When I awoke yesterday, it was to be a fine and bright day and so, after two days of unseasonable gloom, it look as though we might be getting back to some summery weather. It is often the case that Sundays can be a slightly difficult time to navigate when you are on your own and social contacts tend always to centre around family members but we shall to see what today brings. One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is the success that I had in repairing one of the classic photos of Meg recently rediscovered. One of them had been part of a larger sheet of photos that had evidently formed a large composite photoshoot of staff members. When I acquired this sheet of photos, some had already been cut out by scissors and according to the operation of Sod’s Law, the one of Meg was the only one to actually have a tear in it. I cut it out and tried to repair it using sellotape on the back of the photo but the jagged edges of the tear still remained, But I had in mind that there might be software that could ‘repair’ scratches on old photographs and if you are skilled in Photoshop, there are tools by which you could effect a repair yourself but it is tricky to say the least. So I did search on the internet and very quickly found a program that claimed to use AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology to identify and repair scratches on old photographs. Sometimes the offending mark can be a crease mark if an old photograph has been bent or folded in any way. I have to say the technology worked liked magic and in no time at all, I had a seemingly perfectly restored picture of Meg (although, of course, the original is still damaged). Needless to say I found this technology very useful as was also another programme that I found to correct a tilt in a photo (which can be occasioned by the scanner lid moving a small photo when the lid is closed)
After I had breakfasted, I watched some of the political programmes broadcast on a Sunday morning and then received a welcome call from my University of Birmingham friend. We decided to meet in the park where we stayed for a little time, surveying the scene from our usual benches. Then we set off to a location which has quite a large man-made lake (I suspect it may have been gravel pits) now devoted to a variety of water sports and complete with a café. But the car park and overflow car park were absolutely teemingly full so we judged that there must be some type of competition or event in progress and we gave this a miss and went for our coffee instead to a local garden centre which neither of us have frequented for about a year or so. Fortunately, there was plenty of space available to us but we were absolutely amazed, after we had bought our coffee and a portion of apple pie to share between us, that the coffee was served to us in cups but without a saucer. When we asked for a saucer, we were informed that they do not ‘do’ saucers and we subsequently learnt that the cafe owner was following the example of Marks and Spencer’s in dispensing with saucers. In view of the fact that saucers have been in common use for two centuries and have proved their worth in that time (prevention of drips, resting place for a spoon) we could not believe that such a cost-cutting measure had been implemented. We had a hearty discussion lasting for an hour or so and then my friend dropped me off at home in his car. I did not feel like cooking at that late hour but made myself a ‘quickie’ lunch of a tin of tuna, blended with some salad cream and 1000 Island dressing and served on half a slice of sourdough bread.
After lunch, I spent some time working out how to add some captions in a horizontal list to provide captions for the photographs of Meg and managed to achieve this and to stitch it in to the latest version of the HTML display code. Then I received a phone from one of my ex-female colleagues from the University of Winchester and we had a lovely chat – I anticipate seeing her on Wednesday in any case and then meeting with her and some other former colleagues for drinks and supper later on in the evening of Wednesday. Thus rather delayed my major task of the day which was to prepare the Motability car that we had as part of Meg’s support package but now has to be handed back. I needed to take out all of the extra mats and boot liners I had fitted and the other bits and pieces that you tend to carry round in the car (CDs, cleaning materials). The car needs to be handed first thing in the morning so this task could not be delayed any more and, of course, one needs to hand over locking nuts, spare keys and manuals as well. I will then be car-less for a week or so which not be incredibly inconvenient as the week following the funeral, I am going to visit Yorkshire but I had already decided to go by train and had already bought the tickets in anticipation. My son and I have entered into an arrangement whereby I will inherit his car but the new car he was buying for himself, originally promised for the first week ion June (which is now), has been delayed for the best part of a month, which could hardly have come at a less convenient time. There are times in my life when I have survived without a car but they tend to have been when I have been undertaking teaching trips abroad for extended periods both in Madrid and in Jakarta. But Madrid has an excellent transport system which I used extensively and taxis hardly at all, whereas in Jakarta I tended to be whisked around by car, principally by the person who acted as an admin assistant to the University. No doubt I will manage again but it will take me a day or so to acclimatise to not having a car on the drive.