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04/12/19 Weds. Still having problems fitting the new winch, the new bolt holes are too close to the old, preventing fitting nuts to the rear of the winch pad, I will have to do a few more alterations! The typhoon up in the Philippines is giving us a lot of rain so work is slow but I thank our lucky stars we are not up there. Some friends of ours have been blown onto the shore in Palawan and are aground with considerable damage at this moment.
05/12/19 Thurs. We spent most of the day struggling with the fitting of the new winch - I cannot get my fingers behind the winch pad to put the nuts on the bolts, but Ana (smaller fingers!) managed to get 4 out of 5 on by the end of the day and there just remains one awkward one to fit before tightening it all up. Constant rain showers/downpours are a hindrance but at least it's not baking hot!
07/12/19 Sat. Unable to do anything yesterday because of continual rain. Today was much better weather and we finally completed the fitting of the new winch to the mast during the morning, so now hopefully the job of hoisting the dinghy on deck, or me up the mast will be much easier.
08/12/19 Sun. I went with Ana to the ferry terminal this morning - she was catching speed boat to Menumbok, then the bus to KK airport for her flight home to Manila. I shall be on my own now over Christmas and Ana will fly back to KK late on the 30th, stay with her Grandma there and come back here on the 31st.
10/12/19 Tues. I have to send my passport back to the UK for renewal, it doesn't expire until 2023 but I have run out of pages, so this morning I went to the DHL office. Every time I go there, it's moved! Anyway, found the new one and posted off my passport - expensive! My two usb sockets arrived from the UK which should speed up the phone/iPad charging times.
12/12/19 Thurs. Today, my internet modem decided enough was enough and blew apart. The battery had swollen so much that it forced the back of the modem off. Off to Digi again and they wanted to see the warranty, telling me it was covered for 12 months. Ah, but when I showed it to them (March 3rd) it suddenly transpired that the battery was only covered for 6 months! OK, "can I have a new battery then?" 'No, we are out of stock.' It's a joke really, so now I have to wait a week (or more) for them to order one online. In the meantime, I strapped the modem together with cable ties.
15/12/19 Sun. Damn laptop has gone on the blink already! Windows updated yesterday morning and since then it works for a few minutes only, then freezes up - no keys work, no touchpad, mouse, anything! Went into a local shop today, they want to remove the hard drive, wipe it and re-install everything. Of course I will lose all data and void the warranty. Gloom!
21/12/19 Sat. I have wiped the hard drive of the new laptop without removing it and re-installed Windows and associated files (twice) but it still keeps crashing out - it completely freezes up leaving only the off switch. I have decided to take it back to KK on the 30th and meet Ana at the airport at the same time. I just hope I don't have any problems in the shop and get it exchanged, I don't want it repaired! I am using the old laptop for this entry. So there will be no more updates to the site until sometime in the new year. I hope you all have a good Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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