My dear family & friends, 22 September
What a wonderful weekend we had. I was startled to be confronted with a cloudless blue sky on Friday morning, and it stayed like that all the way to Sunday evening. Lucia said it gave her energy and revitalised her. I'm sure all the plants agreed with her.
Late on Friday morning I walked the dogs from just outside Warwick to the cafe at the top of Hatton Locks. I’m glad I wasn’t doing it on a narrow boat; there are 21 locks which represent an awful lot of opening and closing of lock gates. This would be punishing work in the ordinary course of life on the canals, but it must be doubly so in the heat of a late summer’s day. Up at the cafe we cooled down under the shade of a giant parasol while I enjoyed a cappuccino and the dogs lapped up a bowl of water. I suspect I shall be going back to this cafe more often as it’s under new management that has revived what had become a dowdy tearoom. They make a really good cappuccino whereas the previous proprietors didn’t even have a cappuccino machine. How can anybody expect to get anywhere in this day and age without a cappuccino machine?
In the evening, I took the dogs up to our local pub where I arranged to meet Lucia after work. The day was just too gorgeous to stay indoors. Edgar was a hit with most of the customers. We always get some disapproving looks, but Edgar has learned to ignore them. He is a true aristocrat. Only such blue blood would get away with sticking a cold, wet nose into your groin as a greeting. Well, mostly. I never forget walking on Camps Bay beach late one afternoon in Cape Town, when Edgar walked up quietly behind a very comely young lass wearing the skimpiest of G-stings and, before I could call him back, stuck his nose right in her butt. It was one of the funniest things you ever did see, and I fell about laughing. It was a pity then that her (very big) boyfriend didn’t see things quite the same way. An awkward situation developed. It might have got really ugly had an even bigger bloke not advised him to lighten up and take a hike. Anyway, back at the pub in Warwick Edgar introduced himself to Errol (Errol had a packet of crisps and Edgar loves crisps) whom I quickly deduced had very South African accent. Errol had been a policeman in SA and is now working as a carer in the UK. He and his wife live just across the canal from us. This place is truly teeming with South Africans. Edgar met another one at a coffee shop in Leamington this morning. This one was a test pilot who worked for Rolls Royce; the Rolls Royce plant is just outside Coventry.
On Saturday morning we walked the dogs along the canal and through St Nicholas Park to the Pastelaria Portuguesa where we received the welcome of old friends from Helder, the baker. We sat at one of his two tables on the sidewalk watching a road crew dig up a portion of the road and prepare it for new tar. It might have been less noisy inside, but the sun was shining and we had the dogs with us (and you never know when a jobsworth health inspector may decide to pay a visit.) If they were guide dogs, there wouldn’t be a problem. And besides, I think Edgar and Hazel should be granted guide dog status – they help centre my karma and guide me in life. I’m sure Edgar was a guru in a previous incarnation and that’s got to count for something. (Pity about the sheep though; for sure he’s not going to get past this incarnation until he can get over the sheep thing.)
On the walk home, we passed the lair of the vicious vermin swans just next to the footbridge in St Nicholas Park. Hazel plunged right into the river as usual despite the protestations of said vermin, and paddled merrily around followed by hisses and squawks. And while we were distracted by the antics of Miss Cuteness, Edgar somehow managed to rip a claw on the little jetty. At least we assume that’s where it happened because Lucia only noticed the blood on the carpets when we got home. So, while Lucia went to have her hair done in the afternoon, I took Edgar to the vet. The hairdresser cost more than the vet.
We had intended to go walking in the Clent Hills west of Brimingham on Sunday, but Edgar’s injury put paid to that idea. Instead we went to Ironbridge (which I have written about previously.) We had good day touring the museums of the area all dedicated in some way to the history of iron and the importance of this region to the Industrial Revolution. We started at Blists Hill, a model Victorian Town (http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/our_attractions/blists_hill_victorian_town/), and ended up at the Darby Houses, the homes of the Quaker family whose fortunes are so entwined with this area. We had lunch at a pub next to the river in glorious sunshine.
As for the rest of last week, the highlight was a dinner invitation on Thursday evening from Rebecca, one of Lucia’s co-workers. This was our first invitation from anybody at Lucia’s work. It’s one of the things that has really rather surprised me; I would have expected to have been invited to dinner, or lunch over the weekend at least once by one of Lucia’s bosses by now. It hasn’t happened. I know that in a similar situation in SA it would have been expected. That said, Rebecca and her partner, David, put on an excellent spread for us, and we had a wonderful evening. I look forward to doing it again.
My big achievement last week was to get our home network to work as it should. Forgive any jargon for the uninitiated. It was easy when I was simply trying to network two XP computers together. But now my new computer is running Vista while the old laptop, which is connected to the LCD TV downstairs as the home entertainment centre, is running XP. I know Microsoft was criticised because XP was too “unsecure”, but now they’ve gone completely the other way. I’ve spent months on and off trying to get the two computers to talk to each other over the home network. In retrospect I can say that there are some basic and simple elements to making it work, but it was near impossible to find the relevant information. In the end, it was a lucky guess based on the properties of the public folder on my Vista machine that got it to work. But would it really have been such a trainsmash for Microsoft to have provided the information on their website. And when I say “information” – I mean keystroke by flipping keystroke. The heading would be “Networking a Vista to XP” followed by “Step 1. Click on this ...”, “Step 2. Click on this .... “ etc.” If you want to Share a folder on the computer running Vista, do this “Step1...” etc. If anybody from Microsoft reads this – you suck!
And, finally, for anyone who thought I was talking shit about the level of global indebtedness and the threat to the financial system: 1.) I told you so, and, 2.) it ain’t finished.
Let me leave it for another week on that bright note
Love, light & peace
Llewellyn
The picture book: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/llewellynijones
