Just easing myself back into the swing of things after a quiet few weeks following television coverage of the Tour de France and lamenting a blip in WordPress accessibility.
The Tour de France was brilliant this year. I’ve sat it out for a couple of years and didn’t go in to this year’s viewing with any particular favourites, though I’ve come out with plenty. I find I like the top two riders, Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar, equally, though they have very different personalities and are very different riders. The Trek Team (LIDL Trek this year, but that seems to change frequently) remain my favourite team simply because I loved my own Trek bicycles so much. Generally, though, I was happy to be watching such good competition and no-one spoiled it. After a number of changes over recent years, it felt like the ITV4 commentary team have hit their stride again. I particularly enjoyed Pete Kennaugh stepping up into the slot which Chris Boardman has previously filled on the post-race autopsy and highlights sections. Up until today, when it failed to make an appearance, Pete’s black A5 notebook has been a constant companion and, it often seemed, a touchstone on which he would keep one hand throughout his pieces to camera. A man should always know where his notebook is.
Although I’ve done very little more than write my daily journal entries and the single reminder “Tour highlights” each day in my planner, I’ve been enjoying my currently inked selection very much indeed. Also, just how perfectly do the inks match this Washi tape from Note and Wish? I couldn’t have picked a more pleasing combination if I’d tried. I hadn’t previously mentioned having a fourth pen inked, on top of my Quite Cross set, but I’ve been using Montblanc William Shakespeare Velvet Red in my Waterman Allure pen all month. This was a “wild card” selection. I put the names of all my pens in one pot and the names of all my inks in another, and had my grandson pick one of each. I could have ended up with a bad combination, but the gods were smiling on us and this one is pretty blooming good.
So, WordPress. Early in July I opened my desktop version which is currently the only way I like to access the blogging software, and it said I needed to run an update. So I did and then everything went wrong as it refused to let me open the new version. In the end I had to resort to using the web version which I know from previous experience just annoys me. It never feels quite right to me when I am expected to access software via my web browser. I am so old-school on this: applications are applications and should live in the computer, the web browser is an application for browsing the web. I even went so far as to explore other options, but the reason I use WordPress is that it’s the best of the bunch and pretty much every other one I look at is browser-based anyway. Finally, this weekend, I’ve managed to re-load and open the updated desktop version without any problems and I’m up and running again. Huge sigh of relief.
I’m also keen to dig out my Olympus DSLR camera and get to grips with it again, after a few months of only using the iPhone which has a more than adequate camera. My first stumbling-block has been the lack of a vital part of my tripod – the bit you screw onto the bottom on the camera and then clip into the holder on the top of the tripod. Heaven only knows what I’ve done with it. Pound to a penny, I left it attached to the bottom of the camera, noticed it was attached to the bottom of the camera and removed it, then put it somewhere “safe” instead of clipping it back onto the tripod. It will turn up, but only once I have frustrated myself with looking for it everywhere that it might logically be.
Perhaps it is down the back of the sofa with the scissors from my knitting bag and, I hope, the knitting needle I dropped last night.
Pam Alison Knits 
7 responses to “All quiet”
With you on the Tour de France absolutely fabulous this year probably one of the most exciting torus recently which never really went to plan but consistently delivered extremely good and exciting racing. A pith mark Cavendish broke his collarbone it would have been fantastic to see him get his 35th Stage win before he retires but there is a place for with Astana for next year’s Tour if he wants it!
I must get my journal out have written anything since last month and don’t really feel the need at the moment but am aware that it is a good habit to develop with multiple benefits.
Agree with you about applications I want my data and programmes (sorry should of course be – programs!) on my PC not on the internet – should have said “in the cloud” which is of course the internet by another name.
That look on Mark Cavendish’s face just before they closed the door of the car after his fall – looked like they were taking him to the glue factory! It is good that the offer stands for him to try again for one more year, though I wonder if he might feel like it’s a dream that has already moved out of his reach.
I’ve been paying a nominal amount to have extra cloud storage, but now I’ve come down firmly on the side of a laptop rather than iPad set-up, I’m keen to move things back to earth-based storage and that’s going to be one of my projects for the coming weeks.
A very good point a 35th Tour stage at 38 is a big ask!
Hope your move back to earth-based storage goes smoothly. I’m sure it will. Definitely the way to go!
A lovely read, thankyou. I enjoyed your take on the Tour de France coverage.
Montblanc William Shakespeare Velvet Red is one of my favourite inks too and mostly reserved for my Classique 145.
I access my WordPress homepage on my PC via a shortcut or favourite in my browser which works well.
I think my attitude to my web browser is the reason I can’t stand using it to access WordPress. I do have a shortcut in my favourites, but I am strongly against keeping any kind of browsing history, so I clear down my list of visited sites and cookies several times a week. That means I always have to sign in even to frequently visited sites. Logic suggests I should simply change my habits, but I refuse to. It makes no sense as I happily stay signed-in to things which are their own apps – WordPress on the Mac, Facebook and Instagram on the phone. Yet those same things in my web broswer? Nope – sign in/log off time after time. I don’t even have any clear idea of why I do this, I just do it and I’ll go on doing it until I drop.
That’s interesting and fair enough. It’s nice to clear your history although I don’t think it’s necessary so long as there is nothing incrimi nating. I am not a tech wizard. When I bought my current pc it wanted me to use Microsoft Edge as the browser and I went with that.
The most incriminating thing in my browser history would be the amount of time I spend on YouTube!