6 February 2011 (Sunday) - Email, Maplins and Stuff

I awoke feeling somewhat under the weather today. Can’t imagine why. Faced with the prospect of feeling sorry for myself all day, I went through my diary to see what I’ve done in previous years on the day after Dover beer festival. Last year I spent the day painting trellises. The year before I sold a bike on eBay. In 2008 I felt rather sorry for myself, having seriously overindulged. In 2007 I went to Hastings to visit family, and in 2006 I was working on my post-graduate certificate. None of those activities really appealed to me today.

Mind you, one comment from my diary struck a chord with me. Two years ago when making plans for that year’s Dover beer festival I wrote “I’m a bit vague as to who is going – I’ve emailed eighteen people and have had three replies.” Yesterday was much the same. During the week I’d emailed over twenty people and got three replies. Usually whenever I go anywhere I tend to go as part of a mob, and yesterday numbers were certainly down on previous years.

Don’t get me wrong - if people have other plans, then that’s fine with me. My concern is that my email list is out of date. I’d hate for people to have missed out because I’ve got the wrong email address for anyone, or because my spam filter is eating emails. During the week I’ve found that I’ve got at least one wrong entry in my electronic address book.

Perhaps my loyal readers might like to drop me a cyber-line to be sure I’m up to date.

The parrot was particularly noisy today. We cleaned her cage out – she seems to enjoy cage cleaning time – it’s an opportunity for her to chew on the clothing of those clearing up her mess. She then had a flap and (sort of) flew into the hallway. Finding herself lost she allowed ‘er indoors ^TM to get close, and even went so far as to climb on her hand. There was quite a bit of flapping, and stroking certainly wasn’t going to be allowed. But ‘er indoors ^TM got to hold the parrot. I’m quite pleased about that – I am so plainly the parrot’s favourite that it’s getting to be rather embarrassing.

Having cleaned her cage out, she then made a right mess. For some reason she tried to have a bath in her water bowl. Water went everywhere. And then the phone rang. Brian lives a couple of hundred yards away, and from his kitchen window he could clearly see a grey parrot on a nearby shed roof. Had our parrot escaped? I had a moment of panic, but the scream of a parrot impersonating a telephone never sounded so reassuring. Our parrot was fine: somebody else’s had escaped. I hope that parrot got retrieved – today was not good weather for a parrot to be loose.

We then went shopping. The obligatory trip to Lidls, and then to the electronics shop Maplins. If and when my sexy new telescope arrives I’m told a power pack is a must. The “go-to” function eats the batteries, and if I’m going to get anywhere with astro-photography, then I will need to power a lap-top too. Apparently electronics shops sell power packs that will keep the thing going for ages. I’ve asked advice for a good power pack, but in the meantime I thought I’d have a look in Maplins. The assistant there had absolutely no idea what the phrase “power pack” meant. I explained in great detail what I had in mind, and he suggested I bought one of their solar panels. I then had to explain to him why I laughed out loud at the idea.

And then round to friends for a cuppa where I promptly fell asleep. Why is it I can (and do) sleep anywhere except in my own bed at night…?