You can probably expect more updates as Kathryn’s gone back to the states for Xmas; more on that in a bit. I thought I’d give you all a quick update on our early Solstice. So, Kathryn and I have already had our Solstice/Xmas celebration; we had a very chilled morning (and not just because the house was cold), slept in really late and when we finally got up we had a relaxed day mostly chilling. I had an argument with Windows on the lounge PC – having set up a temporary wired network I set it copying files. It did what appears to be a random selection of them, didn’t report any errors though, and foolishly I didn’t check that they’d all come across. I then deleted a bunch of stuff off the laptop and have spent several days finding all the things which went missing during the copy.Anyhow, we opened prezzies, Kathryn got me a gorgoeous Retro Computing book; arty geekery! She’s also got me something unknown, which is still floating in the aether of the Post Office. As, apparently (and frustratingly) is our VOIP adaptor. Anyhow, we then cooked a very nice (and veggie) Christmas Dinner – complete with Yorkshire pud, brussel sprouts, parsnips (although these were way underdone; in future I know to cook them for much longer), and a not very Christmassy Thanksgiving Sweet Potato Casserole (what can I say, it’s gorgeous!). It was a lovely day; despite the technology that wouldn’t play (we were meant to watch Miracle on 34th Street, but instead watched that on our boxing day). Anyhow, this is our Solstice feast:
Yesterday was spent trying to work out why Brick’s starter motor remains somewhat recalcitrant. I’ve tried using a jumper cable as a temporary replacement earth (didn’t help), and it does seem a bit odd. Sometimes it works well, other times it’ll struggle to turn the engine over. Still, it got us to Heathrow which it turned out was a world of pain. It turned out (we forgot to check before hand) that the reservation didn’t say which terminal to go to, and unfortunately, we landed up at T2 and asked – and the chap said Terminal 1. So we parked up and we headed in to terminal 1. I’m glad I stayed with Kathryn, because frankly if you wanted a stressful pre-travel experience, terminal 1 was it. British airways, along with every other airline, appeared to have totally been overwhelmed. Yesterday’s cancellations and the (apparently normal) Xmas travelfest meant that there was a world of chaos behind those shiny doors. We found out fairly quickly that we were, in fact, in the wrong place and had to go to T4. Having got to T4, the online check-in desk failed, and we ended up queuing. Which was a shame, really; because I’d hoped to spend that last hour or so with Kathryn having a nice relaxed and over priced lunch; but instead we spent it stood in a queue. At least we got to spend it together, that’s the main thing :)
So, she’ll be back in just under two weeks, and whilst I can’t promise anything I’m going to do my best to try and get the house heated for her return. On which basis I spent about 20 minutes today hunting round the bathroom for a 90 degree 15mm yorkshire elbow joint. A pack of them, actually. Because I was convinced I had one. Whilst I knew that I’d used up my T joints, I was certain (in my slightly hopeless memory’d way) that there was a pack of 90s lurking. It was only when I’d (in an amazingly good mood) managed to search the bathroom and I looked at the toilet cistern and remembered where the last of my 90s went, well… that I realised that I needed some new ones.
A quick trip to B&Q was had, and lo, we have a radiator.
I sometimes forget that it’s not the days when you achieve something visible when you’ve done a lot. Actually getting the radiator in, it took about an hour and a half; much of which was spent cleaning the floor where the radiator stands. It actually, imho, looks quite neat too. The paint is, unfortunately, still not perfect; but the back of it looks pretty good, and it’s all accessible bits that could do with more coats. So that’s okay so.
I’m also down to one strip of silicone sealant, I’d be down to none, but I’ve obviously disturbed enough dust in there that some of it managed to coat the place I wanted to seal, so I’ve just and simply cleaned it today, tomorrow morning I’ll throw the sealant on.
Anyhow, I don’t think I’ve shown off these yet, so here’s the shower and the toilet…
Right, so I’m going to be a bit knackered for the rest of the evening, and mehaps sit here and possibly watch a film, if I can find one I fancy, since the whole of you sorry lot aren’t online. I watched ‘Men In Trees’, S1E1 today, it looks like it’s going to be good, although I’m now missing AK as well as Kathryn. :-/
And for some reason, Kathryn’s plane is showing up as ‘Cancelled’ on the Sea-Tac website. Grrr. Here I am being the neurotic worried partner, and it’s not helping.
Anyhow, back to work tomorrow, so Merry Xmas everyone, have a great day :)
