There are weeks and weeks. This was a week. One of those. Just to add a little spice to it, for the benefit of somebody who is not superstitious it included a Friday the thirteenth. That was when the joke wore thin. But then, that meant that the next day was the fourteenth and everything closed when I needed something in particular open. It was to be the day when people would be running around on their national holiday to celebrate the storming of the Bastille in 1789. That day was the beginning of the end of the old France and the beginning of the new, a process that is clearly still in its infancy. Lots of royalty, aristocracy and gentry had their heads removed by Madame Guillotine or brutal slaughter at the hands of mobs. The new democratic France. Except that there are still aristocrats around, gentry too, no Royals bar the family of the ex-partner of the present President and the equality their Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen remains an ideal. It is displayed in every public building, school, sports centre, doctor and dentists’ waiting rooms and usually in an obscure corner at that. Here I am with the right to get my laptop repaired but because of the holiday the repair place is closed. Because they normally work all day Saturday, they are closed each Monday, so now it is my right to wait until Tuesday. Just to round off the week.
My computer is nearing the end of its days as it is, I kill them off every couple of years, but when the mouse went on the blink I was not a happy bunny. I use the right click a lot for selecting blocks and deleting and all such things. It is a nice friendly cordless with a nice big and generously equipped keyboard that connected using one wireless point. On Thursday the mouse just gave up, the cursor frozen on one spot whatever I tried. So I changed back to an unused cord connected one of each and now hate the tiny keyboard without extra gadgetry. The real idiocy began on Monday when not only was the mouse playing games with me but I had a string of friends appear on Messenger that I have long ago deleted but still insists on telling me I have them, plus finding several on Skype that I had not accepted in. So I killed that lot off then Facebook tried the same game and I felt it was not my day.
Tuesday and a trip to the neurologist. Since my accident in February I have had pins and needles and have waited months for this appointment. He stuck needle electrodes in my arm, other electrodes on various parts of my arm and blasted me with shocks. I was feeling wobbly. Then out in reception I had to pay, they do not accept cards and I did not have my cheque book on me. I had over half the amount in cash, so had to phone my wife who was shopping not so far away. She came and laid her cash on the desk. Four Euros short. So I went to my bank with my card in hand that just happened to be a couple of hundred metres away. One thing or another made me forget my pin number, so in I went since they know me. I should have remembered that it is a cash free bank and that they do not give even people they know their own numbers, simply because they do not know and the computer in Paris that holds it will not cough up. So back to neurologist and the Mrs had to trot off to same bank with her card. The four Euros were paid. The neurologist had been punctual to more or less the second and finished in 20 minutes, it took over an hour to pay to get my Carte Vitale and the report of the examination in my hands. So we went shopping and when we got out of the place realised we had forgotten one essential thing. So disgruntled, off went she with grim look to get it, queue again at the till and arrive back very cross.
Wednesday started well with a publisher sending me a positive response to the outline and all the other gubbins I had sent in for a book I have spent a couple of years writing. I had only sent it in first thing that day, so I filled in their forms and provided other things they needed. I was feeling better when I got a thank you response rather than something to tell me what I had forgotten. Then the decline began. Somehow or other, probably Tuesday evening, Babylon got into my computer. Since then I have gone through everything, followed instructions sent to me by helpful people, deleted root files but just generally wasted time. The toolbar sticks like sh.. You know what I mean. Much of the day was spent trying to delete it.
I have already mentioned Thursday when my mouse died, so let us move on to Friday. Because I wanted to be sure that EDF power crashes that we have suffered day in, day out for now three weeks were messing up my PC and had even confused our UPS, I had copied everything to do with the book on to flash sticks but to make it all usable I downloaded onto my laptop for immediate use in the event of a computer crash. I was using it on my lap. Suddenly it was as hot as hell. I placed it on my desk and put an ear close, no fan sound. Now, as chance would have it I have been preaching to Valerie Skinner about her laptop with the same or similar and how she should go for a repair. I now need it. That is where the three days with no service because of today comes in. Now I must wait until Tuesday, plus the couple of days until they can do it. I shall be on tenterhooks.
My nearest and dearest felt she would like to do something physical. She decided to cut some grass. We have one of those big, three wheel mowers that chew through anything. She started it up immediately instead of the usual coughing noise for half an hour. Then the cable that lowers and raises the cutting blades broke! We tried to fix it but to no avail. The cable was gone inside its casing. Time to take it for repair. But not today it is Fête National and I could go all over it again but…
Today is Saturday, everything is closed, it is raining, I am waiting for the week to round itself off with?