Getting On With The Job!

Monday, 1.45 p.m. I had an email reminding me that my car insurance was due to expire in four weeks' time. I doesn't seem like a year since I set up my car insurance, but nevertheless, I had a look at the quotes on offer and went with A.A. insurance (Automobile Association and not Alcoholics Anonymous. Well, you knew that, but it was worth the joke if that's what you call it.) All are set up via their website, the deposit is paid, and Direct Debit is set up.

3.55 p.m. There are still quite a few boxes left over from when I moved to Dexter House. Much of it is stacked up in my bedroom and I have never got round to disposing of it. I should point out that they are not merely boxes with nothing in them. I have sorted through several of them and found things which I had lost or forgotten about, such as a cheque book (who actually uses a cheque book these days? ) and the remote for my Goodmans soundbar, which I replaced when it couldn't be found.)But this morning I     decided it was about time it was removed. You have to book your space at the Bleak Hall Tidy Tip (there is another on the other side of Milton Keynes, but the Bleak Hall one is the closest. Before the pandemic, you could just turn up, park your vehicle and then throw your rubbish into the relevant skip. I can see the advantage of this, so that you know you will get a slot and, hopefully, avoid queuing. So this morning I have begun the process of sorting what I'm going to take. I have gone on the Milton Keynes Council website and booked a slot for 10.30 tomorrow morning.

Wednesday. 10.40 a.m. I thought the slot I had booked at the tidy-tip was 10.30 a.m. It was just as well I checked the email as it was actually 9.30 a.m. I had the stuff piled into the car and drove to the tidy tip (actually referred to as a Household Waste Recycling Centre or H.W.R.C.) in Bleak Hall. I was there a good ten minutes ahead of the time I was booked in, but I didn't have to wait, and the car was unloaded within five minutes and I was driving out, really pleased that the job I had been resisting doing was now complete. There are a few bits and pieces which remain, but they can wait for another time and some bits shouldn't need to be taken to the tidy tip.

Thursday. 6.25 a.m. A really fine, bright and sunny morning. What more can I say? My digital thermometer currently reads 82ºF at the moment. Really crazy. If it's that temperature this early, how much hotter is it likely to get.

I have now managed to transcribe all my writing and the word count is well over 30,000. I will leave writing for a while and come back to it in a couple of weeks.

12.40 p.m. I've been to the Oaktree Centre to help set up the playgroup. It has been exceptionally warm, which made things worse. In the middle of setting up and dismantling things I was involved in a Bible study.

I drove home and then, when I walked in through the front door I was told that I had been visited by someone about having my kitchen upgraded. Crazy to merely turn up without being warned. I have email, text etc. or they could have rung me up or sent me a letter. Surely they could have let me know in advance. I will get a telephone call to arrange another visit. I do hope so, as the kitchen is really looking shabby, particularly the floor, as there are a few tiles loose which are a trip hazard.

Temperature in the flat currently 84ºF. Really too hot.

2.55 a.m. Crazy, this. I've had a letter from the company, Mears who are contracted to upgrade the kitchens and bathrooms in all the flats in Dexter House. It's about that very topic, upgrading my bathroom. I had to ring the number in the letter, but I have to ring back tomorrow morning, as the lady who organizes this work finishes at 3 p.m. on a Thursday. That's life for you!

New iPhone and other Computer Technology

We recently invested in a new iPhone. I say 'we' because we both decided it was a necessity. I would be using it. It was a necessity, really. I'd had a Samsung Galaxy J1 for over a year, purchased from Sainsbury's. It started out as a reasonable smart phone. Not too difficult to use. But it didn't really live up to expectations. I realise that, for what it cost, it wasn't going to be exactly a state-of-the-art model. I wasn't expecting it to. I had held off for a long time getting a smart phone, having only needed a mobile phone for the occasional voice call or text message. Carol has a basic model, almost a 'retro' model. Easy to use, for text and phoning. You can't put apps on it. It suits her for what she needs it for. Texting me and so I can text her.

Back to the Samsung. It was a SIM free model, meaning we could select the provider it would be connected to. We went for 02, with a 'bundled' package, so many texts, calls and data for internet connection and it costs £10 per month. All fine for a while. Then we realised the mobile wasn't up to much. It cost around £70. Not bad I suppose. But Android, the operating system, isn't that good. After a year and a few months of putting up with the Samsung's strange little quirks (I won't go into them too much) and the fact that you can't download many useful apps onto it, due to the lack of memory, we decided to go with a new iPhone. Not the latest model, but an iPhone 5, purchased from Very. And what a difference it has made, moving onto that phone! I have always used Apple Macintosh computers for years. I've never used anything else. Ever since I did my degree course, and learning IT. I had never used a computer before. Although I lie through my teeth. I had an early Amstrad word processor many years ago, when they first came out, I suppose in the early 1990's. The machine cost around £200. No such thing as the internet in  those days. A screen with black background and green text. Strange little floppy disks, sort of lozenge-shaped, not the square sort that came out and became very popular as time went on. Infact, these disks couldn't be used in other machines, only in Amstrad computers. But it did teach me how to use a computer, even though it was very basic.

We joined the A.A. after we had trouble with our car and broke down on he M1 and needed rescuing (actually we had a breakdown service with our Swinton car insurance package which rescued us on this occasion and bought us home.) But we then moved to the A.A. as we took our an insurance package which meant, if we broke down, we would not only get rescued, but any car maintenance problems would be covered which meant we didn't have to pay any more than £35. Also, if we had the A.A. app on our smartphone, it would allow the breakdown service to find us easier. Which is great, because if you do breakdown, and you can't tell them exactly where you are, it would be more difficult to find you. So, this app was put on the Samsung and now transferred on to the iPhone.

Let's just say that the new iPhone works like a dream. It does what it is supposed to. As for the Samsung, well, it's definitely not fit for purpose. I realise the iPhone cost a good deal more, but I do expect a thing to work as it's supposed to when I buy whatever it is. So, no going back to using substandard equipment. Nothing further for me to report.

Another Annoying and Totally Pointless Phone call

I have now got a new mobile. We bought a Samsung Galaxy just over a year ago. A smart phone. I have never had one before, always having a fairly basic model, but it seemed a reasonably good idea to 'upgrade' to a mobile which meant you can have 'apps' on it, are able to get onto the internet etc etc. So we got a fairly basic model from Sainsbury's and went with a 'sim' card which you put into the mobile yourself, which is great, it means you can change your provider when you want and aren't tied to one particular company. It is an 02 sim and you have a 'bundle' of minutes and data for £10 a month (I'm not exactly sure what amount of data it has or the number of minutes for 'talking.' It's strange that it's referred to as a telephone, but most people seem to use these devices more for texting, going on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc etc than using the thing to actually speak to someone. But the Samsung Galaxy wasn't up to much, unfortunately. It didn't have nearly enough memory (0r whatever.) to allow you to have a whole selection of downloadable 'apps' on it. When we joined the A.A. a year or two back, after we broke down on the M1 when we came back from visiting Calke Abbey, we found that you could have an insurance policy, through the A.A., which meant, if you broke down you would not only get rescued by the A.A. (which they have always done since time immemorial; what the organisation was set up to do.) but also, with a reasonable monthly payment, you could have your car repaired, free, up to the value of £500. Which seemed reasonable. Considering the cost of car repairs and the fact that we broke down when we were up in Newcastle-On-Tyne around two years ago, when we went to move Daniel from one flat to another when he was at university there. And it was around a week later that we broke down- again- this time, as I mentioned earlier- on the return journey from visiting Calke Abbey. It was somewhat traumatic, to say the least. Standing and waiting to be rescued, within the area where there were roadworks going on. We had a free rescue and were then deposited in a layby just off the  Motorway, somewhere near Daventry, or was it Northampton? We were with Swinton Insurance and had additional breakdown cover with them, so they came and took us the rest of the way home. (All this mentioned in an earlier blog post on here.) What I am attempting to say, in a very long-winded and roundabout way, is, that, with the A.A. you can have an 'app' on your phone, which you use when necessary, if you break down, as it will show the service where you are exactly. No doubt using some sort of G.P.S. technology, which is good, because when you breakdown (which, in around 45 years of driving has only happened i think, perhaps twice.) you never always know exactly where you are, in order to let the rescue service find you.

Taking an age to get to the point of this post, but it's coming up in the next bit. I needed to explain the 'how's and why's of things before I got to the main point. A sort of Ronnie Corbett, monologue-moment. If you don't know what I'm on about, just Google 'Two Ronnies' comedy monologue or something.

So, we decided to upgrade the mobile again, this time with an iPhone. Not the latest, an iPhone 5. It has a good deal more reliable and has a good deal more memory than the Samsung has.

I have removed the sim card from the Samsung and put it in the iPhone. I notice that it's easier to get at the sim card as Apple see fit to make this simpler by having a little drawer at the side of the phone which you gain access to by the use of a little metal device, little more than a glorified paper clip. But if you have to remove the sim card from the Samsung you have to remove the back of the phone and then it's not that easy to find where the sim is. I discovered this by going on Google and finding a handy video on YouTube.

Well, no sooner had I got the thing up-and-running (not managing to get the passwords for various apps to work, but that's a completely other story.) I had several phone calls during the afternoon. One just rang and rang and I didn't bother to answer because they're usually just for P.P.I. or at least they don't sound too genuine. Telling me my computer needs up-grading and they're from the Microsoft office or something. Which is crazy, as this is a Macintosh and doesn't use Microsoft software. So they are more than likely just a scam, eager to get into my computer and all manner of nasty things. I saw that I had two calls from Liverpool, I don't know from whom, but they didn't ring for long enough to allow me to reach the phone to answer. Crazy, as it takes long enough if I don't have the mobile within arms length in order to pick the thing up before it rang off. But this afternoon I decided to ring back. I got a bit of music, the Minute Waltz, the music they use on the Radio 4 show 'Just A Minute.' I eventually got an answer, and it was about the accident we had a couple of years ago, when we went to Ascott, the National Trust property outside Leighton Buzzard, and when we drove home we bumped the car into a pot-hole which set the alarm off, something to do with keeping the car on track, I don't know how it worked exactly. But these insurance people think I was injured as a passenger, which I wasn't. I think it's just a crafty way to get people to claim thousands of pounds of compensation so that they can get commission out of it. I was not injured and just wish they'd stop ringing about this incident.