Amused

I was amused to see that a recent posting of the incoming boss of the civil service at large - and of the Downing Street operation in particular - was as principal private secretary to Prince William, second in line to the throne. A throne which will probably last long enough for him to occupy at some point.

Amused as we have recently spent quality time watching dramas based - or at least jumping off from - the lives of our royals and which included lots of stuff about the often Byzantine and sometimes ridiculous goings on in royal private offices. Experience in which is clearly seen as qualification for high office. Perhaps the royals and their friends remain closer to real power than I had given them credit for.

But there was a more serious concern closer to home. Getting home from my run around Jubilee Way earlier this morning, for one reason or another the first for a few days, I was greeted with the news that our television had expired. Was FIL's still in the roof? About the same age but not much used. Was in time to upgrade our television to the full-on, Internet enabled experience? Was it time for Freeview to be retired?

Poking around however, I found that the red light on the extension box through which the television was connected to the supply had gone off. By-passed the extension box and normal service resumed. Changed the fuse on extension box and red light still absent  - but power had returned. Box now re-inserted in the supply chain.

Panic subsided.

PS 1: no idea how to change the little red light bulb in such a box. Or indeed whether it can be done. Maybe YouTube can help?

PS 2: changing the fuse was not quite the trivial operation I was expecting. The fuse caps seemed to have expanded and I could only get the old fuse out of its red plastic holder with the aid of pliers, snapping the thing in half in the process. While the new fuse slid in readily enough.