Hard work never hurt anyone........................

Oh, it can! Believe me it can.
My brain is hurting every evening when I return home after a hard day at the office. Today is the lowest staff level ever I suspect. Just my line manager, Dave, and me. Everyone else is either sick, on leave or on secondment. Life is just wonderful! There are, of course ups as well as downs. I am probably learning a lot and, I hope, gaining credibility within my new job. Yesterday, I had a short meeting with a student who is doing a survey for the uni about ITIL, just don't ask, OK? She was very nervous and was obviously having problems with her speech and her poor grammar. So after the interview, I drew her out and discovered what the problem was. I then went into overdrive to try and build up her confidence and point her at ways of helping herself to improve her life. I hope it helps.

Weekends, I've had better.

I bought the final pack of skirting for the ground floor and attic as well as some odds and ends to complete work on both house and camper. It was a Samuel weekend and he and I had a good time together on Saturday. The rest of the weekend was pants. Hazel and I are very unhappy at present and we are clinging to each other for comfort.

Slow progress

Well, I have an excuse, of sorts. Sally had a friend in yesterday and as she, Peri, is also a girl that Hazel and I have known for quite some time, I didn't want to make too much noise and mess with their conversation or TV watching. I told you it was only a sort of! Well, I did go out to the lean to and I fitted two of the angle restrainers to the roof but, at that point, I just gave up and watched TV until it was time for bed. I was very tired.

I have just discovered Tiny Basic, a very simple programming language from Microsoft. It bears more resemblance to linear Basic and Logo than any other I have seen in a long time and I find it very easy to use. It does have some minor drawbacks but, in general, is a very useful tool. 

With a little help from my..................wife.

It will never be a hit though.

I have managed to get the lean to roof panels back into position and I have also cut and drilled the brackets to hold them there. Next job will be to fit them, to fill under the top line and then to seal the joint with waterproof sealant. It's not the correct way of doing the job but it should outlive me so...

Life at the office is getting more hectic. Trevor is off with dry rot and asbestos so I am holding the fort. I am coping by the skin of my teeth.

Sally has now moved home again and is doing her usual tidy up. She spent ten minutes yesterday telling off her mother for being a poor housekeeper.She doesn't tell me off as she is fully aware I really don't care.

Some you win..............

The conference call test was a total washout. I am not doing this correctly and I have no idea how to correct it. I must go back to school.

The rest of the plans all went swimmingly, however and much fun was had by all. I spent two hours chatting to Mo on Friday and another two hours chatting to Russ this evening. I also went out onto the terrace again this evening. I think a permanent set up is called for.

A busy week.

With Trevor out with dry rot, I am having a fairly intense time of it this week. Chris and I are managing to find odd moments when I attempt to bring him up to speed on subjects I am barely up to speed on myself. We seem to muddle through OK but I suspect this is more to do with Chris' capabilities than mine. I at last have enough USB ports for my varying activities, both at home and at work, as my two, seven socket, powered expansion units have arrived. I am impressed, they work very well and, more to the point, they are very small.
I had a brief video chat with Mo this morning. Not very productive due to all the work and sitting in the middle of a large open plan office. We will try again tonight and I have also scheduled a conference call on the uni server and I will test that out over the weekend as well with Russ and possibly Mo. 

And then there are good days.

The internet, the world wide web, what is it good for?

Well I like it and yesterday my faith was rewarded. An old friend popped up, out of the ether and, after over 30 years, we are back in touch. As I get older, I begin to forget things that happened yesterday. I can still, however remember with some clarity things from forty years ago. It's a well documented phenomenon and it comes to us all. My friend Mo was more of a pen friend than anything else but when she wasn't there, I missed her. Now, she is there again and we may well resume our written friendship by using - You guessed it - the internet, the world wide web, that's what it's good for.