NEW REALITY

Goodbye old operating system.  You've been a great friend but the ... Internet of Things ... is upon us and I am about to hitch a ride into the Satellite Age.  Goodbye Toshiba...   You've been a great friend too ... twenty plus years through tyck 'n tyn, Windows 95. 7, 10  ... but when I could no longer see the characters on my keyboard and fitted a new one you got upset and calved.  I was lucky to be able to have the data saved because I had not been as careful as I had been trained to be and let stuff slip onto the long finger.

Now W10 on a 7th generation Dell Latitude 7390 running Core15vPro ...
I have entered the age of enlightenment. Woe that the government is not there

... read the serial number on my Morris Minor ... check warp drive ...

CONNECTING WITH NATURE
6.30am and I look to the bay window of my flat sensing movement from the corner of my eye.   Two  blackbirds (Turdy and Merula) have flown up to the gutter over the window and then dropped together to the ledge below.   A flurry of wings, Turdy mounts Merula and in mille seconds there has been a nuptial conjugation.  The mating is over in less time than it took Red Rum to jump Beechers.  Turdy swoops across the lawn with a clatter and a whirr while Merula smoothens her composure.  There will be a nest somewhere very near and soon a clutch of eggs will keep Merula on the nest for 28days and later bairns, indicated possibly by bluegreen eggshells.  From then on Turdy and Merula will be constantly flying back and forward bringing the groceries.  Later I hope to see young ones on the lawn ...

On the water it has been a busy transition from Winter to Spring for the boats.  I've had major electrical work done on both.  Now I can isolate and couple Wavy Rider's leisure batteries into Pentargon's system to share the considerable solar potential of the butty with the boat. 
Spring has also been exceptionally wet windy and warm. 

Warm enough for boat visits to have needed no Hampshire heat.

The pictures below show Pentargon at Blisworth Wharf before the warmth arrived.  The whiteness in the fields and on the towpath is hoar frost. OAT was -2 overnight.  I slept well in my warm cabin with my goose down duvet and my heater on best behaviour.

The photos above appear to be identical at first glance but are different. Look at the reflections of trees and boats in the still water for clues ...