On the Road Again!

Or rather they don't. Their algorithms seem to have nothing to do with my interests. They offer me chick-lit all the time when suggesting books for my Kindle.  Despite showing no interest in fishing, or angling as it's often called in England, since I was about 14yo, they suggested this: WTF?

We bought one of these a few days before we went on our three week holiday to Spain and France last month. Of course, we hadn't expected the unusually high temperatures across the mountains that we were headed for. As a result, the fan was used everyday, with our lithium setup in the van we could run the fan all night plugged into the 230v system. And we did.  It's probably the best buy we have made.  So much so I ordered another from France and it arrived on Saturday at home. With another "heatwave" this week the two have been heavensent. 

I have been looking for an awning light for the van for some time.  Both the motorhomes had one built in that could be switched on from inside the van. It means at night, stepping out, whether the roll-out awning was deployed or not, was into a lighted space. With a van's large opening and sliding door it doesn't leave many places to fit one.  I didn't want anymore holes drilled! Holes in the bodywork lead eventually to leaks! I concentrated on magnetic fixing, eventually finding this one on Amazon. It was £18. It fits snuggly above the driver's door and can be angled down. It comes with a remote control. The little dome at the bottom is where the remote has to be pointed. So far I have only managed to get it to turn on and off. The sensor bit has eluded me!

Why did I need a new Kindle? I was reading it on Sunday afternoon and there was no hint that there was a problem.  Over the last few weeks there has been a slight problem turning it on. Holding the power button too long when trying, caused it to reboot. Then Monday. I was reading and it said the battery was low. I connected the power lead and it was showing 5%, then 4%.... I turned it off to let it charged. I hadn't noticed that the charging light wasn't on. When I went back to it, it was dead as a dodo. Trying different charges was to no avail. It was dead. By chance, the post arrived with a letter from National Savings to say one of my premium bonds had won a £100 prize. The first ever! What luck. I paid the cheque into my bank and then looked at Anazon. New Kindle.... £94.99!!! Sold. It arrived just after 3pm on Tuesday.   It was easy to setup. Wasn't too long before it was up and running. It had 55% battery and it didn't take long to charge up to 100%. I...

Rather than take the Bosch with us from home, I had a look around for something smaller, lighter and easier to store in the van. There are literally hundreds to choose from on Amazon and the internet in general. In the end I opted for this one.  Mainly because it was prime and would arrive the next day, but also because it has 92 reviews and all of them good. Oh. And also because it was cheap enough to shrug if it turns out to be a dud. It arrived today and I charged it immediately so I could test it. The capacity of the "dust bag" isn't that great but I don't expect the van to get too filthy between cleans. Unlike the house where I only vacuum once a week (!) the van gets brushed all the time. This will make that job easier. So far so good. Used it on the armchairs and it picked up a few crumbs with ease.  Now I have to find somewhere to store it in the van. 

So there I was watching the TV. In my house.  We have a Ring doorbell.  My phone tells me that my delivery is going to be delivered from 4.15pm.  It's 4.11pm. No Ring on the doorbell .  But it does notice someone has walked in front of it.  Amazon guy.  Dumps parcel down the side of the house.  Takes photo. Email from Amazon arrives to say it's delivered.  Clicking "No so great" actually seems to do f*ck all. Just takes me to the order page!

I have been looking for a WiFi or MiFi device to use in the Moho since we had the TV installed and had the Amazon Firestick. I ended up ordering this one that comes with a free SMARTY SIM card. It arrived today. I'll play with it in the week and see what performance I can get out of it. It's quite small and they reckon battery life is about 8 hours. Plenty for an evenings TV viewing.

Working from home ought to be a doddle. Work a bit, loaf about a bit in my lay-z-boy chair drinking coffee and in the evening moving onto the beer.  Sadly, it's not like that at all.  It does mean that when the shops are open I am stuck in the house working on the laptop. Although I do have the occasional coffee during the day! So I tend to use online shopping.  This is no different. I thought as we are a large group of bikers from all backgrounds that come together twice a year for Easter, when we collect eggs to be distributed to sick and deserving kids, and at Christmas when we have the Toy Run, that a toy that was biker themed would be a good idea. And so enter the Lego Stuntz bikers.  I ordered two from Amazon and once again helped Bezos build another rocket to fly to the edge of space.... His name is Wallop! https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08W5FWLYV/ref=pe_27063361_487055811_TE_dp_1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08W5FWDRT/ref=pe_27063361_487055811_TE_dp_2...

I usually like to shop locally where I can. We buy Reggie's food from a local pet shop. He has raw food and our Hannah stocks quite a range at her family run shop. Her father also runs a dog training service. But. When we needed a new harness we couldn't get the one we wanted and so we had to fall back on Amazon. The Julius-K9 seems to be the fashionable harness to have. More substantial than the current one and a much better fit. The Medium size was easy to adjust and fit on him. Being pre-shaped it seems to fit across his back more comfortably. Let's see how it looks and works for him. .

If only this had popped up earlier in the year!  A chance to save 40% on the Kindle books that I have been buying to see me through the long days of Pandemic Lockdown. " Because you follow Lee Child,  receive a 40%  credit on each of these select Kindle books up to a maximum benefit of £6 per book. Your credits have been automatically applied to your account. Any unused credits will expire  10 days  after it was applied to your account." Used it to save a tenner.....

Apparently being honest isn't good enough for Amazon     Thank you for submitting a customer review. Thank you for submitting a customer review on Amazon. After carefully reviewing your submission, your review could not be posted to the website. While we appreciate your time and comments, reviews must adhere to the following guidelines: http://www.amazon.co.uk/review-guidelines   from Paul on 26 September 2019 Oops The lock is pretty easy to use allied with the twirly cable (not supplied( reminds the idiot of an owner not to try and ride off with removing it. Sadly, Oxford don't include the twirly cable to connect lock to handlebar/brake lever. So when a clown (I take a bow) rolls forward and the lock crunches against the fork leg the inevitable tumble takes p...

I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than read anything E L James "writes". 

Thursday .  Turn my old Kindle on to download a new couple of books and nothing happens. Check the "settings" menu and the WiFi setup has gone. What? A few attempts at getting it to restart were ineffective. Then I see on Amazon Black Friday the Fire 7 tablet for sale at £29.99.  Mmmmm?  It will do Kindle and more. It's cheap... So I bought one. Delivery Saturday as too late for next day Prime. Friday. At work. Kindle playing up with messages saying unable to open the library.  I check settings. Still no WiFi and pages 1 to 3 there. Hold power button again for 30 secs or so. Screen goes white. No change  Workmate suggests holding power for much longer. Do that. Screen goes white.  Then "Kindle" appears on screen and then a bar showing it rebooting. Fixed. So there you go. Switch it off and on again does work. https://youtu.be/nn2FB1P_Mn8 P...

I know it was a little impersonal buying stuff for Claire's birthday from Amazon. My standard present is earrings.  When you do use a company like Amazon, you trust that what you have bought arrives when they say and actually does arrive. So imagine my horror (Yes I am traumatised - not really) and angered to find that when the delivery made it through the snow and not quite next day or the one after with Amazon Prime, that someone had stolen the earrings! The packaging was the standard folded over cardboard with two fold-in flaps at each end. Neither of these flaps are secured but are superb for trapping a CD/DVD case or a standard paperback, but not a small jewellery box.   I was out at the time of delivery and so was Claire, so it was delivered to my next door neighbour who takes in all kinds of stuff for us.  We are very much the cause of local shops going bust.... Guilty as charged. She noticed that one of the flaps looked flattened down and ...

For a number of years the Kent Centre has had a bookshop on Amazon. If you buy stuff from Amazon you pay whatever, if you buy from the Club's website, you pay the same and the Centre gets a bit of commission. NO skin off your nose and we earn a few pence!