Friday, September 28, 2012

It’s a conspiracy!

 
Since we got back safely to the UK, it feels as though the world of technology has been ganging up  against DH and me.  We arrived home in Wales on Thursday of last week to find that our phone line was out of order. Thankfully the engineers were able to come out the next day and have repaired the line after a fashion, but the phone is still crackly and our broadband is poorly again. Even the arrival of a brand-new router this week hasn't solved the problem completely, which is why your wonderful posts are piling up in my Reader faster than I can read them, let alone comment on them.

The dishwasher too chose this week to down tools decisively. I’d forgotten just how much washing-up two hungry people can generate in a day and how long it takes to do it. The more expensive model we chose last time not having lasted as long as we had expected, we chose a very basic one as a replacement and I already love it. Price is definitely not everything…..

Then there was the jungle which we usually call a garden. We always expect it to be pretty shaggy by the time we come back from our summer in France, but this year’s enormous rainfall has nurtured truly rampant growth everywhere and it’s taken every spare minute when it hasn't been actually pouring down (not that there have been too many of those since we got back) to begin to bring it back under control. I did mention that gardening is my main form of exercise, didn't’ I?

The crowning touch to a difficult week came when I logged onto Blogger earlier in the week to find that the powers-that-be at Google have finally carried out their threat and have pulled the plug on my beloved and comfortable old Dashboard. I hate the new interface with a passion because it is just so difficult to use for a person with cataracts and mine are definitely getting worse. This will be my first post using it and I am not looking forward to the experience. I may be some time…. 

36 comments:

  1. How good to see your blog come up as I switched on to Blogger.

    That dreadful new interface is so difficult both to see and to use and I loathe it heartily so you have all my sympathy.

    I miss my dishwasher and am insisting on having one in San Jose before the welcome visiting hordes start arriving, but we shall look around for one which just washes dishes and is not the all singing all dancing variety of which I harbour suspicions.

    I trust you have now tamed the garden with smart work with whip and chair and that, internet providers permitting, we will see the post you were contemplating on the ferry 'home'.

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    1. Oh Fly, the new interface is truly appalling! I struggled really hard to get my text to fill the post space, but it wouldn't, and I'm left with a really cramped column, whereas your comment looks just as it should do. How terminally stupid to implement a piece of software which just can't do the job it's meant to do. Now I'll have to experiment to see if putting the text in first and then adding the image will work better. Argggh!!!

      I could manage without a lot of modern equipment, but not my dishwasher. I have eczema on my hands and even the best rubber gloves make it worse after a while.

      I slept almost all the way back on the ferry, but still have a couple of new posts almost ready to go. I just had to get this lot off my chest first. :-)

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  2. Isn't it horrible when the world seems to be conspiring against you! It sounds as if things are almost back to normal so congratulations for keeping your sanity! Whenever we return it takes me a while to get my bearings again -- and this time we had a houseful of people and even though it was family there was that change in inter personal dynamics added to the mix! Now all is quiet -- but only for the moment! Welcome back!

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    1. Thanks, Broad. It's certainly felt like that for the past few days, and poor DH has even had toothache on top of everything. You know all about the getting settled again process and usually it goes pretty smoothly for us, but this time was definitely an exception to the rule.

      I'm glad to hear you are safely home and back in the routine. I don't know how you coped with having visitors too. I take my hat off to you. :-)

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  3. You can always join the insurgents at wordpress :D

    We also realised a long time ago that basic was better can't remember whether it was dishwasher, car, washing machine, well you get the idea.

    Anyway I havent posted for ages so no need to check me out yet ;)

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    1. Believe me, I'm tempted, Rough Seas, and even have my back-up ready there, but I thought I'd give the new interface a fair trial first. So far, so not good....

      We've never gone for very expensive top-of-the-range equipment, but as I get older I really prefer simplicity and, hopefully, durability, which is why I'm not looking forward to the day we have to replace our 15 year-old car.

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  4. Welcome back "home" - eventually the rain will stop and everything in the garden will be rosy once again.

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    1. Thanks, Susan. Yes, it has to stop sometime. After the past week there can't be much left up there. At least I've wrestled the worst of the jungle into submission now.....

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  5. Good to see you here again Perpetua, although your return to the UK does seem to have been a little fraught. I hope things have settled. Our fridge freezer broke down 3 weeks ago, and being one of those integrated things it wasn't just a matter of going out and buying a new one.... all the measurments had to be exact, with doors opening in exactly the right place to fit the doors in the existing unit. Currys took my money and arranged to come and fit it, then on the day they had arranged, rang to say there was a problem and they'd have to come on the following Saturday instead.....which just happened to be daughter's wedding day...agghhhhh..... Amazingly enough,we've managed for 2 weeks now with just a tiny little cupboard fridge we used to keep wine in. The new ( not Currys ! ) fridge freezer arrives tomorrow....I just hope it fits.
    Looking forward to hearing more from you soon. J.

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    1. It's good to be back despite everything, Janice, though I'm sorry to hear you've been experiencing the same kind of problem.At least our dishwasher isn't integrated, which made replacing it much easier. I do hope your new fridge arrives soon. I'll catch up with what else has been happening with you as soon as I can.

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  6. Lovely to hear from you again, Perpetua, though sorry that things have been less than easy for you. I have no idea whether I have a new or an old Blogger interface so I can't offer any words of advice or reassurance - and I feel dreadful about this! Fancy not knowing (caring) enough when my working life has been focused on trying to make technology do what people want it to do.
    I'm with you on keeping appliances nice and basic. I was a bit suspicious of my new washing machine as it's a Hyundai and I thought they made cars - but it's proving to be good and is simplicity itself.

    It won't make you feel any better but we are being rained on good and proper here in Andalucia - absolute washout!! Hope it dries up a bit for your garden-taming exercises. Like Fly, I can see you with whip and chair!
    Axxx

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    1. Thanks, Annie. It's been an exhausting week, which made me very aware I'm not as young as I was, but I refuse to be beaten - even by Blogger! I wish I was insouciant enough not to know one Blogger interface from another, but alas I'm not. The old Blogger was simple to use and pleasantly-coloured (blue and fawn) which was so much easier on my eyes. The new one is much less intuitive and is all white space and pale text, ornamented with odd orange blobs like all Google products. And it really doesn't work as well. Sigh....

      Sorry to hear you've got the rain too, but at least you probably need it after your hot summer, whereas the poor old UK was awash even before this last lot. Our daughter lives not far from York and the river in her village peaked yesterday at 7.86m, just 4cm less than the highest level ever recorded there. Gulp....!

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  7. Welcome back Perpetua. I hope your problems will soon be behind you and you can relax enough to enjoy your time in France in retrospect.
    I sympathise with the garden growth this year.
    The rainfall has produced twice the normal amount of growth here, and taming my jungle is looking like one of the labours of Hercules.
    When life slows down a little we must compare progress.

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    1. Thanks, Ray. There's nothing like a good rant to make one feel better and put things in perspective. :-)

      I'm really glad to learn that it isn't just our patch which has grown so phenomenally over the summer. It wasn't so wet in France and so things grew pretty normally, which made the shock even greater when we got back and saw just how wild everything had run. I made good inroads into it last weekend, before the latest lot of rain started, but since then it's just been too wet to do much. What I need is a nice bit of Indian summer....

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  8. It sounds like you've come home to lots of chores and a little frustration - but you're home safely, and that is the main thing. Having just visited your part of the world I can imagine, if only a little, what it's like where you are - beautiful!

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    1. Thanks for putting it all into perspective, Pondside. :-) I'm not really a grumbler by nature but this week has been an exception. Yes, we're home safely and so are you, thank goodness. I look forward to reading about your trip when I catch up with my backlog of posts.

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  9. Perpetua, blogger has changed so much that I can't even remember the old format! Just go up to your tool kit/it's an icon on the top right hand side that looks like a wrench. It will allow you to choose the font size, something I know I appreciate.

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    1. My memory is bad now, Rosaria, but I don't think I'll ever forget the old format. It was intuitively functional and easy to use and the new one is neither of those tings. Sigh...

      Thank for your tip. I've clicked on my wrench and looked at Edit User Settings, but there's nothing on that page which is clickable and has anything to do with font size. Hey-ho, I'm sure I'll work it all out eventually, but it's going to take time.

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  10. I came back from our trip to Wales to find the same problem re. Blogger format and I'm only getting used to it after a few posts. Eyesight problems aside I've been managing by only concentrating on the basics.
    We shall be going to Italy soon so I can understand the busyness of settling in and spending time on chores.
    Glad you're safely back and hope you settle in soon.

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    1. I hope you had a lovely trip, Linda and I look forward to reading about it. I'm glad it's not just me who is struggling with the new format. I mastered the old one so easily that it's a shock to realise how hard I find this one. Still, I've experimented and found that I need to do all text first before adding images, if I don't want the narrow column formatting I got this time. One small step....

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  11. Hello Perpetua:
    How wonderful it was to see you pop up in our Google Reader today! We have missed you and are concerned to read about the trials and tribulations of your return home.

    It is so true that when one does leave one's house for another for any length of time, the jobs requiring to be done mount up alarmingly. Fortunately, we have no garden in Brighton otherwise on our return next month we would be sure to need a machete to find our way through it!

    We decided to change to the new Blogger format some time ago believing that it is better to jump rather than be pushed. What we fail to understand is why changes seem to be made for no apparent reason and yet irritating glitches never get fixed?!!

    Welcome back!!

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    1. Thanks for the welcome, Jane and Lance, it's nice to have been missed. :-) The trials are gradually sorting themselves out, thank goodness, though the internet connection is still rather unpredictable. Hopefully it will improve now the rain has stopped for the moment.

      If it holds off long enough for the ground to dry out somewhat, I'll go back to tackling the garden. We have sometimes thought it would be easier to have a house without a garden, but can't bear the thought of leaving here permanently.

      You are both evidently made of much sterner stuff than I, who had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the new era of Blogger. :-) I gather from the help forums that some of the more irritating glitches should be sorted out over the coming months, but why launch the new format until it worked properly?

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  12. Dear Perpetua, Morton salt used to show on its box a little girl holding an umbrella in her right hand and holding out her other hand to catch the raindrops. The saying on the salt box was "it never rains; it pours!" Meaning, of course, the salt from the box!!!!

    You seem to be under your own "salt box" right now, with one mishap after another. I hope you have time to simply put your feet up on a hassock, sip a cup of tea, and enjoy being back in Wales. I'm sure all your neighbors are happy to have you home. And I'm so looking forward to your postings. Peace.

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    1. LOL, Dee. Yes, that was me under that umbrella last week. Thankfully things have eased off now and even the rain has stopped.

      Given that our nearest neighbour in Wales is nearly a quarter of a mile away, I'm not sure if they've noticed we're back yet. :-) But that cup of tea is a great idea and I'll put the kettle on as soon as I've posted this and printed out my sermon for tomorrow (helping out in a neighbouring parish for a couple of weeks).

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  13. Oh dear, it never rains.......as they say. Our broadband is sadly lacking too. They sent me a new hub which didn't make the slightest bit of difference and then I stopped talking to my neighbour up the road - they'd sent him a new hub too (which didn't make the slightest difference to their broadband either)I think it's called fobbing you off. Hope things improve soon.

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    1. Absolutely, Molly. Thankfully both the physical and metaphorical rain appears to have stopped for now. :-) The broadband thing is a real pain and I'm sorry to hear that you are suffering too. When the line was mended earlier in the year things improved quite a lot, though we knew we would have to replace the router before long. The new break in the line, which must have happened while we were away, has been mended but not to the engineer's satisfaction, so I suppose we'll just have to keep nagging BT. Sigh...

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  14. Welcome back dearie...your problems with your phone line rang so many bells for me. The telephone company here had me on my knees pulling out plugs and cables left and right, plugging in alternate phones...I thought next they'd ask me to whistle into the phone, then send me a packet of birdseed....nothing worked. Two weeks later (yep, they were very busy in other areas) the phone rang and the techie advised he'd fixed it without ever stepping foot inside my house. Why this couldn't have been achieved two weeks earlier is anyone's guess. Hope your 'gadget' woes ease up soon too.

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    1. Thanks, Astrid. It's good to be back. :-) In a perverse sort of way I'm glad to hear that we're not the only ones with phone and broadband problems. To be fair to the phone company, they did come out the day after they were notified, but my guess is that our line is so old and has been mended so many times over the years that the whole thing really needs to be replaced. Looking on the brighter side, the new router works really well when the line lets it.

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  15. Oh dear, not a good start to your return home. Just take your time and it will all come together. The little round circle, under the white cross with the red background in the top right hand corner is where you'll find 'zoom'. You can change the font there. Hope that makes things easier for you. hehe! Sue

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    1. You've said it, Sue. I can't ever remember quite such a chapter of accidents in such a short time. As my mother was fond of saying: "These things are sent to try us...." :-)

      Thanks for the tip about the zoom. I must confess I haven't noticed the icon you mention on my screen, but I'm sure it must be there somewhere. Actually text size isn't the main problem, as I just use Control + to zoom. It's the pale font and lack of contrast which is hardest to work with.

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  16. Welcome back! I don't use Blogger (I'm a Wordpress man) but Google do have a habit of knowing what's best for its users*. As you use blogspot.co.uk, you could try reminding Google of the Disability Discrimination Act. If the site is not suited for anyone with cataracts, it could be falling foul of the law. Google don't make contact very easy, but there is a "Send feedback" tab at the bottom-right of the Blogger homepage which might work.

    *Rather like Microsoft. It took me ages to find "small caps" in Word 2010, and I'm not sure I could do that again!

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    1. Hello, Andrew. How nice to see your name among the comments. :-)

      Grrr!! Don't talk to me about Google and its users. Ever since Blogger in Draft came out I've been giving them feedback about accessibility issues as have many, many others. Unfortunately, despite the co.uk at the end of my web address (.fr when I'm in Normandy) Google (and therefore Blogger) remains US-based and comes under US law. However there is perfectly good disability discrimination legislation in force there which they appear to have ignored completely.

      I've stuck with Blogger so far, but if life goes on getting more difficult here, I may end up joining you over at WordPress after all.

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    1. You've said it, PolkaDot. This time last week I was going around whimpering quietly, but things have definitely improved. Sadly broadband is still at less than half-speed, but we'e managing.

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  18. I think your poor dishwasher was pining, and probably jealous of its French cousin!

    Think positively - the enforced outdoor physical activity is the perfect healthy way to off-set the frustrations of indoor technology problems.

    Welcome home!

    Spindrift51

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    1. And the same to you, Spindrift. The dishwasher was having the sulks quite frequently even before we left for France, so the general strike wasn't a total surprise.

      You're right about the enforced outdoor activity. As soon as the rain lets up again, I'll be out there with my shovels and rakes and implements of destruction...... :-)

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