“This stuff is all too ‘look, mum, how clever I am,” I said in my best deep doom and gloom tones.

Graham huffed at me and said:  “Told you so.”

“Did you?  I have no recollection of such advice.”

“Well, if I didn’t I should have.  And I’d have been right, too.”

And that was about it for me and HTML5.  It’s easier than it looks at first sight but it is far, far too clever for its own good.  Another case of a solution looking for a problem, I’m afraid, at least it is for me.

Then I found that sitting indoors at the computer for all those lost hours had sparked off my winter cough once more and I’m only just recovering.

Getting older has almost nothing at all to do with getting wiser.

I did get some good news on Wednesday however.  The consultant venous specialist says that the scans and tests indicate that the deep veins in my leg are in good order–no risk of DVT–and that the secondary veins are pretty good, too.  There is some ‘incompetence’ in the lymphatic system, causing spill-over into the surrounding tissue, and that’s what is causing the swelling.

No need for surgery, but I’m to start wearing an elastic support stocking on my left leg to reduce the swelling and then to keep it under control.

“You won’t enjoy that, I’m afraid,” the guy said.

“No.  I don’t suppose I shall.  Hey ho.  Needs must.”

That’s a good attitude.  Stick with it, and we’ll have you walking normally inside six months.”

So I’m waiting for him to write to my GP, and for her to call me in for measurement and discussion on the best way to get the darn thing on and learn to live with it.

What a joy.

“Does that matter?”

“Not really.  Though you’d think that after all these years, running from GML onwards that it’d be stuck in my brain well and truly.”

“Yeah, but does it matter?”

“No, of course not.  It’s just that I’m wrestling with the annual index update for my journal and it is proving darn difficult.”

“Have a nice cup of coffee and see if it helps.”

Funny thing is that it did.  A good deep and rich espresso along with two little caramel biscuits got my brain ticking over and I was able to get the job done.  Not well, but well enough.

“What will you do now?” Graham asked, all bright and innocent.

“I think I shall learn HTML5.  For the challenge, you know.”

“Ah.  That’s my boy.”

For almost the whole year we were satisfied.  Then, a few weeks back, Graham’s computer, running Windows XP, started acting up.  It seemed most likely that it was down to Kaspersky getting close to the end of its subscription so Graham bought a new copy and installed it over the old one.

Then the problems really started, with the program acting up in the strangest of fashions.  We researched, and found that many other users were reporting the same troubles after updating the product.

I was due to upgrade my copy this last week and found myself strangely reluctant to stick with Kaspersky.  It’s way of popping up a subscription expiry window many times a day, interrupting the flow of my “work” didn’t help at all.

“I think I’ll go back to Norton,” I said.  “I don’t like the idea of struggling with the technology at my age.”

“Nothing to do with age,” Graham replied.  “Get a multi-user copy and I’ll go back, too.”

Long stories are best cut short so I’ll just say that I Amazoned a new copy of Norton on Christmas Eve, it arrived this morning, I deleted Kaspersky and installed the new baby.  It was a completely painless delete/install and my computer, running Windows Vista, seems to have taken on a new lease of life, swift as a speeding bullet you might say.  The difference is most marked at start-up, which runs faster than ever before.

So there you are.  I’m back safely in the arms of Norton and happy with it.  Your experience may differ, of course, especially with Vista, which everyone in the world seems to hate except for me.

And here we all are at the end of one year and getting closer and closer to the start of a new one.  I can’t say that 2011 has been our best year, though there have been enough happy times to balance out all but the worst of the bad ones.  Here in the little house in the Pines Graham and I are hoping for a better year in 2012 and we both of us send you all our best wishes for the same.  Things, as the song would have it, can only get better.

Happy New Year!

“Oh, goody,” I said when Graham suggested the outing. “Now I’ll be able to find something to write about.”

Wrong.

So today… we went shopping.

“Are you sure you want to do this?  Surely we have enough food in to keep us going into January?” I asked as we piled into the car.

“Yes, of course we have.  We need some fresh bread, though, and it’d be nice to get milk.  And some ordinary food.”

And that was how we found ourselves in the supermarket on a bitter, rainy day, rubbing shoulders with the grumpiest, most dour-faced old fuddy-duddies I’ve seen for a long time.  And the scattering of younger folks were little better.  It was unusual for Morrison’s.  We settled on this supermarket because the people are generally cheerful and polite.

“What’s wrong with this lot today?” I asked Graham.

“Like as not they’ve just today realised how much money they’ve spent over the holiday.”

“Ah.  You’re probably right.”

“I take it we’re not in the same state?”

“Goodness, no.  In fact I just this morning paid the last of the bills off.  Our Christmas is all bought and paid for.”

“Wow.  Who’s a clever chicken, then?”

“Me.  Me.  Me.”

And so we poddled along, got to the check-out, paid our bill with the welcome aid of a £25 coupon from the supermarket, the reward for saving check-out receipts since November, and walked out into a fresh blast of icy rain and horrid, cruel wind.

We didn’t like that, but even so we ended up smiling, and drove away to leave the grumpies to their own devices.

“Just a couple of scraps left,” he said.  “Not enough for a decent sandwich, leave alone a proper meal.”

“Aren’t we good boys, then.  Time to bring out the ham?”

“Yup.  We shall start it for dinner tonight.”

“Yummity scrummity.”

And so the Christmas feast goes on, day to day.  Full tummy and empty head, that’s me.

So the little house under the pines has been a place filled with the gentle and sometimes not so gentle sound of snoring.

Well, it’s one way to spend a good Christmas.

Gifts were exchanged, and I was started off on champagne and orange juice–Buck’s Fizz, if you prefer.

And now we’re going to settle down to a good tuck-in feast.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

This morning I woke feeling truly unwell so the Christmas Eve Schadenfreude trip was cancelled altogether.  Not to worry.  There’s always another year.  Probably.

As it is, I’m feeling better all the time and fully expect to be fit enough to tackle my Christmas lunch in good order.

Nothing more to be said, then, except to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and hope to write another silly note tomorrow to tell you all about my Christmas presents.

Happy days!

The tree is installed in the corner of the living room and has been dressed in best Graham tradition, with our presents all gift-wrapped and placed underneath ready for Christmas Day.  And there is a bottle of decent champagne chilling nicely in readiness for the breakfast package opening along with “ooh-ing” and “aah-ing” and “you shouldn’t haves” and “just what I wanteds” as appropriate.

We’re on course for a happy holiday and we send our best wishes to all our friends for the same.

“You don’t think we’ve forgotten anything, do you?” Graham asked.

“We shall not starve even if we have.”

Then, after a nice light lunch and a well-earned nap we were ready to dress up and walk across the road to attend a neighbourly “walk-in and enjoy” visit in the evening.

I was feeling little daunted to be meeting all those Welsh people in one big gathering.  It’s fine for Graham:  he just switches into full Welsh heritage mode and sails into the affray.  Me, I can’t switch off my Englishness no matter how hard I try so there was nothing to be done but gulp, follow the yellow brick road into the dark forest, and hope Graham would rescue me from any cultural gaffes.

There weren’t any, of course.  This was the nicest and most warm and welcoming group I’ve encountered in a long, long time.  I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Walking back across the road Graham said:  “There.  It wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“No, of course not.  Not a single lion, tiger or bear to be seen anywhere.”

“You’re a silly old fool sometimes.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Nah.  You’re my silly old fool so it doesn’t matter.”

“Oh.  Thanks.  I think.”