I'm not dead

Welcome back tony.
I'm disappointed you didn't visit the pencil museum. Was there anything more interesting?

I am also a bit dissapointed about the pencil museum. A detailed account of the history of pencils with descriptions of the different colors, sizes, styles, etc of them as seen by someone standing there could have made for an interesting post. Especially if they boasted the world's largest thereof. And, since many people chew on pencils it could have been considered a legitimate GS post.

Ah well, another opportunity lost.

Welcome back tony! Glad to see you again and that you had a nice vacation.

People who liked the Cumberland Pencil Museum should check out the Paper Museum at Georgia Tech in Atlanta...Maybe they should consider a merger.

Submerger might be better - with sweet Sarah as the submarine's captain?

I'm disappointed you didn't visit the pencil museum. Was there anything more interesting?

There were two putting greens, Fg - and a theatre by the lake (Derwentwater) in which we saw Miller's A View from the Bridge+. There are superb fell walks too. And a wonderful filmhouse - I do not +recall+ visiting any alehouses. If famous cars are your thing, there's a famous cars museum: +007/Bond drove this, waaal!, etc. (I'll visit it some day, perhaps - not.)

A detailed account of the history of pencils with descriptions of the different colors, sizes, styles, etc of them as seen by someone standing there could have made for an interesting post.

Ye have a wicked sense of humour, sashac.

A detailed account of the history of pencils with descriptions of the different colors, sizes, styles, etc of them as seen by someone standing there could have made for an interesting post.

On further thought, sashac: if yer (sorry, Vinny) being serious, it might make for an interesting post.

Yes, I was kidding but now that you've said that it does occur to me that it could have made for a fun post and possibly interesting. We'll just never know. sigh

tony, now I remember the car museum and Bond's car.
The pencil museum is still unique, or, I don't know why I remember it.

Next time I visit Keswick, I will visit the pencil museum - seriously.

The Camping and Caravanning Club (CCC), of which we are members (with a tent and most definitely not a caravan), has three sites in Keswick - the only place in Britain in which they have more than one, other than Loch Lomond where they have two, albeit on opposite sides of the loch.

I just wish Keswick was a wee bit nearer to our current home - it's a three hour drive and my tolerance level in a car is two hours - road trips are not my scene. Still, next time we'll break the journey midway.

the monitor failed

You expect us to believe that?

Could we have something a little more inspiring if you're going to regale us with little 'pork pies' in future please?

Truth be known you were probably having alternating daily conniption fits and frissons of connubial excitement in anticipation of the royal wedding.

the monitor failed/You expect us to believe that?

I most certainly do, Mr Dawg.

For a few weeks before it failed I got a blankish screen sometimes- which is to say there was something there, but nothing discernable. On rebooting, it usually came back as normal.

But there was obviously a problem. I suspected the graphics card since such hardware tends to falter before it fails (another example being hard disks). I'm not suggesting they do not just suddenly fail but there are usually warning signs.

Before I went on hols I did unseat the graphics card, rebooted and waited for the BIOS beeps (hardware failure in the PC itself is easily diagnosed by BIOS beeps since the PC runs a power-on self-test (POST) each time you boot it, before it does anything else).

I got the missing/dead graphic card beeps, re-seated it and all was well - beepless. So, maybe - but hopefully not - 'twas the mother board (or still, just maybe, the graphics card).

However, the major suspect was the monitor.

I came back from hols, visited the tree, read the threads and decided to reply the next day. Then, the monitor, unlike religious devotees, died forever.

The late 15" monitor sat atop a purpose built shelf and I just wanted another 15 incher since my eyes are about 18" from the screen. The entry level today is 18" for GBP80. Finding a 15" TFT was not easy.

One option was eBay - but, if so, I want the 'pick-up only' option, not to save on postage but to see it working since most 15 inchers will be at least six years old. Also, there is the problem of bidding for a monitor when ye dinnae have one - visiting local libraries to use their PCs to bid is an option - an option I exercised - but it isn't easy to win in such circumstances.

I did find a DQ co. selling 15" monitors - for GBP300. Apparently, it's a niche market today precisely because almost no one wants one.

But there is a happy ending: one of beloved's work colleagues just gave her one, refusing to accept any money on the ground that it had been discarded by her daughter who had received a laptop from Santa. Still, a bottle of decent wine was not refused.

We could have watched 'the wedding' on the replacement monitor but, alas, we didn't. Still, we did see the bride's sister's 'clingfilm' dress from the rear on the TV news.