The Radio and the Battery

I know….. I’ve kept you in suspense for 24 hours waiting to find out about the radio I set out to buy at Aldi.  After walking up and down the aisles three times I came to the conclusion all the stock had been sold.  Well it had to happen at some stage.  Then as I approached the checkout I noticed six of them stacked in the last basket.  So Jan didn’t miss out after all.

Once back on Waiouru I started doing some work using the laptop.  Usually the battery starts to go flat after a couple of hours but to my surprise it seemed to be holding up remarkably well.  After an hour the battery symbol at the bottom of the screen was still showing 94% charged.  And then the laptop just died!  Pushing the ON button wouldn’t restart it.  Eventually I turned on the inverter and plugged it into the 240V charger.  The laptop then started but the symbol at the bottom of the screen stated “No battery found”. 

I’m not about to spend £400-600 on a new laptop so the obvious solution was to buy a replacement battery.  Of course the battery is inside the laptop which means it will need to yet again be pulled apart.  The thing I hate about buying computer components via the internet is you often don’t know where the supplier is located.  Every website I visited didn’t state where they were based.  Some stated they had a UK warehouse and many of them stated 2-4 days to deliver.  I’ve been caught before, ordering from the internet with the supplier stating they had a UK warehouse and leaving the impression they are a UK company.  Eventually I discovered they were in Thailand and didn’t even have the part in stock.  However I need the battery and placed an order.  Within an hour I received an email accepting my order and providing a transaction number, along with advice the battery would be delivered on Monday.  Thirty minutes later I received another email.  This time from UPS advising they would be delivering my package and I would be able to track its progress once they received it.  It’s all very positive….. but I don’t trust them.  I suspect I’m receiving emails from an automatic computer system.  I’ll start believing the replacement battery is on its way when UPS send me an email advising they have it.

Today we walked into Warwick with the intention of having lunch at the local “spoons”.  It was  rather cold today and we were both therefore rather pleased to eventually reach the warmth of the pub.  Only to discover it was packed and every table occupied.  There were people standing around waiting for tables.  Even the locals appeared puzzled with the situation.  We decided to leave and wander around the market returning later after the crowd had thinned. An hour later the “spoons” was still full.  However we managed to grab the sole vacant table for two by the front door.  It soon became obvious why the table was vacant.  Every time someone entered or left a cold blast of winter air would wash over us!.  At least it forced us to eat quickly!   Actually we’re getting tired of “spoons” microwaved food and have decided to vary our eating venues in the hope of a little more variety.

Now tucked up inside the warm saloon with the fire going.