Category Archives: General

Greetings and whatnots

A Pipe and a Keyboard Posted on by

I’ll start by wishing you all a Happy New Year.

The Old Fart is in bad form today, probably due to a massive hangover and is steadfastly refusing to acknowledge the day that’s in it.

Of course he went on the rampage last night and woke everyone when he came staggering in in the small hours.  On the other hand, I had a quiet night, and watched a bit of television.  All I will say about that is that I wish my deepest sympathies to anyone who had to watch Tubridy!

The one thing that is cheering Himself today is a report that his site is ranked at Number 6 in the top 20 Irish Blogs.  Frankly I find this surprising, as traffic to his site has been dropping off at an alarming rate since August.  People must be getting tired of his constant bad mood and foul language.  I have warned him, but he will persist.

In the meantime, I have to go back to my data recovery from a dead laptop.

What a lovely way to start the year!

Backup my backside

A Pipe and a Keyboard Posted on by

Some of you may have seen from the other site that I have been having some wee PC problems?

My trusty old laptop crashed with a complete hard disk failure.  Bad sectors and tracks everywhere.

Fortunately, it is a duel disk machine and all my data [and Grandad’s] is on the other disk.  However, I can’t get at it!

The only thing I can do is to reformat the faulty disk and re-install the operating system.  However, the laptop came with no disks, so I have the licence, but nothing to install from.  In an ideal world, Microsoft would just send me a new disk, seeing as I have already paid for the damned thing, but no – we are talking Microsoft here, and they will send a new disc, provided I buy it along with a new licence. 

I bought a new laptop.  It may sound a bit drastic and expensive, but Grandad’s site will pay for it, and seeing as he is the likely cause of the crash in the first place, it is only fair.

Then of course I had the problem of reinstalling all the software.  That may sound simple, but each piece of software has its own settings.  For example, my FTP software was configured to log into about 60 servers, each with its own settings and passwords.  Luckily I had backups of the really critical settings for that, so I was able to restore it more or less intact.  The same goes for my bookmarks and the like.

So far, all I have really lost that is important is my photograph collection, a load of sound files and a mountain of personal stuff.  All Grandad’s mail is gone, but by business stuff is backed up onto another machine, thank God.  If ever I lay my hands on a Vista DVD, then I can retrieve all the lost stuff anyway.

They tell us [whoever they are] that we should backup often.  What they don’t tell us is that even with a backup, that reviving a machine, or building a new one is a complete nightmare.

Anyone got a spare copy of Windows Vista?

Spring is here

A Pipe and a Keyboard Posted on by

I was out wandering around Head Rambles Manor on Christmas Eve.

I saw something that surprised me.  In fact it surprised me so much that I photographed it..

snowdrops1

Now that may not look like much.  It looks like a bit of scrubland, which in fact it is.  It is an area that is normally shaded by a weeping birch and during the summer, it is completely hidden.  In the winter, however, it is exposed to full view, but as the photograph shows, there isn’t that much to be seen usually.

So what did I see there?

Here is a closer shot..

snowdrops2

Those green spikes sticking up in clusters are snowdrops.

Normally I wouldn’t see them until into the new year, yet there they are.

Having seen them, I poked around in another part of the estate and found that the daffodils are up also.

I suppose some of you may say that there is nothing unusual in this, but Head Rambles Manor is at quite an altitude, and growth here is a little behind the rest of the country, with the lower temperatures that we experience.

The first sign of daffodils and snowdrops is always a cheering thing.

Spring is on the way.

The Wran Boys

A Pipe and a Keyboard Posted on by

The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,
On St. Stephen’s Day was caught in the furze,
Although he is little, his family is great,
I pray you, good landlord, give us a treat.

My box would speak, if it had but a tongue,
And two or three shillings, would do it not wrong,
Sing holly, sing ivy–sing ivy, sing holly,
A drop just to drink, it would drown melancholy.

And if you draw it of the best,
I hope in heaven your soul will rest;
But if you draw it of the small,
It won’t agree with these wren boys at all.

So goes the song of the Wran [Wren] Boys.

The Wran Boys tour the neighbourhood on St Stephen’s Day in Ireland, bearing the body of a wren and bringing luck. It is a tradition as old as the mountains themselves.

The wren represents the old year and must be killed to make way for the new.  Nowadays, of course the sacrifice is symbolic but the music, the costume and the singing remain the same.

They called around today.

wren_boys

The quietness of the night

A Pipe and a Keyboard Posted on by

The house is quiet now.

Grandad caused general mayhem for the entire day, dragging holly trees through the house and shedding bits of ivy everywhere.  Of course he got drunk and started fighting with Herself.  I get the impression that they enjoy a good scrap.

After a day of chaos I went to see how well he had decorated the house.

The bastard had decorated his own den and, for some obscure reason, the toilet.  I would advise visitors to mind the holly.  The rest of the house is as bare as ever.  The working of that man’s mind remain, as ever, a mystery to me.

He has locked himself in his den now, along with another couple of bottles of Jameson, hence the peace and quiet.

I don’t know what kind of Christmas we shall have. 

It is unlikely to be quiet.

It will doubtless be interesting.

As long as the law doesn’t become involved, it should be enjoyable.

In the meantime, I hope you all have a peaceful and Grandad free Christmas.