Over a year ago Vodka knocked a glass of water over my Sony laptop. After a few hours in front of the fire the laptop dried out enough to boot up but the keyboard never worked properly again. Until I got the new Toshiba P-25 earlier this year I struggled to use that Sony with a thumping great USB keyboard. At the time of the accident I was based in Orkney and didn’t want to post the laptop to Sony for repair (although under warranty I couldn’t really expect them to fix it for gratis) so I just put up with external keyboard. Since returning to England I discovered that Sony no longer supply new keyboards for that model and second hand ones would cost between �50 and �95 +VAT + delivery from companies if and when they became available.

Last Friday I got lucky. I saw a broken model on Ebay. I contacted the seller who sold laptop spares and he offered to sell me a keyboard for �50 inclusive (the one on Ebay had been stripped). It arrived today along with a DVD-R/CD-RW that I bought from him (mine couldn’t burn CDs either) and both items were fitted in less than 15 minutes, easy-peasy.

It seems strange to have that laptop working again. But what shall I do with it now? It has been the server for my home network and could remain so although I have an old desktop (purchased in 1998) that would probably do that job as well as another desktop purchased in 2000 that would definitely do that job. Should I use it as a second, smaller laptop or should I just sell it while it has some real value still? Decisions, decisions.

Other recent Ebay purchases include a tiny Belkin wireless mouse for �20 (half the PC-World price) and a Belkin KVM switch. I’m also pursuing some SAAB parts.

It doesn’t get much better than this: Kilroy-Silk attacked with slurry.

Day

Night

Here are 2 pictures of a house in Balham. They put up their decorations at the end of October. Charming aren’t they? So discrete, so tasteful. I’m also interested in why such a modest house has CCTV and an iron grille in front of the main door.

“Yes, you want something?”

This is why I am often late meeting deadlines.

I just bought another DVD player (my third since 2000). This one cost a mere £29.99 from Amazon. I’ve seen some in the stores for less than 20 quid but wanted a multi region model. Can the companies selling the for £20 really make any profit on them. The new player, seems to play anything that you put in it (CDs, MP3, JPEG, etc, etc) and stands just 1.5 inches high. Amazing.

I finally succumbed and bought a TV a couple of weeks ago for the Cambridge apartment. So far, very little on terrestial TV has caught my eye (I tend to use the radio function more) but that Cillit Bang commercial is a bit wierd. Low budget, badly made commercials going out at prime time and what’s with the name Cillit Bang anyway? However, someone has made a Cillit Bang FAQ, so now I can stop wondering.

“Wow, snow!!!!”

It started to snow yesterday evening, unfortunately it didn’t last the night but it was fun while it lasted. My neighbours, who are from South America somewhere seemed to really like it!

Drinking with a mate in my local boozer yesterday evening when a regular propping up the bar suddenly needed some support herself. She collapsed onto the floor and started having a fit. Another customer went to her aid and asked the bar maid to call for medical help. What happened next amzed us.
The barmaid said something along the lines of “no, she’ll be alright, this often happens….just put this [damp and dirty] tea towel under her head till she feels better”. The poor lady then lay there in front of the main doors while several regulars stood over her - drinking and smoking - discussing her condition. I wonder how I would have reacted if I had walked into the pub at that point and seen this?

A short while later we left and went home for dinner, my friend purchasing a very nice red wine and an even better dessert wine from Bachanalia to accompany our meal. Mmmmm, wine.

Vodka much better today. Wooziness all gone, she removed her bandage herself and I have maanged to get most of today’s tablet inside her.

It’s great when she does one of her great big 180degree yawns now: just the one fang tooth and her breath is a lot fresher too.

Took Vodka to the local vet last week. I hated doing this in Orkney since it meant a long drive for her and so a lot of earache for me. Now the nearest vet is just 5 minutes drive away. Last week she got her annual jabs and a quick “once over”. A consequence of the once over was that she really needed her teeth cleaning which requires a general anasthetic. I took her to the vets for this operation this morning. She wasn’t a happy camper, no food for 12 hours and then a drive. Ive also asked for a micro chip to be fitted in case she gets lost in the future.

I was expecting to get a phone call around midday telling that she was fine and could be collected. Instead I got a call at 10am which didn’t bode well. Two of her teeth would need to be removed, that broken fang (canine) tooth that always did so much damage to whatever she bit and a molar at the back somewhere. This was to prevent future infections in those teeth. I gave the go ahead and looked forward to a few more hours of peace.

I eventually collected Vodka at 4pm. A very sorry looking cat. Patches of both front paws shaved (one in a bandage) , stitches in the mouth, an incessant mewling sound and a lack of coordination. The nurse looked even worse having had to put up with Vodka for several hours “she doesn’t like us at all”. I received instructions on looking after Vodka (keep her indoors for the night, take the bandage off tomorrow and give her one of these [bloody big] tablets every day for a week”.

Back home Vodka looked even more pitiful and sorry for herself and I regretted taking her to the vet at all, not least because I was over £167 poorer and now had an unhappy cat.