John’s research had gleaned that Vodaphone had instigated a new tariff, so off we set into town to find the shop and buy yet another Sim card for the dongle. We are hopeful that we will be able to top up the new Sim at will, preferably on-line. It all seemed to go well and we celebrated with a coffee in the square. I had a text from Katie sending us a link to a puzzle set by the Guardian, giving a new twist to a riddle posed by the juvenile Einstein.http://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2015/may/04/einsteins-election-riddle-are-you-in-the-two-per-cent-that-can-solve-it

We resolved to have a go back on Lyra, where we had pencil and paper. First there were the days’ chores to complete. Together we each took a spray can and a side and lubricated all the bearings on the pulleys, quite fun. Then John greased the hinges on the hatches, while I stood below to catch any drips. Finally I cleaned said hatches, while John scrubbed the fenders with the new miracle cleaner we had picked up at the nearest chandlers. The miracle seemed to involve a lot of elbow grease and we were both glad to stop for lunch.

Then we settled down with pencil and paper and solved Einstein’s puzzle. Stop reading now if you are planning to try. John began writing tables and I started drawing stick figures and houses and tearing them out. After a bit of shuffling the pieces, a couple of logical breakthroughs and no cross words at all; we decided Nigel had the fish. Upon checking with Katie, we found she had come to the same conclusion, though her illustrations were predictably prettier and she had managed just by drawing. Flushed with success we headed to the bar for another coffee, so John could install the Sim, he is currently still wrestling with the task. It is proving much more intractable than Einstein.

Post Script: John has sorted the Sim, so we can load up better quality images again.