Week of 20th July, 2020

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Monday, 20th July

The Emirates Mars Mission probe, "Hope", was successfully launched yesterday, from Tanegashima, Japan, after several weather-related delays. All appears to be well, and it's on its way to the Red Planet. Of course, it's early days, and there's a lot that could go wrong, but so far, so good.

And at 22:30 BST, SpaceX finally managed, at the third attempt, to launch the Korean military comsat, Anasis-II. Again, a textbook launch, including recovery (for the 3rd time) of the first stage. And only a 51 day turnaround from the second launch of this booster. SpaceX is pushing the boundaries, again.

Jenny visited today, and brought with her Japanese takeaway food. All very tasty, but I'm still unconvinced about Japanese cuisine.

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Tuesday, 21st July

I've had my yearly consultation with my IFA. She's an employee of a (very) large financial organisation, but I'm not sure whether I'd be as happy with a smaller firm. Anyway, despite the coronavirus, my pension pot is recovering from the hit it has taken over the past months, and is currently on-track to last for at least another 20 years, absent financial disaster, although there are a few questions to be answered. That's on me, and they relate to what Jane wants, so I've got to ask her.

That consultation was done via Zoom, home-to-home. I've installed the app on the MacBook Pro, and I'd tested it against the Zoom test meeting. Everything seemed to work then, but I must have misconfigured something, because I could see her, but she couldn't see me. Not a biggie, she didn't need 2-way video, so what we had was enough.

On another matter, I'm still trying, desultorily, to find a way to get up-to-the-minute data on bus arrival times for the bus stop I'm standing at. A lot of stops have the TfL "Countdown" displays, my local doesn't. But they all display a QR code, which I thought required a dedicated app to use. Now it seems that the displayed QR codes are links to the relevant page on TfL's website, so all I need is a QR code reader. I'd prefer one that doesn't blab to all and sundry. That's another thing to add to the long-as-your-arm to-do list.

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Wednesday, 22nd July

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Thursday, 23rd July

This morning Postie delivered two letters from Charing Cross Hospital, FYI copies of letters they'd sent to my GP. And all appears well, there is no current evidence of a relapse in my last CT scan. Of course, that was 6 months ago, although they're proposing another at the end of August - date only so far, time to be confirmed.

It has been revealed that SpaceX's launch of the Anasis II comsat for Korea was actually notable, not just for the successful recovery of the first stage booster, but that SpaceX's Ms Tree and Ms Chief (Mystery and Mischief, geddit?) ships each managed to catch one half of the payload fairing, which is another first. No live video of that feat, but it was posted later on Twitter. Maybe we'll be treated to live video next time, all same ascent and first stage landing video already is.

Jenny collected the cheque to be banked on Monday, and acknowledged my request for more bank paying-in slips, and an aerosol deodorant. She hasn't returned yet with the goodies. Nor yet has she returned my bank card.

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Friday, 24th July

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Saturday, 25th July

Today is Jane's birthday - and note well, I'm not saying how many she's had! Anyway, I knew that the girls had hatched a plan to celebrate with a birthday meal at a (relatively) local hostelry - the "Green Man" in Denham, near Katy's flat. So I expected to be left alone in the afternoon, since this was also a delayed Mother's Day celebration.

Not so. At about 13:30 came the comment, "Are you ready?" Well, of course not, I didn't think I was invited. It turns out that (apparently) I had been told, but had forgotten. So a quick change, and await Katy's arrival, with Jenny and Liz. After playing musical cars (Katy is taking Nyree to be serviced and MOT'd on Monday) we set off for Denham, and arrived, in due course, in spitting rain. And me with no umbrella!

CoViD-19 precautions are still in effect, but it is still possible to have an excellent meal even under these conditions. I had the beef chilli with rice, but Jenny opted for the fish and chips, and was served an absolutely huge piece of battered haddock, which we jokingly called "the whale", because it nearly covered her plate. Not overly expensive, main courses ran UKP12 to UKP15, and well-prepared and served. Recommended.

The meal killed a couple of hours - you don't hurry such things - and then home. Katy retains possession of Nyree, ready for the service on Monday, and left her car here.

Jenny brought my shopping goodies, so that's all well, although there was no urgency - Jane reminded me that I had a spare aerosol deodorant in the cupboard under the bathroom hand-basin. But she failed with the banking. Normally banks are open on Saturday mornings. Not so at present. No, it's 10:00 to 14:00 Monday to Friday, like it or lump it. So that will have to wait. Not that it's urgent - cheques expire 3 months from issue date (or they used to, lo these many years ago), so plenty of time there, and I'm not short of funds.

The bank card is due to expire in 2 months - they are currently valid for 3 years - and I've already received the replacement in the post, so I don't actually need it back.

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Sunday, 26th July

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