I had a rather disturbed night, the night before last, largely struggling with technology again. Buoyed at my success in restoring access to the iPlayer and other channels on my Toshiba TV, I thought I would have one more attempt to see if I could locate the browser which appeared to have been removed since the last update. Although not listed in the apps list directly, i found that by searching for the term ‘browser’ could locate the primitive browser which had originally been installed – I think it might be an obscure one called ‘Silk’ So this means that I can now access my video speeches and photos from out 50th wedding anniversary on the big screen at which I am delighted. So I decided to stitch in the details of my ‘Mozart’ web site and this seemed to work up to a point as the actual web page would display. But clicking on any of the links to access the music (the whole point of the website) just generated a message which said ‘This browser is no longer supported – please update’ I was an offered three alternatives of Firefox, Chrome and Opera but in each case after the file had been loaded to the TV, I got a system message (‘Cannot open file’ as it was, after all, a TV to which I was downloading and not a computer) So after fiddling about with this for ages, in the middle of the night, I came to the view that I could not ever get this to work on such a primitive installation of accessing the world wide web on this particular TV. But later on in the morning when my brain had had a chance to think things through, I undertook another experiment which was to put some of the rolling displays of photos of Meg’s life on the TV and I got this to work without a hitch. But this is because all of the photos/videos are stored on my own web-space whereas the Mozart clips were having to work through YouTube so I have concluded that the ‘Update your browser’ message emanates not from my TV but from YouTube which I was using to play the Mozart videos and soundtracks. At least, now I know (or think I knw)
In the morning, I was due to pick up my Italian friend and take her to church in time for the 8.30am service but she texted me to say that she did not feel well enough to attend the service this morning. About once a month, we have a sort of ‘folk’ mass where instead of having an organist we have a trio of parents playing their guitars and leading the hymn singing. Today, after the service, I wet to the parish hall to have mu coffee and biscuits. There one of the parishioners is due to give birth to her second child within the next week and as she was feeling a little uncomfortable, I took her other child and jiggled it up and down on my knee (and I have the photograph to prove it) I must say I had forgotten just how heavy a 2½ year old can be but I a can astonish some of my friends and acquaintances by showing them my ‘Catholic’ baby. After the service, I go and get some money out of the ATM whilst it is quiet, fill up the car with petrol and collect my newspaper before coming home to have a ‘treat’ of a breakfast which is fried eggs on a slice of toasted sourdough bread. I was particularly pleased to receive a text from my University of Winchester friend whose birthday party I shall be attending in a fortnight’s time. So I now have complete instructions how to get to the party as well as giving in my choices of food for the sit-down meal. As the birthday party is on the actual anniversary of Meg’s death, I shall attend an early morning Mass on that day and then make tracks straight away for the 85 mile journey to South Oxfordshire. I made myself a large curry type meal for lunch will last me for a couple of days and then, after that, I made myself give the front lawn a cutting which it needed and the weather was fine. To be honest, I was getting a bit fed up with the constant news obsession of the latest assassination attempt upon Trump and the back awn which is easier to cut can wait until the next day. I am not an avoid follower of football but every so often a footballing story arises which grabs my attention. Now Southampton have been struggling at the bottom of the premier League all season and are in constant danger of relegation. But this year, they are having a good run in the FA Cup and were drawn against the very successful Manchester City. Yesterday, they managed to score a goal against City to make the score 1-0 and only had to hang on for 10 minutes to secure victory.But City scored equalised three minutes later and then scored a decisive extra goal towards the end of injury time to knock Southampton out of the Cup. But Manchester City have been in the final about four times in four years, and I was desperately hoping that Southampton could hang onto their lead and enjoy their place in the final. A parallel story is also happening to Leeds who are about fifth from the bottom and are today playing Chelsea for a place in the final. I must be careful not to hear the score in any news bulletins because highlights of the match are to be shown on terrestrial TV at 10.30 this evening, so I shall watch them whilst being tucked up in bed. If Leeds do make it the final, they will almost certainly be put to the slaughter by Manchester City but in the FA Cup strange things can and do happen. When Leeds did make it the FA Cup Final in their more glorious days, they were always defeated by ‘inferior’ teams, one of them from the then (then) Second division as I remember it. Next week does not hold out any particularly exciting prospects except that on Friday, I intend to take my American friend to experience the delights of Alcester, a little Georgian town not too far distant. The High Street is packed full of independent shops and some excellent charity outlets. In addition, one of the local hostelries always does a special pensioner’s menu home-made lasagne which is always beautifully prepared and delicious tasting but we have to ensure that we have made a booking for this two or three days in advance.