Thankyou for your comment yesterday Emma and your e-mail. Today I have checked my protection and it's all on so I have accepted the rap on the knuckles and I will make sure I check everything every time I sign in. This is something that I didn't have to do when I was working, as being the civil service, they made sure that there was a positive obstacle course of firewalls and the like which ran every time you switched on. We had to be at our desks at least 15 minutes before opening so that the computers were up and running before the public rushed in through the doors at 9am. No, I'm kidding, I worked in a Jobcentre and those with appointments at 9am would turn up anytime before 5pm if we were lucky. The trouble is with some of the long term unemployed, they don't know there are two 9 o'clocks in twenty four hours!
I've been into town this morning because at last it has stopped raining and the sun is out. The wind is a bit nippy but why on earth do shops have to have heating on at a minimum 90 degrees. I wore a fairly lightweight jacket and have a medium weight jumper on because I need to keep warm while walking into town and I only needed a couple of things in Tesco Metro. Anyway, after casting my eye over the 'reduced' counter which seemed to be well supplied with bananas and bread (OK if you want a lot of cheap banana sandwiches), and little else, I got the items I wanted and went to the checkout where fortunately there wasn't a queue. However, the woman at the checkout eyed me with suspicion as the sweat was pouring down my face so I explained that I was not going through the change, too late for that, but I suffered from cerebal hyperhydrosis and I found it very hot in most shops.
After that, I decided to wander round and have a look at some of the new shops and perhaps do some window shopping. The city centre was re-developed and re-opened just over a year ago but I had difficulty walking and have never really had the chance to look around. We now have one of those bloody homogonised places with lots of posh shops for the loaded gentry. I also noticed that even though there were plenty of people about, apart from a sales assistant, most of them were empty, especially Harvey Nichols Food Hall (which I did not know was there). They had a bored looking bloke fiddling around with the cheeses so I decided I couldn't afford their prices and I would stick to the nice man at the farmers' market who always lets me have a little nibble before buying.
Eventually, I wandered round to Shoe Zone (a nice cheap shop) because I needed a new pair of slippers to keep my piggies warm and I also want to help save the planet by keeping the heating down a bit this winter. (I lie, my landlady had storage heaters put in as there is no gas in the house and they are bloody expensive to run: too hot in the morning, cold by mid-afternoon so other heating is required in the evening. All visitors have been warned, wrap up warm if you're visiting!). Anyway, back to the slippers. I was rather taken with some fluffy boot type things with pom poms in a hideous combination of bright pink, baby blue and a sort of flourescent green. These would keep my piggies and ankles toasty and would look good poking poking out of my beige fleecy blanket. But I could hear my grand-daughter shreiking with laughter at them so went for a nice pair of faux suede and sheepskin (notice it's FAUX Emma) Norwegian style in a beige to match the blanket. They only cost me a fiver too. Bargain!
