Preparations

 

We're getting there however slowly and whatever complications seem to com to try you just as you thought you had everything planned but my tree a miniature  tree is up with its decorations and lights have been put across the window facing the road.

Nothing fancy like some today but at least it looks a bit more like CatMas given the last couple of years were very sparse.

It's not that you expect and in our case had a lot although we used to put up streamers and there are a few hooks in the ceiling still where some decorations would be fixed pointing downwards.

It's really more if you'd of walked in you wouldn't of known although I suspect a part of it lies in the Grump never being that much into CatMas, even one year wanting to get rid of all the decorations which is why I did wish to see something more like it this year.

Yes you can go crazy on all that stuff and miss the meaning of CatMas but it all started from a sign that took us through the story that lies at the heart of it.

Advent is here

The slow wind to CatMas begins even if this weekend is a cold and very soggy one having been out when this was typed up with the gas fire fully burning.

The extra CatMas cards were got on Friday from Sue Ryder a chain of disability connected charity shops while going into Morrisons for a few things so all we need to do is find a few stretches of time to write them before posting or paw delivering given how much First Class mail is these day although I'd sooner us them thank the likes of Evri fur stuff. 

We did get an Advent Calendar, to count down the coming of CatMas this year going all teddy rather than celebratory characters from Tv shows and that and I might add the chocolate tastes very tasty too.

I've pre-ordered the concluding recording a series of Brahms symphonies for New Year as a 24 bit high resolution download for the Windows toplap and its external digital gubbins and me Fiio M21 portable player with 1tb micro sd card. 

Exit the X1

 Getting a bit close to Christmas here and I'll work out the blog publishing and forum arrangements for that shortly if we can avoid being run out of time and we do have a Thanksgiving present although it wasn't originally planned to be.

Around twenty fifteen and sixteen I thought had this digital audio player business sorted, I had been using mainly my portable minidisc recorder for run of the mill portable music  having established several hundred discs most recorded on various home recorders but in twenty sixteen the last home recorder died and let's say the ergonomics of my two thousand and four Sony Hi-MD portable were frankly ghastly.

Around that time better quality downloads became available and I'd bought the dbPoweramp cd ripping program to make quick work of making them into files for the digital audio players to play.

That had resulted in a lot of cards which being tiny you wouldn't want to be changing on the bus - they'd fly out to anywhere you couldn't find in seconds - so I bought a budget Fii0 X1 but recently the scrolling jog wheel started acting up so i wanted an inexpensive replacement.
 

That was where the Surfans F20 came in being roughly the same price as the X1 was a decade or so earlier.

 

 It borrows a lot from those earlier Fii0 X1, X3 and X5 players in using a rotary encoder made by Alps and a centre okay/pause button to navigate menus and can be stepped through categories like Albums (which is what I prefer), songs, files and so on.

Where it scores is you can use upto 256 gb micro sd card where the X1 was limited to 128gb and the 5,800 odd songs limit for indexing doesn't apply. Like the X1 it lacks a digital output but then for around £100 you can't expect absolutely everything and you do have a fixed line out output for active speakers or your hifi.

In use it's more like a modern X1, easy enough to navigate to your albums, can be set to play gapless which is a must making a great replacement.

It drives my BayerDynamic DT 770 32ohm X's well. 

And our contribution is...

As I thaw out this Saturday after being out to get a few things as much as I generally don't go with this idea of trumpeting oneself at every opportunity, always ensuring that you are seen and photographed it's sometimes worth asking yourself "What is my contribution to Society"

That's a much deeper thing than saying what do I do in the workplace or at college when you look at more around particular skills you offer or within the structure that say may result in providing something as important as that can be.

It's often things outside of the day job, the support you provide to people who may just encounter waiting for the bus, people you might encounter either in a setting like a club or church group or talking to people down the shopping aisles.

That's while in customer facing roles I'd normally go beyond the immediate job requirements talking about everyday things as much as dealing with inquiries or services we offer and be prepared to "signpost" places or people who might be able to help if that's what they may wish.

We can but try to be the best we can for all of us.

Back to what's needed

The weekend was a bit wild with storms late Friday and into Saturday, some odd Tm conversations regarding delayed items so really it felt like a time for a rest really around just what it is that beyond the most essential things I need and maybe you do to.

It isn't easy to get things, stuff just seems to land on you put it's worth it.

Halloween Party 2025

It's taken a week to get around to doing this but there were other things going on but last weekend I was away to our Halloween Party in the Midlands which for me started the evening before with a train journey and a shared cab from the railway station before arriving at our venue and changing into something more comfortable.

After reintroductions and a few introduction as we had some new faces, we had a meal which for me was a small fish and chips, not a bad thing for me as I'm watching what I eat a little more these days.

We did have some "Trick or Treaters" in colourful costumes call too which was interesting .

After chatting for a bit it was soon time for bed and the next morning where the event proper was to run. 

Across the morning more attendees arrived at various times as some had considerable distances to travel while some near locals had the area's traffic to contend with but soon enough everybody who was meant to be there was so we had burgers and hot drinks.

 The first event was a Halloween based  treasure hunt where you had to find ghosts, pumpkins and things cut out and hidden within the grounds  with special prizes for those who found the both the most and the specially marked one.

I might only of found two but it was fun to just run around looking for them. 

There was a quiz based on decades starting with years with 5's of which if you looked around the venue you'd of found clues such as these kit catalogues, computer guides and yes a 1998 Tandy Christmas gift catalogue whose stores sadly we no longer have.

It was based partly on general knowledge and part on music but as I was having "spoons" issues I needed to miss it.

I mean when you're making several attempts to involuntarily fall from a chair you really do need to rest a bit.
 

Are you feeling sufficiently spooky?
 

We did have a bonfire with fireworks ably provided by Andi and lit by Miss Green and Mr Paul which worked very well with hardly a "dud" as we ooh'd and ahh'd until we got through them waving our sparklers in the air.

We had a buffet with various cold things like pastries, salad and chicken and pizza's and a enjoyable trifle.

A few left in the late evening as the rest of us slept.

Sunday morning was the great rest as some clearly needed it although I'm a early riser pawing up the stairs whose most were sleeping.

A good number of us had an enjoyable meal together at a local pub before making our goodbyes and in my instance being given a lift tot the train station back home with only short delay due to "events" on the network.

Thanks to Miss Green for hospitality and organizing the event and everyone for making it a super time spent together.

Meet the M21

Around 2010 via a number of no longer with us download sites apart from Amazon, music in the form of digital audio files arrived not that "audiophiles" really cared for it given many were still unhappy with the root of them, the Compact Disc and back then pretty any and all downloads were "lossy" Mp3's or Apples Aac's designed to take over from dodgy sites.

I bought a Sansa Clip+ to play some on while travelling on the bus although you had to swap files out due the limited memory.

To be fair they did sound a bit better for having higher bit rates as some  of those other sites were chasing getting the most files on the limited  memory capacity back then but in time software came available to make as a good as cd copies of them and more sites offered cd quality downloads.

Then around the fall of 2014 and into 2015 the so-called High Definition download arrived that could sound better than cd and more like the Super Audio cd without having to upgrade both the player and disc catalogue so I had a Fiio X3 MkI and later on a X3 Mk II which added a jogging wheel to scroll with and the cheap but great for the money X1 that took a few less necessary functions off but offered much of that units performance.

Given my dexterity issues Smartphones were unusable I bypassed the listening on the phone stage of the late 2010's and 2020's.

I do buy HD downloads and have them backed up because I find a good many especially classical ones do sound better than cd on good equipment and as they take up more space per album the 128gb limit of those earlier Fiio's was getting restrictive.

I needed a good player that could use the now more available and cheaper high capacity cards of anything from 256gb to 1 tb (seriously bigger than my Windows computers own memory and recently the M21 has dropped in price making a great replacement for my player loaded with Classical music  and has 64gb of it's own memory.

That's now in the system with the messed up FX1221 making it's way to scrap having a host of issues.