New Broom

Oh, wait, it’s not a new broom, it’s a new computer. And this is its first post.
Mr BW has now got it to look almost the same as the last one – although (on our rural community broadband Gb connection, which is giving 300Mb/s up and down on a wifi connection via an extender) a thousand times faster (well, actually only five faster times in reality – although these things probably aren’t linear?), and things open and close apparently on a whim, which is not good for my ageing digits or brain.
I have managed to turn off the annoying backlights on the keyboard, and to dim the screen to non migraine inducing levels, but the F5 key (used to dim the screen) doesn’t seem to work to refresh a browser page, even if pressed with the Ctrl key at the same time, as the manufacturer suggests. We also can’t currently get it to talk to either the old printer (upstairs, kept until it runs out of ink), or the new printer (downstairs).
But, all things considered, and compared to the many tens of hours it used to take to set up a new machine to look like the replaced machine even 10 years ago, it’s a small miracle.
I usually use my laptop in what I like to think of as a “Wordsworth way”: that is, “And oft, when on my couch I lay / In vacant or in pensive mood,” so, resting lying on the bed, with the head end raised and the computer resting on my tummy. I was concerned that the increased weight of the new machine would quickly turn me into Flat Stanley, but it hasn’t yet. I love that book – in 1986 when I spent a year teaching top infants (Y2 as it is now) I based a whole half term’s work on it (those were the days, when teachers could be creative and follow their own and their pupils’ interests) – why I’ve never had a copy of my own I have no idea.
Yet more technology failed over the weekend. On the way home from the weekend classic car rally on Sunday evening, the powerbank that Mr BW uses in Mi1dred to power the satnav (Mi1dred being 92 and 6V) decided that its USB ports were too old and wobbly. Which does not bode well for a long future for any new computer that is now powered by a USB C input rather than a small round prong that slides into a hole. Come to think of it, our latest electric blinds also have USB charging sockets, rather than the easier-to-use round push in prongs, so they won’t last as long as they could either. I strongly suspect that decisions on such things are made by 20 year olds who have no idea of the effects of their decisions on those of advancing years, or those with reduced manual dexterity and less-than-perfect eyesight.
Anyway, fortunately I am thoroughly trained in ‘convoy rules’ through many years of classic car club runs, and I managed to safely lead Mi1dred and Mr BW home, which was lucky as they might otherwise have got lost without a functioning satnav and ended up on an A road which would have been scary. Given that when towing Bri@n it is only possible to see a following small car when peering in the the mirrors when going round a corner, and given that the tarmac roads were only three feet wider than Bri@n, and the fenced-in cattle grids only two feet, this made for a lot of breath holding and finger crossing.
Mr BW said that I deserve my caravan towing badge. Fortunately the only vehicles we met in the 30-odd miles of lanes between here and the coast were encountered in places where there was room to pass, as it is unlikely that Bri@n would enjoy being reversed by me.
The Photoshop disc that I have been using for the past 20 years sadly won’t work with Windows 11, so I now have to master the free (except for the odd annoying pop-up message to encourage purchase of the full version) PhotoPad (NCH Software) which Mr BW assures me is easy to use. Given that all I ever do is crop and resize photos to post here, that shouldn’t be too hard. Should it?