INDOORS 34

My main indoor project for 2017 is to turn the above room- now with more sunshine and light due to the removal of the palm tree - into a coffee lounge - rather than a garden-paint-dump room.

March is going to be an expensive month. As well as the electricity bill, I had computer costs and a weeks vacation. My computer was taking so long to start up - one minute had become almost five - that I was wondering how many more times it actually would start rather than fail. I decided to have a look at new towers online while it did work on the first Saturday of the month, planning to buy a replacement later that day.

Argos - a company I have not used before as I dislike looking at picture books and poking buttons rather than seeing what I may wish to buy - had a good offer and also the option for same day/4 hour time slot delivery for less than five pound, so I decided to trap myself in the house for 4 hours and put in an order.

One problem with ordering online rather than in store, is that one cannot check to see the country of origin - and alas my purchase was from China. (I will remember NOT to buy the HP brand again for this specific reason, as I choose NOT to buy any Chinese products.) However, I had a new monitor/mouse/keyboard and printer as well as tower to set up.

I was due to tune in to a Buddhist webcast, so set up the laptop to view it on that, while I sorted out the new computer - updates, downloading programs, uploading stored data...and then locating around 100 bookmarks and re-bookmarking them and re-entering passwords...

It took me 6.5 hours that afternoon/evening, and a further 1.5 hours the following day - but I now have my 'emergency' laptop and 'regular use' desktop operational. I did change the mouse for my old one though - as I have a color-changing feature mouse that I particularly like.

This new purchase came with a free printer, my son was turning 26 the following week, and I already had a printer - so I asked which one he wanted and gave him my old one. The old one was better quality - but more than 5 years old. It amazes me how many wires one needs to connect in order to operate a desktop & laptop - with printer, speakers, monitor, etc. I am glad I am not dumb-minded when it comes to tech!