Busy again.

Yesterday was a busy day for us, yet again. When we went into Daventry for the shopping Paul had gone into a computer shop to ask for some advice about our laptop. Yesterday we took the bull by the horns and took the thing into the shop to see if there was any hope and un-fortunately there isn't. We had compiled a list of things that were giving us a problem, the chap (called Lou) stopped us when we had mentioned a few, he said that listening to us it would be uneconomical to repair, it transpires that the laptop is about 6 years old, we have had it 2 years and it was second hand then, so all in all it hasn't done too bad. Now the next problem was a new one! Did we go for another lap top or a conventional tower and screen. Okay, I can hear you telling us to go to Comet or Curry's but my daughter recently had a problem with her laptop which was 6 months old and Curry's didn't want to know, it had to be returned to the manufacturer collected by courier, now we don't have the luxury of being able to go up this route so our thinking was, at least if you use a small independent store you have personal service a face to talk to if you have a problem and as we are going to be in the area until the spring should a problem arise we could sort it easily. Any way after about an hour in this little shop we were totally confused, Paul favoured the tower option but where would we put the screen and keyboard, I hankered after another laptop but we didn't want Vista we wanted Windows 7 or XP. Lou rang round for a laptop to see what he could get us for our budget and came up with an option but although it had Vista there was an upgrade to 7 this involved a voucher system which would be sent out, so all in all we were flummoxed. I'm sure Lou was relieved when we said we would go off for a coffee to consider our options. Hour later we were back in the shop he threw a spanner in the works by asking us if we had considered a Netbook well the answer to that was no we hadn't, in fact we hadn't even seen one up close. Pros and cons were weighed up and we will be going back in the morning to pick up the new Netbook which comes with XP but should we wish at a later date 7 can be installed. I also wanted Office put on which Lou is doing at a third of the cost of Comet. Although smaller than our current laptop the key board on the Netbook is the same size, it is only the screen that is smaller but we can plug it into the TV should we want a larger screen. It has everything that we want and a battery life of 4-6 hours. Crowning glory, cheaper than a laptop what a result.
When we got back Paul decided to install the new chimney liner but this involved cleaning around the roof fitting so that he could get a nice tight fit. The fire was already alight and un-be known to him the residue of the cleaning had lodged in the bend of the chimney, within seconds the boat was full up with smoke and all the alarms were going off. With no hesitation Paul removed the fire plate from within the fire jumped onto the roof and pushed the chimney brush down into the fire to clear the obstruction, this was achieved at warp speed, by now all the windows were open to let the smoke out (curtains need a wash now) at least the fire was at last burning normally. The new liner was fitted and since then there seems to be less tar residue running on to the roof this has yet to be proven. Had to leave the windows open for a few hours to clear the boat of smoke and smells. Hope the neighbours didn't think it was my cooking.
Had a phone call from Carpetrite to say the rugs were ready for collection so this morning it was on the bus into Rugby and then another bus to Brownsover (what would we do without our bus passes). Everything was parcelled up and as it was raining we didn't want to unpack the rugs. Caught the buses back to Braunston Paul going on ahead to the boat as I couldn't keep up with his long strides and we didn't want to get the rugs wet. I took the dogs for a quick walk while Paul unwrapped the rugs, when I got back on the boat I could sense there was a problem as there was a definite chill in the air and the language was very ripe. He was absolutely fuming, when we had ordered the carpet which was to be cut into the rugs we gave them a drawing of how it was to be cut so that the pattern on two of the pieces matched, but no, although the drawing went with the carpet they got it completely arse about face. Paul wasted no time in getting on to the phone to Carpetrite, he asked the young lady to retrieve our drawing from her bin, it was agreed that it had been cut incorrectly and we now have to go back in the morning with the carpet. Hopefully they may get it right this time, Paul cant understand how some dip stick finds it so difficult to read a drawing. We aren't being picky the two rugs being side by side looked awful with the pattern not matching and anyway we paid over a £100 for them to get it right. So tomorrow is going to be yet another day of bus journeys, firstly to Rugby then back to Daventry for the computer.
Thank goodness Friday the 13th is nearly over.