Week of 18th April, 2016

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Monday, 18th April

OK. Let's see if $BANK will deign to allow me to pay off my mortgage. There's a 14-odd minute queue for the Mortgage Service department, so I booked a callback later today. We shall see whether it works, this time.

Second, I need to order the new bits for May Day. The supplier-of-choice is Canford, in the north of England. And, despite the website saying trade only, the sales department were quite happy to take my cash order (well, debit card...) Only one speaker, stand, and mounting adaptor (of 3 needed) in stock as I type, so they will ship what they have. I await a return phone call with further information - notably, prospective delivery dates.

Just in case the back-ordered kit doesn't arrive in time, I've suggested to the May Day Committee that we ask the local school to standby. I hope it won't be necessary to call on them, but better safe than sorry. I've already accepted the booking for the school's Summer Fete, in June.

<pause for lunch>

And Lynchy's emporium don't have any stock of Yaesu VX-8 antennas, but they can get them within days, so I've ordered one - and paid for it. So all should be sorted soon.

Later: $BANK didn't call when they said they would, but about 4 hours late, the phone blasted off. And they had a redemption value, dated 5th April, and valid for 24 hours, together with a note, "We called you on the 5th." Well, that's news to me, but it's only about 10 days out-of-date, which won't have much effect, so "just under UKP12,500" is good enough. And that's acceptable, so I said, "Do it." That'll happen tomorrow, and I should see evidence, via $BANK SMS text, by Thursday. And the phone slave said, "Enjoy being mortage-free." I will.

Come month end, I'll see about paying off the other bank loans and credit cards, subject to the planned, keep UKP2,000-odd of the redundancy, until work pension is resolved, and I know how much extra cash I need to pull from that pot. Also HMG's Department of Work and Pensions are supposed to tell me how much extra State Pension I'll get from the deferment of drawing it when I reached 65.

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Tuesday, 19th April

$BANK SMS text this morning shows payments to mortgage accounts - 2 of them - so I'm now mortgage-free. Doubleplus good.

Jane routinely spends all morning on Tuesdays somewhere, I know not where - probably the local big shopping street, probably with Jenny. So this is my chance to investigate ads-pi's problems. As long as I'm packed up before minded kids arrive, there'll be no unendurable complaints. Of course, if all goes very well, I'll be packed up before Jane gets back...

So we'll get the 22 inch JVC TV/monitor, ads-pi, appropriate power bricks, and latitude set up on the dining room table.

ads-pi doesn't even show any desire to do more than glow LEDs at me, using his original microSD card. OK, where's the new one I prepared last week? I picked it up, but then I put it down somewhere. But where? Luckily, I have another blank card, so let's prepare that. And while that was happening, I discovered that the old, non-booting card is actually physically damaged - the epoxy encapsulation has cracked, and a corner fell off. So that's dead - evidently killed by the mechanical shock when the box fell to the floor due to feline interference.

And now ads-pi boots - much output scrolls up the JVC screen, followed by a login: prompt. Plus good. If I could only put my hand on last week's SD card, it would be doubleplus good.

So let's go through the setup procedure. I'm using Anthony Stirk, M0UPU's amended setup procedure, and I need say no more about it than "It works". I now have ads-pi running the 2016-03 incarnation of Raspbian Jessie, with GPS PPS-referenced ntp, at version 4.2.8p6, dating from January this year, although it would be good to remove the dependency on internet timeservers. That said, in addition to everything else in Anthony's instructions, I recommend editing /etc/ntp.conf to change the pool server lines to read n.uk.pool.ntp.org, rather than n.debian.pool.ntp.org, for 0<n<3, the default number of servers.

Having got that working, I imaged the SD card, just to avoid having to compile ntp again.

Next up, dump1090 for ADS-B reception. And I'll use the fork of dump1090 that supports logging to an sqlite database - specifically in Kinetic Basestation format (basestation.sqb) This is by DE8SMH, based on work by Lee Smallbone.

Three have recently withdrawn the UKP12.90/month tariff I was subscribed to - 200 minutes, unlimited texts, unlimited data on handset (no tethering) The new version of that is UKP23/month, with a UKP3 discount as an existing subscriber. But for that, I get 30GB/month of tethered data, as part of the unlimited bundle - although how the h*ll I'll ever use that much I do not know... This will mean that I won't have to routinely carry the Hame router. The new payment comes into effect next month, so I may already have the new tethered plan - I don't know. But it's still the best deal available, I think.

And Google are offering Android 6.0.1. I've just got the notification on the Nexus 5, and I'm installing it as I type. It will be interesting to see how long it takes nVidia and Motorola to offer the update. I'll report here when they do.

<pause>

nVidia Shield Tablets are now updating to Android 6.0.1. I've just done mine. No sign of a Moto update yet. And I've added my standard airshows for 2016 to the calendar.

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Wednesday, 20th April

Yesterday, we had a "sorry we missed you" card through the door from UPS. Singularly uninformative - a "parcel" will be available for you to collect at $LOCAL_UPS_AGENT after 17:00. That agent is 10 or so minutes walk away, so I thought to collect today, on foot. I was suspecting it was something small, for Katy or Jenny. What I wasn't expecting was a box the size of 3 cereal packets, weighing 2.5kg. For me, from Canford. OK, I can manage this. Not easily, but I can manage it - it's the size, not the weight.

Then, when I checked the packing note, there are supposed to be 2 boxes. No way can I carry 2 boxes, plus a bag of shopping. But at least the 2nd box is there. So, once I got home, I jumped in the car and drove down to $AGENT to collect the second package.

It all turns out to be the in-stock tranche of bits for May Day - most of the connectors, and one speaker-and-stand set. The pre-made cables and the other 2 speaker-and-stand sets aren't available yet. Well, they do say 50 metre Speakon cables are special order. I told Canford's phone slave that I need this kit for May 14th, so hopefully all will be delivered in time. If not, I can still use $SCHOOL's kit.

So, mad props to Canford, for the quick service. Kudos to UPS, too, but less of it - I didn't hear the doorbell ring yesterday. But even so, overnight shipping is good.

And Jane has found the microSD card I mislaid yesterday.

The Department of Work and Pensions have got their ducks in a row, and told me how much extra State Pension I'm going to get out of the deferment. And it's more than I was expecting. More, there's a lump sum cash option - taxable, of course, just like all pension monies, if your pension exceeds the Personal Allowance. Which mine does.

I decided not to take the cash option - more income is, I think, better. And Jane agrees. So I've filled in the choice form, and posted it. This is separate from the basic State Pension, the first payment of which should arrive next week, and 4-weekly thereafter. Presumably, the augmented pension from the deferment will be back-dated to March 31st, when my State Pension was activated.

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Thursday, 21st April

Sarah had a little accident while cycling to work in Central London this morning. She "came off her bike" while negotiating the Shepherd's Bush Roundabout, and bent the front fork of the bike. It is, of course, unrideable, but her helmet protected her head, so she's no more than bruised and shaken. So I had to go and fetch the wreckage, before spending the rest of the morning driving round West London trying to find someone who can fix it for less than silly money.

There isn't one - the cheapest deal would require spending UKP100 for a new front fork, including fitting. Quotes go up from there. To fix a 4-year-old bike that cost UKP250 when it was new. And that might only be the start of it. No, better get a new bike - the current version, from Halfords, runs UKP270. Tomorrow.

$WORK_PENSION_PROVIDER has finally coughed up all my work pension monies, including the taxable part of the redundancy, and passed them to my IFA. That's a sizable piece of change, and it puts me over the threshold for my IFA's discretionary service, where they can make investment changes more rapidly, because they don't have to ask me for permission. So all that will be put in motion, and I should be able to complete all the building works, and pay off the rest of the debt without too much trouble.

Next building work is the replacement of 2 windows with uPVC-framed ones - that'll be in 2 weeks time. Then I can start discussing work on the shared drive with my neighbour - probably pave/tarmac the existing drive, and widen the front part, in front of the houses, to provide hard-standing for 2 cars, side by side. If only the local council hadn't moved the lamp-post from in front of the neighbour to in front of me...

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Friday, 22nd April

Comes now UPS, again. But this time I heard the doorbell ring, so I could take delivery of another box from Canford. The despatch note says it's the other 2 horn loudspeakers. I should sit down with a soldering iron and terminate the output flyleads from all 3 speakers to Neutrik NL4FC Speakon plugs, and soon, before the last-minute mad panic kicks in. And, while I'm at it, fit the matching NL4MP sockets to the amplifiers. This will need a 25mm hole punch, which I have, since Neutrik are scrupulous about sticking to the so-called "D-size" connector shell, and I like this style of connector for it's ruggedness - you can drive over them with no adverse effect.

And Postie delivered the replacement antenna for the Yaesu VX-8, so that's good-to-go.

After lunch with Jane and her Mum at the cafe, where I found that I don't have the new, tethering-enabled, data plan yet, I called Three's Customer care line, and eventually got through to a warm body - nice Indian lady, obviously reading from a script, because some of my replies didn't fit. Note to the scriptwriter - if someone is calling about a newly-implemented tariff change, don't try to upsell. I have the 30 day rolling contract - which costs more - and I want that. Don't try to sell me a 12 month contract. The new plan starts May 14th, or I can buy a UKP5 add-on to enable it for a month. I don't think I'll bother - I haven't needed it much, if at all, since Three took it away without telling me.

Talking of contracts, I need to fight Voda's customer care line again. I want to get the Moto E unlocked, and I don't want to pay for it - not even UKP1.59 or so for an unlock code via eBay. They say that Voda handsets can be unlocked, free, after one year, and this may very well be true - but what about someone who has been a loyal customer for multiple years (in my case, 30-odd years) Can I get an unlock code gratis? Not to mention that a Voda shop wants UKP20 to unlock the phone. And I didn't want that lock in the first place - I needed a new handset pronto, and the only place I could put my hand on a Moto E immediately was Vodafone. Who network-lock even their contract phones. Plus they won't sell a handset without selling you a PAYG SIM with UKP10 of credit - and being supplied with a SIM, it's not SIM-free.

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Saturday, 23rd April

A firm of treesurgeons were visiting the area today, and Jane decided the trees in the back garden needed to be tidied up. UKP150 later, it's done. And I've nearly run out of cheques, so I queried $BANK - who sent me a chequebook in Feb 2015. But that isn't to hand, so we agreed to stop the set of cheque numbers involved, and send out a new book. 8 to 10 working days to print and post. I just hope I don't need to write 2 or more cheques before the new book arrives - I only have one left.

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Sunday, 24th April

Today, Sarah and I went bike shopping. There was a degree of confusion - she doesn't remember the frame size of her old bike, and the local big Halfords has mostly 54cm frames, or larger, in men's bikes - women's bikes are typically UKP100 more expensive. It turns out that a 51cm frame suits her better (and, later, we discovered her old bike is that size)

Then, of course, we discovered that her preferred model (the 2015 version of her old bike - a 2012 model, bought in 2013) is no longer available in store. It's still available online, so we bagged the "buy it in store" excursion, and went home, via the local big Tesco supermarket, because Sarah needed a food shop. I sat out that excursion in the attached Costa coffee shop.

And Sarah has ordered her bike, online, to be delivered to a different shop, near the main railway station. Probably because that's the way she commutes when not on the bike. It's considerably less convenient if you are planning to transport the bike by car, rather than riding it.

Apparently, what will happen is that the bike will be delivered to the shop, as a kit of parts, which will be assembled after being paid for. That payment is down to me, and can be done over the counter. Assembled bike collection later, it seems.

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