• Domburg Tourist Information
  Small seaside resort in Zeeland. Lots of accommodation here.
  (tags: Zeeland Netherands accommodation tourism VVV)
• Welkom op dé officiële toeristische site over Zeeland! > VVV Zeeland
  Zeeland - apparently the sunniest part of the Netherlands. I'm not sure that is a tough contest.
  (tags: Netherlands Zeeland tourism VVV)

The title of this post reflects the name that my uncle has for our household. Thanks Ted.

So far this year:

• conservatory woe, involving new conservatory purchased to replace old leaking one, but not being manufactured to the right size, resulting in a large “air gap” that it took the suppliers three weeks to resolve (sorry Dave, should have come to you)
• heavy cold woe
• financial woe, now resolved
• more family health woe
• falling down stone steps woe
• chickenpox woe
• and now, leaking waste water pipe under the sink in the bathroom woe.

For goodness sake, can we just have a simple life where everything bloody well works?

• BBC NEWS | Wales | North West Wales | New ground for sit-down gardener
  Hmm. No excuses, then. I'd better get on with the allotment.
  (tags: gardening disability news)

This morning, I had the plaster cast removed. Thank goodness for that!

I now have a “double tubigrip” arrangement on my left foot/ankle/leg and have been given instruction to gently start walking again. I can only manage a handful of steps at one go before it becomes too painful/uncomfortable, but the doctor reckons that I should progressively get stronger and more mobile by early next week. He reckons that the majority of the damage (or possibly even all of it) is muscular, not bone.

Frankly, being able to move around again is great. I was starting to become a bit of a bear-with-a-sore-head (or sore leg) and could easily have become utterly insufferable for my family. But I’m looking forward to having a soak in the bath tonight and not relying on Hels to wash my hair (I couldn’t get in the shower to do it and found it rather precarious to lather my barnet whilst balanced on one foot). And, most of all, I’m looking forward to being able to drive again and get back to proper work rahter than the half-hearted work I’ve done for the last ten days.

• BBC Sport | In Depth | Tic Tac Guide
  Become a master bookie! Learn tic-tac!
  (tags: tic-tac horseracing bookmakers)
• USDA - APHIS - Plant Import Information
  General information for importing plants to the US.
  (tags: USDA APHIS plant_health advice law plants)
• USDA APHIS list of prohibited genera
  Plant genera prohibited from import into the US.
  (tags: APHIS USDA plant_health law)

I’m thinking about pulling the plug on Radio Grayblog. Judging by the records, it is getting less than 50 hours per month of listening time. That’s an average of one person a day for little more than an hour and a half. Or three people a day for only half an hour each. Or 30 people logging in and listening to one song before they switch off in disgust.

With the USD/GBP exchange rate shifting about, it now costs me around £125 per year to run it and times are hard. I can probably think of better ways to spend that money (on a dozen new CDs, for example).

Also, half the reason I set up Radio Grayblog was so that I could listen to my music whilst in the office. That was back in the days when office and home were nearly ten miles apart. Now, office and home are not much more than ten feet apart. Turn the stereo up loud enough and I can sing along. Alternatively, I can just take a CD or three out to the office (no evil MP3s here!).

So, give me some good reasons why I shouldn’t pull the plug.

• BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | B | Brighton | Slade appointed new Brighton boss
  Well, he can (probably) only be an improvement on the last manager. Brighton should never have got rid of Dean Wilkins.
  (tags: Brighton football news sport)

• Havaa Apartments Utrecht, accommodation & hotel rooms for rent in hotels
  Apartments for holiday rental in Utrecht.
  (tags: Utrecht Netherlands accommodation holiday)
• UtrechtYourWay - Utrecht
  Utrecht VVV. That's the Dutch tourist information office to you.
  (tags: VVV Utrecht Netherlands holiday)

• Kasteel de Haar
  The largest and most spectacular castle in the Netherlands. But, closed for most of this year for restoration. AND you can only go round as part of a guided tour. AND the only have one English language tour per week. AND under fives are not permitted to take the tour. Rubbish. But we'd still like to look inside.
  (tags: castle Kasteel_de_Haar Utrecht Netherlands tourism)

• Welcome at van Haver tot Gracht
  Apartment in central Utrecht for B and B or self-catering.
  (tags: Utrecht Netherlands accommodation holiday)

I’ve just converted a printer that was (dodgily, due, I suspect, to a faulty wireless card) connected to my WLAN to being a LAN printer by using a wireless bridge (no, really). It’s been a success, and I’m no wondering if I could perhaps use a switch and connect a few other peripherals into the LAN via the same bridge.

One of the peripherals I’m keen to connect is an external HDD that I use to backup my laptop. Theoretically, my laptop gets backed-up every Thursday at 6pm. But that assumes that it is at my desk and connected to the HDD by USB cable. I’d like it to backup, no matter where on the WLAN it is (conservatory, living room, office, wherever). The HDD does not have an ethernet socket. So, is there a device that I can plug the HDD into that will act as an external ethernet card for it, so that I can then link that external ethernet card into the LAN? Or should I just buy a new HDD with an ethernet card built in?

• BBC NEWS | UK | How crime has lost out to showbiz
  Interested article. It's also true to say that regional papers (and some nationals - the Indy, for example) now have much smaller journalistic staff numbers than they had twenty years ago. Technology makes up for some of that, but ultimately, the decline in the quality of content must be a result of that reduction of headcount.
  (tags: journalism opinion newspapers news UK culture)
• Aero® Products International, Inc.
  Inflatable bed for kids that packs down to a duffelbag.
  (tags: bed travel children)

Plants that Tom can recognise and name:

• daffodil
• snowdrop
• bluebell
• ivy
• privet
• holly (ouch!)
• grass (tut, I expect a more specific description than that!)
• rosemary
• oak
• yew
• birch
• maple
• sycamore
• chestnut
• blackberry (bramble)
• dandelion

I expect his repertoire to improve as the spring progresses.

• BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Netherlands learns to go with the flow
  Not sure that it is right to highlight Maastricht in this article. Although it is in the valley of the Maas, it is in a similar position to a town ike Lewes in England - the surrounding land is really quite high (the area is often referred to as the Dutch Alps). The real trouble is for Westland, Zuid Holland, Noord Holland and the polders around the IJsselmeer and Markermeer.
  (tags: Netherlands environment flooding climate)

• Renfe Cercanías
  Local trains in Spanish cities. Dead handy if you want to get to the suburbs of Barcelona, for example.
  (tags: Spain train travel transport Barcelona)

• BBC NEWS | England | Sussex | Council defends £8,000 plant plan
  I'm entirely familiar with this roundabout - the Phormiums that were there before were completely inappropriate (and remember - I've been in the trade for 20 years) and, frankly, looked awful. The new planting is much better.
  (tags: news East_Sussex Uckfield plants roads)