1 For the first time, I had to pick up after Ben. He, like a lot of dogs, is very modest when it comes to lavatorial matters and usually vanishes into a remote corner of the field. Bitches don’t care, in my experience.
2 I achieved quite a lot this morning, getting the Sage’s car insurance searched out and bought and dealing with our house insurance amongst other things. That is, the insurance is not due yet and I’m not paying until it is, but I’ve gone through all the paperwork. The Sage has finally handed over all such things to me, which has probably been a good move as he is very loyal to those who have his custom and is reluctant to switch. Sadly, loyalty isn’t always a two-way thing.
3 I visited my friend in Norwich hospital. She’s brave and cheerful, but hasn’t felt like eating since Sunday which is probably the reason she is quite weak. And she lost her hair again over Christmas. Still, she’s resolute and has booked a place on the Nadfas visit to Holland in the autumn. If she’s able to go, we’ll share a room. While I was there her daughter arrived, then another friend and then another, so I left at that point. Jill was really pleased, she’s very sociable and was charmed that so many of her friends visited on the same day. When I arrived home, I rang a couple of other people who I know are fond of her, to let them know she’s in hospital. It was such a silly accident, she fell between two pieces of furniture and couldn’t extricate herself and had to wait until her daughter arrived to rescue her. it didn’t injure her, but it was the weakness that made her fall that is the problem.
4 I spent an hour or so setting up the new phones we have bought. I reflected that I seem to have reached the age when getting to grips with new stuff is a worry rather than a pleasure. I’ve done the immediate bits and will do the rest, such as programming in phone numbers so that we know who’s ringing, when I’ve recovered from the stress of the basic stuff. In a day or two, I will have to teach the Sage how to listen to messages. Actually, it’s easier than the last phone. I had to buy new ones because the Sage had left two outside and they were rained on and the rechargeable battery on a third has failed, so we were left with a single useful phone, plus the one that works without electricity. We never use the landline except for phoning abroad or for 0800 etc numbers, we always use our iPhones.
5 Mysteriously, my iPhone has got a shattered back. It’s always kept in a leather case and I don’t remember dropping it, but I must have – it still works, I only found out when I took it out of its case: the glass is broken but still in place. It’s covered on our homoe insurance, but there’s a £100 excess so I may get it repaired instead. I’ll have to look into it.
It’s going to be a busy weekend, so please excuse me if I miss a day or two. I’ll be back, as they say.
Setting up new phones is almost as bad as setting up new computers, if you want to make use of all they can do. It’s worth it though. My husband is just as bad as the Sage when it comes to leaping for the phone, so I had to learn how to enter the numbers of persistent pests in order to ban them. I used to make a note of the numbers that called, or at least the ones that actually had numbers, and they do come back months later. I hope your friend recovers quickly. Have a good weekend, if not peaceful.
Where did the fish come in? Oh, I know, Lowestoft.
I’m a technology minimalist, myself. The less the better. Saves a lot of faffing about.
Homeo Insurance? Isn’t that where you pay them 0.5p a year and if you have a claim it does no good whatsoever?
I like the resolute booking of the trip to Holland – it’s a spirit I very much hope to emulate.
The manual is off-white paper with grey writing, which doesn’t help.
Very nice, Tim. And you’d have got on with my ma. “If it’s got more than two moving parts, I’m not touching it,” she used to say.
I won’t correct the error, Rog, wouldn’t want you to look silly. And yes, it’s a fine attitude. I’m more of a face facts and give up girl, but I admire those who keep going.
I have just read Penelope Lively’s ‘How it All Began’ which begins with the mugging on an elderly woman. A quote I shall cherish was “old age is not for wimps”.
Setting up new gadgets or insurance used to fill me with terror but I just can’t be bothered to worry about it now. Though I get quite over-excited when I’m actually doing it.
Amen to number 4. We bought a new phone because my husband was not happy with the old (junk: must be made in China: you can’t find a good one: you must be able to transfer calls . . .) and the new works like the old (except I haven’t transferred numbers to directory yet either.) And if he doesn’t pick it up when it rings, why would he pick it up 30 seconds later when I transfer the call?