Happy Birthday to Me...

Events have a way of dictating your week, have you noticed? Last Thursday I learned that my partner Bert had colon cancer and that sent me a bit doo-laly and I could not think straight for a few days. It wasn't until Sunday I could actually talk about it to anyone else and decided the family should know and be warned of the consequences. I usually phone my mother on Sundays so she was the first to know and then Ed arrived in the afternoon for my birthday on the Monday - he had taken the day off, bless him and he took me out for a meal. During Monday a lot happened and I got calls from Stephanie, Phil and Fiona so they all know now.

Ed linked up my new BT hub to my PC and got it working - a doddle for him! Then we tackled the BTVision; we had to dismantle the Sky+ box and set up an ethernet link to the BT box, then it had to search for the channels etc. All quite technical.

So it was about 2pm before we got to go out and find Appledore which is supposed to be a craft community and shopping centre. We had a basic map (boy, was it basic) that sent us round in a loop, adding miles to the journey. We had to reverse our road a couple of times as the signposts were in funny places but we did get there! We had lunch at a little pub close by and visited the craft shop. I asked at the shop whether they did workshops or courses but there was nothing in that line, they were just a shop, so I bought a lovely ceramic pull for the bathroom light and a tudor rose tile that I could use as a stamp; I rummaged through a book fair in a garage for 3 very old books I could use for collaging and then we came home. I saw Ed off at about 4pm and settled down to watch the new BTVision.

What a con that was! All the channels I usually watch were gone, the menus were ponderous, not having a back button, so once you got to the end of the limited menu tree you had to go out and come back in again. There were none of the films, HD channnels, or extended viewing that you get with Sky and I could have got the same viewing if I had bought a Freeview box from Tesco for £30 and no £20 per month subscription. The remote volume buttons did not work and when I rang the technical support they said I had to call another number and get some codes to get it working. The only thing I could see that was an advantage over Freeview was the ability to record the programmes and link the series. After an hour I gave up and watched one of my own DVDs.

The next day I dismantled the BTVision, re-installed my Sky+ box and rang BT to cancel. I was so glad to get back to Sky+ and will never complain about the cost again.

So my birthday was successful on the whole and I really enjoyed the day. Today, Wednesday, I have my craft club at lunchtime when I'm supposed to be making a decoupage card (see next blog) and I have cancelled my Thursday market day - I just can't concentrate on that at the moment but funnily enough, I got a call from a previous customer and another order. I explained I will be away for a week and will get to it when I come back, so that will keep me going. Fiona's ball gown is nearly finished, just some tarting up and hems to do, and I must get to do some ironing or I'll have nothing to wear next week.