I'm sure you remember it. Well, I decided to swap a lowish-res (1680x1050) monitor for a cheapo smaller, but higher-res (1920x1080) monitor. And then I found that my assumptions about the existing connections were wrong and I couldn't. Unless I put in a second low-end video-card. Which, of course, allowed me to run all three at the same time... so why wouldn't I, really?

I didn't mean it to happen, really I didn't. It's verging on silly.  But, also, it's FANTASTIC.

PS If you're minded to try it yourself, there are several bits of software out there that will make it an even more seamless experience. Windows 7 (XP too) is quite happy to accommodate multiple monitors - but it doesn't do too much more than that. Extend the desktop and drag/keyboard-shortcut windows between them, but that's about it.  If you want slicker - and you probably will, once you've got used to it - the best I've found to date is Actual Multiple Monitors: Different wallpaper/screensavers per monitor, separate taskbars, proper extension of Alt-Tab, fixing apps to specific monitors - it's massively configurable and rock-solid stable. Costs money for the full version, but well worth it.

This was all a bit traumatic. 20 minutes after Al had me wandering the ground floor looking for overheating appliances, all the lights went out last night. A scamper down to the cellar told me, nasally, where the burning smell was coming from very quickly. Hmmm. I don't think this is going to be a quick job.

Well done the local fire-station, who got involved very quickly - they're just up the road - via Brother-In-Law Fireman Rob, mostly as a result of us drawing a blank on all the sparks we know. Yah Boo Sucks to Southern Electric, who came out and pronounced it 'Not our problem' - but then pulled the main fuse 'For your own safety', 'Can you recommend an electrician?' 'Sorry, not allowed, totally against the rules Guv'.

And thank-you Rob, my sister's neighbour who came to have a look. And thank you LOADS to his boss, Jason, who turned up this morning, drove to Cheam for an RCD, came back, fitted it very quickly, dead-tested the whole house, all at very little notice. Thank-you even to the second Southern Electric chap, who smiled just a little when he came to put the fuse in and manage the 'Let there be light' moment and wasn't a complete t***er like the first one was.

Much kudos to Jastone Electrical and the gents from Wallington Fire-Station. And remember folks: Old houses have old wiring and old wiring can misbehave. I'm lucky my house is still here to be sat in.

Constructability is quite a hot topic in the design industry: As 3-dimensional CAD becomes more sophisticated, it becomes ever more possible to design buildings that may be beautiful, may be structurally sound, may survive for centuries... but are almost impossible to actually build. Constructability is, in part, a reflection of the quality of the design documents - that is, if the design documents are difficult to understand and interpret, the project will be difficult to build. But, often, constructability problems are more prosaic - it doesn't matter how good the design documentation is, if the guy doing the work can't actually get into the space where he needs to screw in a few bolts, hours of frustration can ensue.

So, am I telling you this because I think you should be interested? No. I'm telling you this because I'm hoping someone out there can tell me when the concept will be introduced to IKEA. The unspeakable $£*!'ers.

I've moaned about IKEA before... but really, this was just beyond any sane man. It's taken me most of the weekend to construct one slightly cleverer than average bed. This is not because I made mistakes, had to pull bits apart and start again or am a DIY moron. It's because it has over three-hundred components, half of which look almost exactly the same as the next one. It just takes that long.


Utter madness.

I make that 280 separate widgets, doodabs and winkles. Jeez. It might be quicker if I started with a tree.

It takes 80 seconds to locate the cushions and then arrange them to her satisfaction. I make the bed at least half the time - call it 50%. We moved here 4,089 days ago. So that's (4089/2)*80 = 163,506 seconds = 45 hours of my life arranging frou-frou cushions, in case an Ideal Homes photographer drops by unexpectedly.

This is why I never get round to watching what's on the Sky Plus.