Incense and Misbehaving Computers

The rain has now stopped, but I'm home now anyway... This morning I had to go into the village to pay a few bills and buy some incense as I'm totally out. Out of incense at this time of the year..!!! I wanted frankincense and myrrh--myrrh blended with dragon's blood is one of my favourites--but all that was on offer was insipid junk with names like Angel Fluff and Pickled Pixie (exaggerate, moi?) Hmm...it looks like a quick trip into Birkenhead is in order ASAP.

No writing done today; the sunshine coaxed me to tackle some of the wildly overgrown shrubs and roses in the back garden. My dogs helped. Mostly this meant them running off with the pruned branches I'd put in a tidy pile, which means our patio is now sprinkled with mangled twigs. I'd brush up but the brush-head fell off the pole. Again. Besides, it was time for a cuppa.

Have you read anything by Paolo Coelho? I've just finished The Witch of Portobello: A Novel (P.S.), which was entertaining. I liked the way the novel had been structured so that Athena's story was told by all the people around her but not by Athena herself.

I'm now half-way through reading a strange novel called Let the Right One In: A Novelby John Ajvide Lindqvist, which Richard picked up for me. The story is set on a Swedish sink estate, and revolves around two children and their neighbours. I don't usually bother with novels or films which dwell on poverty; the subject is only romantic to those who've never been hungry for real. This tale has kept my interest, however, if only because I want to see how the plot plays out.

My puuter is feeling better now. A clever techie fellow upgraded its RAM, did battle with the tail-end of a Trojan which I’d already found and deleted, and he tweaked its internal gubbins—and now my computer is running faster than it ever did before. Lots of accumulated junk has disappeared, which means it now completes its switch-on in half the time. He said my tower was full of dust, and he’s painted some stuff on something-or-other to deflect heat away from something-or-other. (See how I really understood what he was talking about?!!) Oh, and he replaced a graphics card. (It has card?)

When he returned my tower, I asked how he’d managed to hack my password, as I had forgotten to tell him what it was. He just smirked and said they’re really easy to get round if you know how. So much for security, hmm?

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