Today was fabulous. Dry, and the temperature rose to 21C. The hottest day of the year. What was more remarkable the day was a Saturday. Alas the forecast for Sunday is rain, can’t be having too much of a good thing can we?

 There was quite a drying breeze, so out with the lawn mower and I performed the first cut of the year. Also did a little bit of strimming, cutting down the butterfly habitat, otherwise know as stinging nettles. Took a look at the graveyard, will have to put the brush cutter on. Seems some 60 little saplings have grown up over winter, and they are already too tough for a nylon cord strimmer.

The six sheep in the field were unhappy with me. I built a lovely big fire from all the small bits of wood from the willow trees I cut down earlier in the year. The sheep migrated to the furthest corner of the field where they have stayed all afternoon.

Now the evening has started, it’s a well earned Gin and Tonic after the day’s hard labours. While drinking my G&T and with the aid of Google I reckon I have the solution to my mobile phone problem. I have a Nokia 6151, it’s a 3G handset. Alas it always tries to locate a 3G transmitter in preference to stronger 2G transmitters. It often can at home connect to a 3G transmitter, but the signal is so weak, I can’t make sensible phone calls. When it connects to a 2G transmitter there is no problem with the phone call. So I had this ridiculous problem that phone calls upstairs never worked when it connects to 3G, but down tairs they work when it cannot find the weak 3G signal, so has to use the strong 2G signal. Friday was a trial, I would receive a call when I was working at home. I would answer, the call would break up and disconnect. Downstairs I would go, place the phone on the floor to hasten the switch over to 2G, once in 2G mode I would pick the phone up and make the call hoping it would not go back to 3G.

There was not option to force the phone to use 2G in the settings. You can force 3G, or select a setting where it will use with 3G or 2G. It always though prefers to use 3G.

The solution I read on a search of Google and implemented was to turn off automatic connection to the the service provider, and to use manual connection. With manual connection you can then select the 2G service, ignoring the 3G service. I wonder if I will get problems when I go to other areas of the country. Only time will tell. What worries me slightly is my phone is from 3, and don’t they have some roaming agreements with other services providers where they have not got their own transmitters. Maybe I will end up selecting the 2G service at home, and then re-enable automatic selection when I leave home.