My living room

It has been a busy few days and the rain has just not stopped throughout. The worst year for rain that I can remember.

Monday 20th was a very big day, as all my stuff was delivered from Tesa’s Mom’s place at Cirangjang. Tesa suggested that I pay security to give us a hand with all the lifting, but I didn’t want to spend on something that I could do, albeit struggling. As it happened, all the neighbors came out and moved the stuff for me. I carried the fridge freezer about 5 paces, before being shoved off by a strong young buck. I am going to love it here, the neighbors are simply wonderful.

The landlord removed the big display cabinet for me, before it got locked in by all my stuff. I never mentioned it, but he saw the problem arising, smart fellow. The shrews had been nesting in there in the past, judging by the volume of crap and nesting material that fell out of the rotting structure. The room smells a lot better now, as shrews give off a strong must odor. The shrew returned that night and was very confused.

I spent about 6 hours cleaning the floor of that end of the room, as that was where my bed and tv was going. True, the bed would hide the floor, but that is not the way I work.

So now, not only do I have a kitchen and bathroom, but I also have a double, king size bed, a large tv, computer table and a whole host of smaller stuff which I won’t list here. The bed is still on the floor, as I did not want the frame, as it always causes problems when moving. I am going to design and build my own 2 piece frame, higher than normal. It will be on locking castor wheels, for easy bed making and will double as shelf units when not in use.

The next day, 21st, was another biggy. Time to buy a computer screen and get hooked up again. I started to fret, as after 20 stores, no one sold screens, but I found one in the end and less that $100 too. I also bought a DVD player for $20.

However, the 6 months inactivity of the crappy laptop has taken its toll and the thing just would not start. After several hours of trying, it eventually kicked in and I was able to actually do some work. But it was too late to get my internet connection sorted out. I tried switching the computer off, to see if the start up problem was resolved. It wasn’t and took me several more hours to switch on again. I also tried standby and that was even worse, because when I eventually managed to switch on, the system wanted to do a complete disk check, which takes about an hour. So the computer will have to remain permanently switched on, until I buy a new computer.

Next day, 22nd, time to get connected. I rushed home with my charged dongle, but alas there was no signal. I am on the ground floor in a dense patch of houses, so I suspect that to be the problem. I need to try and get an extension USB2 cable made and run it up to the roof. If that does not do the job, I will be so screwed. I will have to buy a laptop and go down the road to Benny’s place (my old neighbor) for internet services. I really want to buy a desk top, cheaper with better specs, but I must hold off until I have checked out the extension cable first.

Post script – just after saving this text, the laptop shut down, presumably from overheating. Haven’t been able to start it again since. Tomorrow is Singapore, so the day after that will be computer hunting. I have found a source for a USB extension, so we are still hopeful for progress very soon.

This image is from the corner of my living room, standing on my bed. Only a bachelor could set his bed in front of the TV and set up his computer in the middle of the room on an unpainted table with oil stains.

Just logged on to blip and was astounded by the response to my shrew blip. 69 comments waiting for me and a load of hearts too and several new subscribers. I thank you all so much for this encouragement and wish I could spend more time getting back to you all.

Dave