I’ve been off air, so to speak, for the last few weeks.  There hasn’t been a crisis – well, only the usual sort of stuff – or any dramas or even any mild alarms but the internet decided to curl up and die.  Not so long ago we decided to swap service providers to Sky and, while we were about it, get Sky TV for my Rugby-mad husband and daughter.  (I have five daughters but only one follows in her father’s footsteps.)  (They sit at the far end of Edgley Park stadium, Stockport, on a Friday night watching Sale Sharks;  say hi if you see them or wave at the TV.) The actual event that swayed it was The Ashes.  Now, yes, I know, Ashes are cricket but it took daughter about half a nano second to work out that watching the cricket meant we could also watch the rugby.  And she does.  Gosh, she so does.

It took the rest of the off-spring about a whole nano-second to work out that satellite TV meant not just sport but America’s Next Top Model and a zillion other goodies such as new Simpsons, endless Futurama and a whole raft of shows where someone goes and decorates somebody else’s house.  (I don’t know who these people are who zap in, decorate, zap out again and never seem to stop for a cup of tea.  I wish I did.  The bathroom could do with a once-over and a new kitchen would be nice.)

Anyway, while we were about it, we swapped the broadband to Sky and, as always when asked to change its ways, the computer sat in a corner and sulked.  When asked (very politely) to recognize the new provider, it reacted with all the subtle charm of a six-year old boy asked to kiss Great Aunt Sarah With A Hairy Chin and say Thank You for the lovely socks.  It took two new routers and some serious enticement from the local Rent-A-Geek computer shop before it reluctantly scuffed its feet and came out to play once more.

S’weird how cut off you feel without the internet, isn’t it?

Talking about being cut off, I’m totally deaf in one ear.  I’ve had a perfectly foul cold and one ear has signed off completely.  I suppose, as human beings can get used to anything, more or less, that I’d get used to it if I was permanently one ear cemented shut, but I’m hoping that the doctor will be able to give me something to shift it.  Mind you, the member of the G-S household who probably feels more cut-off than most is the newest member, the kitten Minou.  She’s been taken for The Op and has to wear a plastic bucket arrangement so she won’t chew the stitches.  Here’s a picture of her looking puzzled.



And, if you can stand some serious cuteness, here’s another picture of her curled up with Lucky, the (three-legged) dog, who will stand a lot of  kitten as long as he’s allowed to sprawl in front of the fire.