It was all going so well, the little ones taking turns flying the new kite – their first kite! Little Iris started running, encouraging the kite to fly higher, but then she stumbled, letting go of the kite spool, and we all watched as the kite flew up and up and into the trees. Our attempts to encourage it to untangle from the branches and to be blown out of the trees were in vain. Finally, we severed the cord hoping that the wind might be strong enough to blow the kite free, but it wasn’t to be.
We continued to the top of Boxhill to enjoy the rest of the day, hoping for a miracle and that we would find the kite waiting for us on our descent, but sadly no. Ordering a replacement kite will be the first thing to do on arriving home.
On a lovely day for walking, 8 miles from Westhumble up to the North Downs and down to Polesden Lacey for a sandwich lunch before the return train journey. The second-hand bookshop at Polesden was thankfully open on this visit and came up with 3 books.
It’s been over a year since I last went up to London and also some 9 months since I last met up with some old (literally!) work colleagues. On an intermittently sunny day we all met up for a bit of walking, a bit of history, and a pub lunch at the Dickens Inn in St Katharine Docks. It was just like old times with London back to being busy with tourists and young people.
It was raining when we set off for Polesden Lacey and it was raining more persistently when we arrived, but after a cake and coffee the rain gave way to sunshine. A walk around the fabulous grounds and a visit to the the second-hand bookshop (it was closed!) and we were ready to leave, just as cars were piling in for the afternoon open-air jazz concert. All pictures were taken with an inferior iPhone camera.
My 3-year-old laptop is falling apart. One of the screen’s two hinges is broken and it’s no longer possible to close the laptop. Also the screen is coming away from the actual frame. It appears to be a common fault with this particular Dell laptop.
On YouTube I found a couple of videos that show the procedure for replacing hinges – it’s not easy and essentially requires completely dismantling the laptop. The removal of a dozen components and millions of screws (and putting it back together) is not for the faint-hearted. I’m a software guy, I don’t do hardware! With this in mind I decided to postpone attempting a repair and instead opted for a new laptop (a Dell!) and perhaps attempting a repair on the old one at some future time.
The failing battery
So now I have two functioning laptops, the old one with the screen hanging off, and the nice, new, shiny one. But suddenly the battery on the old laptop has started to generate warning messages about how it’s about to fail. I’m hoping that a failed battery means that a laptop will continue to work from mains power, but it’s a bit of a nuisance having a permanently trailing power cable.
With a dodgy hinge and a failing battery one might consider writing off the old laptop, but it’s still functioning and it’s a high-spec machine, so I decided to search for a replacement battery.
Replacing a laptop battery
Dell don’t stock replacement batteries so it’s necessary to take a chance on a compatible battery. Choose from laptopbattery.co.uk, batteryempire.co.uk, replacement-batteries.co.uk and several others. There’s no way of knowing the quality of their products, who makes them, whether they’re safe, whether they hold their charge. It’s pot luck. I went for batteryempire.co.uk. I thought it was based in the UK. The log from the delivery company, UPS, show it’s not a UK company, it’s Polish. I’m not happy and in two minds whether to cancel the order and even to write off the £40 cost of the item. I decided to wait for the item to be delivered and take it from there. I may just decide to live with a failing / failed battery and only fit the replacement battery if absolutely necessary. It worries me that I don’t know whether the new battery will be safe. I’m open to any suggestions / recommendations.
It’s great to see that it’s blackberry time again. Here a four images from a 5-mile local walk, the second one having been taken accidentally – I’m not sure how I managed that.
I owe an apology to a lady golfer. On witnessing her somewhat embarrassing 20-yard drive towards the very distant green, I shouldn’t have remarked “There’s plenty of room for improvement”. Inexcusable!
On a lovely sunny day (at last!) we spent a couple of hours strolling around the beautiful gardens of Nymans in West Sussex, part of the National Trust. The house isn’t much, part house part ruin, but the gardens are lovely and there’s a small but very decent second-hand bookshop. We were also much impressed by the friendliness of the staff and volunteers.
A mixture of cloud and blue sky on our short visit to Worthing was just right for sitting on the beach with a sandwich and for admiring the huge offshore wind farm out at sea (119 turbines!). Afterwards, we made the short drive to the pretty village of Steyning for cake and a pot of loose leaf tea, and where we admired the presence of an independent bookshop and a musician’s shop-front.
things change 