Service resumes

Hello all.

A kiss from Emma
Sorry to have been away so long, should anyone have noticed in New Zealand, England or Canada. Sorry to Saj and Stef who were promised contact on Facebook but had to be content only with news of my visits to the toilet. I am personally not a great fan of Facebook as it is a bit like Hyves, which has taken the lives of our daughters. Lots of things happened this month, the most important of which were the loss of function in my computer and my wife. Poor Bernie has a hernia and it is very painful. We have all been ill at the beginning of the month with, probably, food-poisoning. Bernadette has an aging Auntie, single and for centuries a real party animal. Unexpected callers may be surprised to see gentlemen in dressing gowns lurking around corners trying to fade into the background. As a present, this jolly aunt was given a calendar showing on which days she would be picked up and taken to one or other young relative for a splendid lunch or trip to the theatre etc. On this occasion someone was ill and we all got it, including the jolly auntie. Dreadful it was. When using the bucket, make sure you are firmly positioned on a toilet. This was both-end stuff with a vengeance. I was under the impression that Bernadette’s back problems started with an unfortunate lurch towards the bucket in a mighty heave-ho, but apparently it started a few days before. Still, it would have made a nice story. Woman paralyzed by warm prawn sandwich. We have moved her bed downstairs by the garden doors. These said doors are not quite visible in our new webcam, but should she go outside, you may see her shuffling around and give her a virtual wave. With luck you may even see her fall over, and since the camera has sound, you can catch every nuance of excruciation. I shall post a link to the camera, appropriately under the 'links' category. We are fortunate to have the camera, as it is the third on the same guarantee. The first went into free-fall after some hasty mounting and suffered concussion but no visible damage. Just stopped working it did. Can I have another? The second, you may recall, became for a vey short time, a fish-pond cam. There is one thing about cameras in water that you should be aware of. They do not float as such, but tend to plummet towards the depths taking on water-ballast as they go. I let it dry out for a few months, and, noting that only one week was left on the guarantee, I tried again. Another one sir? Yes, I'm afraid. This one has been very constant - until an hour ago. This one I have mounted in the lamp above the stable door out of the rain. I hope it is not pointing at the sun at sun-up. It is great to have the computer back again, although under Vista. Not everything is working as it should, because Vista does not recognize the sound card. "Windows cannot open this file because there is no audio device. Windows is looking for a solution to the problem. Yawn. Little green slug going round and round and round. Yawn. Ah! Windows has found a solution to this problem. Press here to access the solution. Eager pressing. Windows suggests that you purchase a new sound-card. Click here for a list of Microsoft-approved hardware for which Microsoft will not be collecting any excessive kick-backs, probably. Same with the USB docking-box and a few other bits and pieces. I am at work at the moment. It is exam week, and the Open Learning Centre is like a morgue. Herman the Skeleton feels quite at home, he says. I, nevertheless, have a function as a mine of information. Why, not ten minutes ago, a woman women stuck her head through the door to ask where the toilet could be. It could be anywhere by now but I assured her that it was most unlikely to have moved and that she should proceed to corridor B. Suppose there had been another bout of the jolly aunties double-ended-belly-spasms in the air. I may well have averted a major trauma for the cleaners. I'm off to have some coffee. I shall intersperse this text with a few photos of Heiloo for the home-sick, and thank once again that fantastic family in New-Zealand for the trip of a life-time. Looking back at the photos last night made me realize how wonderful t was. See you after the coffee!