Normal service ...

... can now be resumed, I think.  I have three four good reasons for having been absent again for the past week.

Firstly, on the day I was writing my last post I had a tickly throat and the odd sneezle and by the end of the day I had developed a horrid, dasty code id by dose.  I still have the sore throat and a cough a week later.  It's been years since I've had a real cold like that, so I've felt very sorry for myself, although the manufacturers of paper hankies, throat lozenges and cough mixture are very happy about the increase in their profits.

Secondly I lost my virtual voice.  Most of you have heard me whinging for months now that my laptop was preparing to give up the ghost, and last week it got so that I had to give in and buy a new one.  That has meant I have had to go from using Windows 7 to Windows 8.1, and that, let me tell you, is a massive leap.  So much so that, after a couple of days I ordered myself a Dummies Guide to Windows 8.  There seems to be very little similarity between the two systems so far, and I have to tell you that I do NOT like it.  I will persevere though, as I have been told that once I get used to it I will like it - yes Lynn, I'm blaming you if this doesn't work out!  Just as an aside, would you all like a bit of a giggle at my expense?  Well, the day after I got this new laptop, I wanted to uninstall the preset virus checker programme, McAfee, and install AVG, which we prefer.  Mr Fixit helpfully produced the CD for me to insert, and that's when I realised something.  Putting it politely, I had nowhere to stick it!  Yes folks, I had bought this super-whizzy new laptop with loads of memory and an extra fast brain, but it doesn't have a disc drive!  Heyho, I guess I'll now have to buy an external one.

The third reason is that I took off for a brief trip down south to visit my DS, DDIL and DGS3.  Grandson 3 was performing in a concert at the local theatre which was lovely and I so enjoyed it, but I didn't really have any time to blog about anything.

The fourth reason is that yesterday was Mothers' Day here in the UK, so I treated myself to an even lazier than usual day.  Mrs Nomad came round in the afternoon with a Yankee Candle and some chocolates, and my son gave me flowers, so I was a spoilt mother.