Week 68

Monday 6 July 2020

• The screen of my still new computer broke. There are all lines along the bottom and left sides, and possibly a tiny crack in the corner, and the rest of the screen goes all blank every so often. I don’t have a handy external display to plug into, because minimalism, but I just about managed to do a backup and delete anything embarrassing during a not-completely-blank phase.

  Because of the rona, Genius Bar appointments are in short supply. At first, it looked like I was going to have to go all the way to Ipswich or somewhere, and the thought of having a reason to travel was a bit exciting, but I only needed to reload the web page twice to find a slot somewhere nearer (albeit in a whole week’s time).

  Meanwhile, there’s the old computer, which has never had such a problem. I finally sent off for some pentalobe screwdrivers, to replace the OWC Aura Pro X with the original SSD, and now it runs much better and cooler. Unscrewing the case, I found exactly as much hair, dust and DNA as I’d expected.

• I haven’t been to the barber’s shop. In fact, a few weeks ago, I bought a surprisingly cheap and in-stock hair cutting device. (I’ve always mentioned my previous self-hair-cutting efforts here, so how odd that this latest development wasn’t deemed interesting enough in the week that it happened.) The best thing is the cable doubles as a charging cable for a Philips electric face shaving machine, and I needed one of those because my old cable had broken, and while “acoustic” face shaving is satisfying it almost always results in bloodshed.

• I haven’t been to the pub. I walked past plenty of people responsibly enjoying picnic benches (only one rowdy bunch of lads), so I don’t think they’re desperate for my custom.

• Some work. Speaking of which, what interesting bedtime reading it was to read a House of Lords debate about something I know about.

• Bought some chilli flakes, and they’re ruddy bloody good. They’ve leapt straight into my top three condiments.

• It’s been windy, and my arms are all crispy like the skin of chicken who’s been in a fan oven, and my outdoor plants have grown stronger as a result of the turbulence.