During the four years I spent at university I became interested in electronics given my Physics major, and the exposure to the subject and its practical side, through my friends in the residence I stayed in. Amplifiers were built and load music was played.

As soon as I had settled into my job and married life, or put put another way, had neen working for long enough to buy the bits and pieces, I too started to build an amplifier. When that happened I needed a box with compartments to store resistors, capacitors, diodes and resistors. The GoTo Box (first photograph) was acquired and I still have it. It also still contains the power transitors I used for the amplifiers and they feature in the second photograph. It ia mostly used to store small nuts and bolts.

At the end of our second year of working Edith and I set off on an adventure, a trip to the UK, France and Holland. Towards the end of the visit we went to an Electronics Shop on Edgeware Road where I bought a fancy amplifier Kit. A nice to have, but not a good idea at the time, as the `hijacking of flights had just started, and a box for of electronics attracted attention.

The kit survived and was assembled, but it proved to be problematic, and was ultimately replaced by a commercial amplifier. It too is now long gone. So too has the need to listen to the music of my era played loudly. Occasionally I lapse and the need is satisfied by me singing some bygone hit loudly to te wrong tune.

So Why a blog about a small box containing dated power transistors? I guess it all started with me posting 10 minute updates of the local weather conditions on my Home Page courtesy of a Davis Weather Station that was loaned to me. That then lead to me then using a PC web camera to post a pic of the view of Town Hill (and the weather) as seen from our home in the Town Bush Valley. When the web camera packed up, it was replaced by a Foscam security camera, and when that packed up, everything changed

That was when I finally gave in and joined the other boys using Raspberry Pi (RPi) single board computers to build stuff. The result was a RPi supported camera that I have to admit, worked rather well, and when Edith and I started the process of relocating to Howick, it went to my grandson Ryan, who has continued to posting a pic of Town Hill, updated every 10 minutes.

Given the rate at which our new home in Howick was being constructed, Edith and I spent a year at 10 Tawny Lane in Ambers Valley. From there we enjoyed an excellent view of the Game Area, the Umgeni Valley and Hilton College in the in the distance. So it did not take long and another RPi camera was posting a 10 minute interval pic of that view on my new Amber Valley home. Given that we also occasionally had Zebras literally peering into our home through the windowa, I decided to use another RPi to build an infra-red camera to photograph them that passed our home in the dark.

When we finally moved into our new home at Protea Gardens the 10-minute camera setup was installed, and it provided a good view of the small valley below us, Saint Johns Village, the Amers in the dstance, and Hilton College beyond that. The view really is good, and as seen from the Unit with the best elevation, it is simply superb! When that camera packed up (flash disk problem) I failed to resussitate it. I also did not manage to build another one. The skills required, she is no more!

So that RPi camera was also replaced by a Foscam security camera that took a pic of the view we had every 10 minutes. That pic was then shared on the Internet, much the samewas then buildingam now bits and pieces to connect leads to connect components to a Raspberry Pi in order to build a weather station that has already featured in two blogs. Also because the component that I bought to measure Barometric Pressure (AMD280) is dated/redundant in the sense that software to support it is no longer being supported.