Tuesday 24th 2010

Went to Lewes by train. At New Road saw the pliumber at work, also the electricians. Telephone conneition restored. Elecric point for router in gas cupboard, also router positioned there. All in working order. WiFi works ok. Came back by bus to Brighton, then walked to station just missing one train. Met by patient Ursula at EP and so hone for the happy hour abit later than expected. I am a fortunate man to be so well cared for!!

Wednesday 17th August

Pam in the cafe before lunch

A trip with Meditour to Christchurch had been planned. We hoped to meet up with Pam Radford, Christina's Godmother. A matinee at a local Theatre had been arranged, but alas there had been some vandalism and the show was re-organised to take place at the Ballard School New Milton. Helena had been staying with us and fortunately a spare seat was found for her on the coach. We met up with Pam, had coffee and a flying visit to the Abbey before lunch in the Boathouse restaurant, where I used their wifi!

The show was hilarious, Pam and I were in the front row and she was coaxed to dance with one of the cast right at the end of the show. Her blue eyes did it, she was the Belle of the Show!

David her son came and picked her up to take her home. It was a great day out and we arrived back at EP by 7 pm.

Saturday 14th August

I attended a very useful B&B for me at Juniper Hill. There were 2 talks which to be honest were a bit above my head, although if there had been a microphone it might have made it easier for me to hear. There was a good crowd of people there, at least another from the Sussex LUG. Alas no Fay, hope she is well!

To my delight Desmond Armstrong helped me with getting my new midget dvd/writer to work. He used it to install Fedora 13 on a 16Gb card for me. He also upgraded my Eeepc900 memory to 2Gb. He has offered to give a talk in East Preston for our club...might be a waste of his talents..but we will enquire!

Showed Eldy to 2 or 3 people, they were interested and slightly impressed.

At home there seemed to be a problem with the battery pack. I changed to the old original one and all is OK now. I moved the card onto Kate's old machine and Fedora 13 worked fine including the wifi!

I met some old friends and made some new ones. Home via the A29 by a navigational error. A27 as usual, full of traffic and came via Arundel. Took some petrol on the way home.

Monday 9th AugustD

Dustbin day, they never fail. Rain, shine, holidays they always do their stuff. Today was Bertie Day too, so we got rid of quite a lot!

Letter from Sarah, needed John's signature. He was not happy, waiting for the doctor and then frustrated as his pullover was in the wash. Put one on him, obtained the signature and left. The Martlets copied the document for me and I posted off the completed form. Picked up an Argus paper for Jennifer and ordered tomorrow's Argus for her too.

Dug 2 roots of the new potatoes, look fine, elongated style, see picture. Have forgotten the variety but it seems good.

Went on the 2 metre net and promised them a talk on Linux, Roy has recovered thankfully. Don i could hardly copy, Jim and Chris were on to. Peter Dodd's aerial still works fine.

8th August

We have tamed the summer fruiting raspberries and the Helen blackberry with the loganberries. They are all pruned, tied in and manured ready for hopefully a good crop next July/August.

It has been a bit of a job but with a bit of perserverance, bending, stretching, string and secateurs, we have at last finished. This is perhaps just one or two percent of the work to be done in the garden...!

Kate is with us, she arrived last night...in a celebratory mood as she had just signed up for a new house. Jennifer and Amy (from Hullavington) are still here. We shall mgo to Lewes at 11.45 for lunch and a visit to the refurbished house that was once Stephens. She is considering leasing it from Matthew if only it could be finished soon. There are some essential plumbing things to be done and time is running out.

Kate and Louise will visit Matthew next Tuesday and perhaps they will hammer out an agreement if Jennifer agrees to it all.

We shall be alone tonight as the wanderers return later on. Jennifer has her own car, a Nissan.

It hasn't been any trouble having 3 guests, but it will be back to normaity tonight!

Back at the Club!

Today I recieved a special parcel from Brian Cropp in Upper Hutt. He had made me a knife and holster for working in the garden sharpening sticks for supporting plants and so on. It is a remarkable creation, really beatiful with a Tasmanian blackwood wooden handle. I am really very pleased and delighted to receive it. He included a Pau shell and details of them and the firm that cleaned them up. Thanks Brian, I treasure your gift and appreciate all the craftmanship that went into its construction.

Here is a picture of me taken by Ursula in the garden, and another of the knife and holster!