Walking in the Rain

I always check weather.com before we go on a trip. I was a bit disappointed that the 10-day forecast showed nothing but rain, but since there really isn't anything you can do about the weather except dress appropriately,  I packed my anorak and bought some rain boots.

So when we arrived in London and the sun was shining, I was very pleasantly surprised. We drove from Heathrow to Holland-on-Sea with patchy sun and intermittent showers. It wasn't especially cold. My denim jacket seemed to be warm enough.

We sat around and visited with Mark's folks until the care workers came. They typically need about an hour so we decided to go for a walk while they were there. And since walking along the seafront is always nicer than just walking around a neighborhood, we drove the five minutes it takes to get to the seafront. (We could have walked there in 15 minutes! But we drove.)

Just a quick digression about the seafront in this particular part of the world for those who aren't familiar with it. In most places, there is only a beach when the tides are out. And from what I've seen, there isn't that much of a beach then. But you can walk along the sea wall. There are steps that lead down to the beach, but most times I've been there, the steps lead into the North Sea. But if the wind is particularly brisk that day, you can also walk along the sidewalk by the street and still have a view of the sea. On a clear day you can see the Gunfleet Sands Wind Farm.

Here are some of the pictures we took on our walk:

We were about a 30 minute walk away from the car when the rain started. By the time we got back to the car, it was torrential and we were drenched and needed to change clothes. Even my socks were wet. We went back to the hotel to change. Then we went by Marks and Spencer's to buy collapsible travel umbrellas. They got quite a bit of use on this trip.

Who is Matt?

I've been eligible for a phone upgrade since last November. Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't have to be the first person to have the latest technology. I'd rather wait until I can be sure it actually works. And I don't like standing in line. (I refused to line up at Best Buy to get a Wii and I refuse to line up at the Apple Store (or anywhere else) to get the new iPhone.

My iPhone 4S was pretty well ragged out. The battery would only hold a charge for about a half a day. Seems that I had to plug it in for a charge several times throughout the day. And the touch screen didn't respond to "touching" anymore. Beating it didn't seem to help. And then there was Siri. I'd gone to the doctor's office and on my way home, I wanted to phone a friend who'd been ill. I asked Siri to find the number for his place of business. She found it, told me it was a long way from where I was and just flat out refused to dial the number. After several attempts to get her to dial the number for me, I asked her if she'd like to be thrown out the window.  She flashed me the "f-bomb" and said "Well, I never!"

Perhaps she should have. I don't know how that word came to be in her vocabulary. Perhaps she didn't think I'd see it since I was driving and really shouldn't have been looking at the screen. But that was it, she had to go. I took my iPhone 4S back to the Verizon store and told them about my inability to keep the battery charged, my unresponsive touch screen, and the misbehaving Siri. I suspect they thought I was making that bit up. But it happened.

A "new" (another word for reconditioned) phone arrived by the end of the week. (Keep in mind this all happened the week before the iPhone 5 was released. I was given the option to get in line for an upgrade, but I seriously don't do lines very well.

So now I have a "new" 4S phone. The battery isn't appreciably better, nor is the touch screen.  And on my way home today, I wanted to change my doctor's appointment from Tuesday to Monday. I asked Siri to find the number for Taysir Jarrah, MD. I tried to enunciate as clearly as possible.

She was quick to let me know that "tastier Jerai" was not in my contact list but she could search the web. Then she offered to search for "tastier Cherew MD", "Taysee your Jarosz MD", "KC your Jarosz MD" and
"Taser Jerai MD".

I told her to forget it. She said she didn't know what I meant. So I asked her if she'd like to be thrown out of the window. She said "This is about you Matt, not me."

Do you think I can get an iPhone 5S without standing in line?