Thursday, February 19, 2026
good shopping etc
Had a good time, getting trained by NAT west, and reading glasses from the shop opposite the old baths next to the library. The latter were 5 pounds for three, so spectacular value.
Stopped on a high
M
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
missing glasses
Could not locate my reading glasses. They were in plain sight, but difficult to see, through a number of factors.
How do you avoid this.
.. garish colours
.. build special home
.. have a spare pair
M
who is your doctor?
I really do not understand the NHS system. It looks as if doctors who at some stage officially became your doctor can continue dishing out prescriptions if they decide to. That is effectively they can assume the paperwork is always lagging, and it is safer for the patient, to continue supplying if they request things.
I just had delivery from two stages in the past.
Looks as if the system could be misused, and it should be monitored
M
BT beeping
Finally solved this problem. Turns out that top kitchen machine, which did not beep, was the problem. I deleted a couple of items the looked vaguely unnecessary, and all was sweetness and light on the other two phones. The surprise was that the top kitchen phone itself was happy with these items.
Not helpful. No helpful messages. Poor design
M
Monday, February 16, 2026
cleaned up tablet
Not many changes
Still uncertain about charging. I get to 20, and it goes down even if still plugged in. Must leave overnight.
M
Sunday, February 15, 2026
Tesco morals
When paying at a till, I had to use cash, as I did not have a pin number for any credit card. I did fumble a bit getting some small change out of my purse, but I was not aware of any falling to the hard floor. But then I noticed a couple of two pound coins on the floor, and wondered if they might be mine. The cashier insisted that they should be considered mine. Then I found even more coins on the floor, and again the instruction. I think I would have heard if they had all fallen. Anyway, I took them. I think they should have a charity box at hand to deal with this.
I should point out the thinness of the staffing, given the number of customers. But I still prefer my solution.
Martin
Saturday, February 14, 2026
driver's licence to the rescue
Gosh, the security in the banks seem to increased dramatically, and not very intelligently. They must have been hit hard by something.
Just to fix a future meeting, I had to identify myself. All bank cards ignored. Bus pass and library cards ignored. But a driver's licence was ok. How about a little sheet saying what you need to bring to the arranged meeting.
Madness
M
lots of nasty spam
Not quite sure why this is happening now. I also seem to be having network issues. Could be unrelated.
M
WiFi on the blink
Not sure what the problem is. Seems to affect iPad and tablet, but have not tried others.
M
m and s
Just found out that I already had an m and s account, together with strong password.
A bit confused as to when I constructed this. But it may be useful.
Tesco's next.
M
ordering a matrix of folders on android
On very recent Android version, I got stuck trying to arrange a rectangle of folders on the screen. It kept on moving folders that I did not want to move, and other quirks. I slowly realise the moving more than one position up or down was fraught with issues.
Only regained control by
- creating a hole
- swapping neighbours only.
This worked well.
M
First bath since September
Going to have a proper bath for the first time in about six months.
Yes, I did get the odd shower with a nurse or two, but this will be a blissful laze.
M
look and feel of current apps on portable devices
I am realising quite how much some of the standard applications have changed recently. It is all so much more hand gestures, rather than mouse / keyboard control. I like it, but sometimes am at a loss to know what I should do next. The integration with things like PayPal are now massively better.
Running a historic series of devices, is getting increasingly problematic. But that is progress.
I feel Microsoft has lost it completely. Apple are ok in their chunky of the market.
M
found scandals
I am blind as a bat.
It is now the muddy old shoes that I have to find.
M
Thursday, February 12, 2026
fives was likely off anyway
Turns out that Gareth had check likely players and none could make it. And I would not have been up to serious singles. So nothing lost in this
Martin
stopped the beep
The phone was not helpful.
The beeps were indicating there had been calls diverted to the BT message recording service. I think I had assumed that they would be deleted automatically once you had heard them. Anyway delete 2 and the beeping stopped. The phone in the top kitchen did not beep because it is an older handset. This was an added issue in diagnosis.
Peace at last.
The beep is a little cheapskate. Why not a voice saying ' you have new voice messages '? And why so rapid?
M
.
finally got passwords
I have been having difficulty with getting to my passwords, but managed today.
Interestingly I guessed one of them pretty correctly.
It reminded me how it was catastrophic when the phone and keypad layouts were constructed differently. I could not remember which was which.
M
central heating
Slowly getting to grips with central heating.
Reset all timing things. Highlighted the override buttons with red stars on the controllers that matter.
Reorganised the thermostats back to original positions, in study in right hand bookcase, and the landing upstairs.
It may be worth reducing the max temperature on the landing.
I have shut the air control on the stove in the garage, as this is not of use and may have strange effects.
Apparantly the thermostats were found without batteries in the airing cupboard, when I went into hospital. I guess I was in process of changing batteries. I do no know what batteries are in them now, but everything seems to work fine, with screen and communications.
Dont know whatever happened with the strange issues of starting the central heating at the end of four weeks, which I think was last March. Maybe that was hallucinations.
M
abandoned fives coaching
But I got two doses of tamulosin.
Will go to the doctors tomorrow, and ask for a prescription for the local chemist on the ground floor.
M
phone beeping and won't stop
The BT phone thinks the I have something to do. And beeps me every 7 seconds. Only way to stop is basically to take it off charging stand and switch off.
Ok, fine, but what if I have very little battery left.
This is bad design in my books. So I will charge it when I am out of earshot. Brilliant.
M
Password not memorable
In my taxi problem, the passwords on these 'touch and go' cards are by choice impossible to remember, being long, random, and full character set. It would take an age even if you had it written on a piece of paper.
That is the whole point. It can be killed stone dead in an instance.
I had a look at the entry, and was glad to see that I had got it right.
M
M
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
did not get to fives
Due to me not checking my email, I failed to get to fives tonight.
Better luck next week.
Martin
