Week of 24th December, 2018

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Monday, 24th December

Christmas Eve

To Katy's this evening, for a pre-Christmas meal. We (Jane, Jenny and I) picked up Liz on the way, and a fine meal it was - mostly Christmas-style nibbles, but none the worse for that. And sure enough, I was banned from drinking alcohol - something about interactions with the antibiotics that were prescribed last Friday, when I had the sutures out at Charing Cross.

Also Christmas-themed music, courtesy a Katy-edited Spotify playlist, with some interesting items in it. All played via Katy's Sonos One speakers - 3 of them, in various rooms, all running in sync.

Once all that was done, we returned home, via Sarah and Jenny's. Liz is staying with us again over Christmas - this seems to be becoming a family tradition.

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Tuesday, 25th December

Christmas Day

After Jane had attended church this morning, we waited on everyone else arriving, and sat down to table at the usual time - just the 6 of us. More nibbles as starter, followed by a choice of salmon or roast beef for a main course - we don't do turkey for Christmas lunch.

And I was banned from alcohol again.

Later, I decided to look up the pills - co-amoxyclav 500mg+150mg, a dual-acting preparation. The online information sheet does not list any restriction on diet, but there is a known side-effect of the clavulonic acid secondary cmponent - it can cause some itching. And I'm getting that, not enough to discontinue the pills, but enough to be annoying.

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Wednesday, 26th December

Boxing Day, or the Feast of St. Stephen

The same celebrations today. We were joined by Sarah's boyfriend Charlie, and a fine meal it was.

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Thursday, 27th December

Jane, Katy and Liz have gone to Hampton Court today. I decided to pass - the Palace is a very big place, and I'm still not up to that length of walking.

The purpose of the trip is to allow Katy to do a risk assessment for a school outing sometime next term - the exact date is unknown to me. It's worth visiting at any time, even without the bureaucracy.

Meanwhile, Jane left me a plate of leftovers for lunch, and very nice it was, too.

Liz went home for a couple of days on their return. She'll be back for New Year.

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Friday, 28th December

Jane is excursing into Central London, for lunch with Sarah. It would not surprise me to see her return with shopping. On her way, she will attempt to get more dressings for my operation wound, which is healing well.

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Saturday, 29th December

Yesterday saw the last of the hospital-prescribed Ramipril 2.5mg capsules, which replace the 5mg caps from my GP, while I'm dosing myself with the blood-thinning injections once a day. The blood-thinner reduces one's blood presssure , so the hospital were worried that 5mg of Ramipril might be too much of a good thing. But I don't have any more 2.5mg caps, so today I resumed the 5mg ones. I need to keep an eye on my blood pressure, so buying a BP meter seems like a good idea.

No sign of overly-depressed blood pressure, so far, but it's early days.

So I put in an Amazon order for 3 items, first the aforesaid blood pressure meter, second a replacement FM/DAB/MP3 player to replace the Sansui DB-100, because the selector dial on that has become very iffy on that, to the extent that it's very difficult to make a selection reliably, and third another HDMI-VGA adaptor, to replace the one that Katy blagged. And a bit later, I put in another order, for more Tassimo coffee - I'm on the verge of running out. All except the HDMI-VGA box should be here tomorrow.

After that, Jane reminded me that Katy wants to pinch one of the several clocks here. She has her eye on either Jane's grandfather's retirement clock, by Enfield, or the Ansonia "La Duchesse" (?).

Or possibly the clock that came to us via Jane's Aunt Lil. That one hasn't been going since before Jane's Mum died, so it's about time I put it to go. Had to adjust the strike-to-hands reationship (manually move the hour hand to set that) and it's just struck 7:00 as I sit here typing in the dining room. So all seems well, after about 3 hours.

Incidentally, the Amazon orders let me redeem a couple of Amazon gift vouchers. There was no rush for that, they're valid for 10 years, but I might as well use them, since they're to hand.

The NASA New Horizons probe is due to make its nearest approach (a mere 3,500 km) to its second target, 2014MU69 "Ultima Thule", on 2019-01-01Z05:33. As with the Pluto encounter in 2015, no data will be returned during the fly-by, since New Horizons is not designed to point its high gain antenna and its instruments independently. After encounter, the probe will re-orient and commence returning science data, including, hopefully, imagery from the LORRI camera.

05:30 is a little early for me to be up, so I'll be watching later. Assuming family commitments permit.

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Sunday, 30th December

Jane and Sarah are out, somewhere, after church - I know not where. Eventually, messages from Sarah pointed me at lunch.

But before that, a courier delivered the expected Amazon items. The coffee could go straight to store, pending use - we're not quite out, yet - but the electronics needed to be tested.

First up, the DAB/FM/MP3 player. It's the Walkradio K1, by Yaakin. First impressions are that it's cheap and plasticky (not a patch on the Sansui for build quality) Of course, we're only talking UKP30-odd here, but even so... Size is similar to a packet of 20 cigarettes. The radio appears quite sensitive, certainly enough to be usable. There's no speaker, and the headphone output is not excessive - volume needs to be set high to be listenable. It has an internal rechargeable battery, charged via miniUSB.

Fitting a microSD card for .mp3 playback is not easy, but it does fit flush, with a push-push action. Audio quality is good enough for walk-around music - it's certainly not up to audiophile standards.

The blood pressure meter is a CocoBear MP-40. It's designed to be affixed to the inside of your wrist with the attached velcro-closed cuff. In use, it inflates hard, and then relaxes the pressure to actually measure your blood pressure, like most BP meters. After the measurement, it reports systolic and diastolic pressures and pulse rate, and memorises the last several readings for each of 2 users. It would be better if it also reported blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) but even hospital BP meters need a fingertip sensor for that.

Readings appear fairly consistent at 122/70 or so, but I'd like to check it against something medically-certified, like an Omron. Meanwhile, it will serve. 2no AAA batteries (supplied) are required.

I've been getting regular reminders from Invizbox, about the VPN subscription that comes with the Invizbox2 Pro. The opening 3 month subscription offer has expired, and they haven't been able to collect the renewal - not surprising, since the initial payment was bundled with the hardware purchase. So today I set it up. Needed a registration on Invizbox's website, and I opted for the 2-year renewable subscription, via PayPal, which will auto-repeat in 2 years.

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