Major PC Meltdown!

Woke this morning to find that our internet connection had packed up. No web, no email, no network, no nothing. Out of the blue. After half an hour of panic and another half an hour of swearing, to-no-avail-tinkering and cold sweats, we figured out we'd better bite the bullet and get help. Without the broadband connection our business crumbles to a standstill. To say nothing of the indignation of a 6 year old internet wiz when she discovers she can't get to google.

So, after many calls to many different helplines, each of which helpfully pointed out that it wasn't their problem guv but give these people a try, we finally found one who was willing to own the problem. Unfortunately, it was a premium rate number. How on earth BT can justify premium rate helplines for their own broadband service is beyond me, but there you go. After a full and expensive 20 minutes on the phone, it transpired that a third party firewall was faffing about with the IP (can you tell I'm a technical person??). The reason it took so long to work that out is that we were adamant nothing had changed in our carefully honed settings, held dear to our hearts after many previous hours of stress, and about which we had got used to gingerly stepping, frightened to touch anything in case it upset the delicate balance. Turns out that when we renewed our Panda antivirus subscription yesterday, it took it upon itself to download, unbeknown to us, an entirely new update which had reset lots of stuff and jigged around its firewall. Thanks for nothing, Panda. You cost us a fortune in phone bills and even more in stress.

Anyway. Whilst Jon and I took turns pretending to understand the instructions we were being given down the phone, Emily was busy making perfume in the garden. I must admit it does smell quite nice....it's just the brown muddy colour that puts you off! Once the network was finally fixed, we needed some therapy, so Emily and I headed out to Pets At Home and rather overspent on a load of kitten related items. We're now the proud owners of a beautifully comfy kitten bed, a very fancy play centre, treats, toys and a posh pink litter tray. All we need now is the kittens! RSPCA are looking hopeful for Monday, so fingers crossed.

Back home Jon discovered this monster of a caterpillar in the garden. It really was enormous.

We've identified it as an Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar, so this large beauty is what it'll turn into after burying itself in the soil until next May. Looks rather pretty, although with a 7cm wing span I'd probably not be saying that if it was in the bedroom....

Inspired by this, Emily's decided she wants to do an insects project next. They "did" minibeasts in her reception year at school, but apparently they didn't actually learn anything interesting. Figures. She also wants to do a cakes project...????....now that sounds like my kind of thing! In fact, Emily's keen to get "back to work" in general. She's had the last couple of weeks pretty much to do as she pleases, and I think she's enjoyed just playing, but she says she wants to start working again now, so who are we to disagree?