Tony_S

Robbie (see avatar photo) was quite good at home but when out had the ability t9 find sources of snacks. He didn’t even have to see them. We did not dare let him off the lead of people were picnicking. We were terribly embarrassed when arriving at a local park, not really the sort of place where people picnic, Robbie just ran from the car park , across an out of use football pitch and leapt over a family having a very traditional picnic , rug, thermos flasks, hamper. As he jumped he had stolen a salmon sandwich as it was in between the woman’s hand and mouth. As I reached them Robbie was sitting finishing the sandwich a few feet away. I immediately apologised, and offered to replace the food. However the woman was most amused. She said they had wanted to give their girls a picnic experience and they were having a memorable one, her husband had been stung by a wasp, they had just had a dog ( a really cute dog, they thought) steal a sandwich. After that I always looked to see if I could see anyone eating before releasing him for a run. Once when Aditi was walking Robbie , he lurched sideways to retrieve a chip someone had dropped. Aditi fell over and broke her arm.

Good luck with that. My Dell didn’t have an optical drive so,I bought an external Pioneer cd/dvd/bluray/4k external drive, probably from Amazon. I am sure if I had asked Dell if it was compatible they would have of course said yes. Plug it in and it will be recognised. However Microsoft haven’t included the DVD (or Blu-ray) software for a while now. So the drive will be totally compatible for data but not play films on DVD.If your web chat has a record of something like “will I be able to play DVD movies/films and they said yes, you may have a point but if you just asked about “compatibility “ I suspect not. I knew Windows 11 needed extra software for playing my film DVDs and Blu-ray Discs so bought it from Dell at the time of ordering the PC. Tony

Me, “Have you heard about the seafood diet?” Aditi “What’s that?” Me “It is when you see food and eat it”.

I must be not properly plumbed as I haven’t suffered with cold extremities with blood thinners. Even the beta blocker to lower heart rate hasn’t made me get chilly toes or fingers but it has only slowed my heart down to a “normal” rate.

We had a Madeira cake earlier this week. Aditi had noticed a lack of anything to accompany afternoon tea. She likes making cakes but we are careful in consuming them due to diabetics constraints (not too arduous for us to comply fortunately). So half the cake went in the freezer and a couple of slices went next door to our neighbours. The Madeira cake in Madeira is not at all like the one served up here in the UK Also according to a recipe I found on the internet, an American cookery website said anyone in the UK wouldn’t be able to make her Madeira cake as we don’t have cake flour easily available.

We used to go to our nearest pharmacy until a few years ago but they became very unreliable. It was easy to park though. The one we go to now is very good but parking is difficult. So prescription collections are usually drive by.We go down together and the passenger (usually Adit} gets out and collects the medication while the driver(usually me) goes “round the block “. The GP has got very strict about one of my medications and won’t reissue unless I have a blood test every three months. They used to be happy if I said I had one booked but now need to see it. I don’t mind. Tony

it may not be the answer you want but if it is Windows 11 it is actually the correct answer. People who upgraded to Windows11 from earlier versions often have media player. When I bought my Dell I also purchased a copy of PowerDVD.There are free video players like VLC which I have used before.

When I was young Mum used to make a fairly traditional trifle with trifle sponges, jelly, custard and fruit. For some reason I recall tinned mandarin oranges. Then she discovered Birds Trifoe which was trifle in a box, just add liquids. Aditi was quite surprised I didn’t like trifle. She has made a few and they are rather good. When we were popular years ago and the family visited at Christmas, Aditi would always make,a trifle. Tonight we had a blackberry and apple crumble with ice cream. I don’t often eat dessert but it was a nice change.

I was being very subtle for the foodie fans.

I don’t know about her trifle but Suzette’s pancake wasn’t very good.

Out BT TV box migrated itself to EE TV all by itself. The lights on the box have changed colour and some of the menus have changed a bit. Still seem to be billed by BT. Oddly enough our mobile phone contracts were originally BT Cellnet but they sold their mobile business to O2. BT mobile then started up again and I have a sim only deal from them for the car.

It hasn’t snowed, sleeted or rained here. Clear blue sky, sunny but cold. It is 1C just now but the weather app states “feels like” -5C. I haven’t been out though. The solar panels,just need sunshine, not warmth so our storage batteries are charging up nicely. The production of marmalade planned for today was halted as the weighing scales needed a new battery. I found some in my coat pocket that I had intended to put in the car glovebox and hadn’t done so. Tony

It is a Shackleton. Maritime patrol aircraft. My friends father was a navigator on one.

Some of the ballet performances Aditi used to see Basildon at the Towngate Theatre didn’t have an orchestra.

The first infant school I attended in Somerset was right next to farmland so it wasn’t difficult. We then moved to Birmingham and there was a school trip to see farm animals and crops. That was in the 1950s. If most of the children had been asked they would have said milk came from a bottle.

My nephew works for Google and sent me this. https://google-research.github.io/seanet/audiopalm/examples/data/AudioPaLM_promo.mp4 You don’t have to watch all of it but it is one example of the sort of translation tools being developed. Thus one preserve,voice and tone elements too. At the moment the one my nephew is working on only translates into English but I expect the Star Trek universal translator isn’t far away.

The Officer Crabtree app surely must exist…

I think he has the wrong disc in the Enigma device.

I suppose they think that the local closures of M&S and Debenhams suggest the demise of underpants.

There is definitely one in Birmingham. Used to be famous for panto, ballet now I think.

The Rome Metro project had rather a lot of archaeology to process too.

We have just managed to have a picnic hamper (filled with food stuff) delivered to Switzerland. I believe it was in a carton. So we have sent a carton to a Canton. The actual delivery was two days from Ireland to Zurich but it had an extra overnight stop in a pickup locker in a Migros store while DHL sent my nephew a release code. Perhaps next year we will organise something with a Swiss supplier. Using an Irish business this time worked but I hink they were bit overwhelmed with Christmas orders, but it was convenient to be delayed until this week. Tony

Well as the driver licensing authority here seem quite content to provide access(is it for a fee ?) to some dubious car park companies I expect there will be similar arrangements with whomsoever is chasing foreign fines here .

I think I would prefer the French and German system where pollluting vehicles are forbidden entry or time restricted rather than the system in the UK when people polluting vehicles are permitted if you pay a fee.

It would appear that European authorities are also able to bill UK citizens.