:: nearly there

Blimey this has been an ordeal. But all that's still to come is the PIN for my credit card. I'll ring the bank at some point and see what's happening on that score.

Best of all, my spanking new laptop arrived this morning (Friday ... see below). I was too cheap to pay for next-day delivery - sloooow delivery was free - so was amazed when it arrived. I only ordered it on Wednesday. It's a wonderful machine. It's quick, has a beautiful screen and the setup was smooth and easy. And it cost a grand total of £570 - £10 more than getting my broken Sony fixed. I did pay another £50 for a three-year warranty, it seems like a bargain. But yes, it's lovely. I was a bit downcast when I took it out of the box; compared to the slick gorgeousness of the Vaio it seemed cheap and plasticky. But once I got it going and it had whisked through its setup routine I began to bond with it.

The real "oh wow" moment was running the Aquarium screensaver: the screen resolution is breathtaking. And when you set up the Windows Media Centre there's an HD video runs that's so sharp it's scary. So now I'm happily loading all my software and files. Right at this minute I'm testing the battery life, which by the way beats the Vaio hands down: the power management system is slick and easy, and the icon says I have three hours left. Yay! I'm a happy camper.


Later (Saturday in fact - I saved yesterday's entry as a draft & never did get to finish it):
Andrew came down from Sneckie yesterday and I'd arranged to have the day off so we could have a big catchup. But I'd had to warn him I might have to go in to work at short notice and so I did. Alistair's wife is very ill; she'd been in hospital and got out yesterday, but wasn't well enough for him to leave her. It also happened that John is away this weekend. I made lunch and we had about two hours to talk before I had to race away. Andrew came into town and met me in my break and we had a drink. He was in bed already when I got home, and had to leave before I got up (he did wake me to say goodbye). He'll be back at Easter, hope we get more time then!

So today I'm having a really good rest. It's cold and wet outside, nice and snug in here. And I have a nice new toy - bliss!