Isabella, Skinny and Luis are ‘playing’ noisily and energetically on the decking as their food is too hot to eat so is cooling in their bowls. Their food is too hot because I’ve been busy today with more networking. The networking part of the day began around 07:20 after the dogs had been walked. My plan was to remove all of the clutter from the central data box which is on one of the posts that hold up the roof over the bar and restaurant areas. I tested an old switch yesterday which I knew wasn’t 100% but it had enough working ports for what I wanted to do. A lot of time was taken up with rearranging the box so that I could fit everything in neatly. This arrangement would allow me to consolidate the equipment and simplify everything into one switch. The existing switch was too small as I need to add two more cables for the tills and for the WiFi access point.
At around 09:00 the electricity went off which didn’t cause me any problems only that I wouldn’t be able to test everything was working until the power came back on. I’d planned to tidy up the box and leave the bit under the bar for another time however I decided to keep going in order to get it out of the way. To make a reasonable job, there was more work than just plonking everything on the bar and plugging in a couple of cables. The bar is already cluttered enough so I wanted to put as much wiring and equipment under the bar as I possibly could. This involved drilling a hole so that the power and the ethernet cable could pass under the counter rather than trail over it.
I’d reached a conclusion and everything seemed to be working as expected but I was unable to know for sure until the power came back as some of the equipment is in other parts of the camping which are not served by the generator.
Later, I glanced down at my iPad to see that the power had returned as a message had just come through. Even though my area has network coverage during a power failure this does not include Internet access or connection to other parts of the camping. My batteries keep my area and all its equipment going but I rely on other parts of the network for Internet access.
I could not see any cameras down at the bar so went to investigate thinking it might be a simple wire not connected. I now know what had caused the problem which could have been avoided had I the cable tester on the new cable I’d installed and not just rely on the lights blinking on the switch.
I completed a series of tests with other equipment and eventually concluded where the problem lay simply by attaching each device one at a time. The day has involved a lot of walking around the camping so very healthy and active.
The Early Walks went without much effort. I made sure my watch was recording my efforts correctly. I was over one-and-a-half times around my Exercise circle by the time we were back at the camping before the second walk. A stark difference from around five minutes indicated as I was on the second walk.
Luis and Obi joined Skinny and Isabella for a walk down the beaches and back. I think Luis has slept quite a lot today and will probably do so again when I feed them in a few moments.
The aroma of tar and the sounds of machines moving on the road together with beeping leads me to believe that the road is receiving a layer of tarmac as I’d hoped it might. Please note that this is purely speculation as I’ve not been out on the road since my supermarket expedition on Monday as the early mornings have been dedicated to networking at the bar.
I think I’d better feed the dogs as it’s past their normal eating time.
The food is now eaten and the ritual of going around the other bowls has begun. It’s important to ensure that no morsel has been left and forgotten by one of the others. Charlie, on the other hand, transports his bowl to a different location once he’s eaten enough of his food so as not to spill it. Unless all of the bowls are collected promptly once this exercise is complete, I have to go around trying to find the bowls before the next meal. Fortunately, I’m pretty clued up as to where most of the hiding places are now.
After all the standing up and wandering around I’ve done I feel quite tired. Breakfast ended up being a late brunch so it will be fruit and some Cretan Rusks this evening as i don’t want much more .
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