Windows 98

I may have mentioned that I have a dual-booting laptop (Windows 98 and Windows XP), but this week I decided to reinstate a previous Windows 98 image file and reassemble the OS without an office suite, in my case OpenOffice.org.

I’ve now got various apps with which I can edit text files (Note Tab Light, for example) but what I wanted to install was a typewriting simulation called Q10; unfortunately, it wouldn’t work because I didn’t have a DLL file called quartz installed. A search for “quartz.dll” suggested a connection with Windows Media Player, which I had got rid of with 98lite Pro. Installing WMP 6.4 meant that I had to install other stuff at the same time, which is annoying because I wanted to have as small an image file as possible.

I reinstalled Windows Media Player 6.4, and a search for “quartz” on drive C yielded two hits. I installed Q10 and that now works as well.

The purpose of the reinstallation was to replace OpenOffice.org with other apps, probably one of my chess-playing programs and an app which generates jigsaws for starters. On one rewritable CD is a zip file which is a emulation of the Psion Series 5 – I might install that as well.

Haiti Part Two

I think the BBC have managed to achieve the “football team” of reporters who have covered the Haiti Earthquake . This week, I’ve seen Rajesh Mirchandani and Rupert Wingfield Hayes doing reports.

The Blair Witch(hunt) Project

The Iraq Inquiry has been going on for over 30 days (I’ve seen “Day 32” on a BBC caption recently). Yesterday, it was the turn of Tony Blair to give his explanation of events regarding the Iraq War.

Like a few others who have been grilled on the subject – I watched Geoff Hoon in the same chair a few days ago – the BBC News Channel dropped every other news story so that they could hang on his every word. It was supposed to happen from 9.30am for six hours, with a lunch break, but as is the case with BBC News the coverage has to start at some ungodly hour.

So, I put the channel on at 8.40am in anticipation of hearing some sports news in the next ten minutes while I was doing the washing-up, which is supposed to be scheduled at that time. Fat chance! There’s a newsreader outside the centre (Emily Maitlis) who was about to cue up a report from Ben Wright, the BBC’s Political Tea-Boy, that had already been shown between 8am and 8.30 on the channel. Time to switch off.

(Ben Wright looks like he has only just left school, hence the description.)

Radio Five Live did full coverage of Tony Blair’s appearance, the first time that had happened since the start of the Iraq Inquiry. I listened to some music on the laptop. The point is, we still have to hear the views of Gordon Brown in a few weeks time, and then there will be more to hear from before the Iraq Inquiry (the questioning, to be precise) is concluded. And then, there’s going to be a long discussion before conclusions are reached. So, isn’t a lot of the content going to be forgotten by the man in the street before the conclusion?

Haiti

I scribbled down a list of BBC correspondents and newsreaders who have been seen reporting from Haiti over the past fortnight.

Aside from Nick Davis, who is based, I think, in Jamaica, we have had in the order that I wrote them down.

George Alagiah, Ben Brown, Matt Frei, Steve Kingstone, Matthew Price, Orla Guerin, Christian Fraser, David Loyn, Andy Gallacher.

Ben Brown belatedly appeared to read the news at 11pm on night, followed by Orla Guerin, who has been lampooned in some places as the BBC’s Tragedy Correspondent for her reporting in Pakistan. Christian Fraser only turned up yesterday (Friday), over a week after the first quake.

But what really stinks is how Matt Frei can “read the news” at the airport in Haiti (or rather shout, as a plane’s engines were in motion at the time), then takes off back to Washington to “read the news” because it was the first anniversary of Barack Obama’s Inauguration. This “newsreading” was merely to introduce a report from Mark Mardell, the North American Editor, and views from John Simpson and Jeremy Bowen elsewhere in the world.

Someone came on the BBC News Channel this morning, on a programme where viewers give opinions on BBC News coverage, to defend the coverage in Haiti. What I can’t stand about the coverage, and it applies to any occurrence when Alagiah, Brown or Huw Edwards are reading the news from somewhere in the world, is when the newsreader presents his own reports. What is worse are the days when the presenter chats to the reporter, or someone else, just to pad out time before the weather forecast.

No Posting Last Week

Last weekend was a blank, because I wasn’t online at all last Saturday. It was raining heavily in the morning, which did wonders for the thaw of the remaining snow but dissuaded my mother and niece from going out as they normally did on Saturday mornings.

Laura, my niece, got my mother’s laptop out early and took the modem for the rest of the day. Why don’t we use a router? It would actually have very little use in our household, as my mother only occasionally uses the laptop.

I gave Laura a USB stick with a folder of pictures taken around Clitheroe so that she could transfer the pictures into the photo frame that my mother had got as a Christmas present. For some reason she couldn’t manage it, so I had a go after lunch, using Windows 98 on the old laptop! There’s the generic USB2 support installed, and Windows 98 recognized the fact that a photo frame had been plugged in. The photo frame now has that folder in a slideshow, and plays various James Bond themes to boot.

Crib Update

All the figures, Jesus included, were back in the crib earlier in the week.

But I did pass the crib on New Year’s Day and noticed that one of the figures, possibly one of the Three Wise Men, was standing in the street outside it. The figure was a non-white person, which made me think that someone was having a practical joke.

Too Cold

As I am writing this, the boiler in the kitchen appears to have stopped dripping for once. Looking through the kitchen window, there is still snow on the wall; apparently, we have had a fresh sprinkling this morning. The temperature outside is stuck below freezing all the time.

I’m sat at the kitchen table with four layers on – two T-shirts, a thin long-sleeved polo shirt and a hooded top that I got for Christmas. The temperature on the clock reads “16.5C”, through it always seems to read that. I need to go to the toilet.

(Exits kitchen for toilet.)

We have had a fresh sprinkling of snow, because I could see some on the house roof opposite.

I have been able to get around town, thanks to a pair of reinforced shoes (designed for working in a mill) that I kept hold of after I finished working for the Department for Work and Pensions in August 2006. The shoes appear to have a fair amount of traction on the snow and ice and I have only skidded on a few occasions.

We had a big fall of snow on Tuesday (or was it Monday, because I can’t exactly remember!). The snow was definitely lying on Wednesday because I decided to go to the Health Centre in the morning to check if the Flu Clinic was going ahead, meaning that I would get my second Swine Flu jab. The answer was yes. Having had my jab in the afternoon, I was walking through the centre of town when I saw a well-built man fall over at a corner of the crossroads outside the dry-cleaners.

Further on, work had started to clear the paths of ice at what is approximately the highest point of Clitheroe’s town centre (in the vicinity of the crib). To be frank, the council workmen were struggling. They stuck at it, though, and more pavement could be seen next day. They hadn’t, however, got round to the pavements that led from the shops to the Health Centre, so I had those icy strips to negotiate next day.

I didn’t go as far yesterday, but still had to tread on the sheet ice that’s on Whalley Road, the main road south out of Clitheroe. It was so cold yesterday morning that the sandwich shop on Whalley Road, where I normally go for a bacon butty on Friday, had the door shut, which I think constitutes a historic moment for that place.

How much sport is going to take place?

Darts!!! Yes!!!!

Someone in Scotland wanted to partake in curling on a lake, as opposed to curling on an ice rink. The people from Health and Safety (or Elf ‘n Safety as they are lampooned in the media) put a stop to that. They appear to have had a influence on the football matches as well, through in fairness Liverpool Football Club sought an early postponement for tomorrow because of the streets around Anfield.

I think that there are matches still on at Arsenal at 3pm (with snow lurking) and Birmingham at 5.30pm in the Premier League, but I have the modem turned off and I can’t confirm it. Radio Five Live have airtime to fill because the early match between Hull and Chelsea has been postponed.

I went in the bath last night, meaning that water will have been coming out of the pipes and freezing just outside the back door. So, before lunch, I’ll have to go out and clear away some of the ice, and hope that it’s a less thankless task than the council workmen had on Wednesday.

Clitheroe’s Crib

Seeing that the crib featured in the previous blog about Christmas Eve, here is a picture of the nativity scene which is situated on Castle Gate in Clitheroe (The "street" joins Moor Lane, which runs uphill to the town centre, and Castle Street.)

    

Unfortunately, we have another event that happens around this time of the year. This involves the baby Jesus disappearing from the crib in the manner of a baby being taken from a maternity unit. Other pieces of the nativity scene have been taken as well. The incident, which is the lead story in the Lancashire Telegraph yesterday, has led to some people suggesting that the crib, which has become a permanent fixture in the town centre over the years, may not be seen next year.

Stop Press: I had a look in the crib this morning. Jesus is still missing, and I think that one of the animals has gone as well.

Christmas Eve in Clitheroe

Ok, it´s a bit late, but I had a bout of vomiting later that day from which I took a couple of days to recover, meaning that I am only just getting round to doing the report on what I did on Christmas Eve.

I decided to take a risk and enter the Castle Grounds, with the intention of taking a number of photographs to use as desktop wallpaper. I have many photos of Clitheroe from the viewing area that circles the remains of the Castle, which is a focal point of the centre of the town.

Clitheroe Castle, before the snow set in.

After gingerly climbing up the first steps off the main street, I found the snow-filled footpaths were comfortable to walk on, being much more of a powdery nature than being icy. After climbing up another set of steps, I had reached the foot(snow) path in front of the Castle´s museum. It appeared that few people had ventured up there recently, and there was definitely no evidence of a car being driven up (the path did offer access for vehicles at the bottom).

The path down to the town centre.

This picture shows the new cafe, in the background, that was opened in the summer.

The Castle and the War Memorial

It was tricky to walk on because there was so much snow on the ground; after taking a few photos of the War Memorial in front of the Castle, I moved on to the new “activity area’ that has recently been built behind the Memorial. It was even worse!

The new "Activity Area" that was opened during the summer; the snow was deep here.

The soldier on the War Memorial looks out on the east of Clitheroe.

I moved on to the viewing area around the Castle (more steps) to take some more photos. The area itself is shaped like a horseshoe, allowing people to walk through the inside of the Castle.

Looking south over the Castle Field.

Looking west of Clitheroe in the direction of Waddington Fell.

Now we’re looking north, over Castle Street at the bottom, towards Chatburn Road in the distance. Drivers can carry straight on to the village of Chatburn, drive through the village and join the A59 before going on towards Yorkshire.

Over to the east, on the other side of Pendle Hill, is Burnley and Padiham; the short way is to go over the Nick Of Pendle and drive through the village of Sabden. The sensible way is via the A59 and A671 through the villages of Read and Simonstone.

And after that, I went down to the town centre to get my lottery tickets. I hope this picture sums up the mess that the streets were around the shops.

The worst place to walk, which I found, was a few days earlier when I visited the Health Centre; the pedestrian access was fine, and had been gritted in time, but there was so much slushy snow around the front entrance that the doctors’ car park was closed!

Swine Flu Update

I’ve now had my Swine Flu jab, and I have lived to tell the tale.

The nurse who administered the jab then told me that, because my immune system has been compromised, I need a second jab. This has now been arranged for January 6th.

So, Merry Christmas from the author, with half a flu jab in my system.