Progress on the computer front has ground to a halt. Yesterday’s senior advisor had undertaken to telephone me to enquire about my reloading of Sierra.
He phoned just before lunch. When I told him I had managed to load one picture, very slowly, he decided I should insert an external hard drive onto which the entire contents of my iMac should be downloaded; and I didn’t take in what else; I told him I didn’t own an external gadget and lived too far away from a source to buy one today. ‘Don’t phone me, I’ll phone you’ was the essence of my additional phrasing. No way was I going to spend more hours on the phone on something that was likely to be beyond me.
What I didn’t know when I spoke to him was that I would be unable to load any more pictures, even at the rate of Aesop’s tortoise. When I discovered this I called a Peacock. Peacock Computers of Lymington, that is. Their James is to visit in an ambulance tomorrow, and take Mac off to hospital.
It seems it needs a heart transplant, in that the hard drive is likely to be on the blink. This was confirmed when I could send no more than five pictures by e-mail to my Windows laptop, and, later not even turn it off. Sometimes you need a good surgeon.
Not to worry. I could, after all, put the photos directly into the laptop from the cameras. Couldn’t I?
Well, no. You see, when you upload photos onto your computer, you have an option to delete them from the camera. That is what I always do. So they, like maggots, are trapped inside the Apple. Stymied.
At least I could add the e-mailed pictures. Ah, but. Hopefully coincidentally, the ‘attachment display settings’ on the sidebar in WordPress has disappeared. This means I can only put small or ‘standard’ pictures on, and they can’t be enlarged. I have sent a query to WordPress Happiness Engineers. It is a bit worrying that there is an unresolved forum thread about this problem.
Here’s one I made earlier, in which Louisa holds Emily in one of the pictures I sent to my granddaughter two days ago. That will have to suffice for today, and act as a further taster for the earlier post.
This evening we dined on lamb and mint sausages, mashed potato, and crunchy carrots and runner beans; followed by Normandy apple tart and evap. I drank Collin-Bourriset Fleurie 2015.
You are beginning to make me very happy that I don’t have an Apple!!
Thanks, GP. I have faith in Peacocks
Hope you get it all fixed soon Derrick 🙂
Thanks very much, Rekha
That is a beautiful photograph of Mother and child.
Thank you, John
I agree – such love in her eyes. . .
Actually it’s Auntie and niece – My daughter Louisa and granddaughter Emily 🙂
When I eventually get all the pictures into ‘No Resolution’ post I’ll provide a link to it, and all will become clear.
Lovely photo!
Thanks, Lynn
Hang in there, Derrick. That’s a lovely photo of Louisa and Emilly.
Many thanks, Cynthia. All will come right.
Hang in there Derrick, hopefully it all will be worked out soon. 🙂
I’m sure it will, Terry. Thanks a lot
Lovely photo. The weather is becoming more favourable to the type of food you enjoyed this evening. One of the pleasures of autumn.
Many thanks, Oglach
I feel for you. I have had internet problems since I have started travelling 🙂
Thanks, Sylvie. And me for you
At least you had a nice dinner.
Thanks, Mary 🙂
You can also take photographs of the photographs.
🙂
Oh I feel for you. These wretched computers can cause so much angst, can’t they? And why we are suddenly supposed to be IT experts just because we own one I can’t imagine. I don’t think Renault would expect to talk me through servicing my own car over the phone so why do Apple? BT are as bad but then they do charge a fortune for a call out.
So true, Jenny. Many thanks
Repeat after me (and Sister Julietta of Norwich) All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well. I’m amazed at your fortitude in continuing to post, by the way. I’d be lying in a darkened room fanning myself gently with the dog!
Many thanks, Osyth. It’s all part of life’s rich pattern 🙂
Lovely photo, Derrick!
Thank you, Sofia
Computers! To paraphrase Mae West, when they’re good, they’re very, very, good; but when they’re bad, they’re . . . (insert swear word of choice). With the switch over from copper to fibre we need to update our emergency call systems in the village where I live. We had a presentation last night, where the company kept wanting to bang on about their “service” (i.e. the nurses who handle the emergency) trying to dismiss the technology. Eventually we had to make it clear we were only there to understand that blessed technology – what box? where does it plug in? how do we make the call? etc etc etc. That’s two hours of my life I’ll never get back. I got the most sense from a five minute chat with his baby-faced offsider at the end of the evening!
Thanks a lot, Gwen. My philosophy is it a wonder they work at all – I’m thankful for that 🙂
Agreed. Just how do they work? It’s like magic.
I’m forming an opinion that goes something along the lines of start budgeting for a new computer the moment one walks out of the store with a new computer………… they seem to have an increasingly short life span!
Thanks, Pauline. You are not far wrong
I know it’s frustrating, but try not to get too worked up about it, Derrick. We don’t want you to have a relapse and get sick again.
Beautiful photo! That was all this post needed.
Thanks a lot, Jill
Argh. The horrors of modern living. On a different note, what is “evap”?
“Evap.” is short for “evaporated milk”, a thickened version of milk, usually from a tin. It’s used for puddings/desserts and increasingly as a substitute cream (possibly due to lower fat? I don’t know. Some people just prefer the flavour).
Ah! Yes, I’m familiar with evaporated milk. I’d just never heard it referred to as evap which has a vague menacing, alien military sound to it as though one might suffer an evap during an alien invasion.
Thanks, Susanne. Paul has dealt with this question more than adequately
I might be able to lend you an external hard-drive on Thursday. I think it’s platform-independent, so just plugs in to PC or a Mac.
Thanks, Paul. The computer is being collected tomorrow
Derrick – I know that frustration of those simple clicks not working it the way we have come to expect. I think my blood pressure rises immediately (and I am quite the calm person). I am thankful to have my son – a computer major in college. He rolls his eyes at me a bit (not really – but I can feel it) and then fixes everything in 4 minutes.
Thanks, Jodie. Is he available on loan? 🙂
I keep telling him he could open a business – every person over 40 that I know would be a lot less frustrated if he worked on their gear.
Absolutely
So frustrating for you, Derrick, especially after several days of this!
The one photo you have here though is beautiful.
Many thanks, Merril. Just fished you out of the spam
My comments to Jane Dougherty’s posts went to spam, too. I wonder why?
You are not alone
I’m so sorry you’re having all this trouble, Derrick. First you were sick and now your technology. The photo you have up is beautiful anyway. What is Collin-Bourriset Fleurie 2015?
Do you know Fleurie? It’s a French wine which I would thoroughly recommend. It is from one of the half dozen or so villages in the Beaujolais region which each produce their own wine. C-B is the producer. Thanks for your commiserations – all troubles sent to remind us how lucky we are most of the time
I know apple tart but what in the name of everything culinary is “evap”???
Paul has answered this well, Brian. It is evaporated milk used as a substitute for cream. Thank you for the reading and comment.
This sounds so matter of fact in your summarizing but I think this must be frustrating you horribly, Derrick! I am very sorry for your plight.
The photo is a beautiful one of Emily being held by Louisa. I keep forgetting to share that my Great Aunt Louisa was an artist who rode all around a New England town on a bicycle during summers, drawing and painting, her materials in her baskets on both sides of the back tire. Her sister, Harriet became quite talented, doing the same thing. I love the name Louisa.
Many thanks, Robin. Any chance of a post on your Great Aunt Louisa?
You are dauntless–admirable 🙂 Best wishes on that. Love the picture, too.
Many thanks, Cynthia G
I think most of our computers are on the way out, sadly. Good luck with your Apple!
Thanks Weekly. And good luck to you
Great post…..lovely pic
Thank you, Sonali
you have my sympathy! We rely on computers so much and when they go wrong we have no idea what to do – they may as well be magic. I dislike upgrading anything because there always seems to be a problem and I lose something or something works less well than when I started. I really don’t know how people manage when they do everything on their phones and rely on them to turn the oven on or change the heating while they are on the tube commuting home when the rest of us have problems downloading photos through a cable or from a card stuck in the side of the computer. We need to contact the aliens who left their technology in area 51 and ask for a manual!
Very many thanks, Geoff
Of course, we DON’T know that the people turning on their oven / activating their central heating from the Tube don’t “come home to a real fire”, or find the heating thermostat set to Frigid.
ah me our new dependencies.. do you use a dropbox or similar to house your pictures rather than just trust to the Mac?
Thanks, Geoff. No – but they are in Cloud?
I assume you can access the cloud on your laptop? Just wondering if so why you need to send them by email
Cos I’ve never used Cloud and dunno how. And I’m a good bit older than you, my son 🙂
Well I use Dropbox which is very easy and stores all my photos and is accessible across all platforms. If you can free up your Mac I heartily recommend it!
I’ll discuss with technician when he brings Mac back. Thanks, Geoff
If so can access the cloud on your laptop
Ah! Thanks, Geoff
I use Dropbox, too. Seems to be minimal trouble. You may take so many pix you’d need a paid account (I think you’re given about 2.5/3GB, but you can earn more unpaid-for space by recommending its use to others. If all your regulars would kindly download DB to their computers (not even sure they have to USE it!) that should solve all your problems. I think you get 0.25 or 0.5 GB per take-up).
And thanks to you, Paul
Beautiful photo. I have been stymied by Apple technology, temporarily, but have always endured!
You are good at enduring, Ann. Thank you
Hope it’s going to be an out-patient procedure. 🙂
Thanks, Amy. Mac has gone to a ward
At least you had a good dinner.
I’m sorry to hear about your computer problems. I hope they got sorted out soon. At least the photograph of Louisa and Emily is a great one.
Thanks a lot, Bun
I hope your problem gets solved soon!! My laptop is dead and I hadn’t taken proper backups….. we trust these devices too muchh!!
Lovely picture!! Very beautiful 🙂
Many thanks, once more, Mithai
You are welcome! 🙂
Sometimes computers cause more problems than they solve! I hope Mac’s surgery goes well and all your problems are sorted out. 🙂
Thanks very much, Louise
That photo is just delightful.
Thank you, Alex
Such a darling picture.
I left Mac for Windows and never looked back. Hope your problem is resolved by now.
Another few days, Inese. Thank you