Eye Operation

Early this morning (Tuesday) I went to Leighton Hospital for an operation on my left eye to remove a cataract. This seems to have been successful so far, though it will probably take a month to get used to it. The operation itself was not a very pleasant experience. The eye itself was anaesthetised and the rest of m face covered by a cloth. Although I can now see with the left eye the image does not align with the right eye, but I suppose this will right itself eventually.

Last Wednesday (5th June) I had to call in a Locksmith since I've had increasing difficulty in getting back into the flat and was afraid of getting locked out. Replacing the lock cost me £136.80, but it does now open very smoothly. Leaders, the estate agents seem to think I should have called them first, but they haven't responded on other problems.

Back on 23 April I complained about the light in the wash room flickering, and they said they would contact the Landlords about it, but nothing has happened. I can't fix it myself as it is not clear how it is held up or comes apart to reveal the type of light, which may be a fluorescent tube type.

All the lights in the flat and in the hallway are very old and really need replacing. On Saturday the last of the old bulbs in the front room lighting failed. They are tiny incandescent bulbs no longer made. I replaced two in the other fitting a while ago with LEDs which don't really line up with the reflector plates. Another light just inside the door has never worked, and the light in the bedroom lacks the ring that is needed to hold up a lamp shade.

All these little irritations add up, but generally I am happy with the flat. 

Town Centre Renovation

Here are before and after pictures of the area at the back of Crewe bus station. This is as far as the proposed renovation of this area has gone. The wooden structure was used for the Citizens Advice Bureau which has moved to Delamere House, shown in the left background of the first photo.

The area has just been levelled. The second photo also looks better since the trees are now in leaf. There have been no indications of when the work will continue.

Keeping Active

On 11th April I got my bicycle out for the first time since moving to Crewe to travel down to the Wistaston Memorial Hall to play chess in one of the U3A (University of the Third Age) groups. But I didn't get the energy to try it again on the 18th or 25th, partly because of rain and partly other attractions (e.g. World Snooker Championship).

Today 30th April I was due to go to the Leighton Hospital for a scan on my eye, but had a phone call yesterday cancelling it due to the doctor being unwell. Since it was a fine day I made a sudden decision to use my Senior train card for the first time this year for a visit to Chester, which is one stop away, a journey of about 20 minutes.

Chester is an immaculately maintained city, and clearly sign-posted. Having looked at a map before setting out which gave an idea of the layout, I had a good walk around, across the Canal, through the Grosvenor Park, down to the River Dee where I sat to watch the boats and ducks for a while. Then back through the town to see the Roman Amphitheatre and the Roman Gardens, which is a modern reconstruction, and a walk along part of the Roman City Walls. Steep steps up and down and a narrow walkway. Then after a meal a walk back along the river and through the Park.

I feel better for the exercise. So should also get back to swimming some time soon.

Contents of the Knight's Tour Notes Book

The following is a reproduction of the contents list of the 800-page Knight's Tours Notes book that I am still working on and hope to publish soon. The 'z' represents a Knot symbol. The page numbers preceding each section should be in bold type.

Contents in 24 Knots
z 1- Theory 5 Boards 6 Moves, Pieces 8 Freedom and Multiplicity 9 Mobility, Nets 11 Journeys 14 Shortest Path Problem 17 Two-move Journeys: Angles 18 Schuh's Theorem, 3-Move, 4- 6- and 8-Move Circuits 22 Tours and Pseudotours 23 Touring Tests 24 Simple Linking 26 Symmetry 29 Symmetry in Paths 31 Magic Tours 37 Natural Magic 38 Some History of Magic Squares.
z 2- Lateral Movers 41 Labyrinths 42 The Wazir 2×n  44 3×n, 4×n, 5×n  50 6×6  8×8, 10×10 and larger 53 Non-crossing Rook Tours 54 Figured Wazir Tours 55 Rook around the Rocks 57 Rooks, One-Rank Tours 58 Two-Move 59 Three-Move 60 Four-Move Magic, More-Move Rooks.
z 3- Diagonal Movers 62 Knots 64 King, 2×n, 69 3×n 70 4×n 72 5×n 6×n 73 7×n 8×8 74 Alternating, Figured 75 Magic 76 Diamagic, Biaxial 79 Axial 80 Larger 81 Two-Move Queens 82 Three-Move 84 Four-Move 85 More-Move Queens.
z 4- Knight-Move Geometry 87 Nets, Borders, Coding, Generic Moves 91 Central Angles, Triangles, Quadrilaterals, Polygons, Intersections, Formations 96 Slants, Eccentrics, Radials 98 Symmetry in Rectangles 100 Mixed Quaternary Symmetry 102 Existence Theorems.
z 5- Shaped Boards 103 Octonary 107 Birotary 124 Biaxial 132 Rotary 154 Axial 166 Unary.
z 6- Oblong Boards 191 3×n 194 3×4 196 3×8 199 3×9 204 3×10 207 3×12 209 3×14 211 3×16 213 4×n 221 4×8 Medieval 231 4×9, 4×10, 4×11 238 5×n 242 6×n 246 7×n 248 8×n 251 Larger
z 7- Odd Square Boards 254 5×5 258 7×7 260 9×9 261 11×11 262 13×13, 15×15.
z 8- Oddly Even Squares 263 The 6×6 Board, Quaternary, Binary, Centre angles, Slants, 3-slant open tours, Semimagic, Figured 311 The 10×10 Board 320 14×14 322 18×18 etc.
z 9- The 8×8 Board: History 324 The Earliest Full-Board Tours 326 Rediscovery 1725-1823 337 Squares and Diamonds 1823-48 345 The First Magic Knight Tours 1848-76 351 The Age of Magic Tours 1876-86 363 Taking Stock 1886-1986 368 Completing the Task 1986-2003.
z 10- The 8×8 Board: Magic Methods 371 Quartes 374 Contraparallel chains, X and N notation 377 Murray's Test Procedure  378 Catalogues: Historical 381 Geometric 388 Arithmetic
z 11- The 8×8 Board: Lettered Tours  403 Alphabetical 406 Cryptotours, Crossword Tours
z 12- The 8×8 Board: Figured Tours 414 History 416 Dawsonian 427 My Own Work.
z 13- The 8×8 Board: Graphic Tours 429 Angles Min and Max, Directions, Triangles, Polygons, Stars, Intersections, Slants, Eccentrics, 446 Pictorial, Monograms. 451 Enumerations
z 14- The  8×8 Board: Asymmetry 452 Synthetic Tours 454 Irregularity 455 Approx Symmetry 456 Octonary, Biaxial 459 Axial 463 Birotary 464 Bergholtian 465 Diagonal.
z 15- The 8×8 Board: Exact Symmetry 466  Historical Examples 474 Construction, Conversion of Pseudotours 478 Symmetrisation 479 A Complete Central Angle Collection
z 16- The 8×8 Board: Mixed Symmetry 489 Types h-j-k. Mixed Quaternary Tours with h = 1 493 MQ Tours with k = 3 511 MQ Tours with h >1 and k >3 515 Summary, Max Octonary.
z 17- The 8×8 Board: Compartmental 516 Enumeration of Double Halfboard Tours 518 Crosspatch Patterns and Tours 524 Enumeration of Rhombic Double Halfboard Tours.
z 18- The 8×8 Board: Octonary Pseudotours  530 Catalogue 532 Collinian Tours 535 Tours from Other Octonary Pseudotours 538 Catalogue of Symmetric Rhombic Fullboard Tours.
z 19- The 8×8 Board: Quaternary Pseudotours  550 Enumeration, Vandermondian, Jaenischian 553 Aladdin's Conundrum, Non-Crossing 555 Catalogue 608 Other Quaternary.
z 20- Larger Evenly Even Squares 612 Braids 613 12×12 628 16×16 635 Even Larger
z 21- Augmented Knights 642 Two-Move Knighted Pieces, Emperor, Empress, Templar, Prince, Hospitaller, Lancelot, Nightrider 653 Three-move Knights 663 Four-move Knights
z 22- The Big Beasts 666 Camel {1,3} 669 Shaped boards 671 C+ 672 Gnu 675 Giraffe {1,4} 677 G+ 680 {1,5} 681 {1,6} 682 {1,7} 683 Root 50 {1,8} Zebra {2,3} 686 Z-rider, Z+ 689 {2,5} 690{2,7} 691 Antelope {3,4} 692 Fiveleaper 698 A+ 699 {3,5}, {4,5} 700 {6,7}, Chimaeras 703 Root 65, Root 85 704 Triple Beasts 707 Multimovers, 7×9 Rectangle 708 Wizard.
z 23- Alternative Worlds 709 Non-Crossing Paths 716 Rider and Hopper tours 720 Bent Boards 723 Space Chess 732 Honeycomb Boards
z 24- End Pages 738 Puzzle Solutions 742 Bibliography 798 Name Index

Glen Miller's Music at the Lyceum

I went to the concert at the Lyceum Theatre in Crewe put on by the Glen Miller Orchestra this afternoon. The smallish theatre was quite packed, at least in the stalls where I could see, with a mainly elderly audience. The performance was very good, though I found it too loud in places, especially the trumpets. The programme covered a wide selection of favourites and some lesser known pieces. These included arrangements based on Tchaikovsky's piano concerto No.1 and the 1812 overture. The singers with the band were also very professional, though the Sinatra tribute by the crooner seemed unnecessary. The female trio, channeling the Andrews Sisters, were entertaining, but the solo female singer was outstanding. A very pleasant afternoon.

Queens Park Crewe and other Scenes

Here are some photos taken on 27 January when I took a walk in the cold wind to take a look round the Queens Park to the West of Crewe. I've decided to post photos here rather than on Flickr in future.

Tree on Wistaston Road

Views in Queens Park

. Unusually these photos all came out clear and neatly framed. Probably because I was not in any hurry, just taking a stroll.

Hot Water

It has taken me a month since I moved to my new flat to work out how to activate the boiler that supplies hot water to the taps. The name on the boiler is 'Zip Aquapoint III'. Here is a photo I took, using a torch for illumination, since it is installed in an inaccessible place at the back of the cupboard under the sink.This is a type I have never encountered before.

I looked up the make on the Web to find instructions, but they mostly covered installation. There was mention of an 'economy' setting, which appeared to be by moving the circular panel round to the first white dot, but that didn't seem to have any effect. It has taken me a couple of weeks to find a small white switch, right at the back of another cupboard, which switches it on!

There are other more prominent red switches, one of which activates the electric hob. What the other does I have yet to find out. Possibly it is to do with the shower. Meanwhile I have managed to boil up hot water using the electric kettle. Previously I've always used a gas hob for cooking, so an electric hob is unfamiliar and will take some time to get used to. It doesn't help that it is totally black, including the knobs, and not illuminated by the ceiling lights.