Not sure if this is a life tip, but it is a good tip nonetheless. We spent a big chunk of today arranging a funeral (helped by the wonderful Kelly from the Co-op). This was made much easier because my father-in-law had taken the very sensible step of making clear exactly what he wanted to happen and sorting it all out in advance. Doing this really helps those that are carrying on.
Spent the afternoon watching a Spanish chap win Wimbledon and the evening watching the Spanish football team win the European Cup. Truly a good day to be Spanish.
This is what the Rabbit thought of the menu
Another trip to Leeds to day for a birthday bash. Had a Most Excellent meal at Hickory’s Adel. My menu tip: go for the frozen custard. It’s awesome.
This is a blog mostly about frothy fun stuff and tech with bits of hardware and jokes alongside the occasionally useful aside. But every now and then real life intrudes. My father-in-law Rodney passed away on the 10th of July at the great age of 94, with his family by his side. He was a splendid fellow and will be sorely missed. I’m going to take a break from blogging for a little while as we deal with this, but I will be back..
I’m surprised it is not more dusty. After all, it is an antique.
What do you do if you want to own a genuine antique? You buy and Apple product and wait six years. Apple have just announced that the original Apple Homepod (released in 2018) now has “antique” status as far as they are concerned. This not not much of an honour for the poor thing though. It means that it is no longer deemed repairable and probably won’t get software updates. I’m used to devices going out of date, but this seems a bit much. I’ve got batteries older than that which are still working.
Never been to Staithes before. Which is as good a reason as any to go. So we did. It’s lovely.
A view of the village
Adventures in wide angles
Incoming tide
The Cod and Lobster is a great place to eat
Lots of lovely details
Pity about the yellow lines…
If you get the chance, you should go. There’s a lovely little museum that gives you a great background to the area and lots of places for good food and drink.
Available for free - you just have to come and pick it up…
As a result of yesterdays efforts we now have a new sculpture in our garden. I call it “Gone off the Railings”.
I’ve no idea if it works or not. But with these looks it doesn’t nave to…..
They say that the perfect is the enemy of the good. This causes me no end of problems. As an example, consider this blog. A perfect blog would have an entry every day with interweaving narratives which are sprinkled with humorous bon-mots and apposite pictures. But over the last few weeks I’ve not had the time to make a perfect blog. And every time I’ve considered writing a post I’ve thought about the effort needed to make my blog perfect, groaned inwardly (and sometimes outwardly) and gone off and done something else instead.
So I’m going to settle for good enough. When I get a bit of spare time I’ll go back and fill in the gaps and make everything my idea of perfect, but I’ll also stop stressing about having everything present and correct before adding the next post. Over the next week or so I’ll be filling in gaps and making things as perfect as I think I need. And I’ll be blogging when I get time.
As for today: I spent a bit of the morning helping to get rid of some iron railings and to celebrate the success I bought a movie camera for less than the price of a video game….
We went along to the Humber Marathon today. The middle of Hull was awesome busy and the weather was properly splendid. I think it was perfect running weather, bright and crisp. But then again, I’m not a runner so what do I know.
Anyhoo, we watched them all start off, had a coffee and a wander round and then watched everyone finished. I did take a bunch of pictures, but I wasn’t using my own camera, so I don’t have any to post I’m afraid.
Headed home today. But first we had some pancakes….
See if you can figure out how I won…
Won at bowling today. That is all I want to say.
They had some very busy ants
The place we are staying has a zoo attached. It has a great selection of animals, including a really cool sloth.
Modern arcade games need a lot of setup….
After living in a tent for a few days I’m now in nice little place near Blackpool. Indoor plumbing. Yay! The weather is not presently optimal (horizontal rain does not make for great walks on the seafront) but we are finding places to have fun.
Turns out that no matter how many times a seven year old promises not to spray you if you hand them the hosepipe, they still end up spraying you. Although it was apparently “accidental”.
However, it was extremely funny and great fun. And we do now have a much cleaner car. And I did get my own back…
Many years ago I got a robot guinea pig. He’s been languishing in the conservatory with a broken battery for a while. Today I thought I’d order him a replacement and we could see if he could live again.
Today I dug up a big plant in the garden and threw it in the bin. I just hope it was the right one.
Went to York today and took a bunch of pictures. But I won’t be able to show them to you until I’ve finished the roll…..
It has always struck me as strange how a piece of software can know when a deadline is fast approaching and then choose that moment to fail in new and completely unamusing ways… Oh well.
I took my little car into the dealers for its MOT test yesterday. This is an annual British ritual where you find out just how dangerous that thing is you’ve been driving around in all year. My car passed (which is nice) although it did need two new tyres. They gave me a loaner car to play with which was huge (and according to the form I signed worth about 60,000 pounds). This was deeply scary but also great fun. I’m almost looking forward to the test next year…
Now, where is P?
Bought a typewriter yesterday for number one granddaughter. It was in a charity shop calling for me. After I’d walked past it twice I decided that it was actually for me. Kind of nostalgic. Just like the one I used when I was a student nearly fifty years ago. And of course it still works. Number one granddaughter was fascinated. The idea that you can directly make marks on paper with something mechanical was quite new to her. Within a few minutes she was happily bashing out letters and learning that there is no delete key……..
Great fun.
Rob Miles is technology author and educator who spent many years as a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Hull. He is also a Microsoft Developer Technologies MVP. He is into technology, teaching and photography. He is the author of the World Famous C# Yellow Book and almost as handsome as he thinks he is.
