As soon as I got back to Weil in the late-afternoon of 6 May, I took my computer to the PC specialist shop situated opposite the Kaufring supermarket and explained the situation. Thankfully, the man there was able to rectify the problem within a couple of days, but said that the PC was making funny whirring noises and that I should think about replacing it if it gave me more trouble. At home the next day, I saved the essential contents of the entire hard drive on to my external hard drive - a process with took from morning till evening.

In the meantime, although the PC is working again, its cooling fan sometimes makes such a racket that I'm barely able to work on it. Thankfully, the noise has died down now this evening, but I'm definitely aiming to buy a laptop as a back-up system as soon as possible.

Anyway, on a lighter note, my trip back to Blighty was to mark my aunt's 60th birthday. Over 30 friends and relatives came together at the Clifton Arm's Hotel in Lytham on Sunday 4 May for lunch. The event was really enjoyable and it was genuinely great to catch up with so many people whom I hadn't seen for years and years. A real family reunion, it was.