How lovely! I woke up nice and
early, feeling great! I got up, got dressed and made my morning coffee –
mippies under my feet all the way, ha ha!
My keyboard set arrived just after
eight, Mewthos followed me eagerly, throwing himself at my leg for lovies –
yet, when I asked him to stay, he did! It was too cute seeing him sit on the
path, at the end of the flower beds, watching me!
Installing the new keyboard set was …
tricky. Why? Well, because instructions are no longer included! Strangely
enough though, batteries are! The only ‘instructions’ included were a tiny
little scrap of paper with a few images: insert batteries, insert USB. That’s
it. I tried that and … nothing. I had to go back to my old set and google! I
tried going directly to the Microsoft website – not very helpful! Oh,
everything you need is there – but no information regarding WHAT is needed!
Predictably, I wasn’t the only one struggling with this, so I found a Q&A
with download links – turns out you HAVE TO install the Microsoft Mouse and
Keyboard Center! But first, you have to figure that out by yourself and
download it.
Well, it took a while, but I worked
it out. Had to restart the computer, though. There are loads of different
settings I can select, choose or personalize – for now, I’m staying with the
default settings. Maybe one day, when I’m bored, I’ll play around with all the
options.
While I was in the middle of the installation,
both mippies came inside – I considered going off to Makro at that point, but
opted against it. With New Year a few hours away, I’m guessing that Tonic Water
and Cigarettes may not be fully stocked, and I’d end up having to make another
trip soon, anyway.
Yup! Almost spot on! Both mippies
came inside again, and I decided to chance it. Drove all the way out to Makro
and found not a single bottle of Tonic! Well, one single bottle of Tonic Light –
but who’s going to drink that? They had no plain chocolate – there was a box of
white & milk chocolate, but it was opened and one bar was missing. So I
looked around and chose to take a box of Bounty instead. They had the Whiskas
kibbles on special, so I bought 2 bags of 4kg and I also bought more sachets. I
saw the queue going all the way around to the back of the store, so I made
certain that I had no more than 5 items – which I could pay at the Cigarette
counter! I also asked for boxes, but was told that they had none – a blatant
lie, but I was in no mood to argue.
On the way back I tried Sunridge
Spar – it took me five whole minutes to queue through the parking lot! No, I
didn’t stop! So I decided to try the pseudo-german butchery. As I was waiting
for a car to come out, I realized the car in the opposite lane had been waiting
for that parking before I arrived – so I let him take it. I ended up driving
around the block and park in the street behind, not far to walk, though. On the
way, I was stopped by someone asking for help – he told me a long story of
woes, I’m afraid I couldn’t understand most of it, but decided to give him some
money. One of those motivational FB posts popped into my head while I tried to
understand the story I was being told; if he takes that money to a bottle
store, that speaks about his character – but if I choose not to help someone,
when I’m able to do so, that speaks about my character.
The butchery was packed as well! But
the counter with the cold meats had no queue, so I got my supply and … turned
around to find myself already in the queue for the till! Round and round we go!
They’ve changed the layout again, now the bakery looks a lot more appetizing than
it did when I last visited; but they have nothing that interest me. I did find
temptation in the shelves, though. I took some black currant concentrate, a box
of Knödel (a form of potato dumplings) and Griebenschmalz (pork fat / lard with
cracklings).
I’m glad that’s all done and behind
me! Pity about the Tonic Water, but I can just get those from the Spar. Sure,
it’s more expensive there, but it’s not worth the bother to drive to Makro
again!
I’m starting to get used to the new
mouse & keyboard set. The keyboard is pure pleasure! I just have to
remember to try and touch-type – rather than hammer the keys! I learned to type
on a manual Olivetti, which required quite some effort to type – touch-typing
is quite different. The mouse is giving me a little trouble, the pointer isn’t
moving smoothly – it jumps around a bit. At first I thought it’s due to the
picture on my mouse pad – so I bought a new mouse pad at Makro: a plain black
one, with a wrist rest. But even on that the pointer still jumps, I have
trouble with precise selections. I’ve changed the settings, and will just keep
trying to see whether it’s me or the settings. But at least I no longer have to
apply force when clicking! That was getting rather tiresome!
By the time I had carried everything
upstairs and unpacked, I was exhausted! It was awfully hot in the car. I couldn’t
wait to get into my shorts and wash up! I’ve had a very late breakfast and the
last fresh milk – I wasn’t up to going to Newton Spar after all that!
Fortunately I like drinking water, so I won’t go thirsty! I also still have 2x
Fruit juices and one tonic water. I’ll try to get away on Wednesday to get
fresh groceries.
I got a bit reckless and bought two
months worth of Makro shopping, ending the year with a bang: My bank balance at
the lowest it has been all year! I’ve never gone this low, since I got out of
the red! And that was two years ago! But I’ve bought myself some time – I won’t
have to rush to Makro soon, after I’ve moved. I can go when I feel like it. I
might even get lucky and source the Makro shopping closer to home. Anything is
possible, eh?
Well, my pantry is now filled with
cat food, ha ha! I’ve got two months supply of everything: Whiskas, treats, and
Royal Canin – both types. Now, if only I could stock up food for myself so
easily! In a way, I’m planning to do just that: I’m planning on re-stocking my
pantry with home-made rather than buying ready-made. It’s going to take some
time to get back to where I left off here, and it will be a continuous process –
but right now, I’m quite looking forward to that! I’d much rather spend my time
at home, making something, than out there, and shopping. I also get a lot of
pleasure and satisfaction from making something myself. Like the first time I
made a whole pizza, including the dough, by myself! Ha Ha, I remember I had to
call for help to eat it! Sigh … good times!
Ah! My salary just came through, so
I won’t be closing the year on the lowest bank balance of the year, after all!
That’s something.
Sigh, the mouse works better on the
desk itself than it does on the mouse pad. Well, at least I know what to do! It’s
still a little jumpy, even though I’ve tried several settings now.
I’ve watered the garden and Mewthos –
ha ha, can never water one without the other! The plants in the pots still seem
to be doing well, so I’ve got high hopes they’ll survive the move!
Sigh, so much I want to start, so
much I want to try, so much I want to do – but to get there, what I need to do
now is pack, pack, and pack! Dull, depressing, miserable packing. Next week
will be somewhat busy, I’ll need to go to Move-a-Pet and finalise my
arrangements; I need to call my boss and ask him about the car’s licence and
petrol card as well as about my new home; and I’ll need to find a carpet
cleaning business to give these carpets the contract-required cleaning after I’ve
left. I will need to make arrangements for my drivers’ license – if it isn’t
available.
Mewthos came in around half eight
mewling for munchies, so I decided to bring them all in now to be on the safe
side. Romeo also came running at top speed! Sigh! Lady Jane let me wait a bit,
but she also came without trouble. I gave them the chicken with gravy they
enjoyed yesterday – but apparently today they don’t like it anymore! Well,
except greedy chops Mewthos!
I had just managed to sort out which
cats should be inside and which outside when there was a knock on my front
door! That’s a very rare occurrence, since one has to get through my gate, down
the path and up the stairs to reach my front door! I asked who it was – it was
the nosy neighbour from across the street! She wants to show me a picture of a
cat … I struggled to get Lady & Ziva shut into the bedroom, since I don’t
want either to dash outside again! Mewthos is less of an issue, with a stranger
at the door. Miss Nosy showed me a photo of a missing cat, which looks very
similar to Ziva, but has blue eyes. I explained that Rose had already showed me
the photo and I was on the lookout for the missing furbaby, but the one she saw
coming in here wasn’t the missing one; but Ziva. She also told me that,
apparently, Romeo spends most of his time next door to her! No, he doesn’t
belong there, either. I assured Miss Nosy that I would notify the network
immediately, should I see the missing cat. I am sorry she got the owner’s hopes
up for nothing, though that’s not my fault.
Awww, Lady Jane and Ziva are huddled
arm in arm on my chair right now! They’re not too happy about being shut in
early, but I’d rather not risk either running in fright, should someone let off
some crackers!
This is something I’ve always
puzzled over: Why should the whole world be forbidden to enjoy fireworks for
the sake of people’s pets? Why can’t the onus be on the pet owners to keep
their furbabies safe? And yet, fireworks are now illegal! Talk about carpeting the
world rather than putting on slippers! I feel the exact same way about all
these smoking laws! Cigarettes aren’t illegal, but advertising them is. Even
more ridiculous was including vape and electronic cigarettes, which have none
of the health effects on which the smoking laws are based; yet, no sooner had
they come out, and the laws were re-worded to make those just as illegal! It’s
as if the whole world has lost the plot; common sense has been eliminated!
Sometimes I look at all the changes during
my lifetime and I get a very strong feeling of a pattern. Lemmings come to
mind. And cattle. A deliberate dumbing of the masses – except, instead of
burning books, we’re now led to ignore them. And instead of propaganda steering
towards a specific direction, there’s an absolute flood of data and information
spreading via the internet, a lot of which is garbage. And it’s all taken in,
lifestyles are changed to fit some unsubstantiated fad just because it sounds
good. And those who actually do some checking, research online. The problem
with that is, that they search for the answer they want – not for a qualified
statement on the subject. Nobody refers to books anymore. And thinking has
become very unpopular. I sometimes despair when people call me ‘wise’ – for making
a simple, but thoughtful, statement. That isn’t wisdom – that’s just thinking!
Ah well, what do I know? I’m neither
historian nor psychologist. I’m just a secretary with too much imagination and
too much time to sit and think!
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