Technology strikes

We have been at the mercy of our electric and electronic contraptions this week. One night, as we prepared to bed we saw that the electric clock wasn't working. It was late, and we thought there was something wrong with it. I was quite disappointed that it had gone wrong after all the years we'd had it. Only the next morning did we discover that the heating wasn't working and neither was the freezer in the utility room. Since then M has been isolating circuits and wires and we still haven't found the cause.

As if electrical problems weren't enough, the computer went wrong. Several times this week, I had the Blue Screen of Death, as my son describes it. It isn't the first time; it's happened a few times in the last couple of months. Thinking it was something I'd installed, I called in a computer engineer, who trouble shoots for other friends. He had it on the bench for a weekend, but nothing showed up. All went quiet for a bit; then the problem returned this week. When the engineer came last week, I gave him the new laptop to set up, which he did while dealing with error messages on my computer. I couldn't use the laptop, because every time I pressed the '@', I got quote marks. After the engineer visited, two things happened, the computer went caput again, after I had spent two hours typing in an article - and the laptop reverted to factory settings.

It transpired that M had said yes to something he shouldn't have, and we had to call out the engineer again. When he arrived, we were assembling a hat and coat stand, using the whole hall to do it. Meanwhile the other computer had been returned to the place I bought it, and they'd had it on the bench for 24 hours. They rang up shortly afterwards and said there was nothing wrong with it, but by the time I'd had a cup of tea and got my coat on, to go and collect it, they called again to tell me it had failed and they'd found It's there was a fault on the main board. It's a bit of a relief really. Intermittent faults leave you feeling very vulnerable.

In order to accommodate the hat stand in the porch, we have had to move out the house plant that has been growing there for the last fifteen years. Just as well, really, as the ivy at the base of the plant had embedded itself in the wallpaper, and as we moved it out, the plant left a trail of muddy brown water on the carpet. We are now exposing it to the weather to see what happens. M thinks the hallstand is old fashioned, but when have we ever been modern?

Cards have been coming in and going out; likewise, invitations to drinks over the holiday period. We did a book sale last week, and as a piece de resistance, Irene has installed on her blog the Goldenford elves. Go, look and admire.

And happy holidays to all my friends.