Yesterday, I was thrilled to collect the hard drive from my old iMac.  This was the drive that held five years (and more) of all my files and programmes.  I have been waiting patiently for Apple to say it was ready to collect.  “Once I get my hard drive, I can get myself all sorted out on my new iMac”  I kept telling Mo.  “Until then, I can’t really get going.”

We picked up the old drive from the Apple Store and went straight to PC  World to buy an enclosure (Apple don’t sell them).  We were greeted by a young chap who looked like Eric Sykes (British comedian) and sounded like Tommy Cooper!  He was a bit of a comedian himself, but I expect that was inevitable really.  He finally sold us an enclosure and we set off home.

Once home we followed the very brief instructions on how to wire it up. I plugged everything in and switched it on.  The light came on and quickly went off again.  We took it to pieces and tried wiring it differently, as the instructions were so vague we were not totally sure it was correct.  Still not working.

I contacted a very clever PC man called Jeff (View From The Clouds) and emails flew back and forth while he very kindly tried to help me out of my predicament.  Unfortunately it seemed that something was faulty, and we would have to go back and see Mr Eric Cooper, or was it Tommy Sykes?

It ended up with us getting our money back, even though they said that the enclosure fired up for them.  I was now a little worried that it may be the hard drive that was faulty after all, so we went to the Apple Store, and they said that if we couldn’t get it to work with another enclosure they would return the costs for the drive removal.  We set off to the only other shop we could think of, to buy another enclosure.  On the journey I started to think (shame I didn’t do that sooner – much sooner!) Did I really need what was on the drive?  What IS actually on it?  You know, questions like that.

“Don’t worry Mo” I said out loud.  “I will take the drive back to Apple and get a refund”  Mo looked a little confused – not too confused because she knows me.

“I’ve just remembered.  I didn’t use the internal drive for many of my files.  I used an external one, and in any case, I always backed up my ‘home’ folder, so I will have everything on my backup drive.” (For those that don’t know about Macs, the ‘Home’ folder holds pretty much everything, except applications!) “We might as well go home now.”

Mo: “I’m already going home.”

She had turned around as soon as she heard my ramblings on what was, or wasn’t on the hard drive.  She knows me too well.  She hasn’t moaned at me once, for all the running around she’s had to do.

What is my excuse for my stupidity and total waste of time?  None really.

We’ll probably take the hard drive back, get a refund from Apple and pretend that these last few weeks didn’t really happened.

For those of you that like Tommy Cooper, and just to show you that some people make a fortune out of being as daft as me, here is a little clip for you.
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“Will you pop up to the shop for me Babs?”

I was fourteen, my mum had run out of something that she needed in order to cook our evening meal.  The shop was about 200 yards up the road, and we constantly shopped there for items that mum had ‘run out of’ throughout the week.  She did a main shop once a week but it was a mammoth task to shop for our large family.  We always needed extras.

If it was a Sunday, depending what food item you asked for, the shop owner would wrap it in a brown paper bag and say “Don’t let anybody see what’s in the bag.  I’m not allowed to sell it on a Sunday.”  It was 1959 and the ‘corner shops’ were now allowed to open on Sundays, to sell essentials only.  Certain foods were not allowed.

I need to set the scene here.

Our house had two front doors.  One that you climbed a flight of steps to reach, and another that you went down a flight of steps to.  The house had a semi basement which meant that the rooms were half underground and half above the ground.  Windows looked out at ground level, which was very strange.  While dad was decorating the rest of the rooms, we were living down in the lower part of the house.  There was a small concrete area at the front with steep steps that led up to street level.  Thanks to Google Maps, I’ve just found the actual house fifty years on.

“OK” I said.  Mum handed me the money and I left the house.  I loved to run places when I was young so I ran up the steps and along the road to the shop, oblivious to what was going on around me, as always.  When I got back home this is what greeted me.

A lorry carrying huge lengths of timber had rounded the bend in the road, a bend that had seen lots of accidents, and would see many more.   As it took the bend, probably too quickly, the safety straps gave under the weight and it shed it’s load, straight down the basement of our house.  Poor mum and dad were standing, frantic on the top steps wondering if I had made it up the steps in time, or if I was underneath all the wood.  Their relief showed as they saw me approaching the house.  It seems that within moments of me leaving this had happened.  Had I dawdled and not loved running so much I would no doubt have been underneath, and very squashed! I don’t remember how, or when I managed to get in the house, but I’m sure clearing the wood from our home would have been first on the agenda.

That was a close call.  I don’t think my mum and dad could wait to move away from that dangerous road.  Two years later we were gone from London completely.

Note:  Have you noticed something that is in this post but has been sadly lacking in my posts of late?  No prize for guessing I’m afraid.  (I’ve reworded this as it seemed to cause confusion.)

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We were really shocked, and sad, when we looked out of our back window today.  Our next door neighbour is having an extension built on the side of his house.  It’s a corner house and he has a very large back garden, which extends around the side, so we can see that a side extension would be a good idea.  What we don’t understand is that he would do this.

This is just the very back portion of the garden.

His father has worked so hard every year, landscaping it.  It was beautiful with it’s shaped lawns, rockeries, trees and shrubs.  We loved to look out of our bedroom windows and take in the view.  They cut down, and sawed into little pieces, all the beautiful trees (poor birdies) the other day and now they’ve removed the complete garden!

This is going to be like a docudrama.  We will just have to tune in each day to find out what will happen next.  I hope it will be at least half as beautiful as it was.

Can anyone tell me why they think somebody would need to dig up their complete back garden in order to build on the side of their house?  Please don’t say it’s to turn it into a huge concrete garden!  I’ve never seen him so much as pull a weed himself.

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Here it is – My new iMac!

It’s my birthday on Sunday so this couldn’t have been timed any better.

I waited until today, so I could get some daylight photos – Who was I kidding?  It’s so dark and miserable that I had to use a flash anyway!  That did NOT dampen my mood any.  I am thrilled – It is beautiful, and yes I smell the new Mac smell too.  I wish I could bottle that smell.

It will be a long job getting it to the state of my other iMac, but there’s no real rush I suppose. They haven’t given me my old hard disk yet so I still don’t have any of my files.

I have never seen such a tiny keyboard.  Just look at this!  When I unpacked it I thought it was a piece of cardboard it was so weightless.

I put my iPhone there so you could see the size better.

And the mouse is beautiful!

You can see that it’s flat with no buttons.  You don’t need buttons.  It works just the same as a scroll mouse.  To scroll you just brush your finger on the surface.  To scan a page you brush two fingers left or right.  It’s like a track pad on a mouse.  Left and right buttons are the same as any mouse.

I haven’t got into the actual computer, and what it does yet.  I haven’t had time.  Would you believe we’ve had two lots of visitors today?  Mind you they are the first people we’ve seen since New years Eve so we were very glad of the company.

Am I happy?  What do you think?

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First bit

Thank you all for your kind words and well wishes.  I am feeling much better now.  I still have an annoying cough but even that is improving at last.  It was a very persistent virus!  Everybody I know that’s had it, in one form or another,  has had it for about a month.

Second bit

The snow has finally gone.  Only a few tell-tale patches left on less walked on parts.  I didn’t manage to get out for photos at all, which was disappointing but… I have the spring to look forward to.

Third bit

I am not getting any inspiration for blog posts lately.  This is partly due to the time of year, commonly known as ‘January blues’, and partly because my computer died.  It has all the software I love to use on it, and none of it is compatible with my more up-to-date laptop.  At the moment it’s a bit like fumbling around on someone else’s laptop.  All my familiar stuff  gone! All my files gone! Not conducive to creative blogging.

Fourth bit

Finishing on a much brighter note.  I am getting a new iMac!  I saw no way of getting one right on top of Christmas, but a surprising doorway opened that has made it possible.  I am thrilled!   I hope to partition the drive, load the slightly older system software on the partition and install my favourite graphics programme, along with a few others.  I will just need a re-start when I want to use it.

Last bit

I think things are looking up at last.

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You may well ask where I’ve been lately.  The answer would be “Precisely nowhere”  I am still coughing for England, not sleeping at night because of the coughing – even though I am sleeping (or not) sitting up.  I’m going through tissues faster than I would like, because we are STILL snowed in, with no signs of any improvement soon!

Mo is going stir crazy!  She always goes out at least once a day and usually more often.  Her attempts at walking to the chemist for medication for me, ended when she couldn’t even walk up our drive to the road!  It really is like a skating rink out there.  Thank goodness for family and friends at a time like this!  It has thawed out a little, but that has made it worse because it then froze up. Now we have black ice on the roads and white ice everywhere else.  The last time I saw snow and ice like this was in the sixties.  It lasted about six weeks before it finally thawed – and that was in London! Somehow boots were a lot better for gripping the ice back then.

I took these few shots through my window again.  Sadly, it’s all I can do.

My blogging will get back to normal, and I will cheer up soon, I promise.  Until then, will you forgive me if I’m not too funny….please?

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We are knee deep in snow here.  At least when you are the height of Mo and I, it’s knee deep.  It looks beautiful, though I am aware it has brought with it absolute mayhem on the roads, railways and airports.  It looks beautiful here in Yorkshire.  I am so sad because I would have loved to go out with my camera, especially today.  Today the sky was blue and the sun was shining on the snow laden trees.

Unfortunately I am feeling very ill at the moment.  All together, say Ahhhh, or as you from over the pond say, Awe.  I have a bad case of flu and so will have to make do with these few shots.

That looks like fun.  Wadda ya mean it’s too deep?

Oh pleeease let me out mum

OK, I agree – It’s deep

Brrrr, my feet are cold. Let me in … quick!

I thought this post would give me a few days grace, until I feel a bit better, or at least until I could type more than one word without a coughing fit!

I might just add that it got a lot deeper than that before the day was out, and that none of the cats have asked to go out today!

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Boxing day Mo and I went for a trip out, so I could try my new lens.  On the way home we were chatting as usual.

Mo: “There’s a film on TV this afternoon you’ll like.”

Babs: “Oh, what?”

Mo: *“The Gromits film.”

Babs: “Oh they (the animators) are so clever, just like the ……”

Mo:  “The Pigeon film.”

Babs:  “Nooo!  The Pengeon film.  Ooh ha hah! I mean the PENGIUN film”

Mo:  “Happy Feet!”

silence….

Babs:  “Don’t they put gromits down kids ears?”

*Wallace & Gromit film.

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We hope you all have a happy and peaceful 2010.

Oops! Should I have used my header doodle?  Well this is the real me doodle – just this once.

We’re getting ready for a family gathering with lots of games tonight.  Hopefully we will have fun.  We will be remembering Sindie especially, as this was always her night.  She organized all the games, and laughed uncontrollably, all night long.  I expect we will raise a glass to her.

Happy New Year!

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Look what I got for Christmas!  I’ve wanted one for so long.

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Last year I posted about my nice new camera that I found under the Christmas Tree.  This years post is about the lens I found under the same tree.  Did I miss it last year?  Was it hiding so deep in the branches that I overlooked it?  No, Santa came again this year.  He knew that I’d wanted this lens for a long time, and he tries not to disappoint.

I can take photos like this really close up shot …..

to this panoramic view, and all with one lens …..

This is a photo of our local reservoir, taken on Boxing day, and I could never get this much in one shot before.  I’m thrilled with it.  Click the photo for an enlargement, you know you want to.

For those of you who are photographers, it’s a Canon EFS 17 – 85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM.  For those of you who aren’t, it’s heavy!

I hope you all got something special for Christmas.

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