Warning - this is not really about the pilgrimage at all...

The past two weeks  has been the most ridiculous comedy of errors, requiring herculean strength not to give up in the face of this ongoing, unlikely and unbelievable challenge... but it is so unusual, that sooner or later I am going to have to laugh about it!
The week before last Shaz, struggling with her eyes given the extra hours in front of the computer, went off in search of a better electronic solution. She tried option one (loudly supported by Bob, who I think wanted to test drive this for his own edification) which was a large screen to plug into her existing laptop. After choosing the best screen, it was, of course, not compatible with my existing  laptop...

Next step - new laptop: Shaz did her research and settled on a replacement Packard Bell with 17 inch screen. But when she got to see the available limited edition stock... the keyboard dash had this stripe of irritating lights that the salesman said were a fixture... and then he was a little scathing of the Packard Bell back up service... so my next value for money option was Acer with 15 inch screen, the same bells and whistles, sans the lights.

All well and good (it has some fancy bells and whistles, and compared to my old laptop, was in a word: racy!). Many hours were spent loading software and getting acquainted - but on day two of operations, the internet connections mysteriously disappeared... and I was suddenly Incredibly Disconnected!!

Programmes were uninstalled and laptop returned for a replacement. Many hours were spent (again) loading software and hunting for the nice background picture that came with the first machine but was not on the second one... but on day two the dvd writer mysteriously disappeared. Not literally, of course, but as far as the computer was concerned it did not exist.

A few acrimonious support e-mails later, the machine was on its way back - and I was now determined to change brand no matter how much Acer want to assure me that the chances of getting two malfunctioning machines was less than 0.5%! I eventually opted for that Packard Bell that I had wanted  in the first place- the one with the screaming keyboard lights - reasoning that if they were that bad I could put tape over them...

Many hours were spent installing software again... and I waited with baited breath to see what happen. It's now into its second week of functioning as it should, and I think it is safe to breathe a sigh of relief on that score - perhaps it was just the universe conspiring to ensure that I get the machine I actually wanted... besides... those lights... Well, there's this little button on the keyboard that rather niftily switches them on and off...