All Change But Not That You Would Notice

Ready for the Chill.
Ready for the Chill.

The title of this post probably needs a bit of explanation. When Suse decided to sell Lothian Life it was obvious that this web site needed a new home. At first I thought we would be able to find something free but eventually we decided that we didn’t want adverts so ended up with a firm called Ariotek who are based in Coatbridge and are very approachable as well as being half the price of Media Temple. The transfer was straightforward with some WordPress issues afterwards which Colin at Aritek solved for us. So if you need a domain name hosted give Ariotek a call. They seem fine to me.

A Larick House Rainbow
A Larick House Rainbow

Anyway, back to last month’s finale. Although I’m not going to claim that I had anything to do with it but the planer now has a functioning drive belt. The nice technical people in Clarke’s sent me new belts, one of which, an equally nice Mr. Bagley fitted for me after a lot of cleaning and footering. I’m not sure quite what he did but the proof of the pudding etc. is plain to see. The planer now operates perfectly, unlike the new laptop which finally packed in when its battery failed. PC World sorted everything out but it was yet another trip to Braehead. I’m not impressed with Toshiba and Windows 8.

A Larick House sunset - not as spectacular as some but nice to see.
A Larick House sunset – not as spectacular as some but nice to see.

I’m not sure why but I recall there being magnificent sunsets in West Lothian during November. We haven’t really had anything special but one or two rainbows have caught the eye. November is also our time for celebrating Suse’s and her Mother’s birthdays, usually with a meal out. So we borrowed a wheelchair and took Margaret to the Rouken Glen Garden Centre café with Emily and Caitlin. She had a birthday cake and candles that evening at Wellmeadow. I’m not sure how much of it she took in!

The other matter relating to Margaret is that Suse’s Management Plan has been approved by the Office of the Public Guardian, so it looks as though we will be starting on the renovations of 35 Merryvale Avenue next year.

We spent Suse’s birthday discussing the possibility of Whitehouse promoting a community broadband scheme. We concluded that given the size of the settlement with just 30 odd telephone connections it doesn’t seem feasible and nobody fancied trying to drum up extra participants. It will be interesting to see if the Scottish Government’s proposals for next generation broadband will be delivered. Somehow, I suspect that the all singing, all dancing promises for Jan – June 2015 may not materialise. All this research into broadband, spurred me to run a co-axial cable from the the existing satellite box to an old Sky box which was re-activated with an Argyll and Bute Libraries card. Frustratingly, although things worked for a while they suddenly stopped. Had my library subscription expired? So the plan now is to get some new kit to see if we can get things working permanently upstairs so that the odd programme clash can be avoided. The satellite dish also went for a wander in the storm but seems to have survived with just a little bit of tinkering required to get it operational again.

Suse was on duty at the first Tarbert Book Festival, doing the meeting and greeting for Lisa Tuttle and then taking in some of the other offerings prior to a birthday meal out for Donna.

Caitlin and Santa at Glenbarr.
Caitlin and Santa at Glenbarr.

We had a lovely visit from Emily, Richard and Caitlin at the end of the month but didn’t put them to work this time, other than making a quick foray for seaweed on the way back from the Glenbarr Abbey Christmas Open Day. On the wood working front, the oak decoration at the side of the stair was given the thumbs down by Suse and Ali the Architect and is now in the garage waiting to be recycled into light boxes. The plan here is to ask Lucinda the Glass Artist, to make 4 glass covers to complement her other work on the stair.

 

The stove works well and definitely stops your nose from dripping.
The stove works well and definitely stops your nose from dripping.

The main development on the wwf is the addition of a new wood burner in the workshop, courtesy of  Mr. Bagley. It works a treat and has meant that it is possible to stay in the workshop for more than half an hour during the winter. Accordingly, we now have some Christmas presents underway; two mouse-proof, oak boxes for important paperwork and the start of an oak set of oversize, Scrabble tiles with which we hope to amuse ourselves during the winter.

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