In this morning’s post, I described my failures to download and install iCloud for Window, an application which I have hitherto found very useful or even essential as one who uses both an iPhone and a Windows PC.

You may also recall that I consulted a total of four supposed experts (one indirectly), none of whom were able to resolve my problem. Any reasonable person would have given up at that point but, well, as CJ (see The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin) would have said “I didn’t get where I am today by being reasonable”.

I spent some time investigating programs that were claimed to mediate between iPhones and PCs but could not make up my mind to try any of them. Tiring of this fruitless exercise, I started digging around. The first topic for investigation was the claim that my PC was set to the wrong country.

You may remember that the expert at Curry’s told me that it was not possible to change this PC’s country through the settings. Wrong. I found the setting (with a little online help) and saw that my country is set correctly to United Kingdom. Thus, an incorrect setting is not to blame for the problem and I won’t be needing to take the machine back to the shop. On the face of it, there’s no reason why iCloud cannot be installed on it.

As the Microsoft links that I had tried did not work, I proceeded to look for others. I searched high and low and eventually, stuck away in a corner of some page on Microsoft’s Gothic website, found another one. I clicked it and… it said it was downloading. I wasn’t sure it was telling the truth because I couldn’t see anything in the Download folder but I deferred judgement until it completed. It turned out that there was nothing in the folder because Microsoft was installing the application directly and not downloading a file first.

Installation complete, I was able to log into the app with my Apple ID and configure it. That done, the next thing was to connect my iPhone and PC with a USB cable and see what happened.

What happened was what was supposed to happen: the phone popped up a message asking for permission to connect to the PC and new folder, called Apple iPhone, appeared on my PC. In it, as I had hoped, were my iPhone photos. Job done. Total success.

If there is a lesson in all this it is perhaps that the old saying If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again has merit and that, sometimes at least, having a moderately obsessive nature like mine sometimes pays off!

I am used to the fact that, when you acquire a new piece of complex equipment, there usually follows a period of adjustment and even frustration before everything works as you wish. Nowhere is this more true than in the field of computers.

In his novel 1984, Orwell envisages a world divided among the three superpowers Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. As far as our technological world is concerned, a better division might be between Microsoft, Apple and Google. Many of the technical problems this small family faces arise from the fact that, while our phones come from Apple, our computers belong to Microsoft.

(I use the word “belong” advisedly. You may think you own your PC but in fact, Microsoft never releases hold of it and you remain beholden to this company until you finally relinquish any and all products owned by them. Symbolic of this proprietorial grip is the fact that when you log in to your computer, it displays a “Welcome” message – a clear sign that you are entering someone else’s territory.)

One way to effect some sort of channel between your PC and your Apple phone is to install iCloud for Windows on your PC. I had this application on my old computer and placed its installation on the new one near the top of my to-do list. Today was the day to do this.

Apple’s link to iCloud for Windows

First, I searched Apple’s UK site and found this useful page. All I had to do now was to click the link and be transported to Microsoft’s download page.

Microsoft’s iCloud download page

So far, so good, and everything’s going as planned. I hit the “Get” button.

My “thing” is not there

That was the moment when the sunshine disappeared and the storm clouds gathered: my “thing” was apparently not there. Clicking the blue link produced no result; searching Microsoft’s site only turned up more dud links. Impasse.

Apple provides “help” in the form of pages and pages of written information online but I was in no mood to waste time with this: I wanted a result and I wanted it now. So I telephoned Apple Support. Having made my way safely past Cerberus aka the recorded voice, I was connected to a young man with a slight foreign accent who listened patiently to my description of the problem and assured me he could help. It took him some time, however, during which the silence was occasionally broken by exclamations of “OK” but nothing further. I think he was searching through all those pages of information.

At last, he enquired whether I could access my email and, when I said yes, emailed me a link which, he assured me, would enable me to download iCloud for Windows. We parted amicably.

Yes, it was naive of me to think that a solution of my problem would arrive so easily. I clicked the link in the email and – you’ve already guessed it – was informed that my “thing” wasn’t there. Impasse.

I now wasted some time looking for an Apple forum and posting a message to it. I shall be surprised whether anything useful emerges from it but you never know.

Annoyed and frustrated, I called Apple Support a second time. This time, I was connected to a support person with an American-sounding accent. In response to my description of the problem, she emailed me a link but stayed online while I tried it. My “thing”, however, was still not there. I was asked to wait while she discussed the matter with her superior.

When she returned, she asked “What country are you in – the UK?” I confirmed that this was so. Came back the response “We think that though you are in the UK, your computer is set to another country, hence Microsoft declining to download the software”. Impasse.

This left me with one last card to play: I phoned Curry’s support line. I had called them yesterday about a small problem and they had quickly solved it. Would they perform the same magic today?

A man answered the phone and I again recited my story lengthening story. There followed a long pause during which I could breathing and precious little else until I began to wonder whether I had bored him to sleep. He eventually returned but it was to say that this problem could not be solved by means of the computer’s settings. I would have to bring it to the shop. Impasse.

Of course, I cannot take the computer to the shop or anywhere else for at least a week and we are out of “self isolation”. Then again, being confined to the house probably means that I will have less need to transport items between the phone and the PC. So let’s look on the bright side! 🙂

I went out this morning to make an essential purchase and then returned home for lunch. Tigger had gone off bright and early to the City, leaving me alone for the first time since the beginning of the Christmas break. We kept in touch by text, as we usually do, and I was not expecting anything out of the ordinary to transpire.

You might therefore imagine my nonplussedness at receiving an email from her with the subject line “l’ve tested positive”. Tigger had taken a test at home yesterday that showed her clear of Covid (allowing for the margin of error) but two tests at work today left no room for doubt: Tigger is infected.

If Tigger is infected, then it’s virtually certain that I am too but even if I am not so yet, it can only be a matter of time. We shall have to self-isolate for up to 10 days (though if we produce two clear tests on days 6 and 7 of isolation, this ends forthwith).

The rules on self-isolation are complex and easy to misunderstand (take a look at How long to self-isolate) but it seems that we are going to be at home for up to the next 10 days. During that time, we may develop symptoms, but our three vaccinations should stand us in good stead, especially if the variety we have inadvertently acquired is Omicron which has a reputation for relative mildness.

It’s just as well that we did some shopping yesterday and sorted out the computer the day before that, as everything else will now have to be put on hold. We can at least use the Chop Chop app to have shopping brought to the door from Sainsbury’s. They now bring you up to 25 items at a time.

For now, we have to wait patiently and see how things develop.

Yes, today is the last day of the Christmas break and Tigger returns to work tomorrow. I will have things to do to occupy my mind but that’s not the same as having Tigger’s company. Looking on the bright side, this will be a short “week” of only two days and then comes the weekend.

In Sainsbury’s

As we had not been to the shops for a while, we needed to stock up on a few items and so we strolled round to Sainsbury’s for, in Tigger’s phrase, “a small shop”. The store was not very busy but there were gaps on some of the shelves though we managed to find alternatives for the missing items.

A small turnout at Chapel Market

As usual, after going to Sainsbury’s, I hurried through the market on my way to Mercer’s for coffee. There was only a small number of stalls present, understandable given that another holiday falls in a couple of days.

Looking along Inglebert Street

After lunch, we went out again, this time heading to Amwell Street. Tigger wanted to wish the “boys” at the deli a Happy New Year as we shall probably not see them until well into January. When we arrived, the shop was already closed but the door was ajar so Tigger managed to give them our best wishes.

Grey skies over St John Street

We continued on to St John Street where we would catch a bus. There are again works going on here, narrowing the road and causing inconvenience. They don’t seem to have the wit to do all the work in on go and have to keep coming back to cause more disruption.

Aboard the 19

We caught a number 19 bus which carried us along the High Street and Upper Street to Islington Green. As we had missed the deli, we had to search for coffee farther afield.

Caffè Nero

Web came to Caffè Nero, opposite the Green.

Not very busy

They were not very busy but as there was only one barista on duty, there was still a little wait.

We easily found a vacant table

In the past, I have always carried a loyalty card which has to be handed across to be stamped. That’s old hat now and instead of little pieces of card, I have an app on my phone. That would be fine if the QR code reader always worked but even when it flashes its lights encouragingly, they tell me it hasn’t registered and to do it again.

Winter sunset over the Angel

By the time we emerged from Caffè Nero, the sun had sunk to the horizon and favoured us with a pretty sunset.

A bus came and carried us back to where we had started – home – and here we shall stay until tomorrow comes and the Christmas break ends for us as it has already ended for those less fortunate than us. Still, there is another holiday in view…!

My PC misbehaved again this morning and it was obvious that something needed to be done. But what? To cover all the bases, I disconnected the PC and put it in a bag together with the power cable.

Tigger also has a problem to solve which is to move large numbers of photos from her PC to a backup device, the type and size of which remains to be decided.

Aboard the 73

Clutching the PC in its bag, we hopped on a number 73 bus that took us to Tottenham Court Road.

Curry’s

The bus brought us here to one of the stores in the chain now known as Curry’s, previously as PC World.

First, I went to the repairs section where I presented the faulty laptop. I suggested that one solution might be to simply convert it from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. That could certainly be done, according to the technician, but he wanted me to buy a new hard disc from Amazon and bring it to him with the PC. Then he would set it all up.

That would certainly be the cheapest solution but I wondered how long it would last before it failed again owing to some new fault. While thinking it over, we went to look at new Windows laptops.

To cut a long story short, we ended up buying a new laptop. It’s currently running Windows 10 but I was told that we would eventually be offered a free upgrade to Windows 11.

Caffè Nero

If you’ve bought a PC lately you will know that choosing the make and model is just the beginning. It then needs to be set it up, anti-virus installed etc. There were very few chairs available for customer and we had to stand for much of the time. I agreed that Tigger should go across the street to Caffè Nero and wait for me there.

At last it was all done and I left Curry’s carrying a box containing the new PC. I dodged through the traffic of Tottenham Court Road to join Tigger in Caffè Nero.

Another 73 bus

There is a bus stop right in front of Caffè Nero and here we caught another 73 bus, going in the opposite direction this time.

We stopped at home to drop off the two computers and then we caught a number 19 bus along Upper Street.

Islington Town Hall

We left the bus at Islington Town Hall.

Workers’ Cafe

We had come here to have lunch at the Workers’ Cafe, assuming they were open. Happily they were.

Inside the Workers’ Cafe

We had a leisurely lunch though I was thinking about all the work that remains to be done before the new computer is set up as I want it. Windows 10 is sufficiently different from Windows 8.1 that I have to do work to find out how to perform simple tasks I could without a second thought in Windows 8.1. I will become accustomed to it, of course, but for now there is a learning curve to negotiate.

The poor old Windows 8.1 PC has found temporary lodging under the bed. How long it will remain there in retirement is anyone’s guess.