Montreux with Rhiannon - Day One

After a long lie-in Rhiannon emerged, still sleepy and we started breakfast together, then I had to go into town and have my wound attended to. Mr Cotton declared his satisfaction with progress so far, and suggested that now Clare was back, it could be done at home. This would clearly save him time and me money! He's writing a letter for my home GP, and I'll be able to collect the bill for payment in a day or so. While I'm able to benefit in part from use of my EHIC card here in Switzerland, the cost of a significant proportion I will have to pay for an seek reimbursement from my EHIC Plus travel insurance. I don't mind paying whatever it takes, as the relief I'm experiencing now is worth the expense.

I was back again within the hour range of the bus ticket, then the three of us walked into town along the promenade to the Casino, where we visited the Freddy Mercury Experience. This involves a free visit to the recording studio where several of Queen's Albums were made. The walls display photos and a timeline, and there are cabinets of memorabilia on display. Frankly, I lost interest, as I never was a fan of their music, and took  no interest in their affairs. Also I began to feel the aftermath of my wound treatment session, which entailed some painful probing an puncturing to stimulate the release of the residual inflammation fluid, so I walked back to the house and took a rest.

After the necessary photo opportunity with Freddie Mercury's statue on the quayside by the Place du Marche, the girls returned, and we had a snack. Later on, we took the funicular to Glion to show Rhiannon the amazing, albeit cloudy panorama of the mountains and lake. Then a drink at the gare funiculaire cafe-restaurant, with a boule of chocolate sorbet for Rhiannon, tea for Clare and a biere Bernoise for me, before returning on the funi. As we got out, Clare realised that she'd forgotten her rucksack, and so the girls went back up to retrieve it. Thankfully the two hour fare card still had time on it to make the aller-retour trip at no extra cost.

But the time we got back y wound dressing needed changing, only this time, Clare took charge of it at home, after careful preparation to ensure cleanliness and sterility. Not easy first time, but quite a learning experience for both of us. And she did well. I had a pain free and comfortable evening.

After supper, Rhiannon watched pop music videos on the TV until ten, then I watched the final episode of 'Keeping Faith', which sustained its brilliant sense of tension right to the end, apart from a strangely ambiguous final frame in which the husband who disappeared for a week appears out of nowhere with all three children around him, while she is about to embark on a romantic tussle with a local criminal on her own doorstep. Is this a guilty flashback?

Possibly, if this is a one off serial, but the ambiguity opens the door for a second series, I suppose. Since it first went out in bilingual formal six months ago, I believe a follow up has been commissioned, but this final anomaly was a bit unsatisfactory in my opinion. Nevertheless some brilliant acting from a predominantly female cast, showcasing some of our best Welsh talent - plus the lovely Carmarthenshire landscape. I bet this series will boost tourism in the region. 

On line government admin

Monday was a quiet uneventful day, spent doing CBS office work at home. I also went on-line to renew my European Health Insurance Card (aka EHIC), and while the NHS website was accessible enough, I ran into trouble straight away. Using the email address EHIC staff used to notify me that me card was on the way five years ago, I put in a lost password request, and found that my email address wasn't recognised. I tried registering from scratch, again the email wasn't recognised, and the error message thrown up stated categorically that it wasn't a valid email address format.

Just as I was starting to get really grumpy out loud, one of fortnightly home cleaners said "I had that trouble too renewing my Dad's EHIC recently, but they did it over the phone for me, automatically." Finding the number on the website was no trouble. I was put through to a robotic answering device, the kind that normally makes me even grumpier, but this was quite exceptional! The clarity of the procedures and the accuracy of the voice recognition software astonished me, and within minutes I was promised delivery of a new card within seven days. If only the website promoted this as the only sensible and efficient alternative, instead of leaving a less than functional registration page in place.

My day was otherwise notable for finally getting around to emailing golden wedding anniversary invites with 'how to get there' maps for a couple of dozen people, near and far, that we know are coming. There should be around forty of us on August 6th.

Today I had to go into the CBS office, and register a new internet banking facility to manage the BCRP Board finances, since a bank card and a new security device had arrived and needed to be registered for account use. There were charges to pay in relation to the Crime Manager's salary, tax and National Insurance. I was dreading it, but delighted as I discovered how user friendly the HMRC web payment facilities are, and the job was quickly done.

I also needed to do some leaflet design using an ancient copy of MS Publisher, which I don't have installed conveniently at home at the moment. As we're now using some additional types of radio handset equipment, user guides need re-writing to accompany them. It is far less rare that I have recourse to this kind of work nowadays, and it takes longer than usual to remember how to make use of some of the available features. As a result I left the office for my double Chi Gung / Tai Chi class later than intended and was twenty minutes late entering the session, annoyed with myself for not baling out earlier and leaving the job unfinished.