Week of 8th October, 2018

Last Week

Next Week

Monday, 8th October

Blood-letting for my annual HBA1C diabetic check this morning. Then I'll need to visit a local locksmith to ask them to attend Katy's new flat (after it becomes hers on Friday) with a view to changing the locks, which are old and worn.

At least, that was the plan... It started well. Until habit kicked in, and I ate breakfast. This is a no-no, HBA1C blood tests are supposed to be done on an empty stomach. So I phoned the GP, and rebooked the blood test - a week today. Blood-letting only happens on Mondays. But I took the associated urine sample in, anyway.

Then I visited the locksmith. And they do make visits as far out as Denham. This is good. But I couldn't answer any of their questions - I don't know what the existing locks are like, and I don't even know what the doors are made of. This is unsurprising - I've never been there. But Katy will be attending, once she has her keys on Friday. So I should be able to answer the locksmith's questions, by e-mail, over the weekend. Visit is booked for Monday afternoon.

And Sarah has sent her fare for the York trip on Saturday.

Back to Daynotes


Tuesday, 9th October

My neighbour Roger is attempting to get himself into the NHS system after his fall and hip replacement in the US. Today he visited his GP, with what result I don't know. But one of the things that needed done was to get a repeat prescription for previously prescribed medication. He doesn't want to use the "GP sends the script to his preferred pharmacy, and collect from there", as I do, since he never knows where he'll be at script-filling time. This means he has to collect the script in person, and get it filled at a convenient pharmacy. This, of course, has bitten him, since walking is not easy on crutches. But I can easily collect for him, if he so instructs the GP. And that has been arranged - Thursday.

Today,  Larry, W2LJ, a radio amateur in the US, posted this cartoon.

I wish I spoke Morse, just to spring this on my optician.

I'm collecting more bits for the carputer V2. Today, I ordered a PowerWerx PanelPole from GigaParts in the States, via eBay. They subscribe to eBay's Global Shipping Programme, which allows me to pre-pay duty and/or VAT, and avoid Postie's UKP8 "service charge". Shipping and pre-paid duty pretty much double the cost of the device, which is a panel-mounting adaptor for 2 pairs of Anderson PowerPole connectors, to $48 or thereabouts, but there's no UK source. PowerPoles, or Chinese clone versions thereof, are easily available, including the panal mounting adaptor plates, but the connectors don't mount flush, so they could be damaged. A PanelPole avoids this, and it's easier to make a circular hole. Mem: Get a 1-1/8-inch Q-Max cutter to make that hole.

In the amateur fraternity, the Anderson Powerpole is a fairly standard connector for 12 volt power distribution. There is a standard configuration, originating in the US emergency communication groups, which means that your standard adaptor cable will work with anyone else's standard adaptor cable or other hardware.

Back to Daynotes


Wednesday, 10th October

I ordered the 1-1/8 inch Q-Max cutter last night, from Amazon. And it all went well, barring a confusion on my part, where I tried to use my eBay password. Definitely a facepalm moment. But it'll be here by next Tuesday, comfortably ahead of delivery of the PanelPole.

And it has been Patch Tuesday - multiple iterations of Windows Update. Painless, albeit slow, on Win7, Win10 not so much, I gather. Although the Win10 snafu shouldn't affect Liz, as far as I can tell - none of the prerequisites for possible data loss appear to be fulfilled in her case. And even if they were, I have a recent backup.

But I still need to do tord.

<pause>

Done. Except that one update didn't take. tord has always had problems with Windows Update - for a while, nothing worked. That fixed itself, somehow - I still don't know how.

Back to Daynotes


Thursday, 11th October

This morning came the ring on the doorbell. It was Postie, with a parcel that needed to be signed for. Of course, he arrived just as I was doing my morning ablutions, for maximum inconvenience.

It's the new Tile. And it is the 2018 version, with the replaceable battery. I'll do that later.

But first, I need to go and get neighbour Roger's prescription, and get it filled.

<pause>

All done, at the cost of some time. Roger is over 60, just like me, so he doesn't pay prescription charges. Nor did I have to show ID, just state who I was.

And Roger has come round to visit, and collect the medication. I didn't ring the bell, because he has limited mobility, and may well have had to rush down 2 flights of stairs from his office in the loft, just to answer the door. Better tell him the pills are here, and let him make the pickup in his own time.

The Tile (just the one - the others are well short of running out of battery life) was shipped from a firm in The Netherlands - ModusLink B.V. - even though Tile Inc. is a California corporation. I suspect that ModusLink handle all Tile shipments to UK (and probably Europe) on Tile's behalf. What will happen to this after Brexit, deponent sayeth not.

I've replaced the expired Tile. Now to recycle it, which will be a visit to the local Recycling Centre (aka the Council Dump) No rush for that.

I've had shipping e-mails for all the recent orders - all 3 of them. The PanelPole has a USPS tracking number associated with it, and is due for delivery on Saturday. Of course, since this is coming via eBay's Global Shipping Programme, that's delivery within the US. How long to reach me is another matter. The other items are due by Tuesday.

Back to Daynotes


Friday, 12th October

Katy's flat purchase completes today, after somewhat of a saga. But it's all done now.

Postie rang the doorbell again this morning, with the Q-Max chassis cutter. This one is the correct size for the PanelPole connector, when it arrives. I also have 25mm and 19mm versions for making holes to mount other things. I need to get my electric drill back from loan.

inspiration2 blue-screened on startup this morning. ndis.sys was mentioned in the crash dump. But he restarted with no problem. Of course, as a laptop, I had to do a battery pull. And he stood up again, with no problem.

In the late afternoon came a spate of Whatsapp messages from Katy. She has her flat keys, and has sent pictures of the locks that require to be changed - standard aluminium after-market doors, with interchangeable lock barrels. So I phoned the locksmith, and confirmed Monday afternoon for their attendance to change the locks.

I also passed word about arrangements for tomorrow. We will leave from North Ealing Piccadilly Line station for the trip to Kings Cross, to meet Flying Scotsman, hopefully catching the 06:24 service. That's 5 of us - Sarah will have gone ahead, with Charlie. Should be at Kings Cross just after 07:00, for departure at 07:38.

Back to Daynotes


Saturday, 13th October

The Steam Dreams excursion to York, today, behind Gresley A1/A3 4472 (60103) Flying Scotsman. Unfortunately, only the outbound trip will be steam-hauled - the return will be modern traction (Diesel?)

Jane, Liz and I travelled to Kings Cross, as planned. But Katy and Jenny drove direct to Kings Cross, and we met them on the train. Sarah was already there, as well, with Charlie - who, it should be remembered, works for Steam Dreams, the excursion organisers. Our seats are in Coach L, which for the outbound journey was at the front of the train, so we could hear Scotsman chuffing away.

This trip is commemorate Alan Pegler, the first owner of Scotsman in preservation. It bankrupted him in the end, but we can only be grateful that rail enthusiasts step up and preserve iconic hardware.

Alan Pegler died in 2012, and today, his ashes will be scattered via Scotsman's firebox as she ascends Stoke Bank, on the East Coast Main Line - her old stamping grounds as an ex-LNER locomotive.

All that went fine, but there was a problem just before the top of the Stoke Bank ascent, which is steep but low. I don't know whether there was a train fault, or Scotsman lost adhesion, but we were stuck just before the summit, northbound, for about half an hour. But once over the summit, all came good - except that the delay lost us our path, and we had to wait an extra 20 or so minutes at the second watering stop, until we had clearance.

Even so, we seemed to gain about 20 of the 45 minute delay on the run in to York, arriving just after 14:00, rather than the scheduled 13:40.

Everyone decided to schlep into York town centre, to shop. Except me - I passed, and sat down in the Duke of York pub, in the station, with a pint, while I did my downloads, and typed this entry - so far, at least. There's still the return trip to describe.

In retrospect, this choice was non-optimal. They were sold out of my preferred brews, so I had to settle for Amstel lager, which is tolerable. The pub also has piped music, which I could definitely have done without. But the chair is comfortable, and if necessary, there's a power point within cable range. I didn't need it, latitude has enough charge to support what I needed to do.

Departure is 16:20, and it's now 15:40, so I'll pack up and see if the train is ready for return passengers to embark. Modern traction for the return trip - a BR Class 47 diesel, albeit not the one that brought the rake of coaches to Kings Cross. That one suffered a technical fault, so we left it behind.

<pause>

Eventually, we all rendezvoused back at the train, which hadn't been reversed, so our coach, L, was at the rear.

So off we set. I was expecting faster, non-pausing travel, but 'twas not to be. Scotsman, on the northward run, was running consistently at 60+ mile/h, sometimes 75+, which is slightly naughty - she's speed-limited to 75, by Network Rail fiat. The southbound run, diesel-hauled, peaked at 84 mile/h.

The trip was otherwise uneventful, and when we arrived at Kings Cross, it turned out to be 2 diesels, double-headed, for a run that Scotsman did solo. But who am I to complain? It was a good day out.

Sarah stayed, to travel home with Charlie, but Katy shoe-horned all the rest of us into her car, and after a struggle to pay for the day's parking - the parking machine computers were on the fritz - we drove back to North Ealing, where Jane and I swapped cars. Katy will take Liz home.

So now I can catch up on downloads - there are 2 iPlayer items - one of which I've already got, at lower resolution. So I'll re-get that, and transfer all the comic strips to where they're archived.

And I'm all caught up.

Back to Daynotes


Sunday, 14th October

Katy is moving stuff to her new-to-her flat (it's actually 1960s vintage) Thus far, it's all small stuff, ahead of the big move tomorrow. I am commanded to transport a mattress out to the flat, after the (deferred) blood-letting tomorrow morning. I will then stay until the locksmith pitches up.

And that mattress is old - Katy bought it after  her return from Egypt, so it's all of 11 years old. It will be replaced with the mattress that came with Katy's new bed, which Katy doesn't like, but Jane does. Katy's buying new, to be delivered Thursday afternoon, and I will be on site to accept it, and install it on the bed. She's hoping to actually sleep in her new home tomorrow night, all being well. Meanwhile planning continues apace.

I've archived 4 commercial hours of non-BBC TV from the $ky box, today, which leaves about 45% free.

<pause>

While checking the outstanding crowdfunding pledges, I decided to charge the Invizbox Go. And there's a firmware upgrade for it. So let's apply that.

Things seemed to be a little flaky, so I opted to erase the settings, and start anew. And after a few minutes, this time the wireless LED on the side of the Invizbox Go is solid green, instead of the red it was at the start of this. So that's an improvement. I should maybe check the original Invizbox - and, while I'm on this treadmill, the Shellfire Box.

Yes, I know - 3 different VPN/Tor routers is overkill.

<another pause>

Haven't you heard? It's all been changed... Filip's Dad, Marek, and his removal company, will empty Katy's storage first thing tomorrow. Including the mattress. He will then come to us, off-load Katy's mattress, and pick up the one that's here, before taking everything out to Denham, to put it all into the flat.

Due to a SNAFU, Katy's newly-purchased mattress will now be delivered within a 2 hour period, to be notified, within the afternoon and evening of the coming Friday, not Thursday. I'll still need to stand ready to accept it, but attendance throughout the 14:00 to 21:00 period will not be required - unless the notified delivery slot is late in the day, of course.

And the Invizbox Go is updated, to version 3.1.x from 3.0.9, and charged. There still appears to be no knob that will turn off the randomised MAC address, but maybe I've been borrowing trouble - in the past, every time I connected to the Invizbox Go, I'd have to set up a new connection from scratch. Today, it didn't happen, and there were lots of reboots to install new firmware.

The new firmware works - I'm connected via VPN to a server in Paris as I type.

Last Week

Back to Daynotes

Next Week