Router (dsl-g624m) dropouts

Posted on 6th Jan 2013 by essiep

9°C, calm & grey.
Still ill as the line in the Smiths song goes, but I’m bored with talking about it.
My router is probably the cause of poor internet connections at home. The latest stage in this sorry, tedious saga is a new firmware.
Every time I try something, the smartphone & laptop connect and I am filled with optimism. Then after streaming media, like a online video (my favourtite is Vimeo), the waiting sign comes up and it eventually time-outs.
Another idea is that the routes is failing, perhaps a mechanical failure. Often the connection fails after some time watching BBCi Player. Perhaps the heat can stress a weak component or solder joint.
The only solution to that is a full replacement.

Mid-winter bumbus

Posted on 28th Dec 2012 by essiep

13.5°C, grey,mild, dry.
What is this bumble-bee doing up and about today, mid-winter? My guess, the dog disturbed it on wandering about the shrubs in the garden. They hibernate through to spring so maybe the mild weather woke him.
He raised a leg as though in fear- as if to rush me away. He knew I was there and was alert enough to sense threat.

I can’t see him surviving now he’s woken. I gave him some sugar and wished him good luck.I was gentle.

Soon be over.

Posted on 24th Dec 2012 by essiep

Rain.
Another one done, now we can get on with enjoying this winter holiday.

Eight weeks

Posted on 23rd Dec 2012 by essiep

11°C, wind.
Very long term which finished just as my cough/cold did.
Ex Cathedra: were as good as ever on this sixth year I have been to their Christmas Carol concert. We were sitting in possibly the best seats we’ve had- some choristers even stood next to us for a couple of pieces. Their voices were so powerful, the sound was on the cusp of tinnitus.
Waiting till the day after we broke up left me devoid of the urge to doze in the show. In previous years, I have gone after work and dipped in and out of semi-sleep during the concert. That’s an interesting way to be to listen to music- you listen slightly differently.
Winter is in a mild mood now, all warm and wet.
Now for some urgent late preparation for this season of unwelcome madness. I’ll be glad when it’s over.

Repair and ride

Posted on 9th Dec 2012 by essiep

7°C. Some rain, sun too.
A mending weekend: TV, laptop, bike, smoke detector, hair, shelves
TV makes a short high buzz with a few minutes of changing channel or starting a video. One web forum sort said unplug it for at least 4 hours to reset it. So far, no better, possibly getting worse.
Bike: has a new tyre to replace the one that gave trouble on Friday. It’s all shiny and clean now.
Laptop: frequently drops the internet connection. The router is okay, the desktop pc, phone and DVD player all work properly. Again, the web forums say install new network card drivers. Done, and it’s better but still cuts sometimes.
Not the best way to spend a December weekend. Cycling is the best but I have a cough and listless.
So, housemaking it is.

Leaves.

Posted on 15th Nov 2012 by essiep

9°C, still & foggy start.
Drove in today. Fog has descended.
Drove home in clear air but my view was obscured by a boot full of leaves. Our caretaker let me take 6 big bags of swept leaves, mainly from London Plane (?) trees. There are loads of those in the borough- they cope with pollution well.

Silver woods

Posted on 3rd Nov 2012 by essiep

9°C, clear.
Restful: took a restful day. Body said I had to, so dutifully…
Took Rosie to a wood new to us. On a low hilltop near a tall TV transmitter. Initially there is a coniferous wood. But further in Silver birches formed a metallic wall, like bound barbed wire. The trees were all about the same age though the ground is mature, deep, soft and black. This has all the signs of managed woodland. The bedrock is bunta pebble bed, so the quite deep puddles should drain better than these do. Credit to the thick humus for that. I’d like to get know this wood more, something that can takes.

later I watched Kill Bill 1 which is a rather silly film.

Heavy head, but light heart

Posted on 20th Oct 2012 by essiep

10°C, sunny.
It’s Saturday so it’s headache day. The sun does shine, a week’s holiday lies ahead. No camping though, not much point when daylight is gone so early.

Spent the day planting bulbs. I will have forgotten where I put them by spring, let’s be surprised.
Some over-grown plants had to get cut back. I saw no Ivy, but there are itchy patches on my hands now. Do other plants contain the same chemical that makes ivy poisonous?

Blame the rain

Posted on 9th Oct 2012 by essiep

12°C, light wind, sun
Instead of crane flies this year, it seems as though the mozzies are more abundant. I say this now because one bit the back of my neck this afternoon. A strange occurance, we don’t get many in England. Not this part of England anyway.
I would blame my new pond as the source but other people have noticed more midges/mosquitoes too. So the blame shall rest on our exceptionally wet weather this year. Where conditions are against one species, another thrives.

Blimey, fog.

Posted on 7th Oct 2012 by essiep

8°C, thick fog.
Leave the ride till later.
Decorating– in just a few hours I got the ceiling and walls painted. The ceiling is apricot-white silk emulsion and the walls, flat chalky Matt blue. I worked between 14.00 – 18.30 though failing light prevented proper checks. The only unfinished area is the top of the walls where it overlaps the undercut ceiling paint. The Matt paint skidded unevenly over the silk. Perhaps later…

Micycle

Mike thinks b/hikes

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