Surprise! You thought I’d forgotten last week, right?

No, I was on holiday, so wasn’t able to post.

So, how did it go and what else have I been up to?

Cam Roulette

On Monday (the 8th, for context) a Nest Professional turned up. I have outdoor Nest cams front and back and for a while the one on the back has been the yardstick from which I judge my home network as it’s the hardest to reach.

However, having realised I’m maybe chasing the wrong thing I’ve decided to fix the camera and not the network.

So, the electrician was here to move it. You see, I have an extension on the back of the house and the camera is outside that. As a result the final router in my mesh network has 2 outside walls, an entire row of kitchen cabinets and a fridge/freezer to transmit through to get to the camera.

One move later and the camera is further along. Now there’s a single wall between them (and as the camera is next to the window it may not even be that). As I write this, the camera has remained on and solid since.

Tipple Tail

Monday and Tuesday saw us make a few cycling and walking trips into town for some pre-holiday items.

However, Tuesday, the last day before our holiday, is when the inevitable happened.

I was cycling to the gym, through the local park, as I do most days. An oldish man was walking in the middle of the cycle lane in front of me. As I approached I sounded my bell multiple times but he ignored me. I went to go around him and he suddenly moved in front of me (not intentionally, he simply wasn’t aware that I was there). A combination of braking and emergency turning and my bike was on the ground and I was on top of it.

My knee was badly scuffed and bruised but, otherwise, just shaken. My bike is making an odd noise that I haven’t, as yet, been able to track down – it may have to go into the cycle shop for a check-over.

The man was very apologetic but, pretty much ruining that, he kept saying that he hadn’t heard me. Even if I hadn’t tried to alert him, that doesn’t matter. As I angrily pointed out to him, “IT DOESN’T MATTER – GET OUT OF THE DAMN CYCLE LANE”. As I cycled off, he was still stood in it.

Lisbon, here we come

This year, we headed to Lisbon, Portugal, for our holiday. I’ve been to Lisbon 3 times previously, all with work, and loved the place so wanted to take my family there too.

It was a 5am start on the Wednesday and we were to be there for 10 days, staying at an Airbnb. The Airbnb was a 3rd floor apartment with a superb view of Lisbon…

Here’s (approx.) where we were…

The 10 days gave us 2 good days of travelling and 8 days there, which was just enough.

It was actually cooler in Lisbon than back in the UK, and was perfect for walking around, exploring the hilly streets. We went to the beach, museums, parks and lots of shops!

We ate out pretty much every day and, naturally, had a Pastel De Nata daily.

On the Monday we had a sunset catamaran tour. I’ve done these twice before with work. If you get the chance, I’d highly recommend it.

On Tuesday we visited the “Oceanarium”, via a hop-on, hop-off bus tour.

We continued the bus tour on the Wednesday too, also taking the opportunity to get off and visit various places.

It was a great week and, seriously, if anybody is looking for a place to stay in Lisbon, I can’t recommend our host highly enough.

Back again

We got back Friday evening so, at time of writing this, have only had one whole day back at home.

A handyman that I sometimes call upon was around yesterday, fixing a fence and a broken window and rotten panel in the shed (yes, the shed returns). We also found the source of the rot – a disconnected piece of guttering around the back of the shed.

Otherwise, it’s been unpacking, food shopping and a lot of washing!