Troubles come in threes.....

.....so I'm wondering what's next!

I went to bed last night and watched the 10 o' Clock news before switching off the TV, turned it on this morning and it said 'not locked' on the satellite signal thing. Got home this evening, attempted to find the problem, have taken apart all the wires to trace the fault and still nothing. Replaced the dish with a borrowed one to check - no luck, replaced the wires with a borrowed length to check -no luck, replaced the box with a borrowed one to check - no luck, explored every single permetation of the 2 different set-ups and still no luck. Spent half an hour onto Sky who simply declared that my box was bust but it can't be given that I get the same problem with the perfectly working borrowed one. I have now phoned Martyn from TravelSat who is going to come and take a look tomorrow evening. I will give him a plug and publish his details tomorrow if he does a good job!

The second problem - no internet! I know, I'm typing this now but only waiting for the internet to stop working. The software upgrade for my wireless card simply hangs on the message 'removing old software prior to upgrade installation' for about 3 hours and does nothing more and the wireless signal just suddenly stops for no apparent reason whenever it feels like it and when that happens it simply will not enable again and I have to re-start the entire machine for it to connect again!

The third problem? no idea yet but I know it will come soon......!!

Tomorrow, if I survive the night, I plant to get diesel, get coal, get lamp oil, clean the boat, top up the batteries, tidy the engine room and cratch, wash all the mats, towels and bedding, do my school work etc etc. all prior to leaving for my trip next Thursday, (if I ever get away!)