As explained in my previous post, I was expecting delivery of a new router from our Internet service provider, Zen. The package was timed to arrive between 11:29 and 12:29 and it did indeed reach me within that hour.

I opened the box and carefully took out the router, the cables and other bits together with the all-important instruction sheet.

The FRITZ!Box 7530

As you can see from the above picture, the router is a FRITZ!Box 7530. Perhaps that means something to the technobuffs among you but to me it is just a name and number.

While I would never describe myself as a techical whizz, I do reckon that I can follow simple instructions and the instructions that came with the router were simple indeed. They included diagrams showing the different cables with their names and the different ports of the router, also named.

There was a “microfilter”, a small device that plugs into the telephone socket and has two ports, one for the telephone and the other for the router’s DSL cable. I plugged it in and attached the phone and the DSL cable.

Next is to plug the other end of the of the DSL cable into the router (“The first port on the left,” said the instructions, helpfully).

Now plug the power cable into the power socket and its other end into the router. (It goes into the only round socket on the router so no chance of mistakes there!)

“Now go and make a cup ot tea,” said the instructions. Pardon? I read it again: yes, I was definitely instructed to go and make a cup of tea! This is so that I will leave the router alone for the 5 to 10 minutes that it needs to set itself up and call Zen.

I didn’t actually make a cup of tea as I was too excited to find out if the thing worked. I did, though, wait for 10 minutes before proceeding.

Having made sure that the Power/DSL light and the WLAN lights are showing, open the computer’s wifi window, look for the item “FRTIZ!Box 7530” and click on it. A window opens for you to type in the 20-digit passcode. I did so and clicked “Next”.

“Connected,” said the PC. However, you should not believe everything the computer tells you and this was a case in point for when I clicked on an URL in my browser… nothing happened. Firefox remained ominously quiet for a while and then flashed up the message “Sorry, that page cannot be found”.

I tried seversal times, all to no avail and then I thought to test the connection on my phone. I typed in the 20-digit passcode and… nothing. After a while, though, the iPhone did display a helpful message: in orange characters, this read “No Internet Connection”.

At this point, I decided that there was but one thing left to do: phone Zen. Doing so revealed what I hope is the source of the problem: before even putting me through to a human, Zen’s recorded voice informed me that there was a general outage and all services were down. All being well, then, my router’s failure to connect me to the Internet is not a problem with the router itself or my ineptitude, but caused by the outage. When I did manage to speak to a human, she suggested I call again if I could not connect by late afternoon.

At the time of writing (3:21 pm) there is still “No Internet Connection” and I am left in the awkward position of not knowing whether the failure to connect is owing to the outage or to some problem at my end.

I will post a further note when the matter is finally resolved.

Our Internet service provider (ISP) is Zen and we have been “with” Zen for a good many years now. As ISPs go, Zen has a very good reputation and scores highly in customer satisfaction polls.

We joined Zen before fibre came along and we are still on what they quaintly call a “legacy tariff”, that is, DSL over the copper telephone wires. For this we pay what is increasingly coming to look like a peppercorn rent. In fact, that type of connection is no longer supplied by Zen to new customers. Though it is slow by today’s standards, it has always suited our modest needs – or, at least, it did so until recently.

With the arrival of the pandemic and the imposition of lockdowns, we found that our Internet connection was going slow. Sometimes it ran as it always had but then it would slow down and there would be delays before it started moving again. In the evening, we often watch a video, “streaming” it from one of the online providers. We frequently found that we had to disconnect from the Wifi and instead use the hotspot on Tigger’s phone which gave a faster and more reliable connection on which to watch the video.

We at first put this down to the effects of the pandemic and the fact that there were now many people working from home, increasing the traffic on the Internet to unprecedented levels. At the same time, though, I did vaguely wonder whether the router was at fault. We had bought this ourselves (our third router) in December 2018.

Thus matters stood until, out of the blue, I received an email inviting me to rate Zen, and my likelihood of recommending them to others, on a scale of 0 to 10. After careful thought, I gave it a score of 4. As a reason for the low score, I wrote about the slowness and the delays we were experiencing.

As this was a general email survey, I didn’t expect to hear further and was therefore startled to receive a phone call on Monday afternoon from Zen. They had read my criticism and apparently taken it to heart. There folowed a long discussion about why our connection was so bad and what could be done about it. One suggestion was that we should move from our “legacy” copper wires to fibre. It turns out that the entry-level tariff for fibre would not be that much more expensive than our current one, especially if we moved our landline from BT to Zen. In the meantime, while we were thinking about it, the Zen engineer would “reconfigure our line” and see if that helped.

Following the phone call, our Internet connection went down. We were expecting this to happen during the reconfiguration process but believed it would come back on afterwards. At intervals during the evening, we tried the connection but it was dead. It was still dead on Tuesday morning.

I phoned Zen and was put through to a very helpful engineer called Daniel. We were on the phone together for the next hour and a half! We went through the whole of the connection, including the settings in the router. Unfortunately, this was all in vain. The router was connecting with Zen but refused to log in. It seems likely that either the router has failed or that, being an older model, it is unable to cope with modern faster DSL. Perhaps, too, the line reconfiguration has brought matters to a head.

What was the solution to this dilemma? A new router? Move to fibre? According to Daniel, as we had been customers of Zen for a number of years and had had no hardware from them apart from our very first router, we qualified for a new router – free of charge! If that solved our problems, so well and good, otherwise, there remained the option of moving to fibre.

In the meantime. we are not entirely without an Internet connection. Our iPhones can of course go online, and each of them has a “hotspot”, that is, a wireless Internet connection to which other devices can connect . This is what we have been using to watch videos in the evnings. Since Monday evening, I have been using mine to run the Internet on my computer.

Using our phones this way provoked the following thought: “Why not always use our phones for our Internet connection?” If we did that, we could dispense with an ISP altogether. We could also kiss BT goodbye as we would no longer require a landline. Though a nice idea, it would not work, unfortunately. While it is possible to use the hotspot to watch videos or view websites on the PC, if you try to do heavier work involving multiple sites and uploading and downloading big files, the whole thing slows down to a virtual stop and becomes useless. Presumably this is because the hotspot provides insufficient bandwidth to deal with this sort of work.

It seems, then, that we will be continuing with Zen for the foreseeable future, though the phone hotspots remain available in an emergency or when we are away from home.

I have been informed by text and by email that the new router will arrive later this morning. They said that it is very easy to set up. I will let you know how that goes in due course!

After lunch, and pending Tigger’s return from the City, I decided to go for a walk. After all, the sun was shining, an opportunity not to be missed at this time of year. I made for Culpeper Park and, more particularly, that corner of it that has been made into a community garden.

Paths and greenery

As soon as you enter, you see how green and fresh an environment it provides. There is a profusion of plants, shrubs and trees, all verdant and healthy. Narrow, winding paths lead among the cultivated plots, tempting you to follow them.

Tree seat

Near the entrance is a tree with a seat set round it. If you are feeling tired or lazy, you can sit and enjoy the garden from here but I preferred to continue on.

The pond

There is a pond in the shade of trees and bushes. At the moment it sports a layer of duck weed but in spring and summer it comes alive with frogs and aquatic insects. There is a warning notice because it is deceptively deep.

Follow the path

The low sun of autumn causes alternating sunlit and shady areas. Different parts of the garden catch the sun, or fall into shadow, at different times in the day. All the paths, sunlit or shady, invite you to follow them.

So many different kinds of plants

A list of all the species of plants would be a very long one. Away from the paths, they crowd together, in apparent harmony, as though offering themselves to be admired and photographed.

There are flowers still

Though the colour theme at this time of year is predominantly in the green shades, there are still a few flowers about, showing boldly here and there.

Bold red among the green

Perhaps because there are now relatively few flowers, they seemed all the more dramatic and beautiful, demanding attention and admiration.

Red is my favourite colour

Whether red flowers really were the most numerous or whether, because red is my favourite colour, I tended to notice them preferentially, I do not know. Either way, they were beautiful and made a fine show.

Where does it lead?

Because the paths are narrow and winding, you cannot see where they lead and that, of course, is part of their charm. Most lead eventually into other paths so you rarely come to a halt and need to retrace your steps.

A shady corner for a rest

One path led to a shady place with a couple of benches. In hot weather, this must be a pleasant corner in which to rest from the heat. Today, I preferred to be in the sunshine!

Trellis walk

This walkway is lined on either side with plots cultivated by individual community members so that they are all different according to the inspiration of their gardeners.

A view of some of the plots

A general view like the above may seem chaotic but each plot adds something to the environment and there is nothing boring about the result!

A seat for one!

As I began to slowly wind my way back I came upon a seat for one, perfectly situated in the grassy area in the warmth of the sun. I required no further invitation!

View from my seat

I sat for quite a while, absorbing the warmth of the sun. In front of me, in the grass, were flat stones, like stepping stones, inviting one to follow where they lead.

For me, though, it became time to think about returning home but I shall surely come back here, hoping to discover new delights as the seasons change.

As usual on a Sunday, we performed our weekly shopping run to Sainsbury’s. I took the habitual photos which you see here:

Farmers’ Market

Someone’s fed the pigeons

Inside Sainsbury’s

Going through Chapel Market

Clouds and sun

When we were returning from Sainsbury’s, it had started to rain but, after lunch, the weather looked more promising. I took the above photo as we crossed through Sainsbury’s car park on our way to catch a 274 bus.

Police vehicles

The bus stop is beside the police station in Tolpuddle Street. There are double yellow lines all along the road but the police park their vehicles here nonetheless. Who’s going to give them a parking ticket?

Aboard the 274

We went aboard the 274 and found front seats upstairs available.

Regent’s Canal at Regent’s Park

We left the bus at Regent’s Park and crossed the bridge over the Regent’s Canal into the park.

Avenue

We walked down the central avenue. The weather was now warm and sunny and there were crowds of people.

Drinking fountain
Donated by Sir Cowasgee Jehangir

We of course photographed the drinking fountain (inaugurated 1869) donated by Sir Cowasgee Jehangir.

Park cafe

We stopped for coffee at the park cafe.

A medical helicopter lands

There was some excitement when an area of the playing field was cleared and a medical helicopter landed. I don’t quite know what the purpose was except that something was collected from a police car and taken into the aircraft.

It turned and flew away

The helicopter then lifted, turned and flew away. Excitement over.

We had come to see the open-air exhibition of Frieze Sculpture, which now seems to be an annual event. Whether or not modern sculpture interests you, visiting it is free so why not? Below are pictures of some of the sculptures. I missed a few but cannot say this causes me huge regret. I will refrain from any commentary, artistic or other (which probably also says something about my opinion of the works!). As the sculptures are exhibited in a public place there are inevitably people interacting with them. Achieving a clear shot was rarely possible. On the other hand, the presence of people around, in and on the sculptures produced an interest of its own.

José Pedro Croft: Untitled

Tatiana Wolska:Untitled

Anthony Caro: Palanquin

Carlos Cruz-Diez: Environnement de Transchromie Circulaire

Stoyan Dechev: Event Horizon

Rasheed Araeen: Lovers in the Regent’s Park

Sumayya Vally, Counterspace: Fragment of Serpentine Pavilion for Frieze Sculpture Park

Isamu Noguchi: Play Sculpture

Jorge Otero-Pailos: Biosignature Preservation

Vanessa da Silva: Muamba Grove

Solange Pessoa: Untitled, from Skull Series

Annie Morris: Stack 9, Ultramarine Blue

Yunizar: Induk Monster, (Motber Monster)

Ibrahim El-Salahi: Meditation Tree

Rose Wylie: Pineapple

Bus stop

After that tour of the sculptures and trying to photograph them without too many people in the way, it was a relief to make for the main road and locate a bus stop.

On the bus for home

And here we are, on the bus for home with a relaxing evening in view!

After the grey chilly weather of recent days, the sunshine came as a welcome surprise. We must make the most of it.

Sunny but hazy

It is sunny and warm but there is a noticeable haze in the air.

A mysterious realm, the reservoir

I photographed this corner of the reservoir in Claremont Square. Closed off from public access, it seems a mysterious and attractive realm but only wildlife and occasional workmen know the reality.

Myddelton Square Garden

We walked round Myddelton Square (no cats visible!) and even in the garden the haze was noticeable. (It lifted as the morning wore on.)

Squirrel

As we walked round by the road, we spotted a squirrel in the garden. Separated from us by railings, he knew he was safe and stopped to calmly nibble at whatever foodstuff he had found.

Coffee and brownies

On the way to the deli, Tigger proposed having croissants with our coffee and I was happy to agree. In the event, however, they had none left but we had Belgian chocolate brownies instead. Adaptable, that’s us!

Outside the deli

We enjoyed our coffee sitting outside the deli in Amwell Street, a place that we have come to appreciate, thanks to Covid.

A bus to the City

After coffee, we walked up to the main road and caught a 205 bus to Shoreditch High Street.

Shoreditch High Street

This is where we left the bus. Over my left shoulder, the High Street continues and becomes Bishopsgate. This area used to be familiar to me in the “old” (pre-Covid) days, when I would meet Tigger from work but this was my first visit after a long hiatus. It was interesting to renew my acquaintance with it and to see what changes there had been (very few, as it happens).

Street art by Osch

Tigger had a list of street art sites to see and I photographed just a few. There was very little that appealed to me and I have the feeling that what was once very lively area for street art has slid into the doldrums and artists have moved elsewhere.

Art by Apparan

Art by unknown artist(s)

Street scene

This is somewhere in the region of Brick Lane though it’s not Brick Lane itself.

A market called Upmarket

We passed this indoor market but didn’t go in.

Street art, artist unknown

Hanbury Street from Spellman Street

Fornier Street

Here we are looking down Fournier Street towards Christchurch. This area was once famous for the Huguenot silk weavers who lived and plied their trade here.

Efes Turkish Restaurant

During our ramble, we had been edging towards Whitechapel Road where we would find Efes, a Turkish restaurant that we have visited on previous occasions.

Inside Efes

There were tables to spare, happily, and we settled in for lunch.

Turkish tea and ayran

I of course ordered my favourite, Turkish tea, and Tigger her favourite, ayran (drinking yogurt). We had lentil soup and a pide, a “Turkish pizza”, composed of various fillings in a flatbread base.

Bishopsgate

After a little more wandering without seeing anything I thought worth photographing, we reached Bishopsgate, near Liverpool Street Station.

A canton between tall buildings

Bishopsgate is a strange street. It contains a mixture of offices, restaurants, pubs, a supermarket and, of course, the aforementioned mainline station. It is also an important hub for several bus routes. In recent years, developers have been allowed to build grotesquely tall buildings, transforming Bishopsgate into a windy canyon.

Aboard the 205

Interested as I was to see the place again, I was happy to board a 205 bus and be transported away from there.

The buses, incidentally, were crowded, just as they were before the pandemic hit. We are supposed to wear face masks on public transport and there are repeated public announcements to remind us but those who do so (including us) are in a shrinking minority. Lets hope this selfish carelessness is not punished by an upsurge of the disease.