaming services to work via this piece of kit. I had problems with it a few months ago. I simply wouldn't connect via Wi-Fi. I bought some cable from Amazon and used that to connect directly via the Wi-Fi hub. Furthermore, I attempted to reconnect via the hub once I got my Sky upgrade, and duly reconnected the cable via the back of the hub and into the Panasonic box. I seemed fine for a week or so, but then it decided to stop. I have since reconfigured the wifi connection with the new hub and used the password, and it now works. The thing was just being difficult for the sake of it, but at least it's working, thankfully. Yet another problem solved.