Moving on

Cherryfudge

I was a helper rather than leading for the children this morning and all went to plan, then it was back home for sausages, ratatouille, home-grown tomatoes, fried onions and courgette. I had some of the instant mash with mine: it was actually quite nice. Then I slept half the afternoon! That was a shame as it was pleasant and warm this afternoon and it would have been good to be out of doors, but at least I've rested.

DH had a meeting most of the evening and I half intended to go into town to find the bus stop for tomorrow but it occurred to me to use AI to do the research for me and it was really helpful. Definitely one to use again: I have an actual description of the bus stop. Goodness knows where it found that but it's the one I thought it must be. I also have a train route for Wednesday.

The down-side of this was having to swap to my work laptop as my own dropped the Internet connection. This time I made a note of the fault before losing the notice: once again it was a driver not working. Then (I'm quite proud of myself) I followed the steps to uninstall it and restart the computer, at which point it should automatically reinstall the driver. Then I had to find the Internet and reconnect it as it wasn't joining automatically - but we got there.

A few minutes later, I lost the Internet again.

I've been round that loop four times over the course of the evening. The computer admitted to an update just around the time of the first loss of connection, but it took till the fourth time for it not only to reinstall the driver, but also update it. This time it seems to have been sufficient and here I am, back on my poor computer but a little more knowledgeable. I wish I could say I understood what happened, but at least I was able to find the pattern of the steps and use them to get it back. Saved myself a call-out fee from the nice chap who fixes computers, and I always feel more at home with the one I bought for myself and am used to. 🙂

The plan for the week:

Monday: bus journey to help at a class. pm - GP appointment.

Tuesday - childcare. Maybe see my friends in the evening?

Wednesday - probably train journey to another class. pm - church group.

Thursday - same class as last year, but this time I have a lift each way which saves time. pm - cleaning work.

Friday - pm - cleaning.

Saturday - not sure.

Sunday - day off! Except I'm helping with refreshments after church.

Cherryfudge

Today didn't go to plan: I was all packed for the class and looked up the route, arrived at the bus stop early, checked with the bus driver that I had the right bus. Long story short: there is no such bus. The AI got it wrong. When I checked back the same info was there and I've contacted the site quoted to let them know their information is wrong.

The only way to get to that destination by bus is via another town and can't be done in time to reach the class. There's a train but it takes an hour and 20 minutes, i.e. 2 hours 40 minutes to help in a two and a half hour class.

I have sent apologies to the teacher and contacted my manager, who is clearly giving it some thought as she asked me to look up taxi prices - one company is charging over £100 one way! Most are around £35, which is still more than the train. I've been considering whether I could support the class remotely: there's a thing called an owl available which would enable me to join remotely and which turns the camera on whoever's speaking, but I can't think how I could combine that with one to one for whoever I was supporting. More thought needed.

I used the time in town to go to base and set up my ID on the printer system, so I can prepare some materials for Thursday's class. By the time I got home I had a headache from carrying my laptop and a bag, and realised I really need a laptop trolley, so I've been browsing V1nted and found some likely candidates.

In the afternoon I had my appointment to see about the pain in my foot. The GP found the scan notes from way back in 2015, which was useful. A Morton's Neuroma (thickened nerve between two toes) measuring 6mm, and some bone irregularities. We agreed the situation has moved on from there, so he's referring me for another scan. Meanwhile I can use 1buprofen gel and take painkillers.

I then gave said foot some exercise by going to collect the book I bought off V1nted while on holiday: Frugalwoods. I've been interested ever since I first heard of them. I've also bought a few groceries including sensible stuff for the long-term store cupboard.

DH made tuna pasta for tea and got the cooking done before 6 so we turned as much electrical stuff off as possible to try to get the benefit of a free hour's electricity at the weekend. We've never managed it before but we have now! We spent the leisure part of that hour well: DH mowed the grass and I put some of yesterday's laundry away.

In less good financial news, a warning to people who have taken advantage of the very good mobile phone rates on Leb*ra - if you roll over your data allowance you get a text to say you have 5GB at £95 per GB! 😮 This happened to DH and his manager said he'd better have some time out to sort it out. He texted me and I found mine was about to run out too so I added 5GB for £5, which is what DH has now done. We've kept an eye on the bank, as you can imagine, and the £500 is not even showing as pending (and there are 18 items pending including lots of holiday stuff, so perhaps the bank isn't well?). I'm wondering if DH pays his through his credit card but I can't find that out tonight.

Childcare tomorrow so I need to get some sleep.

Cherryfudge

Another warm, sunny day. I was glad I'd chosen summer-weight clothes today as yesterday's fairly smart cords and long sleeved top were too hot yesterday and would have melted me today.

We arrived in time to accompany DGD1 to school along with her Dad and little sister, then we were around to care for the younger one throughout the day. She is very articulate for not-yet-three and now that we get to spend time with her, but without her sister, I'm often surprised at how clearly she speaks. It's interesting to get to know her on her own.

We played jigsaws for a while then walked into town to take her to the toddler group at the church. I paid (£2) but left them to it as I had a work phone call that had to be fitted in a certain time slot. On the way home I went to the chemist for Ibuprofen gel and got it for free with points on my loyalty card, then called at !celand where I'd noticed a deal on small cans of baked beans that could save us from having half tins in the fridge. They kindly gave me the 10% discount for over-60s as well. (So, nine tins for £4.50). They've never checked if I'm over 60: I haven't actually signed up to the scheme but they assume! Good job I'm actually eligible. I then went to L1dl for a bottle of water and found they had lots of their £2 boxes of damaged fruit and veg, so I bought one. Bananas, apples, pears, carrots and sprouts - happy with that.

The phone call took longer than expected, then I had my library books to take back but they kindly let me off the fine: I'd not been able to renew one book as someone had requested it so they count that as not my fault.

I met up with DH, who had taken DGD2 to the library and swings since I last saw them, and we went back for lunch. DGD2 gave me strict instructions on the way not to listen to her singing! I'm not sure how I was supposed to accomplish this as she was in the buggy right by me.

We had a very quiet afternoon with some TV and the occasional game. First DH had a rest, then I fell asleep while he tried to persuade DGD2 that she wanted to go out on her scooter, then I had to lift DGD2 into the buggy as she needed to come with us to collect DGD1 from school, and DGD2 didn't understand that she had to leave the house NOW. We made it in time - I bumped into a work colleague on grandparent duty and we met friends of DS's at the school gate. Very odd as one chap was at primary school with DS, and here we saw the same scenario a generation further on.

Both girls were only fit for watching TV and eating ice lollies for quite some time but eventually we got started on a game of princesses, just before DS arrived and we went home. All in all a good session.

In MS mode, DS1 has cut down a tree and says we can dry the wood for our log burner.

I had a text from 0ctopus allowing us to opt in to reduced electricity use from 6 to 7 in return for a credit towards free electricity at the weekend. We managed that by dint of an early tea, which was sausages and courgettes again, with cous cous. The chicken I'd bought short dated yesterday turned out to be going off so we threw it out.

I invited my friends round for coffee but, having done a hurried tidy round, I heard that one couldn't make it and the other decided to stay at home as she has an early shift tomorrow. Nice to have the tidy house and, while it would have been good to see them, I felt I could do with a rest.

This evening I needed to order more eye drops and the big river people had an offer of free postage for orders over £35. They had a small discount on the powder compact I use, and my current one is running low, so I added one to the order and got my free postage. Then I made the mistake of looking on V1nted and buying a nice mustard-coloured jumper for no better reason than that it will go well with the cords I was wearing yesterday and give me an easy option to wear in class. Under £5 spent there.

There's been no further sign of the massive LeB*ra bill. DH rang them and they told him it's sent out as a warning that the customer is about to run out of data. I'm not pleased with their tactics, but their ordinary bills are very satisfactory so I'll just think of it as a cautionary tale.

Baileys_Babe

A friend of ours uses a very small wheeled suitcase to carry their laptop about. They bought the case in a local charity shop, the advantage of this was they were able to try the case for size before buying.

Watty1

My colleague who died recently did exactly the same for her laptop and all the associated work bits. She said it was so much better than carrying anything and always had paperwork, a book to read, a bottle of water and some food stashed in with her laptop :)

Rhyddid2026

@Cherryfudge I have a laptop suitcase that work bought me years ago and I only used twice. I've been meaning to take it to the charity shop for about 2 years. You're welcome to it if you could make use of it? It might be a bit big though.

Cherryfudge

Thanks everyone, and especially @Rhyddid2026 for your kind offer. DH noticed that a friend of his was using a laptop case on wheels and checked with her - it looks as though IT at work may provide one for my work lappy, which is rather on the small side (but still seems heavy!). I have to see them tomorrow for something else so I'll ask but if no joy there, I will be back to you!

This morning the hot wash wash and the dishwasher were started on cheap rate electricity, but we found bleach had spilled in the kitchen cupboard so the kitchen door mat got a wash on ordinary rate electricity (and seems to have come out okay despite a bleachy bottle having been set down on it).

We then did a last-minute check of the old car (I found the jack and a charger lead under the boot lining) then DH took it those people who reportedly buy any car. They paid just under £300 for it, which is a bit more than DH expected, and which has cheered the bank up.

I had an online meeting that turned out more positive than expected. My manager has decided against the classes that were difficult and expensive to get to and given me a very local one tomorrow morning, followed by the afternoon one where I helped last year. Looking forward to those.

In the afternoon we went to the garden centre for the 'free' hot drinks and decided we both like the red berry tea a lot more than any of their other offerings. We sat out in the sun to drink them, and I got Wordle in three goes. After that we posted parcels: I'd sold a knitted scarecrow that none of the children wanted. Dh saw me packing it in bubble wrap and said it would die in there. I got the giggles. Anyway, it's gone now, to someone who presumably will take its welfare to heart.

Dinner was salmon and pasta in sauce (I insisted we got the cheapest salmon from L1dl) then DH had a meeting so I spent the evening searching for the things I'll need tomorrow. I was supposed to have a meeting too, but I was the only attendee available so nothing came of it.

I'm very tired so I need to sleep as tomorrow is a long day. What was a slight sore throat yesterday has remained today and the cough from the last cold has returned - odd. I hope I'm not coming down with something else. I just about remembered to do my Duolingo - it would have been a shame not to as I'd have missed celebrating 2,000 days of it.

Oh, and the laptop lost the Internet again. This one took only minutes to resolve, but yesterday's was a huge update that took an hour. It's become such a feature that I've written the Wi-Fi password on the keyboard, as the automatic login is lost each time the driver goes down.

in_need_of_direction

please do not leave the password on your keyboard. maybe take a photo on your phone instead

Cherryfudge

That's a good point thanks - I do have a photo on my phone but it's happening so often that even finding that has become a nuisance. The computer glitched again yesterday morning and I've only just got back online. I know what the problem is, but short of getting a new laptop, I can't stop it happening whenever Windows updates, which it seems to be doing a lot.

However, I don't want to risk a burglar getting to the things I have on the laptop, so I will take it off. 😊

If I come in one day and find a puzzled burglar tearing his hair out as he couldn't log on, at least I will have the last laugh.

Cherryfudge

Thursday was my first day back in classes: one new to me, and one from last year. I enjoyed both. I also had an unexpected breakthrough with the person I worked with last year. We'd been given various bits and pieces to use with classes as we thought fit and a comment from her brought one of these to mind. There were some options to choose from and she knew as soon as she tried some, exactly what would help her. Turns out she had access to similar at school but that useful bit of knowledge had been lost since then. Once again I wonder how often that happens: I've seen it in previous work too, where an important diagnosis was treated as just something from the past and hadn't been passed on. In fact, given that information (at last), it showed we'd been completely wrong about how we approached that person.

So, I'm still delighted at this step forward. I was with the same teacher all day and he had a car so there was no difficulty about transport. It also gave us time to talk through some of the things we'd encountered.

I then had a short break to sit down and eat, but not long as my work phone had to be collected. I've never had a work phone before. How grown up! Then it was on to my cleaning job - thankfully not far - and a lift home from kind DH at the end of the day.

I was really tired but, having got to bed early, I woke up about five and sat int eh kitchen trying to sort the tins cupboard. Eventually I got some more sleep, then today has been a sort of day off.