Not a very good outlook for the day, but at least temperatures are above the zero mark, although I do not think my journeys today will take me further than the supermarket. The only action here are the crows that come to see if breakfast is prepared at the Angloswiss residence, and of course it is. Yesterday I noticed that the sparrows were clearing up the remainders of the morning.

Yesterday evening I had one of those moments of despair and shock. I was sitting at my Microsoft computer blogging or something like that and one of those little black squares with words arrived on my page telling me that I only had 10% life in my computer, which only gave me a few minutes to work. Was my computer broken, did I have a virus, do I need a new transformer or whatever it is to inject life into a dying computer?

My first reaction is naturally to call Mr. Swiss. Why is it that when I need help he is busy with something that he cannot leave. My computer is dying, only minutes to spare and it will collapse, my life no longer has a purpose, and he is busy! It seems he was busy on his computer, but he could never be as busy as me. Eventually under protest I heard him rise and approach my computer nest. It was then that I realised the problem of my computer. We have many electric appliances that need a constant supply of electricity, and so are equipped with an extra socket strip/power board. Sorry do not know the exact english term, but it a long object with about 5-6 places to plug things into. Anyhow this special appliance had somehow been switched off and so there was no current on my plug to the computer. Simple really, and perhaps the first place you should look. Anyhow the day was saved, I switched it on, Mr. Swiss could return to whatever he was doing, and my computer was again absorbing the elecricity it needed for resuscitation.

I also uploaded a new book yesterday, The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaranovich, the 6th case in the Peter Grant series – the detective who examine cases with a supernatural flair. I have also been informed, by my Facebook connection to these books, that No. 7 in the series will be appearing in a month or so – The Furthest Station. It seems that Ben Aaronovich is gathering in popularity with his books. They are favourites of mine.

The last book I read was more a flop – The Haunting of Sam Cabot by Mark Edward Hall. I have read a couple of his books and found them quite OK, but this book seemed to be one of those books where the author was not sure what to do and running out of ideas. Many ways lead to a haunting, but these ways were so sensational and fantastic, the book became just a collection of haunting cliches. Sam Cabot buys house and moves in with wife and kid. The seller of the house is always hovering around and helping to organise the heating system in the cellar, which is a monster furnace tending to make noises and having strange feelings. Of course there was once a fire in the house in the last century and there are still a few apparaitions hanging around. Sam Cabot is also the only survivor of a helicopter crash in the Afghanistan war and his parents were both killed in a car crash when he was a kid etc. etc. The book is full of cliches. And there is also a monster snake like thing living in the well in the garden that kills a agemt sent to examine the quality of the water in the well, because the silly man gets too close to the edge of the well. I am not telling you spoilers, because I find you cannot spoil this book, perhaps improve it somewhere, but I am not a writer. So thank goodness for Peter Grant and his further adventures.

And now to do more rewarding things and hope that the day will develop with interest and things will happen. The first event of the day has just happened. A magpie perched in the tree opposite my breakfast table, so now he has been immortalised on my camera.

Enjoy the day, it might be Monday, but even Monday’s have their charm, especially if you are a golden oldie with a camera.