Modern Technology

I'm a self-confessed technophile.  I love technology: most of the time.  Sometimes, of course, technology and I have a falling out.  We almost always kiss and make up though.  Which is what happened last week.  Ever since I arrived back in New Zealand my iPhone had refused to connect to the internet via the mobile 3G network.  I have had to use a wifi connection.  I only noticed the problem when I went to Dannevirke and had to use the mobile network because most places I've been before then have had wifi.  Various phone calls and visits to NZ Telecom produced no results nor did a trawl of the internet.  Then one day when I had an hour or so 'spare' I decided to take the bull by the horns and sort the problem.  I suddenly remembered that I had a 'special' number for NZ Telecom that I'd been given once before when I had a difficult problem.  It was in my contacts under NZ Telecom and labelled "Complex Problems".  I rang the number.  Immediate reply: no waiting in queues nor long multi-option menus to go through.  I explained the problem and was given an instant solution.  A young lady made an old man very happy.  I'm so easily pleased these days.

On a completely different matter why is it that drug companies supply tablets in packaging that is so difficult to open?  One of my tablets comes in a comparatively easy to open blister pack (as opening blister packs goes that is).  The latest packaging I have been supplied with it in is almost impossible to open without scissors or a razor-sharp hard set of finger-nails.  W H Y ?!?!

Returning to computers and phones and so on I admit to enjoying exploring new aspects of the operating systems of my Apple Macbook and finding and using new apps for my computer and my phone.  Having grown up with computers since I bought my first  Amstrad PC1512 in 1985 which was the first Amstrad introduced I'm fairly au fait with their operation despite their increasing complexity.  It's quite a thought that the first Sputnik that went into space (and many subsequent to that) had less computing power than the average non-smart phone has today.  The Amstrad had no memory to speak of and the programme software was loaded from one floppy disk and the programme data was stored on another.  Ah those were the days.  Long gone thank heaven. 

For those who are interested in smart phones but who find the technology daunting New Zealand Telecom does a wonderful set of short videos on it's catchy website Techinasec.  It's worth a look.

Thankful Thursday

Today I'm going to be trivial and materialistic.  OK I'm probably both of those things a lot of the time because my actions rarely match my ideals.   You will possibly remember (well you will if you read my Tuesday post) that I dropped my HTC smartphone down the loo.  Did you know that that is one of the most common reasons for cellphones being claimed for on insurance?  Well that's what I read.  Anyway after being in a box of rice for a few days and then in the heat of the sun for a day I took my courage in both hands last night, put the battery and SIM car back in and switched it on.  It worked.  The information on it was backed up so I wasn't worried about that but it does mean that the £500 replacement cost has been saved.

So today I'm truly thankful for the fact that my cellphone is alive and well.

Oops, Downs and Ups

This evening we are relaxing after the first four days of the Croquet Tournament.  Tomorrow is a rest day and then there's another four days.  However tomorrow is also the Club's Association Croquet afternoon so if the weather is a wonderful as today we'll probably be on the lawns for a little relaxation - gluttons for punishment.

The down and the oops was what happened to my HTC Smartphone.  I slipped it into my gilet pocket whilst I popped to the loo.  Yes, you've guessed it.  That was yesterday morning.  It's sitting in a bowl of rice at the moment.  In a few days I'll see if it has survived.  If not, I'm hoping that I'm insured for such accidents. 

Mike, friend from Gisborne who is staying with me during the tournament, won the Open on the first two days.  I won the Handicap over the last two days.  So between us we are celebrating this evening.

The cup that I won has been on the go for 52 years - since 1959.  It's possibly the ugliest trophy I've ever won but it's certainly the most physically impressive.

Arghhhhhhhh

A minor disaster has struck.  I topped up my NZ Telecom T-stick this evening but it's not working.  Apparently Telecom have never upgraded either of my sim cards (my Telecom phone and my T-stick) so I can't use them for 3G.  Odd seeing as the T-stick worked fine for 3 years until I cancelled it's contract a week ago.  Anyway the outcome at the moment is that I may have no internet access until I get back home.  I'm using a borrowed T-stick at the moment to write this.

My Phone's Male

My N Z Telecom mobile phone is male. How do I know? When it's being charged it can't carry out other functions (I was trying to delete some text messages, that's how I know).

No Phone

Apologies for the fact that today's posting will be late and that I've sent no emails either. The phone went off last night and was off until about midday today. I've been out since then. Mo's daughter, Fiona, who lives in Sydney, is due to arrive in Napier in about 40 minutes. I'll be on line again later.

It's Installed!

I arrived home yesterday afternoon and the first thing I noticed as I drove up the drive was the absence of a coil of black wire. Telecom had, true to their word, connected the phone. So my phone is now working!

Today's task is to get an internet provider.

Phone Update

Well I am one step nearer having a phone. Today (Tuesday) Doug the Digger Man sent a digger with the appropriate attachment and when I got home this evening the cable had been laid. Telecom have said that the line will be connected on Thursday afternoon. I'll then have to set up an internet account to get on line but it's all looking very helpful. Watch this space.

Phone. Progress?

Well the chap from the electricity provider came yesterday as promised and we now have orange lines right down the drive showing where the electricity cable is. For the most part it goes right down the centre of the drive but. of course, it has to cut across the verge where it meets the junction boxes at the side of the road. As the telephone cable has to be a minimum of 30cm from the electricity line (50 cm for comfort) it's going to be hand digging and rather tricky in places. It is not helped by the fact that the ground is so hard Martin bent his spade trying to get it into the ground. I'm not sure that a pick-axe round electricity cables is a good idea either. Ah well.

A Sore Bum? and a Birthday Party

A quiet day. A lovely day. A hot day. Pottered into town this morning and did my emails etc at Esquires Cafe where purchasing a coffee (and excellent coffee it is too) also purchases an hour on the Wi fi Internet. I take the Laptop. I'm becoming an hourly fixture there each day. Went home for lunch. Put the bike on the back of the car and went to Ahuriri. Rode round the coastal cycleway for nearly 6 kilometres past the centre of Napier. Turned round and rode back again. My first cycle since my return. I wasn't puffed and I had no sore bum. OK so it was only 12 k but that's a pretty good start and I can't wait to get back onto the saddle.


It was Wendy's Birthday. Wendy and the children came down whilst Martin cooked dinner. Then Martin came down. Then we all went up to the Big House and had dinner. Afterwards until well after the children's bedtime (I wonder what they are like this morning!) we partied. I shall not be so cruel as to put anyone else's photo on the Blog. Suffice to say that the photo of me was representative of the mood of the evening!

We thought that the 'phone problem had been sorted but life is never that simple. The ground is so hard that digging the trench manually is nigh on impossible (100 metres with a pickaxe - I don't think so). It's made more difficult because the electricity supply is there too and there has to be a separation of at least 300mm. The verge isn't wide enough. A solution has yet to be found. In the meantime......

Pot Pourri

So far my bike has remained in the garage because cycling with a bad cough is perhaps not advisable. Yesterday I brought it down to the Cottage where, over the next few days, I will give it a bit of a service and have a few trial runs. All I then have to do is decide on a strategy for getting my daily cycles in.

When I was coming out of the Library one day I passed the display of newly acquired titles. One leapt out at me. "The Rainhill Trials" The story of the "Greatest Contest of Industrial Britain" and the birth of commercial rail . Of course I had to read a book which dealt with events so close to my birthplace. I'm glad, so far, that I picked it up. And with Mark's and CJ's Blogs both mentioning locomotives recently I thought that I, too, would give them a mention.

We seem to be no nearer having the trench dug so that the phoneline can be laid and the phone connected.

Cuculus non facit monacum

And neither does the fact that for the second day running I am sitting in bed with my cup of Green Tea mean that this is a habit. I'm sorry. That has to be one of the worst punic analogies ever. (Cuculus non facit monacum = a coul does not a monk make. I hope I have the spelling correct. If I don't CJ will soon post a comment correcting me). Please put it down to the state of my health.

It is another beautiful morning with no wind. Hopefully there will be no wind on the Croquet lawns either. They are nearer the sea and get the cold winds off it.

So I shall sit here and compose Blog postings and emails until the spirit moves me and I go and get a shower.

As I still don't have a phoneline in the Cottage this will not get sent until after Croquet and you (with the probably exception of CJ) will almost certainly all be in bed and, hopefully, asleep.