(no subject)

I got the e-ticket receipt for my flights. Only 9 days to go till I see Nattie again!

I bought a CD recorder/re-writer, because:

• I have lots of floppies sitting around and taking up space which I'd like to make copies of, just in case, before I throw them out.
• I have infrequently-used files taking up hard drive space that I could probably find better use for. I used to put them on Zip discs but I got rid of my Zip drive because the discs are expensive and slow.
• I want to make my own audio CDs; maybe video CDs too (since my DVD player can play them).

So I got the drive and a large number of recordable CDs at the end of last week, fitted it, fiddled around with drivers to make it usable as a writer, and installed the appropriate software. All went smoothly except for the driver configuration, which is a weak point of Linux at the moment. The drive came with a single rewritable CD that I can use to experiment with. So far I've produced 3 working CDs and no coasters (unusable discs). CD writing software and hardware have evidently come a long way since I first read about them.

I also bought some storage boxes so I can tidy away various junk under the bed. The 'study' is still a bit of a mess, but improving.

I went to see my parents at the weekend. I was going to meet them at my grandmother's house in London around noon on Saturday, but my poor sleeping pattern scuppered that plan so I went straight to their house in the afternoon. I bought some books at WH Smith in Kings Cross station, being in need of new reading material. On Sunday morning we went out for a walk in the countryside, starting from Gomshall station, which we reached by car. This was quite enjoyable, though the weather was a little gloomy whereas it had been sunny on Saturday. The directions given in a 30-year-old book were still good, except at one fork that confused us. We stopped at a pub around noon for a quick drink and snack. Later on we went into the centre of Gomshall. I think that was the first time I had been into Gomshall, despite living nearby for most of my life, though I have travelled around the edge of it many times by car or train.