Hell-er February!

It may be winter outside, but in my heart it's ...nearly Spring!  Fresh starts and new beginnings and all of that.

Which around here make my diary look a bit like this.   oooo-er!

I've spent much of last week with colleagues online, planning and preparing a new version of a course I'll teach in the next few months, training new WI Judges.  It's a great course, tried and tested and one I love to tutor.  This year, however, we're utilising more technology, which makes sense when the students live in all corners of the country, and we're kicking off with a webinar.

Oooo!

I've participated in several, but have not led one until now, so it was time to work on the script and to practise.

Except that when it came to chat, my microphone wasn't working.  Strangely, I had been chatting on Skype with colleagues only minutes before, but these things work in mysterious ways and I thought I knew a workaround.  But my new all singing and dancing PC doesn't have a socket I could plug my headset into!  I worked through several troubleshooting procedures and drew a blank.

Time to call for some support.   But my Hero couldn't help either!

Hello Microsoft.  Are you there?

In no time at all, Alexis was there on my case, analysing the issue and reloading the microphone driver update which hadn't installed fully for some reason.  In ten minutes and a reboot, she had it sorted.  Bravo!   The students will have the benefit of my voice and get to know my dulcet Hull  accent.

Whilst all of this was going on though, there was chaos elsewhere in the house.  Ian, our wonderful painter and decorator was working in the kitchen - almost the worst place in the house for keeping everything contained.  Of course, the contents of the shelves and all the paraphernalia was spread here and there whilst he worked and we used the excuse to eat simply for a few days.   We thought we cleaned and put everything back yesterday, but I just went to get out some potatoes for lunch and found the box full of whisks and suchlike from the hanging rail.  I think that's going to happen a few more times in the coming days.

Worse still, he's starting work on our sitting room tomorrow.

A few more flowers were needed then, to make the place seem more like home and in the case of these anemones, to remind me of my Nan because they were her flower of choice.  

Glorious colours!  Happy February.