2015 — 31 July: Friday
Big Bro has suggested "people" wish to see a picture of yesterday's new toy.1 Meanwhile, sleep having fled, I've been catching up on email, responding to a plea for a favour from a chap in a campervan in Cambridge, and wondering how far afield to venture today. It looks, at the moment, like nice weather.
I've also been...
... masochistically (yes, I checked the spelling) taking another crack of the whip at the "sorting" options offered (or, to be slightly more precise, documented) by UltraEdit. My singular lack of success is quickly becoming a little dispiriting. It works fine if I specify the entire line as the sort field, but that is only rarely my wish.
There are times when I could wish I wasn't so dim.
An amusing...
... conclusion to a well-written book review:
Six hundred and fifty-seven pages is a long slog for even the most interesting of BOGSATs.
Gotta love BOGSATS.
Returning from...
... an expotition, I was delighted (a) not to have hit anyone, and (b) to find a £10-63 cheque from Barclays on the door mat. The last time I remember coming out (as it were) on top after dealings with a rapacious financial monster was some while back, as I reported to Carol at the time...
Exciting new news department: we're picking up a new car next Saturday, transmogrifying our lovely (but thirsty) 1.6 liter 163 bhp 135 mph 2.5 year old BMW Mini CooperS into a 1 liter 67 bhp 95 mph almost brand new Toyota Aygo and thereby driving away from the dealer with actual cash in our pocket as well as reducing ongoing running costs by about £1,000 per year.
One has to plan ahead for one's financially straitened situation come the end of IBM employment, don'tcha know?
I was also carrying a couple of goodies:
The Ackerman (reduced to £8) was exactly what I'd paid for a previous book of hers, picked up in New York in August 1996. And I filched a quote from a Grauniad interview with Penelope Lively at the time of her book's publication when making one of my occasional updates to the notes I still keep here. Both writers are clearly perceptive ladies.
If I make it back...
... unscathed from tea and a biccie across the village at "Ye Old Figge tea-shop" I shall sort out a photo of the new flivver. (I have no idea why dear Mama referred thus to cars; I think I shall stop doing so now.)
Oops. I'd forgotten all about my Android SHIELD Tablet PC. I left it upstairs (practically on top of the wireless router) to get on with upgrading itself to Android 5.1.1 — fingers crossed. 131 apps, of which I use just three or four regularly. Amazing.
[Pause]
Right, I'm safely back, and the new car is now asleep on its nest. The picture (taken on 20 October 2007) here...
... is a reminder of when (briefly) I could have been called "Two Toyotas" Mounce. Click it for the updated variation on this temporary twin car ownership theme.
Later
I finished watching "Guardians of the Galaxy" and some, at least, of the details of the CGI-fest. It's amiable tosh but somehow I don't think I'll be adding it to my collection.
SHIELDS Up!
According to the story here, my SHIELD has the "dangerous" model of battery, the Y01. Oops.
It certainly has a serial number in the range quoted on the USA site. Perhaps I should stick it in a bucket of water?