Saturday, December 20, 2008

Brighter Saturday - Plenty of 'kip' the best remedy

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Picture 1 is Y's laptop screen with an offending 'shortcut' icon stuck in her Vista sidebar. Several unsuccessful efforts to delete it led me, of course, to WebUser forums. As I thought someone would know the answer. They did!

'BurrWalnut' came back to me 32 minutes after I had posted the problem. There were 3 places where the icon could be lurking he told me, but his first suggestion was spot-on.

Y and I sat with my little Asus with the info on it, at the side of her laptop and we fixed it together.

I won't bore the 'uninterested' with the details but basically the Vista start menu is different from the XP version which I can normally navigate around. But we know now. If Y carries on at this rate she will be soon running computer classes. It would be marvellous if her friend Joan would go on line. They would have a great time.

Picture 2 some of the artichokes in the fading light. They either look majestic, or an untidy nuisance, depending on one's point of view.

Maybe I become too attached to them each year but they are survivors and I like that.

The last picture is intended to amuse. It isn't a good picture but again, in the half-light it looks, when you look at the patio door, as if we have decorated some outside shrubbery. We haven't - it is just the reflection of the xmas tree in the glass.

We dashed out shopping this morning before I flagged and had fish & chips for lunch. As an experiment we used Lidl's 'cod fillets' rather than our customary 'chunky haddock' fillets. They were perfectly OK but both us felt we enjoy the haddock better.

There were bargains. Two packs of Lurpak for £4 and they are OK till the end of February 09. They have been retailing for £2.39 a pack so a considerable saving. After lunch I tried the remedy I have recommended to Jill, to quote myself "Lots of rest interspersed with periods of inactivity and naps" its rather like a Computer. A shut-down followed by a re-boot cures lots of ills.

Comments

Reg ...... You are right. I misunderstood your comment about Doug's picture. And the fault was entirely mine. A re-read shows you were referring to 'the shed' and not to the whole house. My brain seems to have gone into 'careless' mode and I must get into a habit of reading things more carefully.

Thanks also for the telephone advice about layers.

p.s.for readers..... I want to experiment with the spooky church picture. What I want to do is find some pictures of ravens in flight and, with Photoshop layers, introduce them to the picture behind rather than in front of the trees. Reg has given me a brief resumé of how to do it. Now I know it is possible I can mess about with it for hours!

Those retired people who say they can never find anything to do annoy me. They sit and watch the telly is all.

bungus ..... Sorry I got it slightly wrong about the 'workshop'.

We will certainly consider The White Post some time, for a change, particularly if in Mansfield on Nat Trst business. We could come back that way. As a matter of interest (to Helen) you don't mention the 'veggie' menu. Perhaps just a sentence ?

Re the 'church picture'. Now, if I messed about with it successfully, do you think there is any chance at all that you wouldn't see it?

I suspect you are right about the shooting fraternity and the BNP. But, without becoming too wordy I'll stick with upper class oafs.

Generic terms can be difficult but one I can never forget was my chum Ben Whitaker describing Freemasons as 'The Mafia of the Mediocre'. Apart from being an influential Secretary of The Minority Rights Group, Ben wrote an important book called The Police in Society in which yours truly appears in the dedication on the title page together with numerous quotes.

Re glasses. I really know I need a new reading prescription and Y keeps telling me to go to the optician. It has got so bad the only way to read successfully is to close my right eye. This puts a strain on my left eye, and I ought to get it fixed. Inertia more than frugality though. The solution probably is to keep these for driving and general use and simply have a dedicated pair of reading glasses.

Jill ...... Oh poor you. I woudn't dream of publishing the photo of your 'beaten up' face because, as you say, those who don't know you might think it your customary look.

However, the pavement picture, with the statutory 50p piece is very good indeed. (Please see right)


Just got to be worth the price of your glasses, plus abit extra for pain and suffering. If they say the misalignment isn't deep enough I think you could argue

"If it had been any deeper, I would have seen it !"

We all wish you well with the problem.

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Stop Press .................... Strictly come Dancing please click here for the result. No need to open the link if you don't want to. Tom and Camilla won. Their final 'free dance' was quite brilliant and I shall enjoy watching it again. Camilla's hard work proved worth while, and, of the lady professionals, we always think "Everybody likes Camilla". She knew that Tom was strong enough to leave him to do quite complicated acrobatic manouevres while they weren't physically in contact with each other.

The final was decided solely by the phone-in audience. Both Y and I suspect that, had the judges had their way, Lisa and Brendan would have won. But, as has happened before in the competition, the voting public went against the judges. Quite right too..

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Quotation slot ....... this makes a fair bit of sense.....

"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names"

John F Kennedy

"Sleep tight - catch you tomorrow"





5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like to see artichoke heads too, for much the same reason. Also teasels - I thought I had some in the garden this year, but they turned out to be something else. And I like the reflection photo - it certainly looks like tiny flying saucers have landed!

I broke my resolution and voted for Tom and Camilla, I thought their 'show dance' was fantastic, a real show-stopper. I can't find it on the site though, only the semi-final dances? What am I doing wrong? Like you and Y, I think the judges would have favored the other two - who may technically have been better dancers. I hope Brucie watches a recording of it and realises that he shouldn't sing in public any more, it was embarassing.

We shall speak to the local council on Monday, and R is checking insurance policy to see if we have any cover for legal expenses, we did some years ago but we changed things last year, might not have bothered as we had never used that bit which we paid extra for.

Love the quote - very true!

Anonymous said...

DIARY
I woke about 2.00am and could not get back to sleep for being too hot. After an hour or so I arose, rolled back the stone, and booted up.

BLOG COMMENT
Sorry to say the artichoke heads don’t quite do it for me. Perhaps it is the wrong time of day – or night.
I learnt all about layers and such at Northern College but can neither remember any of it nor find my notes. What a waste!
The problem is that I so seldom want to use it and then not badly enough.

You refer to people having nothing to do, who ‘sit and watch telly is all’.
I suggest that sitting and watching telly IS doing something, just as reading is – or walking in the countryside looking at flowers.
You really must not inflict your rules on others like that.
That is my job.

I was not reprimanding you for getting the details of the workshop less than 100% correct, so no need to be sorry.
I was just taking the opportunity to explain it correctly, in brief.

At the White Post, Sandra had a butternut squash curry which she enjoyed. There are a few other veggie dishes on the menu and on the ‘specials’ board, as well as fish for those who are simply non-meat eaters.
It could be a disappointing 'bit out of the way' though, if you are going from Mansfield to Brinsley.

Of course, you are quite right to stick to your prejudices. If you liked everybody you would be insufferably pi.
Why, I would not be in the least surprised to discover that all masons are under obligation to shoot a minimum number of stags and otters every year on penalty of having their left hand little finger amputated by claymore at the secong knuckle and fed to the hounds.
(I recall a girl student at the Nottingham College of Arts and Crafts who entertained us at lunch one Monday in the refectory by telling us that her father, who may or may not have been a mason, had, at the weekend, accidentally removed one of his own fingers while chopping sticks. Before he could pick it up, the dog ate it.).

I am in process of ordering for myself a pair of £15 prescription reading glasses to supplement my varifocals. I am attempting to do it online from www.glassesdirect.co.uk .
One can try on their various styles in virtual reality by downloading a self portrait. It is quite good fun.
(I would suggest obtaining their catalogue, however, which gives a better than online view of the many frames available, inc some ‘fashion’, ‘designer’, or ‘cocktail’ styles by well known designers costing up to £150 for frames fitted with simple lenses - extra for bifocals, varifocals, tinting etc).
I shall then have a pair of varifocals to wear generally, a pair of ‘distance’ glasses (already cheaply obtained some years ago from ‘glassesdirect’) and a pair of ‘reading’ glasses for close work.

I too like the Kennedy quote, if only because it reminds me somewhat not only of Teddy Roosevelt’s “Talk softly and carry a big stick”, but also my own:
“The Lord My God is a Vengeful God; and if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me.”
I now wait for you to tell me who said it before me!

Jill:
I’m sorry to disgree but I caught a bit of Bruce’s song & dance act and thought he did remarkably well, considering. I was far less impressed (although on a different scale) when I last saw/heard Tony Bennett.

I am impressed by the published photo of the offending paver.
I would think that WELL worth a claim.

Anonymous said...

DIARY
I think I’ve got it.
First Jill, then you, now I think I’ve got it.
Woke two-ish, couldn’t nod off, up at about 3.30 till 6.00, woke again 8.30 with sore throat and headache and feeling generally ‘below par’ *.
Slept again till 9.30. Still rough.
It can’t be Man Flu ‘cos Jill’s got it.
Perhaps a Computer Virus?
I shall follow the Online Doctor’s good advice.

* par, n
3b … a usual standard of physical condition or health
4 … score (for a good player) for each hole of a golf course …
So ‘below par’ can mean either ‘worse’ or ‘better’.

Anonymous said...

In true EPS or WOW style if you need some new glasses , that explains some of your pictures

Anonymous said...

When I fell and damaged my (also £500+) glasses, I found I could claim on my household insurance but that they would then put up the premium such that I would have repaid them in two years! I have now changed my insurers.

Thanks for the veggie info Bungus. On that theme, J. and I ate at the Bombay Spice restaurant in Eastwood yesterday and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes Indian food. We have been 3 times now and have always had an excellent meal.

I hope the naffest Xmas card competition is still going as I have many possible entries. I will select the one that is so naff, the sender didn't put their name inside and e-mail it to you.