Week of 23rd February, 2004

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Monday, 23rd February

Lots of rushing about, today.

It was decided that Katy's bedroom would get a new ceiling light fitting, rather than trying to repair the way the existing fitting is affixed to the ceiling. So I was deputed to obtain said new fitting, and then commanded to fit it - in the dark, yet!

Have you tried changing a light fitting, after dark, by torchlight? With the power off, for safety reasons. It is not easy.

Jane is, of course not happy with how I've done it, and wants it moved. And while I'm at it, she wants the old fitting moved to our bedroom, which is inadequately lit, I will admit, and where the ceiling is in better repair - so Katy's old light fitting should install easily enough, $DEITY and Aloysius P. Murphy permitting.

But I put my foot down - not tonight. I'll do it tomorrow, in daylight.

But Jane has minded children, and Katy has a dentist's appointment. So I'll be working alone - which is perhaps not a good idea.

I can't start until after lunch anyway, because Jane also wants a TV installed in the kitchen, so that her minded kids can be entertained while throwing tantrums at mealtimes. This will mean a new aerial, and while I'm at it, I'll have a connection run into Katy's bedroom, so that she can watch (and record) TV there.

Today, when I went to download UseNet news, I discovered that Demon have an NNTP server problem. Apparently, there were intermittent issues starting yesterday morning, and the servers went casters-up yesterday evening. And as of 22:30 tonight, they're still down.

Mail was working, though. 64 messages, 16 rejected by rule,of the 48 (36 list mails) 43 were valid (36 list) This since the 18th.

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Tuesday, 24th February

Demon's news server returned to service at about 10:00, so I caught up on my UseNet, while waiting for the aerial rigger to attend. He arrived at about 12:30, and proceeded to confirm my worst fears about the cost of the new aerial - best quality aerial, for digital terrestrial TV, on 10 foot pole, fitted to the chimney, beside the existing aerial (we need the height, since the digital transmitter is at Crystal Palace in south-east London, the other side of a nearby hill) for a total cost of UKP168 plus the VAT. Add another UKP20 for the second outlet, and UKP17 for sockets rather than loose cable, and the bill came to just shy of UKP250. All completed and working by about 2:30 p.m., despite the rain/sleet - poor aerial rigger. But we gave him a cup of tea, and some home-made shortbread.

Mailcall: 20 messages, 3 rejected by rule, of the 17 (13 list mail) 16 were valid (13 list)

Then I changed the light fitting in our bedroom, and the improvement in brightness is amazing. It ought to be - we had a 100 watt bulb before, now we have 200 watts of mains voltage halogen spotlights. In fact, it's arguably too bright.

Finally, I installed the swivel bracket for the kitchen TV.  4no. 3 inch x no12 screws, drilled into the wall and appropriate wallplugs inserted. It ain't going to fall off in a hurry - the bracket is rated at 40kg.

All of which, I think, is a good day's work.

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Wednesday, 25th February

You load 16 tons, and what do you get?
Another day older, and deeper in debt.

That's how I feel today, after a day spent hacking at the piles of material that needs ingested as soon as possible - if not yesterday. Not to mention recent costs for various works.

Never mind, a weekend coming up, and I'll be away to Wales for a bit of peace.

The National Health Service bureaucracy are going to assess Mum's case next week, to make sure she's still entitled to the UKP100 per week payment towards her nursing home costs. It's a foregone conclusion, of course, but bureaucrats have to earn their keep, so we get the assessment visit. That payment is made direct to the nursing home, and comes straight off the top of the fees, which makes a significant difference to the outgoings.

Memo to self: they can't read it if you don't post it! Two weeks at a hit is a bit too much.

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Thursday, 26th February

I spent all day today pushing promotional material at the servers, nearly all for the movie channels. There's one more tape of those, which hasn't been delivered yet (tomorrow, I believe) I've seen the schedules for the first day of shadowing the new channels, and the missing list is not too horrific, given that we've gone from a standing start in less than a month. Would you believe all clear before 14:00 Saturday? And that's the limit of how far the automation looks ahead. Actual air date is Sunday night, at midnight local time, or thereabouts. At least that's the logical time, due to downstream events that I won't mention here. Whether logic will apply is, of course, moot.

Mailcall: 35 messages, 12 rejected by rule, if the 23 (8 list mail) 15 were valid (7 list) I think I'll stop reporting mail statistics - Brightmail filtering just works. E-mail is useable again. Some spam still leaks through - but only one or two, at the beginning of each spam run. We (Demon's subscribers) were warned about this effect, and in any case it's small, so I can live with it. It's certainly better than the previous avalanche.

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Friday, 27th February

First thing this morning, I got good news, by snail mail. Given the recent (end of last month) rush to get my tax return in before deadline, I was expecting some delay before hearing from Hector the Inspector. But no, today came several missives from him.

First up was my Notice of Coding for next year, telling me how much I can earn tax-free. My employer will apply this, according to rule, to withhold nominal tax on my salary - we call this Pay As You Earn, or PAYE.

Then there was the good news - I'm quite dramatically over-paid for last year. I've never been in this situation before, so I'm not sure of the protocol - do they send me a cheque? Or do I have to request it?

And finally, another missive, that said, "I calculate that there is no need to make payments on account for tax year 2004-5". Which is Hector-speak for "I accept that you have no other earnings than those taxed under PAYE". And he's right - freelance work has basically dried up.

Off to Wales, today, starting at about midday. The usual easy drive, albeit long. The tailback at the tunnels in Newport was still there, even at 3 p.m., so it looks as though that is always present, not a rush-hour thing.

I checked with the computer company - the new machine should be built by the middle of next week, which is good, but I can't collect it until I come down next time.

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Saturday, 28th February

Mum is well, but still confused, and the home are happy with her progress. Both I and they wish that she would eat more, but there's only so much you can do. There's still no sign of the hearing aid, but progress is being made there, too - glacial progress, but progress. I've seen the correspondence.

Other than that, there's nothing to report about Wales. All is well with the flat, and I expect no problems in the future.

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Sunday, 29th February

Back to London today, hopefully in time to collect a rarely-performed Handel opera from the BBC.

Which I managed - more later.
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