Cold.

Another Lake District image. This time, looking across Coniston Water an an exceptionally cold January day.

Ambleside, Lake Windermere. (2)

A second image, captured on a beautiful, cold January day, just outside Ambleside, in The English Lake District National Park.

Ambleside, Lake Windermere.

A cold, bright winter's day, beside the shore of Lake Windermere at Ambleside, in the Lake District National Park.

Through the trees.

 

Still

On a beautiful day in the first week of February 2012 I captured this image from the Northern end of Lake Windermere in The English Lake District National Park, just outside Ambleside.

Coniston Old Man.

Another photograph, captured in The English Lake District, in winter. This one is a view across Coniston Water towards Coniston Old Man.

Morning Mist.

I posted a cropped version of this on Instagram earlier today, but wanted to post the whole image. So, here it is.

Hope you like it.

If ?

I've never been a lover of Facebook. Most of what I post there is content from this site and from my Posterous feed, which links photographs posted in Instagram. Almost all of this is done automatically, so I am a rare visitor to my Facebook home page.

The personal information I share on Facebook is limited, too. I've no desire to share anything that advertisers can use to target me. Even so; on my occasional visits to my homepage I see ads down the left side, for products and services loosely related to what appears in my feed.

Then this ad appeared.

 There's no "If" about it. I'm certain that I will die.

Will I leave a message on Facebook in anticipation of this future event?

Certainly not!

Waiting.

 

Losing their Marbles!

In July 2000, I signed up for a Marbles MasterCard, Issued by HFC Bank plc. (Part of HSBC). In the relatively early days of online shopping, it was guaranteed to cover any losses due to fraud. Sure enough, this was proven to be correct; when someone kindly bought several cases of wine, using my card details. I reported the irregular transaction and was immediately credited with the lost amount.

In 2007, the Marbles brand was acquired from HSBC by SAV Credit, a rather anonymous holding company, supported by private equity investors. Subsequently, I believe that the Marbles brand was sold to Aviemore Funding Limited and licensed to Bank of Scotland plc, a member of the Lloyds Banking Group.

Regardless of ownership, everything has been fine, until a couple of weeks ago, when I found myself unable to log in to the online account management page. I called to enquire about this, and was told that there was a known issue and that logins were sporadic, but still possible, if I kept trying.

After several days of not being able to access my account, I rang them again. This time I was asked which web browser I used to access the site. When I said Safari, on a Mac, I was told that access was not possible with any browser other than Microsoft Internet Explorer. At this point, I may have been rude. If I was, then I'm sorry to have taken my frustration out on the customer support representative.

 BUT, REALLY?!  INTERNET EXPLORER?

Microsoft discontinued support for the Mac version in late 2005 and removed the application completely in early 2006.

 Later the same day, I checked the Marbles site to see exactly which browsers were supported. To my horror, things got worse.

Below are the hardware and browser requirements for site access and account management.

 (Copied and pasted directly from the Marbles site and dated 2011). Link here.

"What do I need to use the on-line service?

A PC with Windows 95, 98 or NT, an internet connection and a browser, preferably Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 4 or above), or Netscape (version 4 or above)".

 Last week, I stopped using my Marbles Mastercard and signed up for a replacement card with a provider firmly based in the 21st. Century.