Following on from Blog 38, here is a slightly shortened version of my diary for the third quarter of 2022:
Friday, 1st July – From November last year until April this year the number of visits to my website were between 25 and 29 per day. In May the number was 36 and in June it was 48, which is very promising.
Sunday, 10th July – The weather was so beautiful I felt that I had to go for a walk, and I caught the bus to Foulshaw Moss, which I had long wanted to visit. I brought wellington boots, but I didn’t need them because there were wooden causeways everywhere.
Monday, 11th July – Noticed for the first time that I once lived in the area covered by the last chapter of the last volume of the seven Lakeland guides, just as I once lived in the area covered by the first chapter of The Outlying Fells of Lakeland.
Friday, 15th July – Watched a television programme about the first images to be obtained from the James Webb Space Telescope.
Came across a list of songs that I had forgotten about, accompanied by a telephone number that may enable me to upload the songs to my collection.
Sunday, 24th July – Chris called and downloaded two of my favourite songs from the internet to my computer. I have been trying to do this for years. After he had gone I was able to listen to the two songs, but I couldn’t get from one to the other without going back to the computer. Altogether I was able to download eleven of the 35 songs, and I got most of the way to downloading seven more.
Saturday, 30th July – Someone on the radio said that it has been demonstrated that plants produce sweeter nectar when they can hear the buzzing of bees.
Sunday, 31st July – Walked along Badenock’s Yard from New Road to Stramongate and back with the ‘movie’ button pressed on my new camera, but I wasn’t able to watch the resulting video.
Monday, 1st August – The number of visits to my website in July were only 25 per day. It would seem that the recent increase was a fluctuation and not a trend as I had hoped.
Wednesday, 3rd August – Succeeded in playing my new collection of songs in such a way that I don’t have to do anything at the end of each song, but the songs are very quiet, even when I set the volume control to the maximum.
Sorted out my socks. I found four pairs and nine socks that weren’t one of a pair. I don’t know how this can be.
Monday, 8th August – A man called to fit some new gadgets to my telephone.
Tuesday, 9th August – I spent most of the day walking to and from the nearest telephone box trying to get my telephone to work. Each time I phoned British Telecom I spoke to somebody different who knew nothing about the previous conversations.
Wednesday, 10th August – Finally got my telephone to work.
Saturday, 13th August – Went up Raven Crag from the Thirlmere dam with Chris and Priscilla. The summit area has been landscaped since I was last there. I wonder how many other summits have been changed in this way or soon will be. When we got back Chris showed me how to download more songs from the internet and how to watch moving pictures that I had taken with my new camera.
Found two new photographs of myself in the Wainwright facebook site.
Sunday, 14th August – It has been hot and sunny for six days now. This is the first significant hot spell there has been since 2006.
Wednesday, 17th August – Found a third photograph in the Facebook site. I am looking better than I was in the other two, but the background is not so attractive.
Received a telephone call from the electricity board asking me to pay £107 because they had no record of my payment on 26th July. I eventually found out that this was because I sent the cheque to the wrong address and quoted the wrong account number.
Thursday, 18th August – Received a bank statement saying that my cheque of 26th July had been paid, which means that I have paid the same bill twice. On the other hand, I have received a payment of £326 from the Department of Work and Pensions that I can’t account for.
Sunday, 21st August – Sent my 2022 diary to Chris at his request.
Monday, 22nd August – Found some more photographs of myself in the Wainwright Facebook site, including some that I like.
Saturday, 27th August – Every day for years I have woken up determined to go though my list of things to do, selecting the most important items and discarding the rest, but every time I become exhausted and postpone this to the next day.
Tuesday, 30th August – Sent a scan of my bank statement to the electricity board because they claim that I have not paid the same bill twice.
Wednesday, 31st August – I am now communicating with the electricity board as I was with British Telecom three weeks ago. Because we are using email they should be able to read what has been written before, but they act as though they never do. Another advantage of email is that everything that was written is on record.
Thursday, 1st September – The number of visits to my website in August was the same as it was in June. I don’t understand how the number can remain constant for so long and then fluctuate wildly.
Noticed that my website is 255 kilobytes long and that my autobiography is 286 kilobytes, which is slightly longer. I thought that everything I had to say had gone into my book, but now I have almost doubled it.
Saturday, 3rd September – Arranged the correspondence with the electricity board in sequence to prove that they have ignored everything I wrote.
Friday, 9th September – Finished reading English as a Global Language by David Crystal. Learned from the television that Queen Elizabeth II has died and that Prince Charles is now King Charles III.
Sunday, 11th September – The farthest place I can see from my windows is only 2½ miles away, but this morning I could tell from the tiny clouds on the eastern horizon that this was a time of exceptional visibility.
Monday,12th September – Watched the film of the Browning Version, which reminded me of my school-days.
Tuesday, 13th September – Watched the film Sammy Going South with Edward G. Robinson.
Wednesday, 14th September – It usually takes me a long time to find books to take out of the library, but today I found three in a few seconds among the books that have recently been returned.
Tuesday, 20th September – The electricity board finally agreed that I am entitled to a refund.
Saturday, 24th September – Waited for half an hour for a bus to Keswick so that I could go on a Wainwright Society walk, but the bus didn’t turn up, so I went home.
Tuesday, 27th September – Looked for two self-drive car hire firms that I read about in the internet, but I couldn’t find them.
Wednesday, 28th September – Looked for two more self-drive car hire firms, but I couldn’t find them either. Then I looked for Castle Taxis, where I used to work. Believe it or not, I couldn’t find that either, but I was able to order a car from Lakeside Taxis to take me to Glenridding on Saturday so that I can go on a Wainwright Society walk. It will cost £60.
Thursday, 29th September – By copying my diary to the part of the computer called ‘word’ I was able to find out that it consists of 420,470 words.