News Journal for 2010
News Journal for 2010
January 6, 2010
Well, the work on my bathroom was due to start this week but with the recent snow, ice and freezing weather, the local plumber who will be doing the work has been very popular and so the start has been put back to the beginning of next week. No great problem as it has given me a bit more time to complete some of the preparatory work for decorations which I will be doing after the plumbing work – better that all the dust and debris is falling into the existing bath and basin rather than the new ones.
I have also been making progress towards the kitchen work. Having discovered that this local plumber will also fit kitchens and getting a quote from him, I am now going to use him for this as well, obtaining the fittings myself. Kitchen cabinets and worktops have been ordered from B&Q today and a ceramic electric hob from Comet – the plumber will supply the sink and taps. And it’s all costing me much less than I budgeted for – most unusual!
It’s just as well that these things can all be ordered via the internet as the weather has been causing some difficulty in getting out with the car. The main roads have been kept reasonably clear but I have a significant distance to travel over un-gritted back roads before I can get on to these. Went out today, very cautiously, to Tesco’s in Hunstanton but during the week before Christmas I didn’t want to risk it, having limited experience of driving on ice-rinks. Looks quite pretty though!
January 16, 2010
Despite, snow, ice, freezing temperatures and now this morning torrential rain, work has been progressing on the bathroom refurbishment during the week.
The new hot water cylinder is in position, connected and working; the new bath is in position, with some connections but not the waste and so therefore not usable at the moment; the new shower fitting is embedded into the wall with some connections but not working yet; the new washbasin and toilet are waiting in the wings (or to be more precise the proposed guest bedroom) for installation next week. To avoid any embarrassment the plumber has left the old toilet in use until he is ready to install the new one.
So although things have not gone quite as quickly as I thought they might, I think there is a reasonable possibility that the plumber will finish his work in the bathroom during next week. Then it’s over to me to decorate.
In the meantime I have received delivery of the kitchen hob and the remainder of the kitchen fittings are due for delivery next week… weather permitting.
January 21, 2010
The plumbing and fitting-out of the bathroom was completed today and, after waiting 24 hours for the mastic to cure, I have will be able to use my new bath, shower and wash basin – the toilet has already been put to good use. All sanitary fittings are white and by Ideal Standard, their Alto range basin and toilet and their First bath. Shower screen by Coram, thermostatic shower and taps are Mira Excel. All complemented by plain white glazed wall tiles over the bath.
I now have to decorate the walls and ceilings and fix the same vinyl plank flooring I have already used elsewhere in the bungalow. I will leave you to guess what colours!
All the kitchen fittings were delivered today with one small exception – the delivery men failed to notice that a 3 metre length of worktop was missing when they set out from their depot, but I have now been promised that for next Tuesday. So everything should be ready for the plumber, who is to install the kitchen, to start on Monday 1st February as planned.
After a lull towards the end of last year it all now seems to be happening very rapidly, but I haven’t started to panic… yet.
February 7, 2010
Well almost… I still have to do the decorations, which could take some time. But the plumber, or the plumber’s carpenter to be more accurate, completed the fitting of the new kitchen units during the past week.
The new line up in the kitchen is – Cooke & Lewis (B&Q) cupboards with “Hadleigh” doors and drawer fronts (white) with a solid wood worktop in wenge (dark brown) – a Multipanel splash-back over the worktop (red pearl) – a sit-on “Bistro” stainless steel sink unit by Astracast with “Finesse” mixer tap – a Caple ceramic hob with touch controls. I now need to complete this by adding shelves over the worktop, construct a cupboard in the corner and decorate with, what has now become standard for the bungalow, anaglypta wall covering, emulsion paint (white) and vinyl plank flooring (walnut).
I did manage to complete the decorations to the bathroom, save a few minor finishing touches, and I have now started to obtain quotes for block paving the drive and part of the front garden, although I expect a lead in period of a month or two before that gets under way.
March 2, 2010
…metaphorically speaking, in respect of the home improvements. Well at least it feels that way to me with two significant events today.
The bathroom was finished a few weeks ago except for a few minor items. Those which I was responsible for were completed but one item relating to the plumbing remained. The pop-up waste to the bath didn’t – pop-up that is – and had to be held open manually to drain the bath of water. The plumber had tried to resolve the problem while he was here working on the kitchen but was unable to. Repeated requests for assistance from the manufacturer of the bath, Ideal Standard, by the plumber, the local supplier and myself were initially met with silence or evasion, but eventually we managed to arrange for a technician to visit. He arrived this morning and after some physical effort managed to remove the waste (the bath came pre-fitted with the waste) and fitted a new one which works. I can now declare the bathroom to be fully functional.
I have received quotes for the block paving of the driveway and was pleasantly surprised to find that they were well within my estimate/budget/guess for the cost of the work. The selected contractor visited this afternoon with some sample blocks for me to make the final selection and confirmed that he might be able to start the work later this month or, if he doesn’t think it’s feasible to finish before Easter, early April.
So subject to me concluding the internal decorations (kitchen already in progress with only the Guest Bedroom and Hallway to follow) things seem to be on track for a late Spring conclusion to the improvements. If achieved this will be just over a year since I moved to Dersingham – not bad – and although I did originally hope to conclude everything within six month I now consider that aspiration was somewhat unrealistic.
April 2, 2010
…no not since I last posted in this Journal, it’s not quite that bad – yet, but since I moved to my present abode in Dersingham. It was on April 2nd 2009 that I went through that stressful, and hopefully not to be repeated, day when I moved from London to Norfolk. A bad day but a good move.
Things have moved on with the improvements to the bungalow since I last posted. I know I reported on the completion of the kitchen before, but that was the work by others. Since then I have completed the construction of a cupboard, put up some shelves, fully re-decorated and, just today, completed the vinyl flooring. I can now move back into the kitchen the washing machine and fridge/freezer from where they have been parked for the last few days in the hallway and then open the last few removals boxes that are still waiting, unopened for a year, in the garage. I will then have a fully functional kitchen and I will have to try to remember back to the days when my cooking skills extended beyond the use of a can opener!
The block paving to the driveway was due to start after Easter, on Tuesday 6th April, but yesterday I received a call to let me know that it is now likely to be a few days later as the contractor’s previous work has been delayed due to the weather. I understand that the blocks are still likely to be delivered on the 6th however.
Soon, when the improvements are completed, I will be able to start posting about my travel and visits to interesting places as I did before. But then there is the garden to sort out …but I think that’s for next year.
April 12, 2010
The ornamental cherry tree at the bottom of my garden in Dersingham is now nearly in full blossom. (Sorry to disappoint anyone expecting some exotic travel report.) The first few flowers opened on 28th March and, despite the efforts of a wood-pigeon which seems to prefer the taste of the flowers rather than waiting for the fruit, the tree is now clothed in blossom.
The reason for recording this is that it seems to coincide with the arrival of Spring. Last year, when I arrived in Dersingham on 2nd April, full blossom had passed and the conclusion would therefore seem to be that Spring has arrived 2 to 3 weeks later that last year. This now establishes a marker for future years. Other signs of Spring in the garden are the appearance of butterflies and bumblebees and an increasing excitement in the bird population (to put it politely). Also, in the bungalow, the storage heating in the Living Room could be turned down a notch.
Preparation for the block paving started today and I have already lost part of the front wall, some shrubs and the top 300mm of my old driveway. I almost need a stepladder to get in and out of the entrance doors at the moment! With the weather forecast set fine for the remainder of the week I now feel optimistic about have my new block driveway completed by early next week.
April 17, 2010
Well the weather stayed fine during the week, if somewhat cool at times, and so the work on the drive proceeded unhindered and was completed this lunchtime. A little bit of tidying up around the edges remains to be done plus clearing away surplus materials and a couple of wheelbarrows, but that’s been promised for early next week. Therefore my car, which has been marooned in the garage all week, is now set free again.
For the record, the concrete block paving used was Marshalls Drivesett Duo – Cinder/Terracotta – with mostly the Cinder side up. The area covered was a two car wide forecourt, a driveway down the side of the bungalow to the garage and a small area at the back reaching the kitchen door.
I did make a small amount of progress on the decorations to the Guest Bedroom but I hadn’t really made adequate preparations for the fact that I would find myself marooned in the bungalow on occasions because of the drive works and found it impossible to clear the room properly or gain access to my tools which were in the garage! But a little is better than nothing.
April 30, 2010
After the completion of the driveway I should have been able to make swift progress on the decorations to the Guest Bedroom, but…
When the paving contractor returned to finish off he supplied some very good quality topsoil infill for the two sides of the front forecourt which just begged to be filled with some planting. So off I went to the local garden centre and came back with a selection of summer flowering perennials for the border on one side and ten little box shrubs (Buxus sempervirens) for the other – hopefully they will grow up, join hands, and form a neat low hedge in due course. All just had to be planted out immediately and, because of the dry weather prevailing, watered copiously each evening. There were still some gaps to be filled and so there were some more, unfruitful, journeys to more distant garden centres, even as far as Fakenham.
This was not getting the Guest Bedroom decorated and so an effort was made over last weekend to make some meaningful progress. By Tuesday of this week the walls were papered in the adopted house style (bungalow style?) Anaglypta, ready for painting, however…
On Wednesday I had promised to join in with a local voluntary group who carry out tidying-up tasks for public areas in the village. A sort of Community Service without having to commit a criminal offence beforehand! The task related to the village war memorial and the small garden surrounding it. As well as providing a service to the community it also served to educate me as to how moss and weeds can accumulate in concrete block paving if neglected for a year and hands-on experience of how this can be dealt with. I hope I learned a lesson here that will avoid my new block paving deteriorating in a similar manner, my back should certainly remind me.
So back to the decorating… well no. In opening up the front of my property to the road, by removing half of the wall and three shrubs, the paving works has revealed the hedge on the far side of the road in all it’s glory – or not as the case may be. I should note here that the upkeep of this section of the private road I live in is my responsibility. Half of the hedge is hawthorn and following my trimming of this last year is in reasonable condition, the other half was brambles and weeds and, while I appreciated the very local source of blackberries last summer, it does not make for a very attractive prospect from my living room window. On Thursday I cleared the brambles and this morning the weeds, leaving the ground ready for new native hedging plants to extend the hawthorn hedge. The work has already been noted with appreciation by some of my neighbours and also two baby blackbirds who took up residence this afternoon on the patch of bare earth I had created while their parents foraged around for worms to feed them – nice to be appreciated.
So back to the decorating… tomorrow… maybe?
May 7, 2010
If I were still sitting at a desk on the 20th floor of an office building in the heart of the City of London you may be forgiven for thinking that this post might have some relevance to financial derivatives. However, as I am now more comfortably situated in a bungalow located in a village in rural Norfolk (and if you have also read the preceding post) you might guess that it is of a more horticultural nature. Yes, it’s real hedges that I’m talking about… but the internet?
My intention in clearing the brambles from the hedge opposite my bungalow was to provide space to extend the existing hawthorn hedge which, being a native species, attracts a lot of wildlife. If I had been content to simply infill with more hawthorn there would have been no problem as the garden centre around the corner from me could have supplied all I needed. But I wanted some variety while sticking to native hedgerow species and my local search (although somewhat limited by my knowledge as a newcomer to the area) was unproductive.
And so the Internet and a Google search came to my rescue. After discarding all the results of a financial nature it led me to Hedges Direct, a company based in Bath which, as the name suggests, is completely dedicated to hedges. As well as supplying plants it also provides useful advice on it’s website which enabled me decide on the most suitable native hedging plants for my location, namely – Hazel, Field Maple and Dog Rose. Plants were ordered last weekend, delivered Wednesday afternoon and planted yesterday afternoon. All they have to do now is grow!
Today it was back to the, neglected, decoration of the Guest Bedroom – well it was raining.
May 16, 2010
Q: What is a minimalist bedroom?
A: A room with walls, ceiling and floor, fully decorated – but with no furniture!
Such is the state of my “Guest Bedroom”. The inverted commas also question it’s status as a guest bedroom as it has no bed in it and, as yet, has had no guest staying in it.
Let me explain. Decorations to the room were completed this weekend after many diversions and prevarications and because of the aforementioned diversions and prevarications I had thought it inadvisable to order any furniture before completion was imminent. A bed, wardrobes and chests of drawers have now been ordered (from Argos) but delivery is not expected until 9th June. Once the furniture arrives I will then have to assemble it (anyone’s guess how long that will take!) and I will then be able to call it a bedroom. Once a guest comes to stay I will then be able to officially call it a guest bedroom.
That just leaves the entrance hallway to decorate and I would probably have time to do that before the furniture for the bedroom arrives – barring any diversions and prevarications of course.
June 12, 2010
With the finishing touches to the flooring to the hall this afternoon, I can now say that all the improvement works to my home in Dersingham, which were planned when I moved in April of last year, are now complete. (followed by a big sigh of relief from me!)
So in just under 15 months I have:-
replaced all the windows
replaced the electrical heating system
replaced the electrical water heating system
replaced all bathroom fittings
replaced all kitchen fittings
redecorated all rooms, including many plaster repairs
renewed the flooring to all room
added new fitted furniture to the living room
re-paved the front forecourt and driveway
…and a few other odds and ends.
So what’s next? I’m still waiting for the bedroom furniture from Argos, now promised for 15th June and so that will keep me busy for a few days. Then the back garden – but that’s another story for another day …or another year.
June 26, 2010
Nothing to do with the weather or the lateness of Spring this year, but another significant date for my residence in Dersingham.
When I moved to Dersingham in April 2009 I (rather rashly) said to anyone that might possibly be interested that I should be able to welcome guests to my new home by the Autumn of that year. Then, seeing more clearly the tasks that lay ahead of me, I revised this advice to – probably before the end of that year? By the end of the year I had at last come to a more reasonable estimate of Late Spring/Early Summer of 2010. Well I think you could probably say (if you were generous) that 26th June falls into this vague timescale, but what is certain is that my home is now ready to accept guests.
The final act was the furnishing of the guest bedroom. The furniture was delivered by Argos on the (delayed) delivery date of Tuesday 15th June, I speedily set about deploying all the heavy packages (over 300kg in 10 separate boxes) about the room to give myself working space and started assembling one of the units. Unfortunately it was it bit too speedily for my back, which objected quite vehemently, and so further progress was delayed until Monday of this week. I then resumed and, proceeding more cautiously, completed the assembly of all the furniture by the end of the week. This morning I retrieved the bed linen from storage and now have a fully functioning bedroom, although a few pictures, rugs and a mirror will probably make it a little more hospitable.
The question as to whether it achieves the status of “Guest Bedroom” remains for others to decide.
July 20, 2010
Do these look like cherries to you?
No they don’t to me now as well. In fact they look (and taste) rather like plums and so my post of April 12, 2010, entitled “Cherry Blossom Time” was slightly inaccurate.
My excuse is that last year I only briefly saw the blossom on the tree at the bottom of my garden on my arrival in Dersingham and only a few fruit appeared later, high up on the tree, before disappearing quickly due to their popularity with the birds, particularly blackbirds. And go on, admit it, from a distance they could look like cherries – they certainly are the right colour.
But I’m not going to return to the original post to amend its title, as “Plum Blossom Time” doesn’t really sound so good. I also think I will probably leave the fruit to the blackbirds in future as only one out of the four you see in the photo was slightly sweet and the rest were less so.
As you may have deduced from the above – not much happening at the moment and I’m not one to Twitter on about the banalities of life just for the sake of it. Oh dear, I just have!
August 25, 2010
Some of you may have already discovered before arriving at this Journal that the cliffjordan.me.uk home page has returned as an internet directory, with links to all my past websites, photo albums and slide shows. If you missed it it’s possibly worth a look as there’s something quite strange that’s crept in at the bottom of the list of links – but I leave you to discover more, if you wish.
The inclement weather has kept me indoors recently and hence the renewed attention to websites. It’s also led me to spend a bit more money as well, first on the bungalow and then on computer equipment. The cooler weather reminded me that I still had the top-up insulation to the loft to do (which I had originally programmed to do before last winter) and so 12 large rolls of insulation were ordered from, and delivered by, Wickes – and laid by me last week. My back is still in recovery mode! Then a dining table and chairs were ordered from, and delivered by, Tesco. I had intended to leave this purchase until next year but as Tesco had the ones I intended to buy in a clearance sale at half price it seemed too good to miss.
However, the table purchase led to another, albeit foreseen, problem. Being bigger than the table it replaced it has squashed the present desktop computer, with it’s workstation, into the corner of the living room. It’s usable but feels and looks uncomfortable. The long term solution which I anticipated happening when the present computer expired of old age was to revert to using a laptop – on the new dining table. But I decided I couldn’t wait and so a new, customised, laptop has been ordered from Sony – the technical bit follows if you’re interested.
Sony Vaio VPCEB2X5E
15.5″ LCD 1366×768 + webcam
Intel CoreTM i5-520M, 2.40GHz
320 GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
6 GB 1066MHz DDR3-SDRAM
ATI MobilityRadeon HD5650 1GB
DVD reader/writer
Wireless LAN + Bluetooth
HDMI output
3 USB + 1 e-SATA/USB ports
SD and MS card slots
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64
Only problem now is what I do with the old computer when it arrives.
August 28, 2010
Those that know me, are aware that I have a weakness for new electronic gadgets, so when Amazon announced at the end of July that they were going to sell the new version of their Kindle eBook reader in the UK for the first time, I was one of the first in the queue to place an advanced order.
I duly received an email yesterday confirming that the Kindle had been dispatched to me, as promised on 27th August, and that despite having opted for their free delivery service, which can take up to 5 days, they had expedited the delivery (in common with most other orders) and that I could expect the delivery today. Well, at just after 9am today there was a ring on the door bell and there stood the selected hi-tec mode of expedited delivery, the local postman on his bicycle, and in his hand was a brown box with the Amazon name on it. My Kindle had arrived.
I have been using eBooks for some time now, previously on a Palm TX organiser which accompanied me though many of my travels around Great Britain in a motor caravan. Most eBooks previously obtained are in mobibook format which the Kindle can read or have been converted from text to that format and so all can be transferred to the new reader – very useful as almost half of them are still unread.
So far I have been very pleased with the acquisition – a nice bright clear display, easy to obtain new books via the wireless connection and a vast selection of books available on the Amazon UK website, both to purchase and free out-of-copyright classics.
Off to play with my new toy again now!
September 4, 2010
Just to be clear, this is an update on my new technology not any important advance in global technology!
The Kindle has now been in use for a week, several times a day, and I am still impressed. The reading experience is very good in all but very poor lighting conditions (it does not have a backlit screen) and the text style and size are very comfortable to use, even with my dodgy eyesight, but if it were not, it can be adjusted in many ways – possibly useful if the eyesight deteriorates in the future. The only minor problem experienced so far is that it has difficulty displaying the correct, or full, title of some of the eBooks imported from my PC, for instance Dicken’s “Tale of Two Cities” is shown as “98”! But I suspect I might be replacing many of these imported books with new downloads from Amazon as most of the classics seem so cheap – for instance this morning I purchased The Complete Works of Jane Austen for 74p (yes £0.74) and it was downloaded to the Kindle in an instant.
As for the new laptop computer, after an initial bit of confusion over delivery dates in some of the emails received from Sony (someone there seemed to think that September was the tenth month of the year) I received the following message yesterday –
“Production will be completed on the 6th of September and the order will leave Japan to make its way to Holland, please allow three working days to arrive in Holland. A UPS tracking number will be assigned to your VAIO order and then will be dispatched to the UK for delivery.”
By my calculations it means that I should receive the laptop during the week after next after completing an interesting journey. I wonder how it will “make its way to Holland”? – and why Holland? If it’s intelligent enough to find its way on its own I will have to ask it these questions when it arrives!
September 19, 2010
I am now typing this on my new Sony Vaio Laptop Computer and the old desktop computer has now been relegated (temporarily?) to the spare bedroom. My Living Room is now looking much less cluttered, although my spare bedroom more so.
The Vaio arrived on Monday (13th September) having completed its epic journey around the world to reach me, details of which follow. Despite the implication contained in the email received from Sony that it would start its journey in Japan, the box containing it stated that it was “Made in China” and thus revealed its real origin. It then must have travelled to Japan to be configured to my requirements before “making its way to Holland”. The exact route and mode of travel for these parts of the journey are unknown but from here the UPS Tracking record provides precise details.
Eindhoven in Holland was the point of arrival in Europe on the evening of 9th September, but before the day was over it had moved on towards Brussels in Belgium, arriving there in the early hours of 10th September. However, before daybreak it was on its way again (by Eurostar?) to Barking on the outskirts of London well in time for lunch. So only 100 miles or so up the M11/A10 and it would be with me in King’s Lynn? No! The wander-lust of this machine seems to have made it lose all sense of direction and so it was off to the West Midlands, Tamworth to be specific. Having hung around there for the evening it set out in the early hours of 11th September for …Norwich! Now making the reasonable assumption that it travelled by road it must have taken the A47 which runs just to the south of King’s Lynn and so at approximately 3:30am it was probably passing within 10 miles of my home – but it wanted to see Norwich first, a fine city and the place of my birth so I suppose I shouldn’t really complain. The 11th September was, however, a Saturday and I had only paid for “standard” delivery so it had all weekend to sight-see in that fine city. It could not put off the inevitable and so early on Monday it left Norwich and was with me in Dersingham by mid-morning. Fortunately it seems to have now left its wander-lust behind it and has remained contented in my living room all week.
So far I am pleased with this purchase, now, having completed the nightmares of the initial set up, updates (1GB downloads on the 1st day of use), adding the programs I want to use and deleting those “trial” versions of software included in the “purchase price”. I am most impressed with the almost silent mode of operation, a complete contrast to the desktop computer, and very welcome in the quiet surrounding I now find myself living in. It may even tempt me to start posting more frequently in this Journal – but please don’t count on it.
October 28, 2010
When I moved in to my bungalow in Dersingham last year I made the following observations on the back garden “The garden at the rear is compact, laid with gravel and overflowing with shrubs and small trees. Overflowing is not an exaggeration and although I have already done some tidying up, I fear some more drastic pruning might be necessary or even the removal of some of the specimens. Possibly a low maintenance garden in the long term, but not for the immediate future…”
As it turned out not a low maintenance garden at all and a decision was made early this year that serious changes would have to be made. But as I had many things to do to the bungalow this year I thought that might be a project for next year apart from starting to clear some of the existing shrubs. But then I got carried away… Eight conifers have gone and three other large shrubs. A few roses and some heather still to go.
The plan is starting to develop, partially on paper but mostly on the ground as I proceed. To the left will be a border of shrubs, but no conifers. At the bottom of a garden, surrounding the plum tree, will be ferns, woodland perennials and spring bulbs. The centre bed will be occupied by perennials and ornamental grasses, although over time this could change. A fence, or trellis, will screen off the area behind the garage. Hopefully the ground-works will be finished during this autumn and winter so that planting can start next spring.
I wonder how things will turn out?
[All is revealed in the photo album of My Garden for the period from April 2009 to June 2016 which now illustrates this and all subsequent postings about the garden.]
November 11, 2010
Work has progressed sporadically due to inclement weather, caution with regards to the condition of my back and various other obstacles. But as there is no deadline to meet I can proceed at whatever pace I consider to be appropriate.
You will see where my priorities lie in the early positioning of garden ornaments – can’t let my little feathered friends go without their bathing facilities. The central planting bed is now defined but on forking over the area to the left, where shrubs are to be planted, I hit upon a problem, quite literally. There, under about 100mm of topsoil, was an area of concrete paving presumably dating back to the days of the earlier bungalow that stood on the site.
It was only my assumption that this was simply concrete paving but its overall dimensions, 6 feet long by 2 feet wide, did cause me to pause for thought. What else could it be with those dimensions? But I proceeded to break it up later on that Saturday and only found tree roots and a few lumps of coal underneath.
Since then the remaining shrubs (seen in the foreground of the top picture) have been removed and I am now waiting for the weather to improve before resuming work. Fortunately the sandy soil and good drainage allows me to get back onto the garden almost as soon as the rain has stopped – although it is now starting to get noticeably colder.
November 27, 2010
The recent damp and cold weather has limited my progress on the garden works over the past two weeks, but then this morning it got worse… snow
The birds have certainly appreciated the bathing and drinking facilities but they don’t seem so keen on skating.
So although some progress has been made since the last post, I suspect things may now be on hold for a while.
December 27, 2010
Well that’s what it seems like from personal experience and what I have been reading elsewhere in the news.
No progress has been made with work in the back garden, it still looks much the same as it does in the photo I posted a month ago. The only changes have been in the increased depth of snow for a while, then it going away only to return and finally (I hope) disappearing. It has, however, been replaced by hard frosts – down to minus 7 deg C and not getting above freezing point for many days – and so I would now need a pick-axe to complete the earth moving required. I will await a proper thaw before attempting that.
So what have I been doing? Well staying in a lot and as I can find very little that interests me on the television the new computer has seen quite a lot of use. Scanning old photos, playing around with a new website, downloading steam railway engines and downloading music. The last two probably require a bit more explanation.
The one “game” that I have installed on this computer is a railway simulator called RailWorks2, the development of which I have been following for several years. I had been tempted during the year to download many of the add-ons for this simulator but held off, waiting for discounts to be offered – my patience was rewarded as in the lead up to Christmas all were available with 50% discount. So I had lots of new “toys” to play with over Christmas, including driving the Flying Scotsman out of Newcastle Station to York – something that was probably only feasible on a simulation during this period as in real life it would have been cancelled due to bad weather.
As to the music, I have slowly been replacing some of the music which I originally owned on vinyl LPs and which were all donated to charity before I left Leytonstone – well I no longer had anything to play them on so it was a bit less clutter to bring with me. I have been slightly concerned recently that I seem far too happy and contented with the situation I now find myself in and I realised what was missing from my life to balance this euphoria; the two early Leonard Cohen LPs I had given away! So I downloaded them in mp3 format from Amazon and after a few more plays I’m certain they will start to have the needed effect. For your information the LPs were “Songs of Leonard Cohen” 1967 and “Songs from a Room” 1969; the originals cost me 7s 6d.