When our boiler is serviced in the next couple of weeks or so, the Heating Engineer a.k.a My Little Brother, is going to install a Hive heating controller for us because after six years of being baffled by the boiler programmer in the laundry, it will be much easier to manage the heating system via our mobile phones/iPads. Apparently. What happens if the Internet dies I do not know. Back to sitting around a fire in the cave, I suppose.
Anyway, there has been some back and forth communications re: preparations for the installation of the Hive. How far was the wireless router from the boiler? I don’t know - I’m guessing 25-30 feet. Could I download the app and register? Yes, I could.
Less than 30 feet in distance was received as ‘Good.’ Confirmation of download of app and appropriate registration also received positively.
But then I started thinking, is the distance ACTUALLY less than 30 feet, and when I measured using an actual tape measure rather than by stretching out my arms and hazarding a guess, it turned out the distance was 32 feet. Is that a problem, I asked of the Heating Engineer a.k.a My Little Brother? (My Little Brother, by the way, is almost like My Little Pony only with less brushable mane and tail.)
Well, he said, it’s 10 metres if we talk metric (we rarely do, both being children of the ‘60s.) And 10 metres is 32 feet and 8 inches. Ish. So we should be okay. Fingers crossed. And then he sent me a link to some gadget called an Internet Booster ‘just in case.’ I thought, my iPad works in the laundry. We’ll be okay.
However, the day after this potentially devastating news regarding making my life easier, I went into town and purchased a cheap, but remarkably attractive shelving unit to squeeze into the gap between the TV cabinet and the chimney breast, the idea being it would be the new home for the internet router, rendering it two feet closer to the boiler from its current position on the window sill which in itself isn’t ideal on account of Nell enjoying kicking it. Lord Malarkey worked himself into a boiling stress by unplugging all the wires that cluttered up the area behind the TV cabinet which were all to do with the TV, the DVD player, the house phone line, the internet router and a fairy light tree. I took the opportunity to give the area a good scrub as it was a hideous cobweb ghetto and quite disgusting.
The internet router was applied to its new shelving home along with the carbon monoxide alarm which, although not adding to the trailing wires issue, still was clutter in itself. The fairy light tree was relocated to my writing room where it looks very pretty indeed. Lots of trailing wires were sellotaped together in proper bundles and everything was set to working mode again. I popped a pot plant on the top shelf of the new unit and some DVDs I’ve yet to watch on the bottom shelf of the new unit, and the Hive unit will sit neatly somewhere amongst it all provided it isn’t the size of a breeze block. Our job was done.
Today, I enjoyed a lovely Mum ‘n’ Daughter lunch date with Heather at Trentham Gardens. Nell was much admired by many of her adoring public, lots of who commented on her excellent behaviour, friendliness, beautiful fur, sweet face and very long eyelashes. Little do they know, I thought. Here she is, all slobbery and cock-eyed after a game of ball in the garden…
Comments
KJ