I have had my laptop computer for several years now, and it has served me well, but it has now decided that it has had enough. The hinge on one side has become unhinged, which has thrown everything out of kilter, so the bezel around the screen is bulging dangerously, and random bits of circuitry are being revealed with components close to being disgorged out of the side of the case. On the other side of the machine the jack into which I plug the mains cable is now at a 45° jaunty angle. The battery has been shot for ages now, so if it is not plugged in I don’t get more than 5 minutes of use out of it before it shuts itself down.
So, with the foresight of Nostradamus I figured that it was probably time to buy a replacement, which arrived on Thursday. Now it’s easy enough to get on to the internet to access sites on a new machine, but transferring documents and setting up email addresses is a little more challenging, because it’s such a long time since I last did it. I’m not a complete half-wit when it comes to these things, but neither am I fully witted, so there is a fair amount of semi-audible cussing going on as I wrestle with the settings. I’m not there yet, but I need to be very quickly before the old laptop breathes its last breath.
Anyway, I’m sure that it will all get sorted. I used the new machine this morning when going through the annual (doomed) ritual of trying to buy tickets to the Glastonbury Festival. This year there was a new improved booking system, which helpfully showed you where you were in the queue. There was a line along the bottom of the screen populated by about 40 blocks that turned green one by one as you progressed towards the holy grail of the actual booking page. In the 42 minutes that it took for the 140,000 tickets to sell I had progressed to 3 green blocks. My festival buddy Ian got up at 4am at his home in Connecticut to double our chances, and he got all the way to 6 green blocks. So the wait goes on – 2017 was the last time that we were successful; they obviously don’t want old codgers mingling with the beautiful people.
And so the drought continues. I am now grateful for a heavy dew! It’s too late to salvage much this season, but unless we get lots of rain soon the misery will continue into next year because the water table is so depleted that it will take some replenishing. The cover crop seed that I sowed a couple of weeks ago has done nothing yet, and probably won’t unless it gets a good drink very soon….well after this growing year what did I expect?
The broccoli was back on form last week, so it has had a reprieve and is in the shop again. Romanesco cauliflowers and January King cabbages are too, and I will be picking perpetual spinach this week. I should also be cutting a limited number of Little Gem lettuces from the polytunnel. Old troopers that they are the small tomatoes continue too defy the odds and should produce enough fruit for at least this week. There will be French beans, red cabbage, beetroot, leeks, parsnips, onions, carrots and red onions. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the squash and sweet potatoes. It’s going to get chillier from mid-week, so you might start thinking of using some of the root veg in soups and stews – who doesn’t like a plump dumpling?
Stocks of the first batch of apple juice are already reducing fast. It’s just as well that I dropped off another batch of fruit to be pressed last Monday and hope to have another ready to take on Tuesday. Those two deliveries should yield another 300 bottles I should think, but it’s so popular that sadly it won’t last long.
My dinner is almost ready so I am going to prioritise my stomach over you. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is. Have a splendid week. Sunrise tomorrow is at 7.06 and sunset is at 18.26, so I am now walking Nellie every morning in the dark, and will be until next spring….that’s not something that fills me with glee.
Must dash, the dinner gong has just sounded.
Phil