Peeling Potatoes
Would anybody describe this as a go0d exercise for someone who has had a stroke? But I’m making one of Jamie Olivers’s fish pies and that needs a kilogram of potatoes to be peeled.
I peel potatoes with the potato in my left and the knife in my right, but then I’m right-handed. I also tip the potatoes into a largew bowl of cold water and in fact just retrieving the next potato is quite soothing. But the action of holding the potato and then twisting it so that the next bit of peel is removed, seems to be a good exercise.
It’s also rewarding to yourself, as you see your naked creations gradually filling the saucepan.
I think though that peeling potatoes is one of those mundane jobs, which because a knife is involved, you concentrate about to get done well and then get a large degree of satisfaction, when you complete it.
I found the same satisfaction, when I cleaned my shoes on Saturday. Perhaps stroke recovery is all about getting back to normal and that means doing all those day-to-day tasks.
Tomorrow is Darrell’s Day
The 4th of July means a lot to Americans, but it also means a lot to us here in Suffolk, as on that day in 1667, Nathaniel Darrell and his brave marines at Landguard Fort near Felixstowe, repulsed the last attempted invasion of the United Kingdom.
If he hadn’t been successful, we might all be speaking Dutch!
Justice – Afghan Style
This case asks a lot of questions about Afghanistan. Surely though, there comes a time, when the country should be left to its own devices, Taliban and all. It has lots of mineral resources, so what will happen in the end is its neighbour, China, will make commercial deals to get it out and Karzai and his cronies will run to some tax haven and live in comfort for the rest of their days. We will just suffer more and more crime and corruption due to the increasing amount of drugs flowing our way. Somehow we must find some way of stopping people taking the damn things!
The sad thing about the country is that a friend visited in the 1960s. Then Afghanistan provided masses of fruit like apples for the whole of the region. Since then it has been one sorry tale after another.
Now we just get more and more grief exported from this sorry, perverted and corrupt country. We should get out immediately.
An Old Friend Returns
My Nokia 6310I returned from the menders today, after just forty-eight hours away. All it needed was a change of keypad at a cost of around thirty pounds!
You can’t imagine how it feels to have an old friend back again in good health, even if they are rather battered like me. It links perfectly to my Jaguar X-Type with Bluetooth, the keys are easy to use even for me in my state, text messages are easy to send, it lasts a whole week on one battery charge and it has all the strength of the proverbial brick outhouse.
Who wants any of these modern phones built with all the fragility of porcelain,unwanted complexity, features that no sane person would ever use and battery life of a few nanoseconds?
Especially as I found yesterday that as-new 6310Is are available in Bury St. Edmunds Market for a few pounds from a very competent stall run by a charming and very knowledgeable Sikh gentleman. His stall was outside H Samuel
John Lewis’s Wedding List
A friend’s daughter is getting married on Saturday. The wedding list is on-line at John Lewis. It was so simple to use and saved a lot of hassle for me, as how does a sixty year old widower choose something for a twenty-year-old or so woman and her new husband? I took the easy route and gave gift vouchers.
More People Sign On To The Internet
This report says that in the last year 2,000,000 more people have signed on to the Internet in the UK. A lot of those who’ve signed up are over fifty.
This is a very good thing, asa it makes it possible for the government to deliver more and more services on line to do things more efficiently and at less cost.
As an example I always get my Vehicle Excise Duty on line and it is a system that works well. Similarly, I fill in my Electoral Roll on line. That one is conpletely painless. We certainly need an on line tax and benefits system on-line, that makes sure that people are encouraged to work.
The more people that get on line, the more these systems will be possible.
Australia Refuses to Extradite to Alabama
This report says that Australia is refusing to extradite someone to Alabama, because he might face the death penalty.
That is so good!
Darrell’s Day
If you read my last post, you’ll read a little of the story of Nathaniel Darrell, who saved Britain from the Dutch. I just thought I’d search for Darrell’s Day in Google. I then opened a site, which because it had an embedded QuickTime video in it, locked up my computer. I’m running IE8 in Vista and there are many forums that say that QuickTime and Vista are like oil and water. So I then tried to uninstall QuickTime and the uninstall software seemed to get in a pickle.
If I’d written software with those number of problems, I’d have been very ashamed of what I had done!
It’s only when you have had a stroke or have suffered serious injury or disability, that you realise how truly crap some programs are. Perhaps, such people should do most of the program testing. Preferably with the programmers in the same room, so that they could vent their feelings properly. Sometimes, I think various other instruments should be available for use in the testing process, but then I’m against violence and capital punishment.
Just think of the times recently, where software has been released without adequate testing and it has caused true distress and even possibly loss of life.
Landguard Fort
Felixstowe was the last place in the UK, to be invaded by foreign forces, when the Dutch tried to capture Landguard Fort in 1667. They failed due to the efforts of Nathaniel Darrell. That is why the 2nd of July is Darrell’s Day in Suffolk.
It is a place well worth a visit with a reasonable entry charge, lots of things to see and an excellent audio commentary.
I also found it a good place to try out my waling and climbing skills after a stroke. In only a couple of places did I need a helping hand.
Toolbar Problems
My computer now has all sorts of toolbar problems and in some sites the clicking doesn’t work.
I’ve obviously hit some keystroke. But what?
