Help! Nothing Is Working!

Since I returned from holiday, it appears that everything is either broken or everyone is on strike. Yes, yes, I am perhaps over-dramatizing the situation but it does feel a little bit that way.

We had huge problems at work – technology wise and have lost a lot of time due to the interruptions. I have had my commute made more arduous due to strikes. The light in my bathroom is flickering like there is no tomorrow. But the straw that threatened to break me today was when my basic mobile phone was not connecting to any service.

To make matters worse, an advisor looked at my phone and told me I had been disconnected from the network and I had lost my phone number and it was irrecoverable (apparently because I do not top-up often enough). They told me to ring Customer Services – which I did – but to my dismay I did not seem to be getting anywhere. When the phone advisor told me there was nothing he could do for me, I asked if I could speak to his manager. He put me on hold for ten minutes and then told me that actually there was a problem with the service in my area and my phone would be fine by this evening. I am hoping that by the time I wake up that is true, because so far my phone is still lifeless.

I just wish there was a helpline I could ring to say, “nothing is working”. Or do you think we could go back to basics and scrap all this rubbishy technology that keeps on breaking?

Photo by Negative Space on Pexels.com

Too Slow For My Patience

The laptop I am using seems to operating at sub-snail-speed…..

…and I have become impatient and slightly grumpy (because I am tired) so I am giving up on the other post I was writing. I will save that gem until another day.

Tablet’s Tragic Technology Trauma

Something happened last weekend.  I am a little put out by it.  It is not necessarily a blame issue, I just can’t believe it happened and I only discovered it several days later, when I am not really in a position to do much about it.

It is OK – it is just a thing, a possession, one that I did not pay a penny to acquire, has met a calamitous and tragic ending.  Nevermind!  Life is not about possessions.  I know that.

I may have mentioned that I went to visit my lovely Goldfinch.  Well, on the train on the way up to see him there was a young woman sitting opposite me who fell asleep for the entire journey with her feet stretched out into the space where my feet would naturally be.  I had to keep my feet tucked further under my seat (or else I could have woken her up by moving her feet out of the way).  However, she had a little electric fan plugged into her phone which kept her cool throughout the journey.

On my way home I noticed they were selling these little electric fans at the shop within the train station.  I had a look at them.  There was information about the type of devices that they were compatible with.  Well all these letters and numbers mean nothing to me.  So I picked one up and took it to the cashier and showed her my tablet and asked if she thought it would work.

In response, she opened the packaging of the electric fan and pushed the little connector into my tablet.  The blades whizzed around a couple of times and then she pulled it out.  Well, I decided to buy it for the grand sum of £4.99.  I did not use it on the way home because I was sitting under a lovely cool air vent on the train which kept me more than comfortable.

Well, my tablet normally needs charging about once a week.  The last time I charged it was Saturday and on Thursday I noticed it was down to 50%.  As I wanted to use it to take photographs on Friday, I decided to charge it up.  I grabbed my charger and tried to plug it into my tablet.

It would not go in.  I tried again and again.  I looked at the little socket and it did not look right.  I sat there baffled and then it dawned on me.  The little electric fan, the cashier at the railway station shop.  Ugh!  Slowly, the sickening realization that the young woman has basically ruined my tablet.  I turned my tablet off.

There are lots of photos on my tablet of family and friends and Goldfinch that I need to retrieve.  When I have time I will send them to my inbox so I can retrieve them from another device.  But now that I cannot charge my tablet, it is essentially broken.  I have 25% battery life at the moment, so I am just leaving it off and trying to remember if there is anything essential on there that I need to transfer elsewhere.  Please, please correct me if I am wrong (I know next to nothing about technology).

I am not really sure what to do.  I don’t believe it is repairable.  If it is repairable, I bet it will cost me as much as buying a new tablet.  I am disappointed, I am sure you can understand.  However, I don’t deserve to be outraged as I did not pay a penny for the tablet, I won it in a prize drawer I was entered into after completing vocational training courses.  It has been a fairly useful tool to have.  I will probably miss it at first.

Right now though, I am going to remember to file this experience away in my memory box so that if I ever win another tablet, I remember not to let anyone else plug anything into the little socket where my charger goes.  Shame hey!

Nevermind!  (That reminds me….I must tell you the story of Lydia.  Her favourite word is “Nevermind!”)

Beam Me Up Scotty!

I asked Goldfinch recently if he would teleport over to me here in London so I could spend some time with him.

He suggested it might be greener than air travel, however, he said that teleporting technology might also be risky because it could allow crackpot dictators to beam nuclear weapons to different places. I replied that is of course why we need to get rid of crackpot dictators, so that we can enjoy the benefits of inventions without all the bad misuses.

Anyway….we were just waffling (if you hadn’t already figured that out). But I have been feeling that way recently. Don’t worry, there is nothing wrong between Jack and me – quite the opposite in fact. I am thinking of Goldfinch because it is coming up to exactly three years since I met him. I am also thinking of him because he is special to me.

Jack is sitting me down for serious conversations about us and the future – which is good – but sometimes I want to be with a friend who supported me through a lot of heartache.

Goldfinch was the one who was there as I emerged from the cage of fear that was holding me back and started to take braver steps. I wish he was around for the big stuff in life.

Cul-De-Sac Chaos

It was raining, so he called me and said he would drive into the cul-de-sac opposite the end of my road. Of course there are two ends, so I asked which end. He meant the quieter end. The other end is the high street. So that made sense.

You might wonder why he doesn’t just pick me up outside my home? Well…I am not ready for anyone to spot him…and me…and make the connection. I feel safe here in the little abode. A celebrity parking up or strolling up…could compromise that. Sometimes I wonder, am I being overly cautious? Well…I will tell you something that happened which actually confirmed in my mind that caution is a very good idea.

At the time we agreed, I walked out to the cul-de-sac, opposite the quieter end of the road I live on. It is not very big. I walked around it. There was no sign of him. I was a few minutes early, so I waited patiently. Fifteen minutes later, my shoes were soaking wet. So the following series of messages occured:

❤ Is everything alright? ❤ Let me know if you are running late…xx

Hey Beauty, I’ve been sitting here for the past ten minutes. Are you ok? X

Are you in the same car as usual?…xx

Yes same car

xx…are you parked out on the main road?…xx

No, in this little avenue, like you said X

xx…can’t see you anywhere…xx

Can’t see you either 🙂

What’s the name of the road you are parked in?…xx

Hold on…I’ll have to get and have a look X

And then I waited for a reply…no reply came. Ten minutes later I texted him:

Is everything alright?…xx

Still no answer, so I started calling him. I should have called him before, but I had hardly any credit on the little basic phone I carry in my bag. When I finally spoke to him, it sounded as if he had turned onto the main road, and then turned into the first cul-de-sac he came to…which is not the one opposite my road. So, I told him to wait there and I would come and find him. I walked back onto the main road and headed to where I thought he was.

He was in another cul-de-sac, about fifty metres distance from the cul-de-sac opposite the end of my road. I saw him straight away. He was out of his car with two men, well, one was a teenager and it looked like his Dad. The three of them posing for a selfie together. I recognised the men, neighbours of ours. Scared to rock up and jump into his car and for them to make the connection, I walked past. I rang him again and told him (very sweetly) that it would be great if he could get back into the car, turn right onto the main road and then take the second right turn.

There I waited for him. A few minutes later, he pulled over. I slid into the passenger seat and then gave directions (again very sweetly) take the first left, turn right at the end of the road. Turn left as the road bends, at the bottom of the hill turn left, first right, follow the road as it turns towards the left, take a right turn onto the main road. Go straight ahead at the mini-roundabout. Straight on until we reach the cross roads, turn right and head towards the ring road.

Sigh…”what was that Jack?”

“What was what?”

“Aren’t we supposed to be trying to be discreet?”

“I had to get out of the car to look at the name of the road. They were just turning into the road. They were dead friendly.”

I put my hand on his to show I am not cross. I am just a little disconcerted, but I don’t want it to spoil things. “How was your day?”

The evening was not ruined at all by the cul-de-sac confusion, the cul-de-sac chaos. He and I were soon in Surrey, at a little flat that is used for volunteers working on projects in that area. He knows the couple who look after it very well. He had already called and asked if it was available. He nipped in to see them and grab the key. I waited in the car, which he had parked round the side, instead of the front. They didn’t see me. They had asked him to stay for a drink. He had told them he had a lot he needed to catch up with but still agreed to a whisky, which I tasted on his lips about twenty minutes later. (Yes he left me waiting in the car for fifteen minutes when he went in to pick up the key.)

He came back to the car where I had been patiently waiting, taking the opportunity to send a text message to Goldfinch to ask how he was. He opened the car door for me and held the umbrella up over me as we walked to the front door of the little flat. He put the kettle on. He has stayed there before. Once we were comfortable, we played cards. We watched a little television, there was nothing either of us were interested in, He asked if I like “The Apprentice”. I pulled a face. He told me it’s hilarious. He is going to make me watch some of it with him next time we are together.

He went back out to the car to bring in a bottle of wine and some leftovers from the buffet table at the venue he was working. There were no savoury vegetarian items, so I made him eat the meat and fish, and I had a big slab of fruitcake. The cake was a little dry, but it’s eatibilty was enhanced by the red wine. I suspect it has all been in his car all afternoon. So if he has a dodgy tummy, we know why. I think the fruit cake was the safer option.

Despite the little things that did not make it the dream date…I would still call it a perfect evening. Because it was him and me together, loving each other’s company. Things still don’t go 100% smoothly – but they don’t do they? Real life always throws up a little oddity which could spoil an evening. But love makes you overlook those little things.

Instead you end up tenderly kissing each other and slowly removing clothes. Why rush these special moments together? We take it slow. It’s all an exploration, trying to learn about each other, understand one another, remembering the sensitive spots, taking a new liberty, testing the intimacy and trust is still vibrant and strong.

It’s just the story of a couple who have only been dating for a short time, yet have an eight year history marked by mistakes, mischances, misunderstandings, miscommunication and misdemeanours. This time, we are both trying to make sure we are strong. So far, so good.

The clouds have cleared, there is no rain as far as he and I are concerned, just blue skies and sunny days…followed by nights gazing up at the stars and talking about the future. It’s working! But we need to keep working on it!

 

The Tears Of A Technophobe

I have a problem with my tablet. I don’t understand why the camera is not working properly anymore. In the past I could take as many photographs as I wanted and the tablet would store them. At a later date, I could look at my photographs and delete them or edit them and then if I thought they were keepers I would also blue-tooth them to my laptop.

That was working fine for ages. And then…the tablet camera stopped working properly. It will take a photo, however, if I take a second photograph I lose the first one instantly. There is no way to retrieve it. And any photo will not automatically save. I have to try to blue-tooth it for the tablet to even register that a new photograph has been taken.

This has been causing me problems. The biggest and most upsetting realization is that I had lost all of my photographs from Australia, except one. That’s right – I have one photograph from Australia. None of the photos I took of Goldfinch or of the scenery in Australia are there. I thought I was going crazy. I thought there must be a way to retrieve my photos. But no! Nobody who has tried to help me can recover them. I have a blurry photo partially obscured by my fingertip of something I had cooked for him. Can you imagine my tears when I realized???

I was working on a project that I needed photographs for. It was painstaking! Having to take a photo and try to blue-tooth one photo at a time before I could move on to the next task. It’s pointless taking my tablet out to take photos on a day out, because they all vanish except the most recent one, which I have to blue-tooth as soon as possible or it will also disappear.

I do not understand why this is happening. Before I went to Australia I deleted around one hundred old photos that I had already blue-toothed to my laptop. I also cleared the cached data. So there should have been plenty of memory available. Indeed my tablet is indicating I have plenty of unused memory gigobites or whatever they are called. I took videos and photos of kangeroos, koala, bandicoots, kookaburras and all sorts of buildings and places in Adelaide and the surrounding countryside. All lost! Gutted! Absolutely gutted!

I am a technophobe at the best of times, but this tablet camera issue has made me downhearted. I am still provoked by not having photographs from Australia – it is too awful! All the more reason to go back there as soon as I can. But this time I need to buy myself a proper camera before I go out. Something else that will cost money. I have a lot of saving up to do!

C’est La Vie! Quelle Surprise!

Will you Share Your World along with other bloggers by answering this week’s questions?  Take a peek at Melanie’s (sparksfromacombustiblemind) original post which contains this week’s questions:

https://sparksfromacombustiblemind.com/2018/10/08/share-your-world-10-8-18/

Do you prefer Apple (‘I’ products) or Android for your technology ‘fix’?  

Well, as I am unwilling to spend any cash on technology, I am not particularly picky.  I am grateful for all the hand-me-downs that have come my way.

I was surprised to win a tablet from a pharmaceutical company after completing a bunch of training modules – I am not 100% sure how you would describe it.  But it can be useful on occasion.

I had to have the charging socket repaired after a helpful sales assistant accidentally destroyed it.

• Tablet’s Tragic Technology Trauma

What’s something on your personal bucket list?

I don’t really have a bucket list. Just to stay alive and avoid any other head injuries! My number one aim in life is to resume my normal routine back in my home on the other side of London, my career, my world of friends and projects.

I have rarely had a list of experiences I wanted to enjoy (I think that is what a bucket list is)…they just happened, unexpectedly, usually due to the tremendous kindness of someone else. Most of the spectacular experiences of my life were utter surprises, which probably made them even more special.  Those experiences include scuba diving, sledging with huskies, riding snow-mobiles, riding quad-bikes, skiing, abseiling, gorge climbing, zip wires, jungle treks, horse riding, driving a sports car and visiting many fascinating places.

I don’t know, I have had some wonderful wonderful experiences…but the highlight of my life has been the special people who brighten everyday and make my life far from routine.

Special experiences are one thing, but special people are worth a million times more! I would be content with the most mundane and plain days with people who make life sparkle by their very presence.  They sprinkle delightful surprises throughout your life like stars across the skies.

What would you name your boat if you had one?   The Unsinkable 3? The Please Don’t Sink? Your choice! Also, what would it look like? Do you want a motor yacht, a sailboat, or perhaps a dinghy?

I am torn between “THE GREAT ESCAPE” and “THERE SHE GOES”…or maybe something else…I would probably decide after we have finished building her.

But I have no doubt she will be a sailboat, as romantic a sailboat as you ever did see!  She will be a labour of love, built by my own hands and perhaps the man who is going to share the voyage around the world with me.

Which fictional character would be the most boring to meet in real life?

Boring? Oh…that’s hard.  Every character has their interesting layers despite any appearance of being boring. The only people who are setting themselves up for ingrained “boringness”, are those who are no longer willing to learn, and are completely closed-minded to any other way accept their own.

However, I know there are characters that would seriously jar with me.  Someone like Becky Sharp from Vanity Fair.  I cannot fathom her self-interest! I would find her a challenge to say the least. I doubt I would be able able to tolerate her for long. Unless she surprises me by having more unselfishness than she portrays.

Her one redeeming action is trying to convince her friend Amelia to finally see sense and appreciate the adorable Captain (Major) Dobbin.

And finally: 

What brought gratitude, a smile or laughter to your life this week?

A last minute decision from Goldfinch to flutter down to London to be with Caramel!

 

https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/10/08/fathom/

https://fivedotoh.com/2018/10/08/fowc-with-fandango-routine/

If I Sound A Bit Confused, Maybe That’s Because I Ran Out Of Coffee Today

Another week has flown by and it is time for this week’s SHARE YOUR WORLD questions, currently being hosted by Melanie B Cee… over at sparksfromacombustiblemind as you can see in her post below:

https://sparksfromacombustiblemind.com/2018/09/24/share-your-world-9-24-18/

This week’s questions are:

Last week I asked a question about favourite beverages and the overwhelming favourite was coffee. If you drink coffee, how do you like it best?  Hot, cold, iced, with cream, with sugar or black as black? 

I have always loved the taste and aroma of coffee flavouring. (For some reason all I can think of is Tales from the mind of Kristian shaking his head and rolling his eyes in disgust!)

I think I mentioned in another post that when I was around six or seven I became a bit addicted to coffee. I was convinced that it helped me to swim faster (my sisters and I were competition swimmers).  I would have milky coffee and about six biscuits believing this was some amazing wonder-fuel.

My mother was so concerned about the amount of coffee I was drinking at a tender age that she banned me from coffee!

Also my singing teacher told me to avoid hot drinks so for at least fifteen years I didn’t have coffee or tea.

Then in my early twenties I discovered iced coffee.  Loved that… until I found out how many calories my favourite iced coffee had tucked away – scary!

When I moved to London I started waking up every day at five o’clock in the morning.  I soon found a new appreciation for very strong espresso.

When I lived with Italians, they had a great coffee machine and they were very good at making sure everyone was well caffeinated early in the morning.  I also worked with lots of Italians.  They took responsibility for making the coffee at break-time as they were less than impressed at the dishwater the rest of us called coffee!

In your opinion, what’s the greatest invention of our age?     

My opinion is probably not worth toffee…I am sure others will think of better inventions.  I am going to mention something though I realize makes a big difference to me and my loved ones:

When I think of inventions I think of things than have been designed to make life easier, or speed tasks up or even accomplish things we may never have imagined were possible. Although I am a bit of a technophobe and I am very wary of those who use it for sinister intentions…I think the internet and electronic messaging services are remarkable.

Do you realize that when my Goldfinch moves back to Australia in November…I will be able to send him an e-mail from the opposite side of the planet and it will arrive within seconds?!!

I have family members working in lands in Africa, parts of Russia, the Middle East, South East Asia and Central and South America…I can e-mail them or Skype them…and it is all for free!  Astonishing!

So despite it’s many drawbacks, (and I must admit I don’t like the crazy pace of life that everything seems to run at today) it is pretty amazing that I can communicate with someone I love who is so far away.

If only all the amazing tools that have been invented were only entrusted to good people who would use them to promote good things…and those who had harmful intentions were not allowed access to those tools…I don’t know, I guess it is not as simple as my mum confiscating their phone or tablet or computer until they have learnt their lesson and changed their heart.

Global warming?  Reality or myth?

I am surprised it has become such a debate.  It is of interest to me that some believe and some doubt that human activity is causing a detrimental effect to our global climate on a scale never yet seen in the course of human history.  I have heard people’s views and read articles quoting  various scientists.  Some very persuasively argue that temperatures are rising and this is effecting weather patterns and increasing the frequency and force of extreme weather conditions.  I do take the warnings about global warming seriously.

I am not sure my knowledge and understanding on a scientific level are worth adding to the multitude of words that have been published on this subject.

What registered in my mind some years ago was a verse I have read many times that says the Creator will bring to ruin those who are ruining the earth.  He will not allow it to be ruined completely.  And as far as I can see it is only in recent times that due to the scale of industrialisation, the burning of fossil fuels and the pollution of our air and water, we have reached a stage where humankind have the ability to “ruin” the earth.

So yes, I do believe that if allowed to continue at this pace, human activity could potentially ruin the cycles and forces that have regulated our planet’s climate.  Do I believe it will become so bad that human life itself will be wiped out by our own activity?  Well, I don’t believe that the Creator would tolerate that.  Nobody who had built a house and allowed tenants to live there (who started wreaking havoc on the property), would let the house be ruined beyond recovery.  Bad tenants are eventually evicted, good tenants remain. Scores of passages refer to how He will change the way this planet is governed.

Are you an explorer or more a home body?

I am currently separated from my real home which is on the other side of London.  So, I kind of feel as if I am camping out here in my current accommodation (very pretty though it is). I have always loved travel.  But I long for my real home…it’s been over three years since I was there and I ache to return.

I think once I feel settled back into my own home, then my desire to explore the rest of this beautiful planet will return to me.  Until then I am reading lots of travel blogs!!  Travel bloggers produce such stunning posts.

and last:

What were you grateful for this week?

My two younger sisters came to visit me here in London at the weekend.  It was wonderful!

To sum up:

A Technophobe Who Thinks The Internet Is Super (When Used By Good Hearted Peeps)….

And Wants To Go Home So She Can Start Travelling Again….

And Who Drinks Coffee Anyway It Comes….

And Is Grateful For Her Family And Her Adorable Sisters…

And Hopes For This Earth To Be In Much Better Hands One Day

Canolfen y Dechnoleg Amgen (That’s About As Much Welsh As You’re Going To Get Out Of Me I’m Afraid)

Just a stone’s throw from the cottage belonging to some family members is a site we have not been to for ages…and we decided as it is was close to the town we were visiting today we would take a visit with Little One.

Our destination today was the:

Yes, that’s right, just behind the welcome desk which is on the same level as the car park, there is a cable car up to the rest of the site.  Here in Wales, they are very considerate of English folk who might not be use to walking up mountains every day.

As if this not enough excitement for little one!  And for me!

It makes me laugh that when you read the information leaflet, it makes the center sound as interesting as reading the information on the side of a cereal box, or the back of a utility bill.

The reality is that not only is the center very interesting and of relevance to just about anyone at all who lives in a house, or uses electricity or takes showers or eats food…

The VIEWS…the Center is worth a visit just for the views alone if you are really not interested in any of the information presented.

I wish I had a better camera to take better pictures for you…there is nothing like your own eyes though to see Wales for yourself.

I took about fifty photos today of exhibits and my family as we toured the buildings displaying information, the gardens and all sorts of displays, and fun exhibits.  In addition we stopped off at the mostly vegan cafe and shared a vegan chocolate cake and a vegan lemon drizzle cake.

Then there was the playground…and the slide – my niece was in her element!  Oh she had fun.  A one year old child makes everything a hundred times more fun.

We learnt all about the origins of CAT (Center for Alternative Technologies), energy efficient construction techniques, how to conserve and make wise use of resources, including electricity and water, how to grow your own veggies and herbs, and there was a huge amount of information on all the alternatives to burning fossils fuels.

I don’t want you to tire of my holiday photos, so I will try to put together a little collage so you get the idea of what we were up to today.

Wish you were here with us in Wales!