Wednesday 28th July 2021

It is nearly the end of July; high summer in other words, when we in east Kent should be getting the very best of the year's weather. What we have had this year is the wettest spring, May and June on record, and although there was a 10% chance of light showers, it seemed that Mother Nature had another deluge in mind.

I mean the heavy rain last for half an hour, and was impressive, but other areas, like London two nights ago had four inches of rain in an hour, and the place I audited on Tuesday was flooded out later in the afternoon as a huge storm settled over Manchester.

There is little need for watering the garden this year.

Today was the day I would power the new laptop up and see if it worked. So, once Jools left for work and I was fortified by a second coffee, I unbox it, and find the "thinkpad" had a different power connector. I thought companies were supposed to be standardising these things? Anyway, I plug it in, enter the new password.

That fails.

Then I remember its not connected to the internet yet, so type in the old password and that works.

Outlook and Teams powers up, and I have three day's amils to catch up on. And being holiday season that's about four a day. I try the intranet, the front page works, but little else does.

More of a problem is the tiny screen and smaller keyboard, which means I am making so many spelling mistakes all the time. Somewhere there is a spare screen and an external laptop. I go hunting in the attic, get out the chart books for an interview later next month, but couldn't find the box of IT stuff. I come down and look in the only other place I can think of, in the porch where the box used to be, and its not there.

I mail Jools who tells me its in the spare bedroom, so I get it out and there is the screen and keyboard, and I can use the mouse from the old laptop, but on the new computer there is just the one USB slot.

AARRRGGGHHHHHH!

I shout.

So, I go online to order a multi-socket USB hub thing, and some note books. But there is another problem, the lead from the computer to the additional screen doesn't it. There is some kind of dongle thing that came with the laptop, could that be of any use. But I decide to wait for Jools to come home to ask her advice on cables, as looking on Amazon there are about 40 pages of cables.

Sigh.

I try to cope the the laptop as it is, but it is hard.

And outside the rain begins to hammer down. So hard, I take a video of it.

Fancy.

I also make a loaf of bread, so there is something to ahve for lunch. It is easy enough and ready for the oven at half ten, out by eleven, I let it cool down for half an hour, and I have a crust with lots of butter and apricot jam. And a huge brew.

Yummy indeed.

Its not long before I have another slice, this time with nutella, as it seemed i had a sweet tooth.

Its even better if I'm honest.

Work is a grind, the font on the screen is too small,a nd I have to strain to see, which means I have a migraine brewing soon. As work was quiet, I wrap up at two and go for a lay down with Scully on the sofa.

I fall asleep.

Jools had asked for burgers for dinner, and who am I to argue. But as I start to cook the burgers, I find the rolls are going mouldy, too mouldy to do anything with. So I defrost some out of the freezer, and like magic they are all done by the time the patties were cooked. Two burgers each, a glass of cherry juice and fizzy water. Lovely. The evening is quiet. Jools sits in the garden getting some rays, and I listen to the radio inside. The cats were fed and happy, Jools and I were also fed and happy. Darkness now falls just about at nine, and there is no need really for the blackout blinds. It is the 209th day of the year.