So I got up at 2AM, after going to bed at 10 to just lie awake for four hours. Dogs had already gone into kennels earlier that day. Got into car and drove to airport. First thing I knew about there being ‘trouble at mill’ was an email marked ‘UPS ALERT:ONBATT’. Panic. Okay, every now and then you do get a ‘power blip’ and the UPS cuts in, like it should and smooths things over using the battery until it passes, usually this is just a few seconds, Panic, still sets in. This was 6:25 on the one day I’m going to be away for over a week (don’t get ideas, the security is mega). Second email. ‘UPS ALERT:ONLINE’. This I at 8:04. Relief spreads over me like a heat rash. I’m reading this while at the luggage carousel. Now, all good. Until. 14.38. ‘UPS ALERT:ONBATT’. WTF. Twice in one day, what are the chances of that in the same day AND the day I’m away! And that’s the last I would hear.

Panic has now set in. I’ve lost email, both personal and company accounts, and web servers, again both personal (this one) and company accounts. I can’t ping the server. Can’t access the CCTV or the alarm (sorry folks it won’t talk to me, but is battery backed up and is loud as fuck, so again, no ideas). Panic again sets in. I can connect to the VPN. Good. Means the Zen ISP connection is good. I can log into the firewall. Check both routes, yep, 5G on three (that an anachronism?) is also up. Can’t ping the server. Look at the DHCP leases, all looks a bit dead. Panic is now very much set in. Server must have shutdown and not come back up. Panic is now in full swing. Contact my friend Elaine, she’s going to visit tomorrow and attempt a manual reboot.

Fast forward to today. Tried to connect to alarm panel, offline (again, it works fine when offline). Tried to connect to CCTV, that is back up, so the network switch is online. Checked the heating, yep, that’s good and the ring doorbell, so the WiFi is definitely up. Tried to ping the server and no luck. Connected to the firewall again and checked the DHCP leases, WiFi access point, switch, heating, doorbell, all good. Server, out to lunch. Elaine calls, she’s in the office (navigated the alarm and the lock). Now with a torch and a video call. I guide her towards the correct unit, and I have a lot in that cabinet. There is a UPS, a firewall, two network switches, the main server, backup drive and about sixty miles of cabling. After about ten minutes with a torch and pointing at things the server is identified and after more fumbling the power switch is located. It does indeed appear that it is powered down. A prod of the now found power button and the server is alive. Gave it a few minutes and then tried to refresh the email. The email server is now alive. ‘UPS ALERT: SHUTDOWN’, 15:53. ‘UPS ALERT: LOWBATT’, 15:53. So the power was out for over an hour, the UPS had run out of battery and sent the ‘shutdown’ command. There are a bunch of emails just after saying various services were shutting down, and that was it, it powered off, safely, as programmed to do so. I assume the firewall was also given the signal and dutifully shutdown. Until the power was restored. Depending when it happened the UPS would have done a couple of things. After it sent the shutdown command it knows it has to do a full shutdown and restart, to power things back up. So I assume at some point the power came back on. The UPS would have charged up to a point it was no longer in ‘low battery’ mode and would have pulled the power relays. This would have cut the power completely to whatever was connected. It would then enraged the relays again and ‘power up’ this should have caused everything connected to just ‘reboot’. Obviously the firewall obeyed and dutifully powered up, together with the ONT (the fibre interface) and the 5G modem (three, lets not go there). So connecting to the VPN and connecting to the firewall would all be okay. But, it seems the server did not power itself back on. This is probably just an over site in the bios settings. I expect it’s set to ‘last known config’, which of course would have been ‘off’ as it was told to shutdown by the UPS. It really needs to be set to ‘power on’. Or indeed, I should also configure it to ‘wake-up on lan’, I could then at least kick it from the firewall and reboot it. So there are things to simulate and test when I get back.

What are the chances of two power cuts on the same day and the same day I leave for a week? Low, very low. But it did happen. Thanks to my hero Elaine, I can ‘unpause’ my life again.

Sad day really, I’ve been a member of the same gym for almost as long as I had a mortgage. It lasted a couple of houses and several relationships, it was probably the most stable thing I had, but it was time to go. Times change. I’ve aged. My requirements have changed. I used to go almost daily, going between bouts of cardio and weights. Drove there, spent an hour running on a treadmill and then drove home again. Several years ago there were roadworks blocking it off, so since then I walked to it, for years. Other bits of life and other interests have just got in the way. I was down to just doing two classes a week and one of them keeps being cancelled. It just wasn’t worth paying the membership for one class. Summer is coming up, when generally I’d frequent it less anyway. Maybe in the winter my feelings will change and I’ll join up again, but for the moment I will just pay for any classes that I do.

So last night I had Chardonnay, it was a bit woody to be honest, but guess it made a bit of a change. I didn’t go mad, limited to what I was going to drink. I would rate the sleep as ‘average’, rather than ‘good’, but it’s far better than ‘none’. I’d still like to cut it down by another quarter, but that will be next week. I’ll stick to where I am for now. That will then mean I’m consuming less that two pints a night during the working week. Some may considerer that ‘too much’, for me it’s not, and what’s more it’s probably sustainable, which is what I’m after. Time will tell.

So yesterday I did a lot of exercise. I mean a lot. Walked both dogs, walked into town which was around eight miles, then cycled ten miles and walked the dog again for a few more. All to build up my deficit. Then I ate very little and drank a lot. What’s more, I didn’t really enjoy it. I wish I’d stuck to the larger now as I didn’t really enjoy the wine. I think from now on I won’t mix, just stick to one or the other. I have wine for tonight, but not silly amounts, just as a depressant to slow my brain down a bit.

So had to give up on the lager thing, mainly as downing four cans just before you go to bed means you are up all night pissing. So back to wine, also wine is less calories. I am still off the cheese though. And with very strict calorie control the amount of booze has come down as well. Continuing to ‘Ebay my life’, with a few more sales this week. If I can shift four items a week I reckon a few years should clear everything.

Yesterday I was in a strange building in a foreign land. There was a giant sign saying ‘Baby change facility’. Always wondered if you could take in a particularly ugly baby and exchange it for a prettier one. ‘Oh, but the ugly duckling turns into the beautiful swan’, ‘You’ve got no bloody chance love’.

Anyway, first appointment of the day was at the STI clinic, they sent me a text confirmation and everything, turned up, no record. Good to see they buggered it up again, same time next week it is.

Oddly the second appointment of the day which I was far more nervous about than getting stabbed several times with a needle went without a hitch. Straight in on time, took about three minutes and all over.