Sunday, July 26, 2026
Applemac unmendable
Went to church, and eventually saw the team of three who have been investigating.
They have played around with various diagnostic key strokes, with great success, including a small apple logo. It shows it is doing some basic startup routine. But it never seems to continue to the main operating system.
They doubt if it is mendable, and whether money on a mend would be better spent on a newer second hand machine. Maybe £200 .
I will wait a bit before deciding what to do.
M
repair shop
Normal chaos. Rather busier than normal. Doubt if I will be seen.
M
BT
Are being hopeless at helping me. Basically they dont realise that byte are shown as different characters depending on the machines origin. A dollar sign might be a pound sign in a different country.
So typing in a password on a rarely used machine might be chaotic.
I just hope I can get to a person during the week.
And also i do not recognise a mobile by the last four digits of its telephone number.
M
it was J
His voice has changed. He must have had something removed near his face, and it has altered his speaking voice.
Who knows what. It is wierd seeing him talk, and not recognising it.
M
tesco ad
Not sure how this happened, but when I had got back home, I found the phone was in a tesco text ad.
Could it have been activated in some way at the till? It was a little unnerving.
I will have to do a controlled experiment.
M
rain
We had a short shower. Not heavy, and soon all signs of it had gone. But for the area of the whole plot, there must have been quite a bit, if only cooling the ground a bit.
M
Saturday, July 25, 2026
apple mac
Could it have suffered from cold and damp, over the winter when I was ill?
Maybe it just needs warmth. It is not clear what made it start normally that one time.
I will put in the airing cupboard as a trial.
M
J soundalike
A voice like J's, but slightly different, was emanating from somewhere inside, this a.m. I could not hear words, but it sounded like an accentless English.
Is this a brother? And if so, does this indicate how serious the illness is?
Maybe S has been open about his condition earlier in the year, and assumes we have heard on the grapevine. In which case her comment about new knees is actually rather good.
M
Downtime?
Possibly there are occasions when they service the database used on this software. If you try to do an immediate upload it will then fail, and it will be in the waiting queue. The normal way out will then work, would be my guess.
M
bt connection
I am starting to think something is wrong with the BT connection. Wrong colour. However things seem to work probably through an old router that is connected.
I need to find the BT app on the old laptop still running Microsoft.
M
Friday, July 24, 2026
alexa
Some of the new security is a pain.
I have been trying to clear the existing round device of my settings so that I can give it to T. It has sent me on a wild goose chase.
It seems intent on installing a version of Alexa on every machine I have. So fine but it is not quite what I wanted to do.
Anyway I will continue.
M
Thursday, July 23, 2026
post office
I wonder how the small shop and post office will manage. Will find out posting Isabel's birthday card tomorrow.
M
bus service
The road by Tesco is shut for a bit. I saw no 7 on the a26 at the zebra crossing!
Not sure where bus stops will be, but I think there may be one before the zebra crossing. No idea going the other way. Maybe there will be temporary stops set up.
M
my guess
Low hedges as boundaries.
All current fencing removed
Heavy pruning of all existing bushes
Grass basically everywhere. Easy mowing layout.
Some large tubs with small covering plants.
Some sitting areas, front and back.
Pruning back neighbouring trees and hedges almost the the boundary.
No garden shed, contractors will bring in anything required
M
sept 1st
Allegedly when the sale / promotion of the flats starts. They will surely want the site looking more like a garden that is visible and has views.
Definitely watch this space as the question of the boundary fencing / hedging is quite a major issue, and will require a lot of work.
But good to increase the time pressure.
M
next door
Did not see J today. Maybe in care home. One of sons plus family came late evening maybe after visit. S may have been with them.
So basically only confirmation that it is slow change, but nothing about direction.
M
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
problem sorted
I was having difficulty publishing an item, which then was in some intermediate storage. You would go through the motions, but nothing moved.
But sometimes it did.
Answer is that if you have not recently published something successfully, it treats you as a potential threat, and won't do anything. However if you have successfully published something recently, it will be perfectly happy to do it many times.
So if you have problems, just first publish something new. You can always delete it when you have finished.
M
daily checkup?
Looks as if J goes daily to some medical centre, presumably for a routine check on his condition. Presumably if they are not happy he would be kept there overnight.
He apparently was not looking great when he came home this evening.
M
Met S
Only news was that J wants a knee replacement. No other medical info or comments.
It is plain to see that he has some other current issues. Even if I am guessing wrongly about them, she is hardly stating the whole truth.
It may represent a strategy to hide things, that J has enforced. Unpleasant.
He appears to be currently at home, but lying low. He may be exerting all his energy to show how well he is. But I am afraid it has the opposite effect. And getting S to hide things, just compounds it all.
Just take more care of yourself and particularly others.
M
rules for Waitrose
Obviously I can choose anything to buy at Waitrose. But somethings are better bought at Tesco's or Lydl.
Dairy is fine at Tesco's. The Greek style yogurt made in the UK seems fine, and is cheaper.
Sausages at Tesco's is good.
Most of the veg and fruit seem ok.
Soups and ready meals are better at Waitrose. This mostly a variety issue, rather than a quality. Ditto cheeses.
Chickens at Tesco are often the wrong size.
Panna cotta not a Tesco's
I feel happier at Waitrose for kitchen and loo rolls. Ditto biscuits, though Lydl are often ok.
Bread stuff much safer at W's, ditto chocolates,
Martin
Soaps not bothered.
sweet potato
Cooked in with the chicken, normal scrub before, was great success. Will find out how it is cold.
M
Monday, July 20, 2026
Parsnips
Just don't seem to be available in Tesco. Check Waitrose tomorrow.
M
Sunday, July 19, 2026
building works at the corner
It really is time that they start on the underground garage and the garden and boundaries.
All the current fencing with Jonathon's garden is owned by the builders. What they do with levels will make a profound difference to the looks and workings of J's garden. I would normally forsee a big argument, but J's health may rule him out.
I think that they need a fairly open boundary, giving some long distance views to the ground and first floor flats. This is the total opposite to the previous strategy, which cut off basically all views.
It will be fascinating what they do.
M
beans
At this time of year, it is either non-native fresh or frozen beans.
I am tending to think that it might be better to have fresh all the time, and avoid frozen veg.
A difficult decision.
M
spinach
Worked out a better arrangement for steaming. Basically fill half the bottom of the steamer, and the add all the rest. Makes the spinach shrink to a blob, that it the easy to divide. It does not get entangled.
M
visits
The couple in the top floor, looked as if they might have visited J this afternoon. Went without parents or son.
Of course a guess, which T hates. I think it helps to imagine what is happening. There are not enough facts to recreate reality.
If I was in their slightly precarious position, I would certainly judge this move as positive. Well done.
M
cooler
Saturday, July 18, 2026
shopping list
I found this very helpful in Tesco. The layout of the shop it so chaotic, that it is easy to loose track of what you intended to buy. Does not need to be detailed.
M
spinach bag
Just finished my first ever bag of spinach. It was far too big. I wonder how you get a smaller amount.
Try Waitrose perhaps.
Works very nicely in small quantities in the steamer.
M
a hawk moth
Pretty sure I saw a hawk moth outside the kitchen. Reasonably small. Only a very quick view before disappearing.
M
hobby
My first hobby seen from the house, flying into town, reasonably high up.
Very nice, but not telling us much. Is it breeding? Feeding?
M
Nextdoor's garden
I wonder if it will be handed over to the Ukrainians to maintain. I cannot imagine Sue being bothered with it, other than a few pots.
Might get a better front garden as a result, if they are given free reign.
M
things from car
I started unpacking thing from the car. Gosh there are a lot.
Obviously a lot could be chucked, but plenty are useful, and should not spend too much time dividing, when we have the space.
Some things might be fun tiny presents to family. For instance spare tools.
M
T does not like exercise in Somerville gardens
Admitted that she does not like the road for exercise, and prefers the house. I have no problem.
At some point a longer route will be needed, and something on the common may prove ok. A walk to a park bench and back. Something in the order of Mathew's distance and back.
M
status
Assume that he is back in some post-op home. Sue's car is not there.
He seemed in a bad way yesterday, with pain. I guess it will be a week or so before they think about how he will spend his days. And longer as to where he spends his nights.
Experience from old lodge, rather indicated that once things had got to the brain, time was running out. But who knows. I think he has had a brain issue for a number of years. Having anything in the guts does not sound good either, if they cannot do much in the brain.
I doubt if we will be seeing much of him at all.
His taking pictures of the house, seems to be an end game move to me.
M
I am assuming that i get a beep or something when somebody sends me something. Like a beep?
M
J
Back, and taking photos of the front of his house. My interpretation is he is preparing a slide show that he can see from his bed.
My scenario is that he has incurable cancer which has spread. His last op may have been optional in that many might opt for rather more peace, rather than treatment.
They may opt for him to be at home, rather than a care home. I think they might be wise to have him in a specialist care home, making the visits special. At least you can see people worse off than yourself.
Anyway we may find out one day what really is happening.
M
loo mending
Organised a plumber for the loo jobs. Interesting use of WhatsApp technology to arrange the job. My first time doing anything like it, and first serious use of WhatsApp.
Keep our fingers crossed.
M
when ill ...
It is funny how sometimes when people become ill, they become hyperactive, presumably thinking that the good work will save them somehow. I prefer the total opposite. God does not really want a slob in his heaven.
They may think that the illness is retribution for not working hard enough. Not praying hard enough?
I rather liked the regime that Alan had. Lots of alcohol on offer. It was deeply depressing to see his rapid decline, butI have no regrets.
I probably had more worries about his mother, but I think I was at the limit of my "goodness".
I was impressed by the spontaneous turnout by the troops.
M
T does not like walking along the road.
Probably the reason for delaying exercises.
Best to forget such walks. Just do it in the garden.
Better keep some paths a bit clearer.
M
Friday, July 17, 2026
japanese lady
At bus stop opposite library. Quick chat before a hospital bus came.
Got to ward at 10. So a later bus should have been fine.
M
Thursday, July 16, 2026
problem sites
For this new way of handling passwords by machine, the companies trying include
Amazon
NHS
Tesco's , I think
M
passwords
It looks as if everyone is moving to more security. In principle they are doing this by individual machine. The starting position may be inherited from a non machine dependent basis.
So trying to use an existing password on a new machine is very likely to fail, and you will have to go through some slog to do it. This may be application dependent.
Probably best to do some initial work on an existing machine just to check the basics out, before attempting it on a new machine.
Good luck
M
dry
The garden is getting very dry. There is no dew or rain. Best to just leave alone.
Though it might help to do some pruning of plants to reduce evaporation.
M
609
The dreaded phone that the NHS keep wanting to connect to. Probably a few other internet shops as well.
I have the chip itself, which is unlikely to fit or work with any modern phone.
NHS has or seems to have deleted the record that showed that it was my mobile and should be used.
Some thought that there might be other systems that still had this record, but I now think that was erroneous or wishful thinking.
So in principle the NHS only has the BT number.
M
very small gauge screwdrivers
I don't seem able to find my set. Must be somewhere, maybe in the car things still.
M
Drying machine
Have moved this to the garage, where it can work as normal.
Improves the playroom no end. T approves.
M
honda
Sorted somethings out, that should be sold with the car. It is now empty of things I want to keep.
Not sure where the charger is. Maybe under the bonnet. This needs to be added to the car.
M
operation
The previous operation seemed to be more than skin deep, hence it being visible beyond a couple of days. Maybe they have decided on some. further actions, with the first one being.largely exploratory. This would possibly keep him in for a week or two at least.
I am personally doubtful, as most of the investigation inside the skull could be done non-invasively, yet they appeared to go inside.
So I doubt a further operation theory, and prefer the special care theory, which could include determining the right drugs and dosages, before returning home, or some other care solution.
Given the potentially long growth period, I am uncertain about his quality of life expectations, after their previous decision to open up the skull.
I am somewhat surprised that Sue has never come back to me after dismissing my earlier worries as unfounded. Maybe I was in hospital myself at that stage, and now worries about telling me things so closely related to my own issues.
M
There is another possibility. The surgeon may have found something that was not visible on the scan, and basically called for extra time or needed some decision about proceeding. So this is indicating poor or incomplete pre-op information which presumably can happen.
Whatever they were going to do was abandoned and they then needed either extra information, or different authorities to proceed at a later date. This scenario is probably bad news, and the decisions quality of life ones.
I feel J should be optimistic, and choose a risky route, chancing his luck.
The op does not need to take long, and he may already have had it. The outcome may be quite a few days to be apparent. And even then unclear as to its success.
I would overall rate his chance of full recovery as small, mostly because I see the problem having been significant at least 10 years ago, and went largely untreated. Chance of coming home soon is small, if they decide to do anything.
M
Tuesday, July 14, 2026
power cables are clever
I find it amazing that power can be distributed nicely amongst machines without giving them any directions. Some are providing power some are using power. Just plug them all in and it should work.
I guess you could say the same thing about the internet. But there may be particular nodes that are needed to get going.
M
no fives tonight
Pity, but the first time in ages.
That or they forgot to pick me up?
M
publishing delays
I think these are machine specific, in that if you start writing on one machine, then it can only be finished on that machine.
It gets visible on other machines and may well be editable on other machines. But the original machine is needed to create it in the final database.
I have not really tested out what is happening, and it might be a bit tedious to check everything. Just my best guess.
I think the terminology is that once an article has been started it is called scheduled, and will be visible as a schedule everywhere until it is actually published. It can only be published on the original machine. I don't think you can know which machine can actually publish. You obviously can test an individual machine by trying to publish it. But it is a slog to go through all possible machines. Do it in order of likelihood.
M
where is J?
Perhaps yesterday's family gathering was a decision point for his health. It is totally my speculation that he may be cared for overnight at some 'home' to relieve pressure on S.
There was some confusion with an almost identical car parked in the road, so without some sightings it impossible to say what is happening.
I am sure people must be watching what is happening after the first op, and it is possible that they have simply decided to do a bit more surgical work on the abnormality. It could be major or totally minor. The family gathering rather supports the former.
That his behaviour in the local village council might indicate that the issue may have been progressing for quite a while, prior to the first op.
Anyway I have rather more sympathy now, but alongside a niggling concern that I might have been a lone voice about his mental health. And dismissed.
Get better, J, asap.
M
m&S food
This has the same problem as my normal Tesco. Not big enough, but very ambitious, leading to too many products in too small a space.
The staff struggled to know or find panna cotta. The Tonbridge Waitrose is much bigger and more relaxed. Products that sell more have more space.
I don't think I will bother with them again. Tesco is just as good, if not better.
M
scheduling
I don't understand why some of my notes get stuck in 'scheduled'. Eventually they get accepted, but I don't get the reasoning.
M
hodu
Got through easily. 10.30 wednesday, ie tomorrow
They are always delayed so will take first bus after 9.30.
M
out shopping
S was walking back from food shopping at m and s. She did not hear my hello from other side of the road.
First time for seeing her out food shopping. I assume J previously did most of it by car or internet. Also assume J is having some treatment or rest away from home at the moment.
I am guessing the condition goes back beyond the village council incident, say ten years or more from the present.
The choices for treatment may be very tough, for all concerned. Obviously given his attitude to T's sensitivities I would concentrate on the healthy rather than the ill, and hope he cannot do further damage to anyone other than himself.
M
Monday, July 13, 2026
Google assistant
Thought I had better try this out. Wow.
I really was not expecting anything so complete.
M
Saturday, July 11, 2026
Denny's Bottom
This is where met office have as my nearest standard location. It is just the other side of the golf course. And good enough as a surrogate for here.
Basically turn right after car showroom, and the right again down into the village. It was on the taxi route to the nursing home.
M
filled holes
I filled two buckets at a time , and took them down to where the bins are, to fill in some of the hole digging that has been going on there under the window.
M
Thursday, July 09, 2026
Dedicated devices
The move to greater security by using a specific machine is growing rapidly. Microsoft is the most recent to push it along. They had to upgrade my machine, which is something they had previously said they would not do. I think security problems forced it.
You just need one static short key on your machine and everything else is seen to basically by frequently negotiated changes in encryption. There are almost no vulnerabilities.
This is seriously hard to break. Well done MS. And it forced you to look after the people you had abandoned.
M
T midday naps
Scared of waking up from napping mid-day. Suggested some delaying tactics, which might provide time to recover some sense of normality.
M
no response from NHS anima etc
how to sleep, not shutdown
It takes a long time to start the bedside tablet. It would be better to leave sleeping.
Not quite sure how to achieve this. Will give it a go
Seemed to have managed it. I am not sure what I am doing right. It maybe the briefest tap of the on-off button, which is key. To shut down is probably a longer press.
I think the same may go for restarting. It is tempting to hold the key longer, as otherwise nothing seems to happen. This is probably wrong, in that it takes time to resume operations, and maybe longer than restarting.
M
old pc updated?
I have been having trouble with my most up to date PC. Kept getting a bit stuck with new security things. Amazingly it seems to have updated itself on it's own, to a version that I am sure one used to have to pay for.
Maybe MS found itself stuck, having to support the old version without making any money out of it, and not selling any of the new versions, which it is spending money on developing. At some point it had to provide a way forward, and maybe that is what has happened.
I am surprised that I did not notice agreeing to it all, and it looks as if it does not know what to do with many of my independent software.
It seems to use AI quite a bit, with somethings. It might have avoided some upgrades by doing this.
Anyway it will be interesting to see what happens.
M
Tuesday, July 07, 2026
how does next door do the shopping?
Never seen deliveries.
Never seen unloading from car
Never seen significant carrier bags
Never seen them in my supermarkets
Now none of this means anything. It is just a bit surprising that the high tech J, has not used a regular service, which one would surely have noticed occasionally.
With J not driving at the moment, I would have expected the odd supermarket delivery to be seen.
Maybe it is all purchased and brought home by the Ukrainians. They are regularly out shopping, though I don't know where they go. Not the small Tesco's. More likely M&S?
M
lydl lady insisted all mobile phones had a number
I said no.
My reasoning was that it could communicate via local radio access to the internet, and do everything in that network. It did not need a phone network.
My logic is that you really must have mobile access to the internet, so use that as much as you can, before being forced into a proprietary operation.
Your mobile should not use hardware I.e. the SIM card, to identify you. It should be data stored on the machine or on the network.
Funny I had not thought about this before, but I guess people did not have the internet coverage, that they can now have from satellites etc.
The whole use of telephone numbers is so primitive.
M
3 SIM cards to process
Final search gave me 3 more cards to process. Not sure why these seem special. One maybe from the Now lot. I doubt if there are many more lurking around.
M
Monday, July 06, 2026
Old SIM Cards
I was surprised how different the SIM cards were. Within a supplier and a period of time, they are similar, but over a longer period, or across supplier and the differences were greater than I expected.
I imagine some of the emergency behaviour is very similar, but little else.
It is as if the early ones were very much structured and standard, and the later ones were unstructured, or at least structured at a higher level.
My understanding is that level 3, is dead in this country as a service. It might degrade to level 2.
I doubt if any are level 4.
I also don't know if an old machine can be used in other ways with other connections.For instance connecting to the internal BT network.
M
car
Owen has accepted the challenge of selling the honda.
Wonderful.
M
Front Bed
Moved some buckets of compost to the bed Infront of the study window. Hopefully this will correct some of the problems that have recently caused havoc in the bed.
I think I should dump a few buckets here every month or so.
M
got rid of the side panel of operators
Dragged it onto the screen and then to an x that appeared, and a message of killing the five items was displayed.
Easy when you know how.
M
out and back
more birds of prey
A couple of buzzards flew across garden opposite. Being mobbed by the herring gulls that use the bridge club roof.
One of them could have been a young one, but not certain.
M
Saturday, July 04, 2026
red kite
One seen being mobbed out of bedroom window. I think a first.
Maybe represents some change in refuse collecting, or just population increase.
M
where is J?
I am not sure how the logistics are managed. I just have not seen anything going into the house in the way of food. There is no current transport. Sue is definitely there, and seen working in the garden.
Maybe the Ukrainians are doing the shopping at Tesco's. Maybe J is confined to bed a chunk of the day. It is far from obvious.
It is the absence of the fiat that surprises me most. Has she been banned from European driving, and she has lent the car to one of the children? It would not surprise me. That would be say six months.
Someone must be in the dog house.
I would have expected some treatment for the tumor area, probably radiotherapy. But no sign of anything yet.
I am perhaps surprised that I was not updated after my query about his state of mind last autumn. Clearly something was amiss.
M
owen and ben
Did a super job moving compostable stuff to the garage site. It won't take long to settle down, and be covered with things from the seed bank.
I might need to give the odd climber some assistance. Though nothing formal that J might object to.
M
covid jab
I think I finally got T to see logic of her not having the jab.
There is more risk of her catching covid by going for a jab, than catching covid from an innoculated me.
M
Friday, July 03, 2026
off-line
For some reason I keep on starting in aeroplane mode with no connection.
I have to switch off aeroplane mode. A nuisance and I keep forgetting..
It may be to stop people telephoning me, by default. Ie j and k.
M
nextdoor back
Confused by cars. Fiat out, estate parked by someone else?
M
long bus wait
Just missed one. And now long wait.
Not too hot, so catching up on thoughts.
M
