The digital age has arrived, and it works

Back in June I posted about the joys of connecting a modem from one internet provider onto a competitors network, so, with that in mind, I have been putting off connecting the digital converter for our TV into the local cable system. This was a freebie, received from the brother-in-law in Helsinki, as he has moved in with his fiancee, and it was surplus to requirements. Analogue broadcasting will be discontinued on the 1st. of September at 4 am, so I thought it was time I did something. There's a lot of info regarding the changeover on the web, and in newspapers, so I struggled through lots of interesting stuff (in Finnish), 'til I discovered the correct connections (cable into converter, SCART from converter to TV, select AV channel). Absolutely nothing. Oh dear. Then we (the psychologist and I) read more carefully, and discovered that, to set up the converter, we had to reset it. I had been using the auto channel search function and getting no joy. Having found the reset setting in the menus, I tentatively pressed OK, and, lo and behold, 87 channels (radio too) appeared, no card needed or anything. Before you worry that I'll become even more of a couch potato, due to the lack of a card I can only watch about 15 of them (And since I'm not a great fan of the Shopping channel and it's spawn, make that about 7 or 8). The picture is sharper, but there is an annoying background hum on some of the channels. Still, it works, and a big thanks to the brother-in-law for the converter.

We have been cleaning moss off the roof, with a hose and an old screwdriver as a scraper, slow but satisfying work, and I have just received 20 new tiles, to replace cracked and damaged ones - we have two diagonal rain gullies at the back of the house, and many of the edge tiles are badly damaged. The effects of snow and snow clearance over 30 years. It means I have also bought an angle grinder and a diamond blade to cut the (concrete) tiles. I also need to get used to being up on the roof, as I'm the one who has to clear the snow. It's sloped at about 30 degrees or so, so not too dangerous, but I will ask the neighbour for safety advice before attempting snow shovelling...