Two steps forward & one step back

It's a case of two steps forward, and one step back at the moment, but the main thing is I'm moving in the right direction. The good news - the two steps forward, is my desktop has been repaired, and is now back up and running, faster and more efficiently than it was before it gave up the ghost, and crashed. It's a while ago now, but looking back that incident occurred around Easter time, and was the result of a regular Windows update that failed to install. I could still use the machine, but I wasn't able to get online - something to do with two critical "drivers" that had failed. I left it for a while, and switched to using the neat, little laptop PC, that I originally purchased to take on holiday with me. That didn't work particularly well, due to difficulties of connecting to the internet, whilst at sea, although I did use the device for typing up articles in Notepad - a rather basic, but quite handy word-processing app. I'm using it at the moment, but that's for later.

I asked a work colleague, who's a lot more tech-savvy than me, to spec me up a new desktop, a powerful one, with plenty of RAM, don't ask me what that does, although it's something to do with processing speed - and you thought it was just down to the chips! Curry's were offering a machine, that matched my colleague's spec for £540 +, but he did say to me, why not look at seeing whether my current Lenovo desktop could be repaired. And that is what I did, after taking it to the computer repair shop, in Tonbridge High Street. The tech-savvy owner, quickly diagnosed the problem, and basically it was due to the aforementioned RAM, and there not being sufficient disc space to allow memory-hungry, Windows 11 to run smoothly. The system basically got its knickers in a twist, and crashed. His solution was to install a "spare", SATA (solid state) drive, that would take care of Windows, whilst allowing the PC to access all the rest of the stuff I'd built up over several years - Word files, music files, plus of course, hundreds of photos!

The cost of this fix, came in at slightly over half that of a new machine, but the good news was I wouldn't lose any of the aforementioned documents and photos. I gave him the go-ahead, and picked up my repaired and fully functioning desk-top on Thursday afternoon, and I am still finding my way around the beast. There have been quite a few programmes, plus other software that I needed to re-install, and so far it all went smoothly, despite the inevitable password changes, but with one notable exception. This fly in the ointment is I have so far been unable to access my Blogger Dashboard. This programme acts as the interface between myself and Google's hosting platform - Blogger. I can access the finished pages, and can even post comments, but so far, Blogger has stubbornly refused me access to the software that allows me to create new posts, on my own blog!

I'm fairly certain it's a password issue (user name, most likely) that is not letting me in, and so for the time being, I have reverted to the laptop for those occasions when I want to add copy (text and photos), in order to create new posts. This is the one step back, but rather than waste even more time with usernames and passwords, (for a lay person like me, even attempting to sort out IT problems, are not only a tremendous waste of time, but are also extremely frustrating), I shall carry on with this neat, little, lap top until the issue is resolved. (The laptop is quite nice, atm, because I can sit outside on the patio, tapping away at the keyboard, whilst enjoying the fresh air and warm sunshine, of a typical English summer).

News wise, us three Baileys attended an extended family wedding last Saturday, although the least said about that, the better. What was good, was the venue itself, a restored, medieval barn, situated in the tucked away village of Stansted, high up on the North Downs above Wrotham. Not to be confused with its Essex namesake, Kentish Stansted does not have an airport, and neither does it have a pub, at the moment, because it's the same old story about the owner, running the place into the ground, in order to redevelop the site, for housing. The villagers are not impressed, and neither is the local council, so watch this space.

That's about it, for the time being. The house/offspring's bedroom clearance, is progressing slowly, and the recent damp weather has softened up the ground, allowing me to carry out some much needed weeding. "Just let everything grow naturally", says Mrs PBT's, little realising that it only takes a couple of seasons before unwanted plants (weeds), such as bracken and brambles, start taking over the garden. Incidentally, the latter is the one thing that would persuade me to sell up and buy something smaller, as a space where youngsters can play, and run about safely, is all well and good, when they're growing up, but it eventually becomes a tedious chore. More serious is when it's a task that keeps me from the pub, then it's time to ask "Do we really need all that extra space?"