Bargains

My new hobby is 'Ebaying'. You know, the thrill of the chase, the adrenalin rush when the item is yours... Ok, so that is sad, I know...
But what is good that I have been able to buy several counselling-related books which will be very useful for my course and beyond and which cost me far less than I would have spent had I bought them new.
Of course, I had to have a little peep at other things, like bags and got myself another bargain - a 'new' briefcase in excellent condition - under £7 including postage, not to mention the two leather handbags I am keeping a watch on.
"Quarter to seven," I muttered to myself this morning.
"No, it's quarter to eight," Keith corrected me.
"Not now, when the bidding closes for this bag," I said. He raised his eyes to the ceiling.
"By the way," I said, "Shall I be able to have my radio fitted in my car soon."
He smiled. "You could put it in your new briefcase," he said.

If you listened carefully you might just have been able to hear me grinding my teeth!

A lovely day

I had a visit yesterday from Elder Son and grandson, whom I hadn't seen, for various reasons, since Christmas time. He has now reached the grand old age of two and three quarters and is a whizz with the cleaning, as you can see from the photo!
So we visited the shop (and much more importantly the toy shop next door), had lunch, played football in the garden and played in the local play area and a great time was had by all.

Phew!

New hard drive installed and we're up and running again. That was a close shave. I had actually not backed up my documents since March (I thought it was only about 6 weeks ago - how time flies!) but all the important stuff is there except for the last unit of my counselling course, although I have it all in hard copy and it's all marked and done with. I used to be a lot more conscientious in backing things up. This is a salutary lesson!
So now, hours being spent reinstalling programmes and, of course, my favourites list!
But of course,we know all about that, don't we!

Calamity!

Yesterday was a bad day. The worst thing possible happened (well, in I.T. terms anyway). My laptop, after logging on and making a few plaintive peeping noises, froze and when I tried to fire it up again, a message appeared telling me that no operating system could be detected.
"Of course there's an operating system - just look will ya!!!" I yelled, but to no avail. The hard drive had breathed its last, given up the ghost and quietly slipped away.
In a panic, I rang Keith.
"Oh dear," he said, in the tones that meant he knew he was going to be in for some ear bashing, weeping and wailing for at least the next twenty four hours.
He ordered a new hard drive, to arrive poste haste today.
He came home from work last night and sniggered at the empty space on the coffee table.
He took out his new mobile phone.
"Did you know I can surf the internet on this?" he asked, unnecessarily.
"You won't be able to when I have thrown it over the back fence into the woods," I said.

Arachnid alert!

We are coming into the spider season again. August and September are the months when I refrain from sitting on the floor, or staying downstairs on my own at night to watch television and I certainly don't walk around barefoot. This is the time when a movement seen from the corner of your eye becomes a gigantic hairy spider charging across the living room looking for its next meal or making a desperate dash for freedom. It's the time when you almost fall downstairs from sheer terror at coming face to face with one of the horrific black creatures half way up just sitting there waiting to strike terror into your heart - you could almost see the smug smirk of satisfaction on its face if you were inclined to hang around! Then there is always the clever one which hangs around on the shower curtain, waiting till you are nicely installed under the jet of water before it shows itself and abandons you to your slippery slide of terror.
But they're getting sneakier and cleverer.
Like the one which hid itself in the laundry basket so that I carried it downstairs in a bundle of washing - I actually had it in my arms! I'm still getting palpitations just thinking about it.
And to add insult to injury, since Keith broke his ankle, he seems to have resigned from spider-killing duty, leaving me to deal with them, alone, unaided, by myself.
I mean - it's not much to ask. What else would you keep a man in the house for???