Views from the Reading Room

My watch stopped and the battery's pretty new so it must be the watch (confirmed by the guy on the market stall with the batteries). Chimes are on holiday till 10th October and Timpsons quoted £56 for a repair, which is more than I've ever paid for a new one (the one I've been using for the past 10 years was a prize), plus it wouldn't be while-you-wait, so: time for a new watch. I've had problems with both plastic and leather straps in the past, and the one that just died has a metal strap, which is great but heavy and they're also expensive, but I found one with a "woven material" strap which is also super cheap, so I'm experimenting with that. (I suspect it's actually plastic, at least in part, but it looks nicer and doesn't feel nasty like your regular plastic strap.) I'll have to wear it for a while before I can tell whether my wrist finds it irritating.

Then I got back to the computer and loaded Firefox and it's changed! Apparently I'm on a beta, which I don't think I asked for, is that random? There's been several changes to the appearance, which I guess I'll get used to, and all my extensions have disappeared aaaaaaaaaa! The only one I was actually using (since Java stopped working months ago) was AdBlock Plus. There are several possible replacements; I picked AdBlock, in the hope that it would work the same and I wouldn't have too much of a learning curve. I like the green thumbs-up on whitelisted sites, i.e. here, but it remains to be seen how easy it is (having lost all my custom filters) to find the culprit if it starts blocking something I need.

PS: via the AdBlock help system, How to stop auto-playing videos (HTML5; I assume they've also got one about how to block Flash). Take that, YouTube!

I doubt anyone expects me to post here, but I do post comments sometimes, except for the past few weeks I haven't been, for a few reasons including that my internet access suddenly went from adequate to terrible. This was solved by decommissioning the old extension kit with which I first got on line, and keeping the router downstairs next to the phone instead; only possible because I finally got everything-I-use-the-internet-for working on my "new" laptop (Windows 7, has wifi) as opposed to the old tower (XP, no wifi). But that solution relied on a lashup with extension leads and wires everywhere. Today I got a socket installed in a sensible place, so I can reach the switch and get the wires off the floor. Hurrah!

The same builder patched the ceiling over the stairs, so there isn't a hole in it and also no more is going to fall down. That was one of the other things that happened: sudden crash late at night, rubble everywhere. Still some cleaning to do!

So, a lot of things have happened since I last posted anything like regularly! And if I wait till I've Caught Up With Stuff, that'll be ... actually it might never happen. In lieu of a longer post that is ... not going to happen today, here are some brief notes, without links or anything.

My shoulder got better. I had shoulder pain that was identified as a rotator cuff injury early in the year, and it just kept getting worse until I had the steroid injection in May, then it gradually got better. I'd just stopped taking Paracetamol for it a few weeks ago when I fell over and hurt my back! But all my joints are back to their usual state of unreliableness now.

My new windows went in at the beginning of October, just in time for the nasty weather. I now have double-glazing in the kitchen for the first time, "obscured" glass in the bathroom for the first time, and windows I can open in the other rear-facing rooms for the first time since I gave up taking down getting somebody to take down the secondary panels in summer. Bye-bye, unfeasibly heavy secondary glazing, I won't miss you.

My benefits got sorted out. It felt like I spent the summer wrestling with the benefits agency's assumptions, but when I'd paid for the windows and did the change-of-circumstances form again, they got it right first time, for a change. So I'm back on full job-seeker benefits, yay! (Well, an actual job would be more yay, but you know).

In displacement activity news, I finished Gemcraft chapter 0.

Now I hit Post before I get distracted again:

A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks, mainly on the Tuesday before last.

That morning, when I tried to check my email I found that my internet wasn't working. It turned out that my phone was dead (the internet is via the originally-BT landline), so I had to find somewhere to call the Phone Co-op (who are also my ISP) from. They were great, I didn't have to talk directly to BT myself at all, which was a big plus, but I did have to find somewhere else to phone from later to find out what was happening (yes there are still people who don't have mobiles). Openreach (the BT spinoff that do the infrastructure maintenance) had said the engineer was on his way, so I went home to wait.

In the meantime, because there was a job application I needed to finish, I'd put the draft version on a memory stick and gone down to Ingeus (the "Work Programme" company) to use their internet. Thank FSM they moved to an office I can easily get to! I also got some feedback from my advisor, including the advice to ID as disabled and ask for the "Two Ticks" thing (which guarantees an interview to people with disabilities who meet the minimum criteria).

So that afternoon, the Openreach engineer turned up, did some tests indoors and determined that the problem was outside and went out to fix it. It took him about an hour while it got dark and started raining. Rather him than me! I was worried he'd be climbing poles in those conditions, but apparently not. Then he had some trouble testing it afterwards, but it worked! Hurrah!

A few days ago I got an email inviting me to an interview for that job. Of course because of the "Two Ticks" thing I only know they don't think I'm completely useless, not that I'm necessarily near the top of the list. It's at a reasonable time of day, but wearing interview clothes in this weather won't be fun, by golly.

The Xmas Radio Times double-issue arrived days ago, and I've barely thought about supplies; I need to start doing cards today, and I'm not sure I'll bother with decorating since there won't be anybody here but me.

Summary: interview this coming Thursday panic panic ah! Xmas in 2 weeks panic panic ah! *distracts self with free browser games*

Monday: I had to go to "Work Programme" (govt.'s latest get-people-into-work-without-creating-any-jobs scheme). It's a bit of a walk + 20-30 minute bus ride + walk away (I've been to the same building before) ... but because of roadworks, the bus ride took more like 40 minutes. In extreme (for England) heat, beating down on the glass windows with no shade. By the time I arrived I was in such a state of collapse, they're not going to be denying that I have health problems with commuting. Also I couldn't speak, and not only for the usual reason.

Tuesday: still severely hot. I didn't have to go out much, so I didn't.

Wednesday: hot hot hot. I couldn't manage more than about 10 minutes of my Tai Chi class at a time before sitting down for a rest, as well as water. At tea break I just had cold water and a biscuit. Exhausted. ... In the evening, still hot, clouding over, rain, SURPRISE THUNDERSTORM! (not actually surprising in retrospect)

Thursday, it was fresh out. Drizzling all day. Not too hot to cook. Since then it's got hot again but not as hot. Heavy and muggy on Friday.

Can we not have another of those any time soon, please?

My brother and sister-in-law are visiting tomorrow (while they're at this side of the country for a wedding) ...

I've spent hours cleaning and the place is still a tip, argh.

I don't think she's ever seen me with my summer haircut. That might be fun.

... so I probably won't be posting.

• My laptop crashed on the 18th and has been flaky ever since; I think yesterday was the first day it didn't give me any trouble except for running slow. So I spent most of the day catching up on reading.


• I've got a new health issue to worry about. Oh, joy.
  ( cut in case of TMI )


• So this Wednesday (27th) I was already anxious about that, when I was going out to an event in the evening after a busy day, and my front door lock jammed. As in I pulled the door to, put the key in to lock it properly (it's a barrel lock) and the key wouldn't turn in either direction. This is the new lock I got in September.
  
  The friend who was giving me a lift had a go also and confirmed that it wasn't just me, so I had to leave it at "not properly locked, but I can't get in" and go to this event our group was hosting. I was somewhat distracted during. Also, the guy who installed the lock didn't answer his phone or return messages.
  
  We ended up calling somebody out of the Yellow Pages (ouch - not quite enough to be worth calling the insurance folks, considering the excess and my no claims bonus, but a lot more than the original lock), who (after all three of us failed to get the key to turn) opened the door with a Cunning Device. The Real Locksmith couldn't find anything to explain the jam - the lock's not faulty, but a different one would be more secure, apparently.

There's been a few things recently I should have commented on but didn't get my thoughts in order, and it's a bit late now; can I have a clean slate please?

or a thaw, anyway. There is still snow everywhere, where it hasn't been walked on/driven over/sanded enough to clear it. Today, I got the spade from the shed, so if it comes back and blocks the front gate from opening again, I've got something to dig my way out with.

The fetching of the spade from the shed was more of an effort than that might sound. Things I didn't get done include clearing the overhanging branches (of next door's tree) from the path. It turns out that my one-hand clippers aren't up to cutting them where they reach head height (they're not as sharp as when they were new, and stronger hands might also be useful), and shaking off the weight of snow and removing the parts that are thin enough to cut didn't make them spring back to a reasonable height, woe. So I'm having to bend down to get underneath while being rained on by the melt. My back is not pleased.

I was going to the shed in the first place to put some things in there that have been gathering dust on a shelf in the kitchen, which I've never used for anything but storage, but now I need to clear it to make room for a microwave.

( oven saga )

So it might get here on Wednesday, which would be good. If not, can I buy food for Xmas assuming I'll have an oven to cook it in?

I've been having difficulty getting an internet connection all day, more so as time goes on. I assume this is weather-related. It'd been cold and damp, and by the time I went out briefly this afternoon it was sort-of-snowing. It's got a lot heavier since then! It's lying thick enough to hide minor obstacles in every direction. I know, this is nothing by some people's standards, but I'm bloody glad I don't have to go for an interview in it tomorrow as I did on the snow day in January!

I hadn't realised it had got too heavy for safe driving, so I wasn't expecting a phone call at tea-time, telling me the Amnesty meeting I was going to this evening was cancelled. I'd just finished cooking the carrot and coriander sausages I was going to take for the bring-and-share we do at the December meeting. (As far as I can tell from the ingredients on the packet, they're vegan. I can re-heat them in instalments over the next few days, right?) Also, I need more stamps for cards I expected to hand out in person.

It must be lovely, if I could see it. By the time daylight arrives tomorrow, it'll probably be all nasty slush except on the roof-tops. I hope so, since the plausible alternative is ice, and I need to be able to walk outdoors, for several purposes.

Now to post this before the internet goes down again. Stay warm, everybody in the northern third of the planet.

The back door used to stick in damp weather, so that I couldn't get out that way for weeks on end; then I had a bit shaved off the bottom.

There's a step down outside. How does the water get up it to get under the door? *not going to look in this weather*

I must get the gutters checked.