Peacock Computers – derrickjknight

Another Warm Sunny Day

Because we had been dilatory in dumping the garden refuse, Martin, while waiting for the spent compost bags, has been piling the green waste wherever he can until today, when he began

collecting up some rather rich smelling material.

In the meantime, I wandered around the garden on another fine, sunny, day and photographed this gallery.

Later, despite having a plethora of plants seeking permanent positions into which to be squeezed, Jackie, to quote her, had been “allowed out unsupervised to escape to Otter Nurseries and come back with three more” for which Martin managed to find room in the already packed Palm Bed.

At the end of the afternoon Max from Peacock Computers visited to make some adjustments to the settings of our telephone system. We ended up having a most convivial conversation.

This evening we dined on our usual three prawn preparations and Jackie’s mushroom and onion rice with the addition of leftover sweet and sour chicken and pancake roll from our last Royal Chinese Takeaway with which I drank more of The Reprobates.

Internet Recovered

After Nick from Peacock Computers recovered our internet configuration this morning I was able to post https://derrickjknight.com/2024/04/03/no-internet/ planned for yesterday.

I spent much of the rest of the day reading more of A Passage to India.

Becky and Ian retuned home to Southbourne at lunchtime and therefore did not partake of our Ashley’s fish, chips, onion rings, mushy peas, pickled onions, and curry sauce this evening, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Fleurie.

Printer Troubleshooting

I guess we have all experienced visiting a doctor when feeling unwell only to find we are miraculously improved when we start to recount our symptoms. I discovered this morning that this can also work with computer printing problems.

Just before Christmas 2023 my Epson SureColor P600 suddenly failed to produce anything but sure colour. I had followed all the suggested procedures for discovering the problem and printing images which did not appear to have been through a mud bath. James began by testing the print head nozzles. This was the first move I had made, with the same result, namely that there was nothing wrong with them.

We then made some test prints of the image above which produced the correct colours.

James also discussed the problems with loss of pictures following the change of site. This seems to be what he called broken links. He will continue working on this manually with the aid of an app which will automatically scan all my existing posts to find the affected ones. He is also going to draft a more user friendly page to ease access to archives and categories.

On another dreary wet afternoon I posted:

The Song Of Triumphant Love

This evening we all dined on roast pork, boiled potatoes, carrots, Bramley apple sauce, and meaty gravy, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Languedoc-Roussillon.

Rapid-Fire Heavy Showers

This morning I converted three more posts from Classic to Block edits. These were:

Wagons Ho!

Enough To Patch A Dutchman’s Trousers

The Car Wreck

I gave the first of these a different header picture;

Wayback Machine was useful for the second. The correct pictures were all in my iMac Photos on the relevant date, but since they were missing in the post I didn’t know which of those I had published. Wayback provided the answer. One image was irrelevant, so I deleted it.

I was encouraged by a phone call from James of Peacock Computers saying that he and Owen are continuing to work on some of the issues and tackling the posts from the most recent backwards, whereas I am working forwards from the older ones. This means we are quite well coordinated.

This afternoon I ventured out on a dead heading session but was

soon driven in by the first of a series of rapid-fire heavy showers, spattering patio paving and windowpanes with explosive precipitation.

I read some of Lawrence Durrell’s novel Justine which I had begun a few days ago, then nipped out during a moderation of the deluge to finish the gardening task.

Between periods of darkening cloud sunlight buffed the surface of the

dripping plant pearls, with enough respite for me to capture them with my camera. As usual, each image in the gallery bears a title.

Within seconds after each deluge the brooding skies would change to cloud-scudded cerulean blue.

This evening we all dined on Jackie’s classic cottage pie; firm carrots and Brussel’s sprouts with which she drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Bardolino.

I Will Have Known Three

As our nation and the rest of the world reacts to the death of Queen Elizabeth II yesterday afternoon I am prompted to publish this link to

https://derrickjknight.com/2021/09/06/a-knights-tale-28-three-monarchs-in-quick-succession/

which tells of my headmistress bringing the news of the death of King George VI; the story of how he ascended the throne; and of 10 year old me viewing Queen Elizabeth’s coronation on television.

Three generations of UK residents have never known any other ruler.

With the accession of King Charles the Third I will have known three.

As regular readers will know, Peacock Computers are in the process of taking over the management of my WordPress account. They are experiencing similar difficulties in their communication with the blogging site’s Operator as I had with the Happiness Engineers.

The linked post above has lost one of my photographs. Many are missing from other posts. I really hope this will be temporary. We will see.

Richard of Kitchen Makers visited this morning to fix a leak in out kitchen tap.

This afternoon Jackie drove me to Whites in New Milton to collect dry cleaning – which seemed a bit incongruous on such a wet day.

This evening we dined on salt and pepper and tempura prawn preparations with stir fried vegetables and wild rice accompanied by Peroni in Jackie’s case, and more of the Bordeaux in mine. The young family will eat later.

Decorations Begin

This morning Nick Hayter made a start on decorating the last of the rooms in the house after the Kitchen Makers refurbishment.

He began with the entrance hall and the vestibule; his usual thorough preparation of the surfaces followed moving furniture about whilst retaining pieces for our access where possible. My computer desk in particular was left pulled forward from the wall so Nick could work behind it.

Unfortunately in the process Nick or I between us managed to disconnect us from the internet.

This required a call to Peacock Computers and a visit from Max this afternoon.

Be sure to admire his haircut obtained because he knew a visit to me meant he would be appearing on tonight’s blog post.

Here the two men discuss the problem.

This evening we dined on roast lamb; crisp Yorkshire pudding; boiled potatoes; crunchy carrots; firm Brussels sprouts; mint sauce, redcurrant jelly; and meaty gravy, with which Jackie drank Hofflegen, Flo drank Kombucha, and I drank more of the Barolo. Dessert was strawberries and ice cream.

A Flaw In The Printing

This morning I completed the addressing of the last of the cards for posting.

After lunch I scanned the next six of Charles Keeping’s marvellous illustrations to my Folio Society edition of ‘Dombey and Son’.

‘He caught her to his heart’

‘ ‘I beg your pardon, ‘ interposes Cousin Feenix’

‘ ‘Let go, will you? What are you doing of?’ ‘

‘She wound her wild black hair around her hand’

The drawing of ‘She surveyed him with a haughty contempt and disgust’, shows the gentleman’s unusually sheathed teeth indicating his discomfort;

and, in the foreground of ‘Away, at a gallop, over the black landscape’ the teeth display alarm instead of the usual broad grin.

Because of a flaw in the printing of this page, I have not included the text with the image which is too good to omit.

Max, of Peacock Computers, visited this afternoon to troubleshoot the new landline, and to tidy up the cable spaghetti of the improved broadband system.

Afterwards we posted the cards and bought bread and tomatoes at Everton Post Office.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s substantial chicken and vegetable stewp and fresh crusty bread and butter, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Pomerol.

Really Faster Broadband

A Kelly telephone engineer visited at 7.50 a.m. this morning to install the new faster Broadband. Max of Peacock Computers had not been told, and, of course, wasn’t likely to be available at that time. I was forced to dash upstairs in my dressing gown and don some clothes.

The plan had been that Max would meet the engineer at the house with the new router with which to set up our service. Peacock’s man phoned the supplier at lunchtime when he learned what had happened. Less than an hour later he arrived with the router and worked his magic.

First he activated the Broadband and checked that all was well.

Then he synchronised the TV and the laptops.

In the meantime, Jackie cleared more of the wisteria and

trimmed Paul’s Scarlet rose.

I had moved the patio chairs to their winter quarters between our house and the fence shared with North Breeze.

All today’s photographs uploaded like a dream.

This gave me the confidence to scan another five of Charles Keeping’s inimitable illustrations to ‘Dombey and Son’.

The passive desolation of disuse was everywhere silently manifest’

‘Florence wept long and bitterly’

‘The shutters were not yet taken down’

‘The major wafted a kiss to Cleopatra’

‘An old, worn, yellow, nodding woman, huddled up, like a slovenly bundle’

Although these pages uploaded swiftly and smoothly, I struggled to entitle the images. I am assuming that that remains a WordPress glitch.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s very savoury rice topped with a fluffy omelette; and two preparations of prawns, namely hot and spicy and tempura. The Culinary Queen drank more of the Chardonnay while I drank more of the Douro.

Keeping, Garden, Peacock, Wardrobe

This is the progress Richard and Ross had made on the bedroom wardrobe before they finished last night. I had been unable to add it to yesterday’s post, but did so this morning.

Later I scanned six more of Charles Keeping’s illustrations to ‘Dombey and Son’.

‘Mr Carker the manager’ will be instantly recognisable when he next appears.

‘Florence came and sat by his side’ and

‘Sister and brother wound their arms around each other’ give Mr Keeping opportunities to use flowing folds to indicate their closeness.

‘A vista to the railway world beyond’ demonstrates Keeping’s skill with perspective.

‘Mr Carker, showing all his teeth’

‘Florence smoothed his coarse back with her little delicate hand’

This was interrupted by a session with Max of Peacock Computers in which he remotely controlled my iMac in order to rectify a problem with my BT ID and password being rejected. This is apparently not an unusual situation resulting in lack of access to e-mails.

I then plucked up courage to wander round the garden which has received scarcely any tidying up since the recent storms which brought down the wisteria arbour. I was pleasantly surprised at how well she was looking.

These are a random selection of photographs of how I found it. Each is labelled in the gallery.

The Kitchen Makers gents had reached this stage of the wardrobe assembly before we left them this afternoon to drive to Elizabeth’s home at Pilley to complete further administration relating to Mum’s estate.

By the end of the day the wardrobe was almost finished. The more accurate colours feature in the penultimate gallery.

This evening we dined on smoked haddock; creamy mashed potatoes; tangy cauliflower cheese; firm carrots and broccoli; tender spinach and green beens, with which we both drank Jurancon white wine 2019.

Preparing For Winter

Today was one of administration spent on Mum’s estate; e-mailing photographs; and Max’s home visit from Peacock Computers.

The photographs were for a WordPress interview coming up soon.

I was able to access the Probate Forms on line and actually begin to fill them in. Some sections offered yes or no choices with boxes to be clicked. The very first of these wouldn’t work. Longer boxes required the addition of dates. When these had been typed in the spaces were split into boxes for the individual numbers.

Let’s start with Mum’s date of birth. This was 2nd October 1922. I typed 2.10.1922. This was translated to 2. 10 .1. So I typed 02101922. That worked.

I can’t be bothered to list other problems.

I was therefore most relieved when Max arrived early for his appointment, and I could abandon this task.

This pleasant young man, who fortunately, has the same model of iMac as mine checked everything and established that the core problem is probably the Broadband uploading speed. The downloading, however, is far quicker than he would have expected. I had not realised this difference when I checked the speed myself. When I have problems in transferring from iPhoto to WP I am probably being timed out.

Max has shown me how to transfer photographs through Downloads rather than the Desktop, and is going to investigate the current availability of fast fibre in our area which was not available when we joined EE Mobile.

Before setting out on the Probate fiasco, because we had noticed the expected overnight heavy winds picking up, we began once more to carry out protective efforts in the garden.

Jackie had laid down the patio chairs before the last gale and we had left them lying. This picture shows that the parasol has been removed from its base. Today we removed all three garden parasols and stored them in the orange shed.

After clearing pigeon droppings the Head Gardener covered wooden chairs and benches for the winter. Mind you, today was warm enough for us to work in shirt sleeves.