Off-line morning

When I woke up at daybreak, the sun didn't pour into the bedroom as it has done most day since I arrived. There was high cloud and haze over the sea, and no wind moving the cloud on or breaking it up. The air was cool but noticeable more humid down by the sea went I went out later. I posted today's WhatsApp link to Morning Prayer on YouTube, and after breakfast set about recording what I'd already prepared for next Thursday. The router was working fine, but there was no incoming internet signal. It made my laptop a bit slower to boot up than usual, and I had to read the texts I wanted to record from the Google Docs account on my phone. I was able to do this, thanks to the mobile data SIM bought yesterday. How providential!

By the time I had recorded and edited the texts, the router was attached to the internet again, so I was able to continue making the slide show video and upload it to YouTube, effectively all in one sitting. I would have been stuck for making the slide show, as the app I use as the Photos Legacy app I use depends on my Windows Cloud account. I'd like to be able to do the job when I'm offline, but finding capable software that works off-line is getting increasingly difficult these days, now we're dominated by the sophistication of Cloud computing. It used to be the reverse issue. And that's without the intrusion of AI aids to everything, messing with your thinking, making suggestions you can do without.

Older versions of Windows had a Movie Maker program that could make an MP4 slide show video and upload the finished product to YouTube at leisure, but finding it to use, and getting it to run on Windows 10 is hardly worth bothering with. At home I have an old laptop for running such software - for my obsolete but still functioning photo negative scanner - for example. Maybe I can find a Movie Maker installation file copy in my archive, and then I'll have an off-line alternative for those days when that's the only way to get something necessary done.

I cooked some pieces of chicken with chorizo and onions for lunch, and steamed a potato and a handful of judia plana using a shallow metal steamer pan which fits across the top of one of the large cooking pots. It took more than a week to come across it among the array of pots and pans in kitchen cupboards. Just as well I didn't find one to buy when I| went looking for an add-on steamer when I first arrived.

After eating I walked into town along the N340a, taking photos of the some of the colourful blossoming roadside trees. I saw as well as heard several greenfinches calling for each other over my head. Without a long lens I couldn't get close enough to them, but now at least I know what they sound like at this time of year. I wandered around the streets for an hour, visited the Ermita de Nuestra Señora, next to the old market hall, which has been converted into a cultural centre. Then I looked within, there were groups of children seated around tables working quietly. Probably a homework club, given the time of day and the fact that some families life in smallish apartments not easily adaptable to provide a quiet space for study at family tea time.

I walked to the line three bus stop, to get the bus as far as the stop nearest Tamango Hill. By the time I reached the house, I'd completed my daily step quota. Then, photos to upload and just a big salad sandwich for supper. Then a chat with Clare and eventually bed.