It's Nearly Time To Take Your Tablets!

- Not quite what the nurse told me last Friday when I went to get my first Covid-19 vaccination down at Alnwick Cricket Club, but a few paracetamol certainly came in handy for the following 36 hours......but I digress.

The 'Tablets' in this case refer to the Amazon 8" Fire HD's we obtained thanks to part of our successful Community funding bid from The National Lottery Fund.

The blue Fire 8 HD complete with protective case.

I am currently going through the process of setting them all up in a similar simplified way, to help get you where you have ready access to the Choir website and resources. As Amazon, being what it is, will try and use the opportunity to try and distract you in an attempt to get you to sign up to extras. We have decided that to keep operation as simple as possible we have decided not to install an AntiVirus app, (see lower down for more information).

As part of the set up process, I will be having a telephone conversation with everyone who is to be having one on loan to see if they have an existing Amazon account and password, along with ready access to their email account, as they will need to receive and pass on a One Time Password (OTP) that I will need to set up each device. Some of you have already had that conversation with me - thank you for your patience. I hope to be in touch with all of you in the next few days.

Mary is currently in the process of delivering the first batch, which will come with an 'Instruction For New Users' crib sheet kindly drawn up by my wife Lesley with her 'Management Training' hat on. On the back of each tablet is an ID/password to identify who the tablet 'belongs to'. (More important when we are all back singing together again, to avoid confusion and know who's is who's).

Mary will ask you to read through a short and simple loan agreement requesting you take care of the tablet and that you are made aware that it remains the property of Harbour Lights Choir, and it is covered under our new Choir Insurance Policy. You will also be given a protective case (which have been supplied using Choir funds) to help protect and hold the tablet.

Are Fire tablets immune from viruses?

Technically, no. But cybercriminals tend to put most effort into writing malware (malicious software) for Windows because it runs on hundreds of millions of computers and laptops. By contrast, the number of Amazon Fire tablets is very small, so there’s little incentive to target those users.

Plus, as long as you install apps from Amazon’s Appstore and not from anywhere else, it’s highly unlikely any virus-ridden apps can get onto your tablet.

Even if they do, they don’t have free rein to access other files on the tablet or hardware such as the camera and microphone. When you install an app, it has to ask permission for any of these things, so don’t grant it if you’re not happy or don’t entirely trust the app.

Finally, Fire tablets automatically update so you'll always have the latest version of the software which should be the most secure.

Why do I need to be careful then?

One way that criminals can target anyone on the internet, regardless of the device they’re using is social engineering. Put simply, it means they’ll try to trick you into handing over your details without realising.

A fairly well-known technique is the ‘phishing’ email, which will contain a message that persuades you to give information – maybe your bank details – in order to get something in return. It could be a refund, a tax rebate or even the classic “I’ve been left millions of pounds and I want to give it to you” scam.

It may even purport to be an email from Amazon. Around a year ago, fake emails were sent out which said there was a problem with a recent order, and attempted to coax users to enter their bank details.

There are plenty of other scams, but you just need to exercise caution when shopping online or checking emails. Don’t click on links unless you’re sure they’re genuine.

Sometimes a link in an email will look fine, but it will take you to a non-genuine website which could be a clone of your bank’s website. This is why it’s best to open a web browser and type in the address yourself, then check that the site has the appropriate padlock symbol near the address bar to tell you the connection is secure.

Hope this has whetted the appetites for members who have asked to trial one of our new additions to our Choir resources.

Paul Stocks, Webmaster

Songs That Transport You To Another Place

For Christmas 2007, our family went to Big Island, Hawaii to visit my brother in law and his now husband, who were living there at that time. Big Island is the largest of the Hawaiian Islands. At that time, it was the least commercial of the main islands. We enjoyed exploring it, relaxing, swimming and snorkelling. We visited Mauno Loa, one of the active volcanoes, which was amazing to see. Hawaii is beautiful; the history of it’s people is fascinating; the flora and fauna are amazing.

My favourite memory was of my first experience of kayaking when we all paired up and headed over Kealakekua Bay in kayaks. We were amazingly lucky as a pod of dolphins joined us and playfully swam and frolicked around us as we kayaked across. Totally magical.

A dolphin in Kealakekua Bay

During the holiday we listened a lot to the music of Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole , which is evocative and haunting The song that brings back happy memories to me is “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” sung by Israel. Whenever I hear it, I am transported back to those fabulous times.

Mary Davidson

Painting In Lockdown 2

You may remember that I wrote last year about my initial reaction to the pandemic and the influence this had on my painting. Like many others, I began lockdown in a state of shock and progressed to a state of equilbrium, enjoying walks on my doorstep and recording the natural world around me. This time, I thought I’d take you on another illustrated journey of events since last summer and again explore the influence that my experiences seem to have had on my work.

Shortly after I finished my last piece, I had to leave for London as my daughter needed an operation.

In quarantine in a flat overlooking the canal in Hackney Wick, East London, I made many sketches of the industrial landscape in pen and ink. I wondered afterwards if the detail of these drawings had been influenced by my need to concentrate on something other than the immediate circumstances!

When I returned to Northumberland, I was under some pressure to get a range of work together for a planned exhibition at the Newbiggin Maritime Centre called 'Exploring Places, Discovering Styles'. (This has been postponed because of lockdown, but I didn't know this at the time!)

I included images of the Isle of Bute and also some abstract work.

I painted a few small images which people visiting Newbiggin might like to see - ‘Newbiggin Cobles’ and ‘Three Men in a Boat’.

I was now free to roam both the footpaths and my canvases and draw whatever appealed to me!

As a start and a complete contrast to the more figurative work I’d been doing, I let go with a large, completely

abstract piece with layers of colour, hoping for a balance and maybe order under the chaos!

During our walks we often stopped in woods and I became somewhat obsessed with the structure of trees, particularly with some ancient specimens growing in a ‘ridge and furrow’ field near Felton.

I experimented in charcoal and acrylic and also painted a mossy wood I remembered from our last visit to Bute. I then wanted to capture what I actually felt at the time - my response to the yellows of the sun on a lovely morning or the reds of an early sunset.

These more abstract works only briefly captured the tracings of tree and branch but it was so satisfying to spread the colours which I had carried in my head onto the canvas!

Christmas came and went, without family visiting for the first time ever. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful sunny walk over the top of the dunes from Warkworth to Alnmouth. The sun was in my eyes as I looked down over the sea, glinting, shimmering, magical. I produced another abstract painting to try to capture the atmosphere.

And now it was time for ruminating again on this very strange time and trying to make some sense of what I had been experiencing. I shall describe some of the thoughts that went into a few of my pieces. First, a painting on wood of a figure walking on a footpath, hedgerow behind. The figure is split in half, one part following the other, trying to convey the endless cycle of the days, the repetitiveness of activities, chasing our tails. It also contains, I hope, the reassuring feel of the passing of time in the natural world which is there to welcome us whenever we go out - and of course the equally reassuring feeling of wellies and scarves!

The second piece is semi-abstract, inspired by a murmuration of starlings which we watched so many times over Druridge. I had been looking at images of microbes in a National Geographic magazine and the shape and colour of these bugs ended up in the murmuration! Obviously the world of viruses which has surrounded us had influenced my subconscious thoughts!

The background to the third and final piece was my transitory preoccupation with making patchwork cushions, to the extent that I found it difficult to stop sewing as I saw the patterns building up! I thought again of how this repetition and watching the passing of time could be reflected in a painting. I ended up carefully painting patchwork on wood. They looked like colourful cells or rooms representing the places we have been in lockdown for much of the time, each communicating with each other in the best way we can, but always with a barrier between us.

The little figures, like hieroglyphics, show this - phoning, waving, leaving food on the doorstep etc.

And finally, back to three reassuring images from very tranquil walks I have experienced recently, feeling like all of us I hope, that there is light ahead. The soft stillness of snow in the morning , the splinters of ice on a pond, and the glint of light through a copse of trees, ‘Towards the Light’.

Larraine Duquemin