Finding peace when you're scared...

Hi Karen.

Had a nice time at my parents. Went with my mum to the local pub for a couple of drinks. It's a really nice place and they do excellent food: we took away some fish and chips and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Must go to bed now...

Goodnight :p

Hi Karen. Yeah, fish and chips done well is an awesome dish.

I finally ordered my new laptop! The newest Dell XPS 13 with an i7 processor, 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD :D The only thing I decided *not* to go for in the end was a 4K display with a touchscreen. Teensy bit disappointed about not having a touchscreen, but other than that I don't think 4K is worth the extra money. It reduces battery life and performance by quite a bit and on a 13* screen you'd have to have superman vision to notice the extra pixels.

Ordered quite a lot of other stuff on Amazon. Most of it small beer, such as Tepe brushes (I need to use a lot of those unfortunately), but looking forward to the new table lamp and wedge pillow. The pillow was quite expensive but I'm hoping it's worth it and that it will help with my sinus congestion and neck/shoulder pain. I remember sleeping on a raised bed in hospital and preferring it: I also never had an issue with nasal congestion while I was in hospital.

So yeah, I was feel pretty rubbish earlier on, but I'm looking forward to my new laptop now :p

Hey Karen.

Just popping by - I'm off to bed after this >_>.

I'm not sure. A few days I think. Soon I hope!

Amazon tried to deliver a load of stuff on Sunday, which was really annoying as I was at my parents' house and missed it - I missed a delivery today as well. I thought they didn't deliver on a Sunday. Also it arrived so quick. Honestly thought I'd be okay until Tuesday or Wednesday as regards deliveries.

Next time I'm going to use an Amazon PO box because this is doing my head in. Dunno why Amazon can't do what supermarkets do and give you hourly delivery slots to choose.

Anyway goodnight! Gonna have a bedtime cup of tea in bed :p

Well guys I've got my new laptop and it's beautiful D:

Here's a photo of it next to my old laptop. It's taken at night and so the light isn't the best, but you get the general idea - and a rare opportunity to see my living room ;p I will get a better background for the new laptop - I haven't finished setting it up and that is one of the default photos.

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In other news I had my PIP assessment on Tuesday. It was as gruelling and as unfun as you might expect. So fortunate my friend was there because if I had been on my own, it would have been far worse. Plus she knows what sort of information to request and how to take notes. I think it went okay, but to be honest it's impossible to tell until you get the decision. Which takes about 6 weeks so I'm trying to put it out of my mind for now.

Next up on my "To Dread" list is a flexible sigmoidoscopy with a possible balloon dilation on the 4th April - I got my MoviPrep through the post today <_<. The last two flex sigs have been excruciatingly painful and I'm not expecting this one to buck the trend, although I would be very happy if it did. Not had a balloon dilation before so not sure what to expect there. Other than more pain presumably.

Meanwhile, the UK continues its inexorable descent towards failed state status. Tonight the EU granted us an unconditional extension until the 12th April and a conditional one until the 22nd May if May's deal passes next week. Honestly, I think the EU are just desperately hoping that we will come to our senses - they don't want a failed state on their doorstep with all the knock-on effects of a disastrous crash out.

As for Theresa May, she is delusional, weak and dangerous. She made a speech yesterday where she blamed MPs for her predicament and told us, her subjects, that only *she* understood our pain and our frustrations. A leader with no majority, no authority and no support for her deal (from MPs or the general public) is acting like she has the divine right of kings. Meanwhile, Twitter sounded surprised that she openly came out in favour of no deal to no Brexit: gaiz, if you had listened to me, I've been saying that for months.

There is a lot of remainer fervour going around at the moment, triggered in part by May's speech. I think there is finally real anger in the air but too little, too late to make any difference in my opinion. Brexit is a right wing coup and these are the last days of the takeover. Hard to see what can stop it now.

Thanks Karen. That's very kind of you.

There's another Brexit march tomorrow, but sadly I won't be going to this one My brother isn't here and my mum doesn't want to go, and I'm not going on my own. I don't suppose it will change anything, but I do hope a massive amount of people show up anyway. There's also a petition to revoke Article 50 which has got 4 million signatures now :D Again I doubt it will change anything, but it's nice seeing so many remainers making their voices heard. It's been nothing but leave, leave, leave for the past 3 years (aside from the two previous marches, which the media largely ignored) and politicians acting as though 100% of the population voted leave, when it wasn't even close to half.

Right, I've got to get on with backing up my files, bookmarks etc. I got sidetracked by Geometry Dash and a particularly annoying level <_<.

Weather is mild here. We barely had a winter really.

Anyway, goodnight :p

Obviously you got all of our bad weather ;p Seriously, last year we had a really cold snap named 'Beast from the East' in late February and early March. Heavy snowfall everywhere. And the canal near to me froze solid for several days (poor ducks). It was followed by the hottest, driest summer since 1976 though. Not amazingly looking forward to a repeat of last summer - every blade of grass was yellow for months. The only place which wasn't utterly parched was my gardening place, but that was carefully watered every day.

There was over a million marchers today! More than last time definitely. They had a nice day for it too, sunny and, for the time of year, warm. Pity my brother wasn't here, as I think the three of us probably would have gone up to London again. Anyway, once again a million remainers manage to march with zero trouble or violence whilst the Leave side can't gather 50 people together without somebody causing aggro or inciting violence with fake heads on spikes, or whatever. I'm not saying all Leave voters are aggressive but the miniscule few who can be bothered to attend pro-Brexit gatherings deffo have a tendency that way.

I pay attention to politics now as well. I'd much rather go back to it being boring and irrelevant :-(

I'm getting on well with the new laptop. It's a pleasure to type on and the screen is a joy to behold. I compared the same picture on my old and new laptop - I expected it to be brighter and more vivid on the new laptop, but what surprised me were seeing new colours that I didn't even know were there before. There's just a couple of teething problems, like an occasionally temperamental power button that refuses to turn on. It's not a power problem (there's power there, as evidence by the light), so it's probably the machine skulking or something. I'll figure it out eventually - I'm patient like that.

Another slight problem is that the ports are too advanced for me - I wish they had put in one old-fashioned USB-A port. There is an adaptor, but it's a tad clunky, so I'm going to look for a new mouse compatible with the new ports. Fortunately in the meantime the touchpad is pretty good.

Had a flare-up of uveitis in my right eye yesterday. Tried the weaker steroid drops at first, but it just wasn't knocking it on the head, so I went back to the Maxidex. I think it has almost gone now, but I hope it doesn't come back overnight - sometimes it does, because I can't put in any drops whilst I am sleeping obviously.

I used to have a desktop computer but I don't really need both a desktop and a laptop. I would only get a desktop now if I wanted to do serious PC gaming. Which is pretty unlikely, as I've always been a console gamer and will probably pick up a PS4 or Switch later this year if I can tear myself away from Geometry Dash for long enough.

Nearly time for bed now. Goodnight :p

Went over to my mum's friend's house today. Had a nice time, though I collected another ding on my car - the neighbours managed to hit it backing out of their drive. To be honest, I was relieved it was only a small dent as I was envisioning something far worse when I heard that my car had been hit! The woman was so nice and apologetic about it: she gave me her name and phone number and said she would pay to get it fixed. As it so happens I'm taking it to the garage on Tuesday for a service, so I'll ask them about it - they are honest and I trust them not to rip me off. One advantage of having an 18 year old tin bucket is that you don't really get het up about another scratch or two.

I've got a Kindle Voyage which I like, although I'm still not reading as much as I should <_<. Part of that is because I get depressed by how bad my eyesight has become when I try reading in bed - it's so blurry. Find it easier now to take off my glasses and hold the phone/book/kindle right up to my face. But with a paper book that's really uncomfortable. Even with the kindle it's uncomfortable. Yes, I need an eyesight test but I don't think there's much point in getting a new pair of glasses until I've had the cataracts done. Which will *hopefully* be early summer but who knows.

I've got an old Kindle Keyboard you could have if you wanted. The disadvantage is it's so old it doesn't even have a backlight. The advantage is it's so tough it would probably outlast humans in a nuclear war. Although there would be a slight lack of electricity problem...

I think I've cracked the power problem with my laptop. It occurred to me the problem could lie with Windows 10 and indeed that is what it was - had to sort out the power settings. God only knows what the power settings on my old Windows 7 laptop were - it went 4 years without any Windows updates. (As far as I know, I never got a single virus during that time.) Anyway, I was quite put out by literally not being able to switch on a computer.

Anyway I'm off to bed now. It's too late for me to do any reading or browsing - just gonna try to go straight to sleep.

Goodnight Karen. Hugs back >.>

Hi Karen. Ah, you meant a Kindle tablet, not e-reader. I've got a Hudl 2 which I don't use anymore. It was a fantastic budget tablet, but Tesco inexplicably stopped selling it a few years ago, even though it was really popular. At the same time they also stopped supporting it, so without any updates it gradually became slower and laggier to use.

The problem with the power button came back, but now I think I really have cracked it - touchwood! I tried a simple fix that was so simple I didn't think it would work - disabling the fast startup in the change power button settings. It must have been interfering with sleep mode, which seems to be working as it should now. At any rate I'm glad it's not a physical fault with the laptop and I don't have to send it back, which would have been a bit of a nightmare.

I skipped Windows 8 altogether. Thus Windows 10 is deffo bit of a learning curve for me, more than I thought it would be tbh. For example I downloaded a Springtime Art theme pack. So far so good, but I wanted to select just one picture from it. That probably would have been laughably simple in Windows 7 but eventually I had to google where themes were stored - the folder was buried so deep into the system you would have thought it was a top secret file that Microsoft didn't want anyone to find.

I was slightly surprised by how calm I was, but I think it was partly because I was expecting something much worse and was kind of relieved to find out that my car wasn't a writeoff. Also, it's such an old car I'm not much bothered what it looks like anymore, as long as it's functional.

Anyway, I'd better go to bed now as I've got to get up early tomorrow to take my car in for a service. Hopefully they can pull out the dent at the same time.

Goodnight Karen. Take care >_>

It's a pity I don't live near you, as I'd eat your brownies and cookies :D

Going to bed earlier than normal. Had to be up by 9am to take the car in for a service then I had to spend literally hours in Tring - well I could have gone back home I suppose, but I didn't realise they'd be so long. Anyway I didn't feel like dealing with buses, so I went to two cafes and had three coffees. As for the dent they couldn't fix it completely but it doesn't look that bad: if it was me who had done it, no way I'd pay £250-300 to get it repaired, so I'll probably just leave it. I don't think the couple would even give me any grief about paying - the woman was insistent she would pay whatever it cost to fix it - but honestly for such an old car I would feel like I was mugging them off. Especially as I'm half thinking about getting a new (2nd hand) car.

I quite enjoy messing about with computers - I'm even wondering if there's any way I could turn a mild interest into a paid job but I have no idea where to start and nobody to ask. I would also have to make a choice between putting my savings towards a new car or a qualification: I suppose I could do both, but I want to leave some left over for a rainy day.

As for forgetting stuff I do that all the time - you are not alone. But I think it helps to be interested and if you are not, then it's 10x harder to learn. My mum can do the things she's interested in on her tablet - watch catch-up TV, browse a few websites - but anything beyond that and she gets lost.

Anyway, I was pathetically excited when I finally managed to pair my phone to my laptop - the pairing kept on failing. It basically means that messages, photos, etc. which appear on my phone will also appear automatically on my laptop without the need for cables, or whatever - I'm lazy, so anything which saves me a few seconds of work is good. I can even 'mirror' my phone screen on the laptop and operate it remotely with a mouse - that actually could be good for apps which are easier to see or use on a bigger screen.

What sort of music do you like? I don't really listen to new music anymore apart from what's on the radio when I'm driving. In fact I don't really listen to music anymore at all if I'm honest I *used* to, but when I stopped buying CDs I also stopped trying to discover new albums. I could afford a Spotify subscription now though.

Oops it's already later than I meant to go - goodnight Karen :p

I used to listen to indie and rock music mostly, but I also liked some pop music from the 60s and 70s. Actually, as I was a 90s child, I also liked some dance and electronica - god it has been so long since I have been to a rave.

Yeah, you do have to be careful with downloading stuff. Kids are the worst for that - my mum's friend's grandson used to put so much crap on her tablet and laptop, which I would try and clear up. Me, I just mostly download images and the occasional video or game from the Playstore - sometimes I pay a few quid to get rid of the ads, but only for a game that I will keep. Just can't stand video ads or autoplaying videos in general - I've blocked them on my browser.

Luna sounds lovely. But yeah, a big dog is harder work in some ways. My aunt and uncle got a male Boxer from a Boxer rescue place. Really sweet natured dog, but full of boundless energy and very strong: he pulled my frail uncle over on the leash one day. After my uncle died my aunt decided she couldn't cope with the dog and took him back to the Boxer rescue place. Luckily there was a happy ending in this particular case and the dog got rehoused with a new owner who he was happy with.

Speaking of dogs, once I've got the flexible sigmoidoscopy out of the way next week I'm going to resume my search for a dog. Hopefully now it's early spring there will be more litters on the way. Weather is getting warmer too. And the ducks have hatched at the pond at my gardening place - all 13 of them! Here is a photo of one of them, bless its little duck feet:

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Okay I'm tired, it's late and I'm going to bed now. Going out for lunch tomorrow for my dad's birthday (which was actually today, but the meal is tomorrow). Bit strange to think it was Brexit day tomorrow, but that's been deferred until the 12th April now. I am just astonished we have reached the 29th March without still having a clue what's going to happen.

Goodnight Karen. Take care :p

I hope you guys have a good birthday meal. The birthdays seem to come faster and faster every year.

Thanks for sharing the pic of the duckling. There is still so much snow here but it is melting. Soon I will be able to go to the river and see stuff like that. It was real nice to see.

I hope to get out today as it is going to be nice. Snow and rain this weekend. Yuck... But I will enjoy today while I can.

I use to get sucked into down loading stuff. Yes, I would end up with all kinds of ads and eventually a virus I think. Though this company I was taking it to was found out to be putting viruses on peoples computers so they would bring them back to clean them up. They may have done that to me too. I stay far away from downloads now unless it is Microsoft or something in that order. I use to have bookworm game, I loved it. But I don't know if it even exists now. It was fun to play.

I hope that you have a good day Miranda. I hope you are enjoying your new laptop.

Hi Jamie!!!

Hugs, Karen...

I am glad you enjoyed dinner. That chocolate brownie topped it off I bet. Yum...

If you want to email me about what happened you are welcome to. It is up to you.

Looks sunny here today, but it is going to be colder. I just want summer. I am sick of cold weather and snow. The snow is taking so long to leave. I wish I was rich so I could go south for the winter and spend summers here. But I am not... Some day maybe... You never know...

Have you been doing any painting lately? I haven't, but thought maybe you had.

Our clocks went forward a week or so ago. They are talking about keeping it that way. We'll see. It kind of gives me something to look forward to when time changes. Oh well.

I hope you have a good day today. Take care MIranda. Hi Jamie...

Hugs, Karen...