Nice day

I’ve had a problem with my a’s recently. Well, my A’s too, I suppose, though they weren’t so noticeable. I thought the keyboard may need something firmer underneath (I have a pile of papers in a folder to try to deaden the sound of clattering keys when Julia is in bed). However, experiments in that direction left me with a very poor strike rate on typing a’s, sometimes lacking as many a three out of four when I raised my head from my stylistically abominable  typing to see what it looked like. My mother, who tried to teach me be a touch typist, would be mortified to see me crouched over the keyboard stabbing away with two fingers and watching every strike.

I have a spare keyboard in Nottingham, but it will be a few days until our next visit, so I applied a bit of thought. What, I thought, looking at the crumb-festooned memorial to my many wasted years, if it’s just that a crumb has become lodged under the key. So I tipped it upside down and gave it a shake. It didn’t do much, so I tried a piece of narrow wood, which fished out a positive cornucopia of debris. It seems to be primarily beard hair, but short beard hair, much of which is still ginger. It is very different from the long white beard hair I currently wear. It must be years old.

Sourdough

It still didn’t completely cure the problem, so, with vague memories of having done this before, I gently lifted the A key off the board.  Somewhere I have a kit of useful small tools, but I can’t remember where it is. Plan B was the trusty pocket knife. Ditto. So, a kitchen knife? Julia goes mad if I use kitchen knives for things like this so I decided against it. I also decided, if I’m honest, against getting up and walking to the kitchen.

Scissors it is then, I thought. And it nearly worked without incident.  The A popped off and I was able to clean under it. No problem. I have a functioning A key and a small pile of ginger hair and with assorted crumbs. Emboldened by success, I attempted a few more. The space bar seemed to be harbouring detritus so I had a quick poke around, eased it gently up and . . . oh dear. Two other keys popped off. Now, without looking, can you tell me where the M and the N go?

Me neither.

Apple blossom

Fortunately I can Google “picture of keyboard” without using the N or the M, and everything is now back together. The space bar, to be honest, was a bit tricky but I managed to work the wire thingy out and it’s all working properly now.

So there you are – a working keyboard, an anecdote and a vague feeling that in terms of keyboard hygiene, I need to do better. I now have, at the back of my mind,  a desire to dismantle the whole thing and brush it clean. But that would just be inviting trouble, wouldn’t it?

I will now post photos of spring scenes, and attempt to replace your mental picture of my grubby keyboard with a selection of nice photos.

Cute kid