Dying Macbook

 Sunday 19th December. 2.35 p.m. My MacBook Air has finally given up and died. This must have been around Tuesday or Wednesday this week. Then my internet connection began to play up. There are three yellow lights on the router and when you have a steady internet connection all three will come on, but the centre one didn’t come on I realized that something was wrong somewhere, but what it was I didn’t have the faintest idea. I thought perhaps I should ring my service provider, Sky, to see if they could sort things out. I had noticed that sometimes, when watching streamed video, there was often a point when the video would freeze or stutter. I came to the conclusion that my internet connection needed upgrading to a faster connection. I would need to ring up Sky to help sort out the problem or even find an alternative internet provider. 

Then I got a telephone call. A lady with a vaguely foreign accent who told me she was from the Sky technical department. I have to admit, it was far too much of a coincidence that I was to get this call and was somewhat suspicious. I asked if she was real and she said she was. Then she put on the line a man with an equally foreign accent who said he could sort out my technical issue and that I would need to download an app from the App Store, which I did. It was when he asked me for a number which came up within th.is app that I became very suspicious and because I had real difficulties understanding his thick accent, I hung up.All I can say is, thank goodness I did.

The next day I decided to call Sky about the concerns I’d been having with my internet connection. It took me a while to find the right telephone number on the Sky website. You really have to search for it, because it is really buried in the most unlikely place.  It is certainty  not given prominence on the home page. It wasn’t long before I managed to speak to a human. (How I hate those voice-activated ‘menus.’ They never seem to recognize what I say. You end up eventually having to speak to a real person.)

I was told that Sky never rings customers in the fashion the fake callers had done. They would never ask you to give passwords, bank details or ask you to download anything, such as an app. It was too much of a coincidence that I had the call when I did. It was just as well I hung up when I did.

As a result of all this I have now upgraded my internet connection and have a new router which is now running and there is definitely a faster connection and the buffering has stopped when I'm watching streamed video. All set up and I  now have all my devices re-set with the new wifi password.

'They Think It's All Over'?

Thursday. 6.50 a.m. I wasn't aware of the euphoria of England getting through to the final of the Euro 2021 football championship last night. I have no interest in football, as you will realize, but even so, it has to be quite an historic achievement, comparable to the 1966 World Cup win (although England hasn't won- yet.) So, the infamous quote by Kenneth Wolstenholme, 'They think it's all over . . . ' seems appropriate, although not . . . quite. Watch this space. I heard no crowds cheering, as I did the other evening, coming from the pub on the corner of Strudwick Drive and Oldbrook Boulevard, 'The Cricketers.' But, it isn't over until the final on Sunday evening . . .

I had to laugh the other day. I was walking back towards the flat with Alfie along Strudwick Drive when a youth shot past on one of those electric scooters, but he was looking at his mobile as he did so. He went to cross the road and as he did so he stopped on the island in the centre of the road and then dropped his mobile. I just thought it was just as well it didn't fall in the path of the next car or lorry which passes by as it would have been flattened. 

I sent the iPhone 7 back to Sky, having removed the apps. But I then got an email saying they couldn't credit my account until iCloud was disconnected. I really had no idea how to do this, but went on the Sky website and managed to click on what I thought was where I was supposed to, but it turned out not to be correct. Having rung Sky, after a lot of searching on the website (why bury this number? It should be in a far more prominent position.), and was told I would need to ring Apple. The same thing happened with this as I had problems finding the phone number, but eventually, I found it and got through.

I spoke to an Apple engineer how managed to talk me through the process of deactivating iCloud from the iPhone 7. Quite amazed that he could 'see' my iPad screen and direct me using the cursor, which made it considerably easier. So, problem solved and I trust that is the end of the matter. Why on earth they can't give you instructions regarding this type of thing that would make life so much easier. You always used to get an instruction manual with most things, but not with mobile phones and computers. I think they expect you to find anything from manuals to resolving issues via the internet.

Friday.7.15 a.m. It's really humid at the moment. I just hope it rains and clears the air. Not the best for me, but never mind.

My car insurance runs out at the beginning of August. I wanted to see if I could get a lower quote, so I went on several comparison websites, Compare The Market, Go Compare, and one other. I've been with Swinton for years. I pay in monthly installments and it was around £52 a month. I didn't get any extras for that, no breakdown cover or the use of a courtesy car. I did a search, putting in all my details, years of no-claims, etc and I have got what I think is a far better deal, at around £32 per month, with breakdown cover and courtesy car. I have paid a deposit and the next payment will be in August. Just seems crazy to pay more for less. Just a question of having a look for a better deal. As I'm not driving much more than a few thousand miles a year, which was taken into consideration when coming up with a quote. But it seems I get more for less, which doesn't make sense, but it's true. 

I have something called Grammarly installed on my MacBook. It isn't the full version, and it's useful to check not just my grammar but also my spelling. But I do object to it insisting I spell words the American way, for example, 'centre' for 'center.' When you've written a passage, it underlines the offending word and a window pops up and you get an alternate spelling. It's doing it now, as I save this section and it's insisting I spell centre as center. I know you don't have to agree with the alternative spelling, but it's still useful. A grammatical error it attempts to change is 'an historic' which is to change to 'a historic.' Which is correct? I wonder what my English teacher would say when I was at school.

Roadmap or Cul-de-Sac?

(Saturday) The sun is out. The wind has dropped and I'm about to drive to my doctor's surgery, Central Milton Keynes Medical Centre in Bradwell Common, to get my second Astra-Zeneca covid-19 vaccination. I want to get there in plenty of time, just in case the traffic is heavy and you have to go through several sets of traffic lights through the centre of Milton Keynes and each takes far too long to change (why?? I often ask that.)

Later. I drove to Bradwell Common this morning. leaving at around 9.45a.m. I was, as usual, concerned that there might be heavy traffic. A bit crazy to even think that because, for a start, it's a Saturday, and most people won't have been out of bed even that late (well, my theory at least, whether it's correct or not I don't know.) No less than three sets of traffic lights to contend with and I wasn't sure that there would be enough parking spaces at CMKM. I shouldn't have worried as there was plenty of room. No queue right down to the Redway this time, just a few people queuing on the path from the carpark. I was told to be in the surgery five minutes before my appointment and it was around 10.05 when I got to the front of the queue and my actual appointment was 10.10. A man at the door asked me if I had any of the symptoms of covid, or if I'd had a test which was positive or if I had a raised temperature, to which I responded 'no.' Then, when the door was clear I went inside and a lady took my temperature with a sort of gun which was aimed at my forehead. I went through to the room where I would be given the vaccine. I was asked if I'd had any other vaccines lately, which I responded with 'no' and then the needle was stuck in my left arm and it was over. Last time, the first vaccine went in my right arm. The upper, more muscled area in each case. So, that was done and I was told that I didn't have to wait fifteen minutes before I could drive away.

(Sunday) The clocks have moved an hour forward. I woke in the night and, because I normally reset my clocks the evening before, I wasn't sure what the correct time was. I moved my wristwatch forward and then realised that it had automatically reset itself. So, I had to set it back! 

As I write, I don't seem to have had any reaction to the covid-19 vaccine, not in the way I did for the first one, waking in the night feeling as if I was going to come down with 'flu. Not even any discomfort in the area of my arm when the vaccine was injected. I just hope it stays that way.

Still windy, but bright and sunny.

(Monday) Today things are being relaxed as regards lockdown restrictions. Two households can meet! Well, the excitement is far too much! 

I've been doing some market research via Zoom this morning. I have signed up with several market research agencies and this was from a company called Podengo. Usually if you have the possibility of being selected for this sort of work you get either a text message or email, but to get a proper phone call which I did on Friday, late afternoon, is a rarity. The session was for an hour, starting at 10.15a.m. I had to evaluate a new app for the NHS for use if you are checking into a venue, such as a restaurant, coffee shop or other venue, and also, if you think you might have any of the symptoms of covid-19, to check and then, if you think you might be infected, to find out how you can get a test and then, once you have a result to let the track and trace system know and whether you have to isolate for whatever length of time. Just want to do some more as I am saving up to get my eyes tested and then get new glasses.

Oh now! Boris and his henchmen are doing a Downing Street press conference on BBC1 at the moment. I want to throw a brick through my television (but I won't, because it wouldn't be such a good idea.) I'm getting somewhat annoyed that 'The Repair Shop' is cancelled to have this on. Why can't it be put on the BBC News channel? Just waffling and most of the data is flawed. Why does nobody ever doubt the numbers? Why do we never hear from other scientists who criticise the numbers or the lockdown? It seems to me as if the mainstream media (BBC, ITV, Sky etc etc.) never question any of this. There are plenty of those who disagree with how this pandemic has been handled and the way the lockdown has been dealt with, without any dissent. I am somewhat amazed that the British people have just rolled over and allowed their civil liberties to be totally removed. It's like living under a dictatorship.

One minute we are being told about the 'Roadmap' out of lockdown, but in the next breath Boris is saying 'stay cautious.' So, it seems the road to freedom might possibly come to a dead end, a cul de sac, or at least a grinding halt. Real mixed messaging and confusing. Why do the four countries of the United Kingdom have different rules regarding lockdown? Would it not be less confusing if there were the same rules within the entire United Kingdom? Must be very confusing if you work in one country and live in another and have to travel between. Crazy.

Telephone Troubles

My Diazepam tablets ran out yesterday. I am only given them in batches of 10. This is because they can become addictive and sometimes, if taken regularly, your body gets used to them and they become ineffective. I had to ring Ashfield Medical Centre this morning to at least get a doctor's appointment to either give me a repeat prescription or give me an alternative that have the same effect. They help me sleep and I'm not lying awake in bed at 2.30a.m. with all my problems going through my head, the biggest one being when will the D.W.P. sort out the possible pension that Carol had when she lived and worked in Bournemouth and the fact that I'm not being paid my full rent through Housing Benefit. With this in mind I began ringing at around 8.25 and eventually got through at 8.35. I'm still uncertain what time they are supposed to open the lines, because, before they answer, you just get a sort of engaged tone. Then, when I did eventually get through, there were no more than four other people in the queue in front of me. That infernal music you have to endure has changed, when you are put on hold, and the woman's voice who tells you 'we have a high volume of calls at the moment,' and 'sorry for keeping you waiting,' sounds less angry. Why did she sound so angry to me and similar to the voice of Shula in the BBC radio soap 'The Archers'? Sorry, but to me she does, and it's almost as if this 'voice' has a sort of tone to it suggesting, 'get off my line, I'm busy, and I don't want to be disturbed!' Then I eventually got to be first in the queue and I was ACTUALLY SPEAKING TO A HUMAN! what ever is the world coming to? I explained why I was ringing and then was told I should have rung another number for repeat prescriptions, which opened after 11a.m. Having given my date of birth and then name (I suppose they have to do this, so as to make sure that they're dealing with the right patient and that you don't get someone else's medications and it would no doubt be a contravention of G.D.P.R. (General Data Protection Regulation, yet another E.U.-imposed bit imposed legislation which I bet hasn't been voted on democratically in the E.U. parliament and no doubt invented by some faceless bureaucrat, or am I just being a pessimist?) I said that, because it wasn't on a repeat list, as are all my heart medications, I should perhaps have an appointment with one of the doctors to discuss this, also, how I was coping with taking the Diazepam, any side-effects etc etc. So, at the end of the conversation I was left none the wiser and hopefully going to get a call-back from one of the doctors when she told me that she would pass the information on to the duty doctor who was assigned to deal with appointments, once he or she had heard what the appointment was about.

There's absolutely no certainty at what time the call-back from the doctor is going to be. I can be barely an hour or two, but it was getting nearer and nearer to midday when they still hadn't returned my call. I went upstairs and was laying on my bed when the phone rang and I ran downstairs to the phone in the hall (that is, the landline phone) and picked up the phone, expecting it to be one of the doctors with the awaited ring-back. It wasn't. A foreign-sounding woman with an Oriental sound to it, telling me she was 'from the Windows department' which immediately rang bells, as I could tell it wasn't a curtesy call. I know, from  really nasty experience, that all these calls are a scam, they just want to get into your computer system and hack your details, bank account numbers and so on. I told her I knew it was a scam and told her to get off my phone and all I got back was a load of expletives F you B . . . F you B . . .  F you B . . . which told me all I needed to know, so I immediately put the telephone down. You know the old saying 'once bitten, twice shy,' which is about all you need to know. For a  start, no sooner had she said she was from the Windows department and that 'there's a problem with your computer,' I knew it was a scam because I don't have a Windows computer. End of story.

I had another of these 'scam' calls, this time on my iPhone. I can't see where they get my number, landline or mobile. I don't intentionally give my numbers out and they shouldn't actually be phoning me because I'm signed up to the preference service which is supposed to stop these unsolicited calls. Then there are those calls that, when you pick them up, nobody answers and there's just a long silence until you get this weird 'good bye,' at the end. What is that all about?

Later I got yet another call, from of all people, Sky. They knew that I had closed down my Sky Television account and even gone as far as sending back the Q Box and all the paraphernalia that went with it, including the cables and the two remotes. Sky sent the packaging, very cleverly posted in a flat-pack format and you have to assemble it yourself and use peel-off adhesive strips to keep it all together, along with pre-paid postage labels. But I wasn't swayed by the marketing tactics of the young man on the other end of the phone. I said I now had Freeview and I had no intention of resubscribing, basically because of the cost and the fact that I didn't need even half of the channels. Apart from that, the Panasonic Freeview box I now have is perfectly adequate. It allows you to record and also you can use catch-up with such things as BBC iPlayer, as well as having a dedicated Netflix button and if you look carefully, such things as YouTube and even Amazon Prime video, which means you don't need to set up the Fire Stick which can be quite touch and go whether it will work properly.

Cutting Costs

Since my lovely Carol passed away in December, my financial situation has been in meltdown. You may have read in my blog posts about my situation regarding Housing Benefit and Teachers' Pensions as well as more recently Pension Credit and the fact that the D.W.P. had discovered that Carol had paid into a pension when she worked in Bournemouth. Still no response regarding all this but those people for work for these government departments work slowly. (One speed, slow and stop.) But elsewhere I have managed to reduce my outgoings, Anglian Water have cut my bill to an amazing £6 per month and I recently ditched Sky television. I now have a Panasonic Freeview box which does virtually the same as a Sky Q box, including being able to record television programmes as well as having catch-up services such as BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, ITV Hob (is it called ITV Player? I don't know.) as well as the Channel 4 catch-up service. No real difference in picture quality or any loss or anything-quality and, frankly, I don't miss Sky in the slightest, except possibly the amount I paid per month. I am still with their broadband, nothing changed there, and it's around £28 per month, and also I have Sky Mobile, which I set up around 4 months ago, with a brand new iPhone 7 and my monthly bill for that is an amazing £19.50 and they doubled my data usage for the same price, which can't be bad. Also, at the end of each month, any data that isn't used can be saved and either added to the next month's data or can be cashed in for accessories for your mobile, which is one of the reasons I chose to move to Sky Mobile.

The last thing that needed sorting was my car insurance. I knew it was about to need renewing. Then I got a letter in the post marked Swinton Insurance, the company which I have the motor insurance with. Last year's premium was just over £1000 and this year the just under half of that, with a monthly payment of around £48. Which pleases me, as you can imagine.

Then earlier in the month I got a telephone call from SSE, and they can reduce my yearly payment for gas and electricity by around £300. Being on a pay-as-you-go meter system it means you never get behind with a bill and can see from the meters how much you are using, but I would like to have a smart meter because you can see how much power you are using and also pay via an app or on-line rather than having to top up at a shop. But, as you will know if you read my blog posts, that I've had two companies say they can install a smart meter but when they arrive at look in the meter cupboard, they say they can't go ahead because they would need to drill a hole through into the house, basically because the gas meter is on the outside, in the meter cupboard, whilst the electricity meter is on the inside of the house. Why on earth were they not put together in one place? It makes life difficult if the gas runs out in the winter, you have to go outside with the step stool and a torch, especially when it's cold and dark, and it's quite an effort to then put the card in the slot in the meter and go through the process of checking the amount left on the meter etc etc. But the work has to be done by my beloved landlord who doesn't want to spend any money on anything in this house, and that would include dealing with the smart meter.

I have now learned that my current tariff includes what is called Economy 7, which means that the cost of electricity is a good deal cheaper over night, which I never knew. Which means in the long run it would be cheaper to do my washing at night and hopefully save quite a considerable amount on my electricity bill. Goodness knows why I haven't discovered this fact until now I have no idea. 

A Surprise Present

I got a real surprise the other day. I was in the kitchen, washing up, and then a large van drew up in the road directly outside. I was thinking, is it going to deliver something to me? I wasn't exactly sure, because I wasn't waiting for a delivery, and if I was, it wouldn't be for a day or two. The driver got out and went to the doors at the rear and took out two sizeable parcels. He then came to my door and I immediately moved to open it, making sure that Alfie was safe in the lounge, because if I don't ad he runs outside, he might get run out, which is something I definitely want to avoid. The driver knocked on the door and I opened it. I had to sign on one of those electronic, computer 'pad' gadgets. It's not easy to sign your signature, sometimes with a special stylus or even with your finger. I closed the door and took the parcels inside to have a glance at them in the lounge. I finished my washing up in the kitchen and went back, with some trepidation, to the two parcels. Much to my surprise, they were from, of all companies, Anglian Water! Then it dawned on me. A few days ago I got my newest bill from Anglian, so I thought, considering what's happened in the last few months, being a single person again and all the rest of it, perhaps if I ring Anglian I could manage to get  reduction of my monthly bill to Anglian Water. When I eventually got through, I was put through to a department which deals with people on various benefits and I explained about Carol's passing, cancer and so on. I have now got my monthly payments to a little over £6. So it shows that, if you enquire about these things, you can get a reduction.

I forgot all about Anglian Water. Well, you would. I have had to do a lot since Carol passed away, with a view to reducing my outgoings. I did the same with my Sky account, cutting back on parts of the account which I don't use or need, such as having the mini box we had in the bedroom so we could watch television in bed, as well as cancelling Sky Cinema. I managed to reduce the montly cost to £68, which includes broadband and landline.

I know, it's taking me an age to get to the point of this blog post. The large van that drew up outside my house. What about it? What was in the parcel that was unloaded? Or rather, parcels, as it was more than one which the driver unloaded and brought to my door. I took the two parcels into the lounge with Alfie in attendance. I think he was as interested to know what they contained as much as I did. Once open, I found the Anglian Water logo and then guessed it has something to do with the telephone call I had made the previous week. The parcel contained a jute bag with a lot of food items, cakes, biscuits, jams and goodness knows what else and even a bag of dog tioys for Alfie, two of which he immediately took to and had a great time chewing! So, two happy people and most of all, me, for receiving this unexpected present!

Problems With Sky

We've been with Sky for a few years now. We originally had Sky when we lived in Crownhill. Then we had to move from that house (full details in an earlier blog post.) to this house. We opted for Freeview. More out of necessity rather than choice, because there was no Sky dish at this address. Neither was there a decent out-door ariel, which you needed if you were to receive a decent signal from Freeview. We had a Freeview set-top box and had an indoor ariel, but the picture quality was very poor. We did an on-line search through a price comparison site in an attempt to find an alternative television provider. We had intended to set up a Virgin media account, but soon discovered that we couldn't have one basically because Virgin, which is a cable company, wasn't available in Milton Keynes, which seemed a bit strange, considering that the place is so modern, you would imagine that it would have been cabled when the place was built. So we didn't have much of a choice but to go with Sky. We also wanted to switch our internet provider as well as having a land-line telephone, so we decided to have all of these services with one provider. Also, with Freeview, even if there was a decent enough signal, their service was (and probably still is) fairly basic, to say the least. You get BBC1, BBC2, ITV and Channel 4 and a handful of what can best be called 'cast-off' channels. All very well if you don't want to pay for a subscription. We wanted to be able to watch a wider range of programmes and Sky was beginning to branch out and make it's own shows. As I'm not very interested in sport,  and neither is Carol, if it comes to that, football in particular, there seemed no point in having any of the sports channels at additional cost. We felt we were missing out as there are exclusive channels they have which Freeview and Virgin don't provide. Such as Sky Arts (at that time they had two Arts channels.) Which is why we set up a Sky account and had a Sky + box as well as internet and landline telephone. It makes it simpler if you have all these services from one provider, meaning only one direct debit payment each month.

We upgraded our Sky service to Sky Q fairly recently. We wanted to have a television in our bedroom, so chose to have a multi-screen service, which means we have the main Sky Q box in the lounge. It is connected via wifi (the router is in the hall near the telephone socket.) We bought an HD television just before we got the new Sky contract sorted out. It was a 39 inch Toshiba. But it didn't last long. It failed to work and it seemed we were going to be without television for a while until we could afford a replacement. I still can't believe that set only lasted four years at most. We now have a 43 inch Hitachi and, quite honestly, it's a better set, which, like the old Toshiba, has a built-in DVD player.

So, why have I waffled on for two paragraphs? Where is all this leading? Well, the other day Carol mentioned that she couldn't get some of the channels to work. You'd get a 'no satellite signal' message come up. BBC1, BBC2, ITV and Channel 4 and 5 appeared fine, which was odd, because if they worked, why not the Sky subscription channels, such as Sky1, Sky Atlantic and the Sky Arts channel? I eventually rang the sky helpline and the on-line man ran me through some self-help instructions, the usual range of options to re-set and re-boot the Sky Q box, but nothing worked. Those channels would not work. We have booked an appointment to have an engineer come and sort the thing out on Saturday afternoon, so, hopefully, it will be back to normal after then.

I'm intrigued by the automated telephone system Sky has when you ring their helpline. It's voice-activated for a lot of the menu when you first call. I think it might put some people off ringing at all, those who don't like using automated systems. But the voice they use is quite realistic, which is probably why it might be off-putting. But I soon got through to a human and there wasn't the usual long wait you often get with call-centres and then listening to awful music for what seems like hours and hours.

Further Television Annoyances

O.K., so I'm going to mention even more things which annoy me about television. You may be asking, 'surely there can't be any more?' Well, you are wrong, sorry to have to tell you. 'So,' you are going to tell me, 'how come you don't just find something else to watch, with somewhere in the region of 250 channels on Sky and probably 30-40 if you have Freeview. Or you could read a book or find some other pastime to keep you entertained.

This time, I get annoyed by the strange camera angles employed in some programmes. The picture at a peculiar angle, or, the camera being spun round to make you feel sick. Why do directors of such programmes have to resort to this sort of thing? Because they can. Another thing I hate is BIG CLOSE-UPS. For no better reason, again, because they can.

I really detest 'Strictly Come Dancing.' It's not the dancing, which, in general is really entertaining. It's the ballyhoo which surrounds it which annoys me. The fact that they use 'celebrities,' which, as a term to describe the contestants is annoying, the amount of space taken up in the press as a result, every little thing that gets mentioned by the judges and any slight hiccough gets a full-page spread in the likes of The Sun or Mirror or even Daily Mail. I hate the fact that the audience has to clap along with the music. It's so infantile and pathetic, I don't think children in a Primary School would behave like they do. Then, all the over-the-top cheering and noise they make. We attempted to get tickets to this show over several years, but never managed to. But, on reflection, I'm glad we didn't because I don't think I'd want to have to clap along to the music if I'd been in the audience. Can the BBC at least be honest and tell us which bits of this show are genuinely live and which pre-recorded? I imagine the opening dances done by the professionals are pre-recorded as well as the bits with the guests.

Why can't they have the results programme on the Saturday? Is this show pre-recorded? I reckon it is, because I can't believe they'd send the audience home after the Saturday show and then have them back on a Sunday. Just seems unlikely. I reckon it's recorded after the live Saturday show. For a start, they'd have to get the celebrities re-dressed and re-made up for the results show. I wish they'd just stop pretending all this is live when it's quite obviously not. I think also that the cost of production staff on a Sunday would be a reason for not having this show live, what with the cost of overtime etc etc.

Rest of Fence Replaced

I had to drive to Sainsbury's early yesterday morning for some shopping that we needed. On the way along Saxon Street I noticed that the major pothole which is just one of many in and around the Eaglestone area, and which it's quite difficult and dangerous to avoid in order to not damage the car, has now been marked with green paint. No doubt the Council has actually admitted that it's a major problem and will no doubt, in due course, get round to repairing it. I'm fairly certain that the state of the roads in and around Milton Keynes have had a detrimental effect on our car which meant we had to have certain parts replaced at great cost, namely, the coil springs, which would be made to deteriorate gradually as a result of having to drive over not just potholes, but speed bumps, a number of which are in and around Eaglestone. It wouldn't be just my vehicle that has been effected, but probably quite a few other drivers' vehicles who also use the road system around Milton Keynes.

Gary began working on replacing the fence that separates our garden from his. The work began mid-morning and went on for the rest of the afternoon, which meant I had to close the lounge curtains as I had the second Better Together session beginning at 2.30. A vast improvement on what was there before. I'm surprised the old bit of fence survived the winter and looking at it after it was removed, just a crumbling, rotting disaster. It was rickety, to say the least, and a gale, such as we had a couple of winters ago and which blew out the fence the opposite side of the garden (and which was replaced by Council workers, because  the house on that side is owned by the Council) might have destroyed it completely. 

Having now got myself an iPhone, we have now ordered one for Carol. We had a telephone call from Sky, as we are already Sky customers. They have recently added mobile phones to their expanding portfolio. It only seemed a question of time before this was done. We ordered another iPhone 5 (similar to mine) and it comes with a SIM card and you get a rolling data contract, which means that you don't loose your data at the end of a month and goes on to the next. It's for a 30-month contract and the payment is added to our Sky bill, which now means we don't have to buy top-up credit each month, which is simpler in the long run and probably cheaper. You also get the option to up-grade your mobile when a new model comes out and send the old one back when they are offered. The whole process of setting it up and ordering was done very efficiently by the lady on the telephone and the mobile is expected to arrive by courier sometime this morning. I have to say, even though the iPhone is a good deal more expensive than other mobiles, it is a good mobile and works as you would hope. It makes the Samsung Galaxy mobile i had seem fairly feeble by comparison. Much faster and more 'user-friendly' which is what you'd expect from an Apple product.

Some time later

I knew vaguely when the iPhone was going to be delivered. Sky very conveniently emailed me to say that it would be delivered by the courier company D.P.D., and with modern technology it was possible to 'track' the parcel from it's journey from the company depot in Raunds, near Wellingborough and if you put the consignment number in their website you could even see a photograph of the driver. (Looked a bit grumpy to me. Why couldn't he smile?) Using Google maps it was even possible to have a vague idea when the van was and at one point it showed up as being approximately 30 minutes from our house. I expect it's linked to G.P.S. and SatNav technology and when a parcel is signed for, using a touch-screen keypad device, a signal is sent to a computer system that tracks the parcel. I was also given an indication that the parcel would be delivered between 9.50-10.50. In the end it arrived at around 10.20 so I wasn't at all surprised when the very distinctive van drew up outside the house and the driver walked up the path to the front door and I was waiting with the door open. You then have to show some photographic identity (in this case my Driving Licence) and he handed over the parcel. Delivery completed when I signed the digital screen on the device I was handed.

It's another warm and sunny day today. Just hope it remains this sunny for the weekend and we don't suddenly get a downpour when we want to go out for the day.

Boiler Woes Continue

We had hoped that by now we would have managed to contact our beloved landlord and got him to make some sort of decision about the repair of our central heating boiler. We had a phone number, which we were given by him when we transferred to renting the house directly from the landlord and away from the rental agency, but on attempting to ring the number we found that it was no longer working. After a few more attempts it would appear that he has a new number, much as we got a new telephone number when we went over to Sky from TalkTalk a couple of years ago. You would imagine that we would have been informed of the new number but obviously, they never thought it important enough to give us this new number. So we are still stuck without knowing what to do regarding the boiler, but still have an engineer coming on Friday morning. Then Carol discovered a business card from the plumber who she got through the Academy when we had to get the leak repaired (due to the landlord fouling up the installation of the washing machine, which is recalled in an earlier blog so need not be repeated here.) It would appear that this plumber will not look at the boiler without the landlord's permission, which means we are no further forward with this situation. As a result, of all this we are continuing to have no hot water for washing up, or baths etc etc., unless we boil kettles and saucepans and the house is freezing cold, although we have a very small electric fan heater for use in the lounge. We will have to see what the new week brings as regards resolving this situation.