What to do when you have error 99

Sissi likes watching the golf – and was very disappointed to see Padraig fall in a heap at the 16th Green.

Sissi also like to be outside at sunset and ponders the meaning of life while this is taking place.

When we picked Moni up from the Vet and she was wearing one of those weird cone thingies so that she could not lick her stitches.

Nor could she do anything else useful – like eating or drinking. She was very distressed and walked backwards around the house for an hour or so whimpering and banging her head against the wall.

I imagine it was a lot like the Bush White House.

Anyway – after consultation with Melissa we took the cone off to see what would happen. Moni settled down and – apart from few exploratory licks – did not overly bother the patch on her tummy which covered her stitches.

I took her back on Friday and the vet said that she was doing very well – and was surprised that she was without cone.

Sissi of course never gave her a moments peace and within 24 hours they were chasing each other all over the house and rolling around and biting each other. Moni seems to be coping with this but I a keeping a close eye on her.

Sissi has a very bad habit of prowling around the bed in the morning looking for exposed toes. When she finds one it is a most unhappy experience for those with toes. Sissi seems to enjoy it immensely.

Cate is back after swanning about in Denmark and Sweden and is remarkably refreshed. After a bike ride on Sunday she retired to the bedroom and watched back to back episodes of Desperate Housewives but I am trying to convince myself that she is not depressed but just can’t face work again.

She was not in fact sailing and was on a Motor Boat. She knows this is so because there were no sails and no one was required to row. Gwenyth’s clothes turned up so there was no need for her to sew a new set out of old sails which is just as well because there weren’t any.

Rozalin is also back and this is a relief because I now have someone to exchange emails with during the day and ask questions about the very many things I do not know.

Remember the Barbecue I bought months ago and had to disassemble to get into the apartment. We christened it on Sunday and had out first barbecue of the summer. A bit late for sure but as we (and Cate in particular) are rarely here it is not surprising.

The Canon 500D stopped working so I geared myself up to take it in for a service. However, as it was giving me an error message with a number (99) - I decided to have a search on the Internet to see what I could find.

The solution provided by someone who had encountered the same problem is as follows:

“The guy at Canon tech support listened and then told me that the lens contacts were dirty and to get a pencil with an eraser on the end, just a regular old pencil with a red rubber eraser. Detach the lens from the camera, hold it so that the lens’ gold contacts are pointing down and lightly erase their exposed surface, cleaning them of any hand oil that might have gotten on them.

After a bit of farnarkling it worked – and has saved me a trip to Canon (and no doubt a large number of Euros).

My next problem is to find bags for our vacuum cleaner – which is a Wertheim and was originally a German brand but is now made all over the place only for (as far as I can see) one chain of stores in Australian. It is not brand sold in Europe and therefore its bags are not sold in Europe - and I can’t find a ‘Unibag’ solution anywhere either.

Stop Press: This problem has just been solved. Annie and Michael who arrive on 1 September are bringing bags.

Actually that was not my most difficult problem. That one is that some stitching has come undone on one of the leather lounges and I just can’t work out how to disassemble the lounge to get inside it to put in a few stitches. Not much is required and if I get at it I could fix it in 5 minutes.

(Which reminds me – I STILL have not hemmed a pair of Cate’s pants that she asked me to do months ago).

Well – I can see how to do the lounge but I know exactly what will happen if I disassemble it – I will not be able to reassemble it and it will make us all unhappy.

This is of course my fault because – according to Cate – I ‘flop’ on the lounge rather than sit on it. You don’t have to search too far in this place to find a culprit for any crime or misdemeanour. My prints are everywhere. Even my Bum prints apparently.

I had to chop down the dead tree and dispose of it. After this I spent some time trimming and shaping the other tree which is (or was) in pretty good shape. When I had finished Sissi sprang from quite a distance and hurled herself up to the top of the tree, She then proceeded to tear it to pieces and it now looks like a Christmas Tree decorated by the Taliban.

I am reluctant to get more trees before winter because I simply cannot see them surviving both the cold and the relentless attacks by Sissi. Cate says this is alright as long as I move the remaining tree to the small terrace.

She has not explained to me how I move a tree and pot that weigh approximately as much as Stephansdom and I don’t imagine she has any plans to help me. I will see if I can rig up a sled and harness for the cats.

So you can see the problems I have and how I fill my days with endless tasks – some of them quite difficult.

My cunning ploy to wake the Australian Team and Ricky Ponting from their torpor had the desired effect and they leapt into action to slaughter the English in the 4th Test. The English now have to win the last Test to win the Ashes.

Ricky has not stopped chewing (except when he is batting) but I no longer care. If he wins the last test he can clip his toenails at Silly Mid On while sunbaking naked.