Monday 5th May 2025

My old laptop was held together by cellotape and fishing twine, so we knew it had to be replaced.

But its the faff, isn't it?

So, we put it off until we came back from India, then once it arrived, it sat, still boxed, on the sofa until Bank Holiday Monday.

I promised Jools I would have it up and running by the time she came back.

Shouldn't be hard, right?

Mulder tried to wake my up at five, half five, six before I gave in at half past and got up. His party piece is to lick your forehead and purr very loudly.

I fed the cats, jabbed Scully, then made a coffee.

I looked at the laptop.

After breakfast.

I opened the box, got the laptop and lead out, plugged it in.

And.

Where is the on/off button?

Now also a fingerprint scanner, apparently.

The old laptop had been stripped if the Dell bloatware, so just worked. The new one has next generation bloatware.

And all had to be ignored.

Then, are you sure?

It took nearly four hours, friends, once the updates were unloaded and installed. And it failed to recognise my Microsoft password.

Then, one by one, sign into my favourite sites, and set preferences.

Five hours.

Outside it looked like Spring. In fact it was cold with a keen breeze, this was confirmed when Jools returned saying how cold it was.

Back home we couldn't agree what to have for lunch, so we drove to the Freed Man for a pint and to think about it.

Crisps helped.

Then to the corner shop for an ice cream, and back home to chill the afternoon away.

Fried chicken, baby new potatoes and salad for dinner, and to bed at nine before it were dark, to get warm.