Week of 21st November, 2016

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Monday, 21st November

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Tuesday, 22nd November

I dumped some things today, and stored others. At least there's room in my storage locker again.

The Ansonia clock, that was Jane's Aunt Dora's, has taken to displaying a rate problem. It's fine for about the first 3 days of the week, but then it slows down, to the extent of about 15 minutes in the remainder of the week. Remember, it's an 8-day movement with a half-hourly strike. This cannot go on, so I took it back to my tame clock repairer. He'll have to keep it for at least a week, to actually see it display the problem, and then probably another week to fix. maybe more. But there's no rush. After that, my parents' clock, which is a cheap Korean regulator-style (but which has great sentimental value) needs to be serviced. It hasn't been looked at for 40+ years, to my certain knowledge, and also has a problem with the strike - it strikes 12 at 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 1. Other than that, it has a gaining rate of about a minute a week, and just keeps on ticking for 30 days, although I wind it once a week.

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Wednesday, 23rd November

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Thursday, 24th November

Freelance at former $EMPLOYER today. Quite successful. I can't really say much more.

But while I was there, I ordered a new shaver light for Katy's flat, from Amazon. Should be here Saturday, since I ordered quite late in the day. This is with Prime delivery. I also ordered a Huawei E8372 Wingle, unlocked, in white - I'd have preferred black, but the only source is in Hong Kong, and was more expensive. And last, but by no means least, a pair of PortaPow USB Condoms, which fool the source USB port into providing as much power as it can, while simultaneously hiding the downstream device from it. So it acts as a protection against malicious USB ports loading malware onto your mobile device while charging. Those will come from outside the Amazon ecosystem, so slower delivery, unless I spring money for faster shipping. Next Thursday should be quite fast enough, and free.

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Friday, 25th November

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Saturday, 26th November

Waiting in for the Amazon delivery, which finally arrived about 13:30. So then I could schlep down to Katy's flat, in hopes of getting her TV set up for terrestrial reception - $ky satellite will follow in it's time. Talking of $ky, her landline phone and broadband should be turned up this coming Wednesday, remotely. It seems the previous owner hadn't told $ky that she has moved, so the circuits were still up, and needed to be shut off first.

So in due course the Amazon parcel arrived, which meant I had to open it. The light appears good, but I wanted to test the wingle first, before I left. It takes the same size SIM as the E156G I normally use, which is good, and just needs USB for power, although it will provide connectivity over that same USB as well. I plugged it into the SolPro lipo solar battery, and it lit up, and provided connectivity over wifi, so that's all well.

And then away to the flat, by car - which was, in retrospect, a mistake. It took me nearly as long to find a parking space as the bus trip would have taken. A few minutes after I arrived, Ziggy, our tame Polish decorator, turned up, with a carpenter (chippy) friend in tow. They were going to shave the bottoms of all the doors, to prevent them binding on the newly-installed, very thick, carpet and underlay.

And did so. It's amazing how quickly you can do a job like this with the correct tools - in this case a hand-held circular saw, with a fence to control the line of cut. Shave 5 mm or so off the bottom of each of the doors, and Robert is your mother's brother. Would have taken me at least a day, per door, to have done the same, but of course I don't have the correct tools.

Then we could try to fit the new shaver light. The fixing holes are on a different pitch, but that's no great problem if the correct tool is to hand. The bigger problem is that it doesn't work. Power to the bulb is there none. So that'll go back. Meanwhile, we'll try to get one locally - there's a Screwfix down the road, 5 minutes drive or so.

And because the builders of the block, in their semi-infinite wisdom, used an RP-Belling Lee connector for the TV outlet on the wall, none of my leads fit. But Screwfix stock back-to-back female Belling-Lee adaptors, so we can fix this.

Jane and Katy decided, in their wisdom, that they would put to use the ceiling light fitting that I bought for the hall here, but never installed, to replace the pendant CFL in the hall at the flat. But they didn't take the bulbs I'd bought (OK, those are CFLs, and I now prefer LEDs, but even so...) So I'll see about that next time I make an accompanied visit to the flat.

Not Monday, when I attend for the bed delivery, but sometime soon.

And last, but by no means least, the new keys I had cut for the flat work, too. So we now have 3 complete, working sets - including door fobs.

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Sunday, 27th November

Oops! Memory $FAIL on my part - these shaver lights have an interlock switch. You must fit the plastic diffuser "for safety" or nothing works. So maybe the extra light from Screwfix was unnecessary. I'll see tomorrow, when I attend to accept the bed delivery. And Screwfix sell the back-to-back Belling Lee adaptors in packs of 10, for UKP2.79. So Katy has 9 of them she doesn't need. But better that than a patch lead with the appropriate connectors at UKP7 or more.

And I'm supposed to take my electric drill/screwdriver with me, for reasons unexplained, but probably to assemble the bed - that is, if I can't blag the delivery people to assemble it... "But the man in the shop told my daughter you do assemble..." Except that I can't lie worth a damn..

So I'll have to drive down - and weekday parking is larcenously expensive, not to mention difficult at school run time - and there's an infants' school next door...

So it's me for an early night, because delivery may be as early as 07:00.

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