Wednesday, 1st July – Spent an hour on the telephone to the Ordnance Survey trying to renew my subscription, but without success. Life was much easier when money could be sent by post.
Friday, 3rd July – Tried again to renew my subscription and came to a message saying that I had to take my PINsentry device to the bank. When I did so, they said that I had to take the computer to the bank, which meant another journey. The lady in the bank was able to renew the subscription, but she could only do so by using my Barclaycard instead of my debit card. After that, I took my mobile phone back to the shop, where they spent a lot of time on it, but I still can’t phone from the mobile from the telephone in my flat. When I got home, I couldn’t move the cursor on the computer screen. Fortunately, this happened an hour before K.T.D. closed for the weekend and they were able to sort it out.
Saturday, 4th July – Tried to complete an online questionnaire about the electoral register, but every time I finished it I was sent back to the beginning.
Monday, 6th July – A plumber called to repair the cistern in the bathroom so that I no longer have to tie it up with string to get it to work.
Wednesday, 8th July – Went on a Kendal Ramblers walk over Whitbarrow from Row to Fell Edge and along the unmetalled road that skirts the area to the north. Despite the beautiful weather, there were only six people on the walk. The best part was along a mile of woodland paths near the start. When we stopped for a rest, I identified a common spotted orchid.
Thursday, 9th July – A man called to look at the windows of the flat.
Friday, 10th July – Took my mobile phone back to the shop where I bought it and my debit and credit cards to the bank because I couldn’t get any of these things to work. Listened to interesting radio programmes presented by Mark Steele and Paul Sinha. The two programmes were so similar that for weeks I thought that they were the same programme.
Saturday, 11th July – Tried out my mobile phone, and it now works.
Sunday, 12th July – Ordered a green tie identical to my old one, which is getting worn out.
Monday, 13th July – Put a small table and chair in the hall cupboard to prove that I could live there while work is being done in the other rooms. Surprisingly, there is a power socket in there that I have never used before.
Wednesday, 15th July – Walked along the ridge of Scout Scar starting at five o’clock in the morning. Harebells and lady’s bedstraw were in flower, and there were many dead and dying ash trees.
Sent an email to the Kendal Archives asking whether they have the papers that I gave to the Secretary of the Wainwright Society, but all I got was a message to say that they couldn’t reply.
Sunday, 19th July – Watched the film ‘Calamity Jane’ again and discovered two songs that were worth keeping and that I haven’t already got. Finally got round to reorganising my collection so that I can send it to Amy, but I can’t find the disc that contains scenes from the series ‘Civilisation’.
Thursday, 23rd July – Identified a large red-tailed bumblebee and a buff-tailed bumblebee, both of which I saw on my way home from Booths.
Sunday, 26th July – All my time is now taken up with creating a copy of my collection of recent scenes from television for Amy. In the morning I discovered that while I am copying scenes from the hard-disc drive to a disc I can watch other programmes that I have recorded. In the afternoon I found that I couldn’t do this and that instead of taking a quarter of an hour to copy a hundred sequences it now takes an hour and a half.
Tuesday, 28th July – With only two discs still to copy, I came to an insuperable problem.
Wednesday, 29th July – Tried copying to a different disc without success, then to a third. Then I tried a fourth disc, and it worked! Robert the Bruce was right when he said ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.’ Because of this, I ran out of discs, but I was able to finish the copying by re-using an old disc with nothing important on it. I only included sequences from programmes that can be copied over and over again. I kept two copies of each scene: one for my great-niece Amy to last until her old age and one for myself.
Read in the Radio Times that the programme containing my interview with Julia Bradbury will be broadcast again next Wednesday. I worked out that this is the eighth time it has been shown.
Thursday, 30th July – Went to the chiropodist in Angel Yard because there is a pain in my left little toe. It took thirty minutes.
Friday, 31st July – Started watching the videos that I recently created. I couldn’t find the earliest disc, so I started at the most recent. Of course, I only do this when I can’t be bothered to do anything else.
Used the internet to identify the insect that I photographed on June 23rd as a harlequin ladybird larva, which I have seen before.