27 December 2011

A day of thank you letters and tidying up.

On Christmas Eve I received e-mail from Rubin of Nuance suggesting that we have a co-browser session on either 26 or 27 December. Clearly the Americans don’t celebrate or recognise Boxing Day.

Anyway in the interests of getting this matter sorted out I agreed, after checking with Paul ‘the computer’ that we would be available at 3 p.m on 27th i.e. today. Then, this morning when I read my e-mails, I’ve found that my confirmation to Ruben had been,’ deleted without being read’, which seems very strange. Although having said that I do know another friend of every now and then if he’s going on holiday or going to be away a few days, just deletes all incoming e-mails as’ received but deleted unread’, on the principle that if they were important somebody with sender further copy. In the same batch of e-mails I heard by from Paul that he had caught a very nasty cold and knowing about my week resistance to catching cold said he would not make the meeting and hope that he would be available for a few days

Just in case, I got myself available at three o’clock for Rubin but is did not hear from him, having in the meantime pointed out that his e-mail had been deleted but I would be available if he wanted to speak to me. Alternatively, as Paul is central to this matter, as the only one who really knows what work has being carried out on the laptop, in an attempt to isolate the problem, to my mind it was essential that he be part of the co-browsing session. The long and short of this is that I have e-mailed Ruben and asked him for some alternative dates which I shall then clear with Paul, starting the whole process off again.

Apart from that, and today being a public holiday (as Christmas Day fell on a Sunday) all was quiet ,both on the e-mail and telephone front

Today, I wore my new sweater given to me by ‘my lovely’ for Christmas; my new cashmere socks and indulged myself, this afternoon, by trying out Smiler foot warmer. I was really cosy and will never have to suffer my feet feeling like blocks of ice again.

Heard from Mick today that, for some reason or other, he spent Christmas Day all alone and ‘feasted’ on two boiled eggs. This is quite ridiculous. He surrounded by family and friends one minute and then nobody thinks of inviting him to join them for Christmas which can be the loneliest day of the year. He was more than welcome to join us, as he well knows full well, particularly as he will be here in five days time, but he had already told us he was busy on Christms Day. Anyway, he assured us he was happy with his own company. Anyway, he will be with us on 3 January for three or four days and we will make a fuss of him then.

Click here for the last Christmas joke this year.

26 December 2011 – Boxing Day

I’ve already previously explained what Boxing Day is and its origins (See 18 December 2011 entry) so I won’t go into that again.

Smiler and Kimberly left tea yesterday having done us proud and eased the load from ‘my lovely’. Chloe and Karl and the three grandchildren stayed on and spent the night at the B&B at the gate, came around 9.00 for breakfast. They then had to gather up all their belongings, including their presents. before setting off for home.

Chloe had prepared the Christmas dinner without Alice raising a finger and I must say was absolutely delicious. A roll of stuffed turkey with, as they say all the trimmings. The little sausages wrapped in bacon were particularly popular and the Waitrose Christmas pudding was delicious, as were the mince pies which came from Somerset. Why Somerset, heaven only knows! I was pretty abstemious and had a couple of glass of Karl’s excellent 1988 Premier cru Claret? We didn’t have our usual champagne before lunch (there really wasn’t time without delaying lunch) nor did we have champagne at six o’clock, Karl preferring a glass of whisky and the rest of the gang not really being drinkers. I felt reasonably okay but did not feel like a lot of alcohol. I don’t think my body can take it any more. Nevertheless it made no difference to the amount of enjoyment I had. I have often wondered if my readers are puzzled as to why they believe yesterday’s news today. The answer is quite simple I published a blog the morning after the day before so if you like it’s a retrospective, although, sometimes I must admit I write in the present tense. Even then I would have severe that the end of the day otherwise it would make a lot of sense. So back to Christmas Day

I must say the family were very generous with me and probably, for the first time for many years, were able to buy me something that I really wanted or needed.

First of all Kimberly and Miles bought me a wonderful electric sheepskin foot warmer (I can’t wait was a really cold weather that so I can give it a when my feet are like blocks of ice) and also some funny looking mittens which I never thought I could get onto my curled up hands but with a little patience Smiler was able to get them on They went over the fingers with an ingenious little cover which turned them into mittens. A brilliant Idea.

‘My lovely’ bought me two beautiful new club jerseys. One in camel any other short-sleeved blue. Also a shirt and some lime aftershave from Trumpers. which the girls like sloshing onto my shoulders in the morning.

I can’t remember exactly what ‘my lovey’ got but I had given her quite a decent bottle of Christian Dior scent – as had Chloe, so she is well stocked up for the time being – and a tiny antique box to which she’d taken a fancy. I know she was inundated with presents but I can’t remember exactly what they were except that she got a beautiful book, about Edward Thomas, the poet, ,- from Smiler and Kimberly, which she had specifically hinted that she would like.

Oh yes, Karl and Chloe also gave me half a dozen pairs of socks. Some cashmere bed socks and some thermal socks for the daytime. Plus, a very fine a wind proof lighter so no more going through half a box of matches to try to light my cigar! I got a few other things as well but I can’t remember offhand what they were, all I know is, that people were extremely generous.

So far as Boxing Day was concerned I think this was a first year, for almost 50 years, that we have missed the meet of the local hunt, at Brent Pelham ,which has gone on unabated, despite the change in in the foxhunting law(which, I will suspect will be repealed, possibly before the end of this Parliament, or certainly at the beginning of the next). It was always lovely to roam amongst the horses and hounds on a crispy Boxing Day morning before the ‘whipper in’ gives a few short blasts on his horn to gather the baying excited hounds, dying for the off, whether to catch a fox or just for the fun of the chase, I don’t think matter that much, However, I certainly missed all that.

Today, I had been taken through and put it in my study chair in the early morning before the gang arrived. I somehow managed to squeeze a ‘good morning’ out of them, before breakfast. Suddenly the Christmas magic had disappeared and the various members of the family dispersed, Karl, to the Kempton racecourse and the others, home to frenetic London o pursue their own agenda where it seems that they have to be here and there 5 min ago!

Once the little family cleared up the Christmas mess (most of which I’m pleased to say was in the B&B) and gathered their presents, they left mid-morning and we were once more on our own but with the nicest of memories from a very, very happy Christmas, which a year ago I had no confidence that I would make. Determination yes, but absolute confidence, well…! Even Dragon behaved itself almost as if it knew it was Christmas and I deserved a break from its tantrums.

My next target will be our wedding anniversary on March 16

I think it appropriate that I should finish today’s entry with something beautiful to reflect our joy and pleasure over the last three days and hope that other people’s lives can be fairly unrestricted, cheerful and happy as they could be under the circumstances. Bless them all and for hope for a better year to come. Click here for the pictures to download  – be patient, it taakes a couple of minutes -then click on the Slide Show tab, then go to the far left of the toolbar and press ‘From beginning’.

25 December 2011 – CHRISTMAS DAY

his will be the shortest entry this year. I just want to wish my readers , all over the world a very happy and relaxed Christmas and my very best wishes for the forthcoming year.

Our Christmas will be pretty much the same as it has been over the last half-century with slightly different sleeping arrangements. If anyone is interested on how we spend a typical Christmas Day then I suggest you read last year’s Christmas entry.

I have added today an e-card I received a couple of years ago which I think sums up the right sentiment about Christmas. Basically thinking of all the millions of other people who are not as fortunate as we are ourselves. Spare a moment to think about them and then go all-out to enjoy yourself. Just click here for this sentimental Christmas card entitled Christmas blessings. Be patient it can take a few moments to download . Then click on the  Slides Show tab and then go-to the left-hand   end of the toolbar  and press ‘ From the beginning’ 

24 December 2 011 – Christmas Eve

‘My lovely’ has rushing around the house getting it ready for the invasion of the young who said they expected to be here by mid-afternoon and in fact arrived about 4.30. Suddenly the house was alive with the sound of laughter and youngsters enjoying themselves., The little ones seem to have grown even since I last saw them and such joy to behold. They really are all growing into very nice little people.

Soon after they arrived they moved most of their gear into the B&B and apparently they have lovely rooms are so they will be quite happy.

The house looks very Christmassy and I spent the best part of the afternoon sitting by the log fire,(unlit until tomorrow as it was rather warm when you arrived) reading iin the drawing room or put another way, at the other end of my bedroom. I just adore the smell of a log fire so I can’t wait tomorrow so I can’t wait for tomorrow.. Our arrangements worked out perfectly well as I was able to get into the breakfast room in my ordinary wheelchair without having to go outside. ‘My lovely’ has put the Christmas tree in there, rather than where we usually have it, in the drawing-room, the end now occupied by my bed . and other bits of equipment, otherwise the other end looks pretty much as usual.

Of course, we had our usual champagne at 6.00 and then an early supper. Kimberly brought pre-cooked meal with her. I hesitate to cl it Irish view as I’m sure it has a much more sophisticated name but it was absolutely delicious. with beautifully creamy mashed potatoes and beans., cooked to perfection The pièce de résistance was the pudding A chocolate delight to die for .It had a sort of crispy chocolate base and then a thick layer of Belgium type chocolate topped with cream and raspberries.

After supper we went back into the drawing-room and played charades. With the little ones excelling themselves. In some ways it was a good thing when Becky, my carer, for the, at 9.30 call and the others were able to slip over to their B&B where they watched a little bit of television before going to bed and I was able to follow my usual arrangements pretty much around the same time. I must admit, however, I was pretty worn but very happy that we were all here for Christmas

I rang my mother and Richard today as I know I shall not be near my own telephone tomorrow but somehow will try and ring them and wish them a happy Christmas. It’s rather unfortunate really because they were going to have their Christmas dinner with my friends the Prytz”s, who sadly have both gone down with this awful bug which is going about. Richard and Nan have already had it -Nan spending 14 days in bed before her is cleared up. So ever resourceful Richard, jumped to it and when shopping for the wherewithal for a decent Christmas dinner. In the event, nice though it would have been to have had it all done for them, in many ways they will be just as happy at home in their own environment .I’m just sorry that they cannot be here with us but to get two nonagenarians to travel at this time of year is really out of the question .

I have tried to reproduce one of the better e-cards that were sent to me last year by one of my colleagues which I enjoyed very much and I hope that he will not mind me sending along to all of my readers. Unfortunately, I have been unable to extricate it from the Excel spread-sheet but you can enjoy just as much from there by clicking on the individual boxes but first click here.to open it up. Bepatient it takes a few minutes to download then click on the full button in the top right hand cornerand then  Enable Editing. Then off you go clicking on the boxes

23 December 2011

‘My lovely’ has seamlessly managed to do all the usual business over Christmas – no fuss and bother. It’s just I you for an hour or two and then she would tell initially being beavering away at Christmas cards letters and presents. The only involvement I had was when my lovely wanted my opinion as to whether a bit together present the pursuit one member of the family are other. It is hard to believe that just one more day and the family will be here. They were actually be sleeping in Trevor Oliver’s smart B&B at our gate. This is a good arrangement is although they will be with us all day ‘My lovely’ will not have to prepare rooms for them. (It’s fascinating to think that what is now Trevor Oliver’s B&B was once the little house which I was offered, shortly after we arrived, when they former owners decided to sell it.

I got a friend of mine to give me an independent market value and as a result offered them £4500. Apparently they thought that I was quite mad and was offering far too much, as a result they did not take of the seriously. In fact they did not believe that it is a genuine offer and sold it to Chris Camp for £2800. Whether this was a stitch up them from the beginning and I offer never reached the ears of the papers I shall never know but he that as it may, the properties slipped through our hands. Not that we ever really wanted it but it seemed sensible to buy as it, was rather like a lodge at our front gate, which we could have used for friends or have let it off or something .Of course, over the years it has been extended upwards and outwards and is now probably worth around £350,000. So it would be an excellent investment)

Coming back to the modern day and this Christmas, Chloe and Kimberly are making themselves responsible for all meals. I am delighted that ‘ my lovely as to the way have a real break and hopefully be able to enjoy her Christmas all the more. Basically we have paid for the food and they will prepare it, which sounds like a really good idea to me.

Our carers are also getting excited about Christmas in varying degrees depending upon whether they have young or not. We have tried to be as helpful as possible and cut out some of the calls, particularly the six o’clock when I carers usually put it on the commode and yet the into my nightwear. There’s no way I’m going to fave my grandchildren’s abiding memory of their grandfather in his nightshirt., I have every intention of wearing my Edwardian velvet jacket and red spotted yellow tie which I know I look good in

I’m happy to say that I have been remembered by two or three dozen of my business colleagues who have sent me greetings by e-mail. I have no illusions, I know I am yesterday’s man. When I was in a position of power and patronage one had many friends but things move on and soon I will be on none of their Christmas lists. I have my immediate and extended family and that’s enough riches for any man in addition I do have a dozen or so local friends and in that regard I consider myself extremely fortunate.

‘My lovely’ has done her usual job at making the house look festive with green and red trimmings over the fireplace and other festive decoration. This Christmas will clearly be different from the other 47 times inasmuch as half the drawing-room is given over as my bedroom. Fortunately there are not too many of us I’m sure we can make ourselves very comfortable in the end around the log fire and we always have the breakfast room for daytime activities. I’m sure it will be fine, although different. If any of my readers are particularly interested to see how we have unwaveringly spent last 47 businesses, without deviation, read my entry for last Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

So far as the grandchildren are concerned, we are fortunate that it is ‘our turn’ to have Chloe and co this year. Heaven knows ,whether it will even be here when our turn comes around again in two years time. So it is very much a question of Carpe Diem

I finish today’s entry with a little story that reminds me of a similar incident which was reported in the local newspaper concerning the captain of one of the Hong Kong ferries who was found to have two completely separate families. One in Hong Kong and the other in the mainland, neither having an inkling about the other. Click here and see what I mean.

22 December 2011

A bad night last night. The pain in my shoulder seams now as intense as it was before the injection also that the severe pain in my left foot.has flared up again.

With both of those going plus a fairly miserable hip you will understand why I said it was not the best of nights. I sent an e-mail to the pain consultant at Addenbrookes, about a week ago,.seeking a further appointment, but have not yet received a reply. I just really needed it for my follow up consultation. The odd thing was that during the first consultation, the consultant said nothing about the knees or the foot and I rather expected him to come back to me, except he changed my medication,. perhaps hoping. that would do the trick.. After all he is not just a’ shoulders only’ man but styles himself a’ pain consultant’ so therefore should be able to deal with any pain. It’s no good trying to get hold of this consultant as he would appear to have left for his Christmas break, like so many other people. I suspect it will be like most years and nothing much will happen, on the business front, between now and the first Monday in January.

That reminds me I had hoped that my faithful Occupational Therapist, Lynne, would have come back to me by now with some suggestion as to how I can mark the examination papers. I have an idea myself for holding the pen between the two middle fingers of my right hand. With a permanently fixed palm up it needs Lynne’s’ skill to make the necessary plastic splint to hold the pen in place. I was rather hoping to mark these papers between Christmas and New Year but without feedback from Lynne I will probably have to wait until early January.

Although better than it was ,Dragon is still playing up. Still freezing from time to time and now an old message has comeback, ‘ trying to recover from low resources’, whatever that means in terms of my computer which should have more than adequate resources. It’s just possible that ‘Paul the computer’ has downloaded some entire programmes rather than just shortcuts to them.

I seem to have a flurry of visitors. Yesterday afternoon Barton W-P dropped in to deliver a annual gift of one of Judith’s marvellous Christmas cakes. She certainly does make the best and it was rather bad luck of her ,that having started giving me a cake every Chrisand tmas for the past 40 years or, and knowing how much I enjoy fruit cake, it has become a tradition, which she will find hard to break, so I hope she doesn’t regret starting it. But who know this may be the last! .Barton was stressed out because Judith had dropped her iPad or tablet, which was fairly new and expensive and now only works sporadically .Always one for a challenge, Barton had taken it pieces and tried to find out what was the problem. He failed, and was pretty desperate as Judith was giving him a hard time. So reluctantly I said I would speak to Paul ‘the computer’- who I knew was very busy – and ask Paul if I could give Barton his contact details.. I did just that, and later in the day Paul assured me that it was a waste of time trying to repair it himself. He had tried before and spent many hours fiddling around with one before giving up. His suggestion was just take it to the back to the shop and tell them is was not working. Hopefully, as it was still under guarantee, they would replace it.

My first visitor today was Barry ‘the taxi’, who readers will recall took me, last May, together with his wife, Denise, down to Cornwall for niece Gus’s wedding. A week or two later he collapsed and was rushed into Addenbrooke’s Hospital and was found to have a series of abyss’s under his spine. After three or four months in hospital and several operations later he was certainly looking a lot better than when I last saw him..

Apparently he has started driving people again, locally and to Heathrow airport

and said his business is picking up again. I am so glad for him as it took years to build up his good will.

Although looking rather thin and worn out, he was a decent colour and so it looks as though he will pull through. I’m very pleased because his is an extremely nice man and he and his wife Denise, has been incredibly kind to me is, particularly since the MND. It was incredibly lucky, looking at it entirely selfishly, that his collapse occurred precisely when I took to my electric wheelchair and needed the service of somebody like Ollie. Unfortunately Barry does not have an ambulance and so I would have had the unpleasant task of explaining that I would have to switch, which I’m sure he would have understood, but after all these years it would have been a wrench.

The next person to. ‘pop in’ was our faithful gardener Peter. Alice was a little surprised as Peter is a shy person but I suppose after about 30 years has now come to know me quite well and hopefully is as concerned about my state of health as I would be about his. Anyway, he did come to see me and we had a nice little chat, mainly about cricket and the forthcoming spring, which neither of us know how much of it I shall see, and I think Peter was only too aware of that when we were talking. Anyway is extremely kind of him to want to come and see me, particularly as he came bearing gifts-a pot of his mother’s home-made raspberry jam, my absolute favourite.

Talking of gifts has reminded me that, I owe a thank you, for a bottle of champagne and some chocolate truffles which arrived a couple of days ago from the eldest of my nephews, William Garton Jones. Dear Will, I knew him before I met Alice. Al’s sister Mary, who very sadly died around 20 years ago from leukaemia, was married to John Garton Jones, who was stationed in Aden, (a British Protectorate then, now part of the Southern Republic of the Yemen) and Alice, who was working in Kenya, at the time, flew in for Will’s christening,

Apropos of nothing, I think most of you will enjoy seeing some very rare sights. Click here and enjoy.

21 December 2011

What I have reproduced below purports to be an open letter from Sir Frederick Forsyth, the author. Whether or not this is a hoax, in terms of the authorship I know not. However, as to the sentiments expressed in this letter I am sure they will touch a chord with most readers, they are certainly topical so I take this unusual are reproducing this letter in toto.

    
AN OPEN LETTER TO GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL

By Frederick Forsyth

Dear Madam Chancellor

PERMIT me to begin this letter with a brief description of my knowledge of, and affection for, your country.

I first came to Germany as a boy student aged 13 in 1952, two years before you were born. After three extended vacations with German families who spoke no English I found at the age of 16 and to my pleasure that I could pass for German among Germans.

In my 20s I was posted as a foreign correspondent to East Germany in 1963, when you would have been a schoolgirl just north of East Berlin where I lived. I know Germany, Frau Merkel, from the alleys of Hamburg to the spires of Dresden, from the Rhine to the Oder, from the bleak Baltic coast to the snows of the Bavarian Alps. I say this only to show you that I am neither ignoramus nor enemy.

 also had occasion in those years to visit the many thousands of my countrymen who held the line of the Elbe against 50,000 Soviet main battle tanks and thus kept Germany free to recover, modernise and prosper at no defence cost to herself. And from inside the Cold War I saw our decades of effort to defeat the Soviet empire and set your East Germany free.
I was therefore disappointed last Friday to see you take the part of a small and vindictive Frenchman in what can only be seen as a targeted attack on the land of my fathers.

We both know that every country has at least one aspect of its society or economy that is so crucial, so vital that it simply cannot be conceded. For Germany it is surely your automotive sector, your car industry. Any foreign-sourced measure to target German cars and render them unsalable would have to be opposed to veto point by a German chancellor.

For France it is the agricultural sector. For more than 50 years members of the EU have been taxed under the terms of the Common Agricultural Policy in order to subsidise France’s agriculture. Indeed, the CAP has been the cornerstone of every EU budget since the first day.
Attack it and France fights back.

For us the crucial corner of our economy is the financial services industry. Although parts of it exist all over the country it is concentrated in that part of London known even internationally as “the City”. It is not just a few greedy bankers; we both have those but the City is far more. It is indeed a vast banking agglomeration of more banks than anywhere else in the world. But that is the tip of the iceberg. Also in the City is the world’s greatest concentration of insurance companies. Add to that the brokers; traders in stocks and shares worldwide, second only, and then maybe not, to Wall Street. But it is not just stocks. The City is also home to the “exchanges” of gold and precious metals, diamonds, base metals, commodities, futures, derivatives, coffee, cocoa… the list goes on and on. And it does not yet touch upon shipping, aviation, fuels, energy, textiles… enough. Suffice to say the City is the biggest and busiest marketplace in the world. It makes the Paris Bourse look like a parish council set against the United Nations and even dwarfs your Frankfurt many times.

That, surely, is the point of what happened in Brussels. The French wish to wreck it and you seem to have agreed. Its contribution to the British economy is not simply useful nor even merely valuable. It is absolutely crucial. The financial services industry contributes 10 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product and 17.5 per cent of our taxation revenue.

A direct and targeted attack on the City is an attack on my country. But that, although devised in Paris, is what you have chosen to support. You seem to have decided that Britain is once again Germany’s enemy, a situation that has not existed since 1945. I deeply regret this but the choice was yours and entirely yours. The Transaction Tax or Tobin Tax you reserve the right to impose would not even generate money for Brussels .It would simply lead to massive emigration from London to other havens. Long ago it was necessary to live in a city to trade
in it.

In the days when deals can flash across the world in a nanosecond all a major brokerage needs is a suite of rooms, computers, telephones and the talent of the young people barking offers and agreements down the phone. Such a suite of rooms could be in Berne, Thun, Zurich or even Singapore. Under your Tobin Tax tens of thousands would leave London. This would not help Brussels, it would simply help destroy the British economy. Your conference did not even save the euro.

Permit me a few home truths about it. The euro is a Franco-German construct. It was a German chancellor (Kohl) who ordered a German banker (Karl Otto Pohl) to get together with a French civil servant (Delors) on the orders of a French president (Mitterrand) and create a common currency. Which they did. It was a flawed construct. Like a ship with a twisted hull it might float in calm water but if it ever hit a force eight it would probably founder. Even then it might have worked for it was launched with a manual of rules, the Growth And Stability Pact. If the terms of that book of rules had been complied with the Good Ship Euro might have survived. But compliance was entrusted to the European Central Bank which catastrophically failed to insist on that compliance.

Rules governing the growing of cucumbers are more zealously enforced. This was a European Bank in a German city under a French president and it failed in its primary, even its sole, duty. This had everything to do with France and Germany and nothing whatever to do with Britain. Yet in Brussels last week the EU pack seemed intent only on venting its spleen on the country that wisely refused to abolish its pound. You did not even address yourselves to saving the euro but only to seeking a way to ensure it might work in some future time.

But the euro will not be saved. It is crumbling now. And since you have now turned against my country, from this side of the Channel, Madame Chancellor, one can only say of the euro:

YOU MADE IT, YOU MEND IT.

Wow I must’ve missed this. I’ had never heard of the Tobin Tax. This tax idea was certainly no hoax I checked up on Google. Apparently it was dreamt up by James Tobin, now deceased, a Nobel prize-winning American economist. Basically he proposed a tax on currency market transactions. It was subsequently suggested that such tax should be extended to cover trades in shares, bonds and derivatives. As London in the centre of world for such transactions it is said that such attacks could destroy ‘The City’, as banks and other financial institutions could just as easily work offshore and out of the clutches of the EU to raise this matter again, at this stage, my look like an infantile reaction to the UK vetoing the Eurozone Constitution. As a German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble has suggested it could go ahead in just the Eurozone then the logic here is, that, in the event that it becomes a realit,y the UK should opt out of the Eurozone altogether rather than belonging to an organisation which would cream off 17% of our GDP and in effect destroy our economy. There must be more to it than and I have no doubt it will all become clearer should the proposition be seriously made.>

In the meantime click here for a little EU story that touches the right spot! and because it’s Christmas click here for a bonus

20 December 2011

This entry is being dictated straight to my blog diary for the first time for several weeks. Paul ‘the computer’ has been here most of the afternoon reconfiguring my computer in the final phase of the work he has been doing over the past two or three months to resolve my problem with Dragon. What is so exciting from my point of view is that this entry is back to its 99.9% accuracy and who knows we might even have cured or corrected the problem that seems to have defeated the best brains in Dragon for the past six months.

For those of you who’ve been following the saga you will know that I got so frustrated that I contacted the Trading Standards office claiming “fraudulent misrepresentation” in that Dragon did not inform the caller that they were paying a premium rate for the telephone call the girl having said that the service was free. My second complaint was that they had sold something to me which was not “fit for purpose” in that it did not do the job for which I purchased it. Trading standards seem to agree with both points and have undertaken to contact Dragonto get them to change their automated voice to warn people that they are paying for the telephone call at a premium rate. As to the other issue they consider that it is reasonable after such a long time for me to pursue the matter through the courts as they have no teeth themselves to take the matter any further..

As it happens, this very day before Paul arrived to do the work that he has done in reconfiguring the programs, I had an e-mail from Dragon asking for convenient date and time for what they describe as a ‘browse’ session, with their US office, which I assume will be a three-way affair. I have a couple of dates to give them but I think I’m going to leave it until after Christmas so that I can test out this new configuration thoroughly to see if I’m still suffering from the same problems. At the moment I can only say that the old Dragon that we have come to love and revere has, at least for the moment, showing all its original attributes.

No sooner then I had written this then the programme froze on me so I’m afraid I spoke rather too soon.

I got so excited about Dragon working there I forgot to mention probably the most important thing that happened worldwide today and that was the death of the North Korean President who seems to be succeeded by equally unpleasant looking son. I suppose the point is this is a nuclear empowered country with over 1 million men at arms and a further 8 million reservists. I think is the third-largest standing army in the world.

Will this son be a Gorbachev and bring this Marxist state in from the cold already, on the other hand, be a drunkard like Khruschev who was totally unpredictable and bulky that part of the world on red alert for the time being. As if we do not have enough troubles already to worry about with the global economy is tottering on the brink of disaster without having to deal with lunatic with a vast army at his disposal.

As for today’s diversion, in the light of this world shattering news there is nothing for it but to be totally frivolous. I have been quite good recently in not boring my non-golfing readers with golf stories so for a change click here to see someone who can make a golf ball literally sing and dance.

,

19 December 2011

A welcome knock on the door at 7.30 this morning. It was that good Carla, the carer Ross Nursing have dedicated to us, who had just returned from one month’s holiday in Mexico, with her family.(She has a Mexican husband. It sounds so romantic. I love pulling her leg, from time to time, suggesting that he is tall handsome, deeply sun-tanned, he-man with a large drooping moustache, who wears a sombrero, but Carla disenchanted my vivid imagination by telling me that he looks just like the rest of us!) We were very pleased to see her back. Not that I had any complaints whatsoever about the people who stood in for her while she was away, they were all absolutely wonderful but it is nice to have back one’s regular carer. Ross Nursing tend to send the same carers to individual patients, so far as possible ,as this makes a good relationship between care and patient and also means that the carer understands and satisfies the needs of the patients more easily than carers who only turned up from time to time. Or, put another way understand the patient’s funny ways!

In fact Carla arrived back on Tuesday but in strict accordance with Harriet’s instruction, no carer is allowed anywhere near me who has a cold or sore throat, as in my case the consequences could be fatal if it turned into pneumonia.

‘My lovely’ spent six months in Rio de Janeiro in her late teens. She told me all about the wild three-day carnival that they have in Brazil. In fact, South America is one of the very few places I haven’t been to myself ,so she has one over on me there.

To be honest, I spent the best part of the day struggling with Dragon (I feel a bit like St George must have felt at the end of his battle with the Dragon!) I am determined not to let up on getting this remedied. In the meantime I have patiently gone on logging off and then on again, time and time again, whenever it decided the freeze (or not respond) on me. The latest trick it’s up to is whenever I want a drop-down menu, it appears as a complete black patch which is not exactly helpful. I can’t help feeling there’s something radically wrong with the hardware as well as the Dragon software. The problem is that as the MND Association have terminated their contract with AbilityNet, (who acted as agent for the MND Association in the purchase of computers and the like) I doubt whether they would be able to tell me whether or not this particular laptop is still under warranty. We are getting close to where we wlll have to backup everything on one of my standalone hard disks, find a second computer that I can use in the interim and then send this one back to Toshiba. One of the two USB ports, or its cable, is suspect but this is the very worst time of the year to consider such a course of action. With people winding down for Christmas, not to mention the ‘office party’ and long Christmassy liquid lunches and then Christmas Day, Boxing Day conveniently intervening over two weekends making it worthwhile tacking on a couple of days holiday to give a ten-day break and I would not see my laptop again until well into the New Year and clearly I cannot do without something very similar in the meantime.

Okay, so today’s diversion is about the 10 worst golfing partners you could possibly imagine. .’Fair go’ as my Aussie friends would say, I have given you non-golfers a good rest from golf stories but even the non-golfers amongst you might appreciate why playing with such people could drive you crazy. Click here and see for yourself. Incidentally, if any of my readers have any videos or funny stories that they think the rest of us would enjoy why not send them to me and I can use them in the blog. Bear in mind you must avoid jokes about fat or thin people, black or white, religious, sexist (or even sexy) short and tall, in fact anything to do with colour, class or creed and you are not left with much but by all means send them to me and I will vet them before including them in the blog.

18 December 2011

7 days until Christmas eve. Seve days of last-minute rushing around buying presents and delivering them locally. That is one thing that possibly ‘my lovely’ has always being very good at over the years, and that is giving presents, at Christmas, to everyone who have served and helped us during the preceding year. She maintains the tradition of the ‘Christmas box’ for what we call, for the want of a better description, the trades people, Not to be construed in any derogatory sense. Indeed these lovely people, many of whom are friends of 40 years or so standing, include the postman; the dustmen; the milkman; the sewing lady; the ironing lady; the window cleaner; the garage man etc and a few extra special ones like our own Derek ‘the plumber’, Bill and Ben ‘the handymen’, Jane ‘the sheep’; Paul ‘the computer’ and ,of course, Peter’ the gardener'(I feel a touch of the Beatrix Potter’s coming on me when I spell them out like this!)
and I’m sure there are a number of others who I have failed to mention.

I certainly do not wish to give the wrong idea about these excellent people. They are totally indispensable to us and ease us through life and without them we would be lost. It’s just that we continue the tradition of’ ‘Christmas boxes’ , or a small ‘thank you’ which our parents did before us. The presents themselves can be very modest, from the small box of chocolates, or larger ones for those people who are more regularly involved with us. Maybe a bottle of port or wine for some of the men etc

Boxing Day, as the name suggests, is the day when the tradespeople would call upon their customers wishing them a happy Christmas and receiving from them their ‘Christmas box’. or ‘thank you’ for their past year’s services.This practice, long since abandoned – I suspect since the beginning of the second World War – in favour of handing out the presents when you see the trades person involved. I wonder how many people today would be able to tell you what is the true meaning of Boxing Day, other than a public holiday, following Christmas Day?

I ought to perhaps mention, for the sake of my overseas readers, that there is nothing grand about the way we do things – the way I put it makes it sound as though we are the squire handing out gifts to our servants – nothing could be further from the truth. These good people are an essential part of our lives to whom we are eternally grateful. Worse than that I suspect that a large number of people no longer bother to do anything about the small army of persons who serve them throughout the year. There are not many wonderfully generous people about like ‘my lovely’..

.In this country Boxing Day is usually celebrated on the day following Christmas Day, i.e. 26th of December although strictly speaking Boxing Day is the first weekday after Christmas. It is a public holiday when traditionally the Christmas Box was opened to share the contents with the poor. These Christmas Boxes, were usually made of wood or clay and often placed in the church for people to place money in, it over the year.

During the Age of Exploration, when sailing ships set off to discover new lands, a Christmas Box was often used as a good luck device. It was placed on the ship whilst it was in port by a priest and those crewmen who wanted to ensure a safe journey would drop money into the box which would then be sealed up and kept on board for the entire voyage. Assuming the ship came home safely the box would then be handed over to the priest, to say a Mass of thanks for the success of the voyage, who keep it until Christmas when he would open it and share it with the poor.

Click here for a Cinderella story with a difference. This one is told by Ronnie Barker. (Apparently the BBC did not get a single complaint!) If you could manage to do this yourself after a few drinks I think you would be doing really well.