Frustrating

I am actually losing the will to live. I've watched my day disappear into a hell created by Microsoft. Nathan has spent long hours talking to people across the world about the fact that my address book in my old computer refuses to appear on my new one. Part of me feels annoyed because it's such a ghastly First World problem to have! Feeling ashamed at myself doesn't serve to dampen the anger I feel that I may well have to input them all painstakingly by hand.  The bloke at PC World was completely unhelpful. He just blinked gormlessly at us. 

We had such positive plans for the day. We were going to sort out all the artwork for our charity release before heading to the park to photograph some of Nathan's knitwear designs. But by 5pm, when it was time to go to the gym, what had we achieved? Nothing. Nothing at all. I'd merely sat on a sofa, twiddling my thumbs, attempting to hatch plans for my English Counties composition. 

The complete lack of control that one experiences when dealing with PCs is deeply frustrating. At one point the Microsoft helpline was suggesting a charge of $99 for the privilege of helping us. That demand seemed to be retracted when I told Nathan to say he was from the BBC and wanted to talk to their press office, but not soon enough for me to change my view that Microsoft is a shoddy, money-grabbing company whose employees don't give a damn about the company they work for, or the customers who find themselves using their broken and rubbish products. 

To make the day seem even worse, a bit of Internet banking in the mid-afternoon established that neither of us are in a particularly good financial shape at the moment, so we've vowed to tighten every belt we can find. 

We did a big shop in Sainsbury's after the gym; lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and any two for one offers we could find. My Mum always used to say that she quite enjoyed making every penny count at the times in her life when she was poor, and the shopping expedition became quite good fun as we poured over price tags and tried to work out the difference between wanting food and needing it! 

This evening, whilst Nathan was at one of his knitting groups, I drove around the North Circular to the White City Estate, where I needed to pick up the stereo I'd left at Mustafa's Cafe on the last day of our shoot. 

The sun was setting and the most astonishing hot wind was buffeting its way around the estate. Getting out of the car was like stepping off a plane into a Mediterranean country. This weather is just insane!