Sorry, I seem to have become an unreliable WordPresser recently – not much reading and some very erratic writing. I won’t promise to try harder because, believe it or not, I am trying harder. I’m just not very good at it.
It’s partly the fault of the Russians. They invaded Ukraine, gas supplies went up in price and we all decided to economise. That means I spend more time in the living room and less in the dining room. That is where I do my writing, on a junk covered table that has been used as a desk far longer than it was ever used as a dining table (and was actually a second-hand office table I was given about forty years ago). Conjure with that mental picture for a while, it’s hard to imagine why I’ve never been featured in a glossy magazine spread on elegant living, isn’t it?
We have, so far, only had the heating on for one day. It’s a mild autumn, which is lucky. The living room is a slightly warmer room than the dining room, which opens onto the kitchen and faces north. The living room has thicker carpets and is smaller and less draughty. We sit there with blankets on our knees talking about the good old days and saving money on gas so we can spend it on cake and my collection.
I could write in the living room, but I don’t write well when I balance a laptop on my knee, and it seems anti-social. I could use a pad and pen, but these days it’s harder to write when TV is on – I no longer have that youthful capacity to work and listen to TV. Sometimes I even find it hard to converse while TV is on.
So there you go – Russians, cold, WP and my mental decline, all in one post.
So, why the title? It’s because I was researching some South African medals on a family history website. Ancestry, my normal site, doesn’t cover South Africa, so I tried some others. One of them seems to have triggered an avalanche of spam. First of all I got adverts for anti-virus software and then threats about harmful viruses on my computer. I’ve had them before, but have ignored them and they have faded away.This time, though they came to nothing, they did leave me with an annoying number of pop-ups. I’ve downloaded a free pop-up blocker. So far this morning it has blocked 62 pop-ups – that’s about one every twenty seconds. It’s hard work using a computer when a third of the screen is constantly choked with spam. I am, to say the least, frustrated and annoyed, and wishing I’d not bothered with the South African family research.
The picture? Fund-raising flags for Serbia, from around 1914. We bought them in with some junk a few weeks ago. The problem with the Balkans are still with us, as are our problems with the Russian Bear and jingoism.
The mild autumn is certainly helping with our energy bills – so far
So far, so good. 🙂
It is strange what triggers SPAM sometimes,
Yes. I have gone years without it and suddenly I’m full of it. Annoying. 🙂
I understand! The price of heating is terrible here, too, and Clif and I are pinching every penny that we can. As for blogging, I have a smart phone, and I do most of my reading and commenting on that. For some unknown—to me!—reason, it is easier for me to comment on a phone than on a desktop computer. Also, if I am watching a show that has commercials, I can read and comment then. Don’t feel as though I am missing anything by not watching commercials. 😉
Good point about commercials. I suspect you are colder than we are. Number 2 Son tells us it is now minus 2 degrees C in Toronto (which I think of as “next door” to you.)
Same temperature here, and it is snowing. Not long ago, I tottered out to take some pictures. Well, we are in driving distance of Toronto, but it’s a long drive.
I suspect “driving distance” means something different to you than it does to me. 🙂
Tee-hee! Yes, it takes a couple of days to get from Maine to Toronto. It’s 600 miles away.
As the crow flies, it is 603 miles, 837 miles by our winding and circuitous road system. How small I now feel! 🙂
I remember cross-country drives with Rick, traveling from east to west coast when we lived back in Connecticut. Sometimes we drove 10 or 12 hrs a day. Hoofing it, we could get to California in about 4 1/2 days. Can’t says I would want to travel like that anymore.
Yes. When I worked in South Africa we had a regular delivery circuit that involved driving for 24 hours with only time for 4-6 hours of stops – wouldn’t even attempt it these days but used to do it twice a month and think nothing of it.
Wowsah, Lavinia! Those were the days.
We had cheap fuel, we had enthusiasm . . . 🙂
And we were crazy… 🙂
Some might say this hasn’t changed . . . 🙂
Wowsah!