Setting up Google Home: A few traps and tricks

I've just spent 4 hours setting up a "smart speaker", a JBL Link 10 on Google Home. Here's what I learnt - and what you should watch out for:

 The WiFi Selection Screen

There's a point where you see a screen a bit like this:

When I selected my WiFi, I expected it to indicate my selection - ether with a dot or tick to the left or by highlighting the whole line. It didn't - which also surprised the Google support person I was chatting to. Maybe it's something about the colour set up on my phone? Anyway, here's the work around - don't worry about the lack of visual feedback, tap the correct item and then "Next". You'll see on the next page that it noted which entry you tapped and is now using it.

Your WiFi Setup

Not all WiFi is equal - which you probably knew already - but some of them are less equal than others. I set up my broadband router to offer a "guest" WiFi for visitors and was using that. This resulted in Google Home announcing that my smart speaker "was set up successfully but can't be found" which is pretty silly - how can you set up a device you can't find? So I fixed this by using the standard WiFi account (which seems to have more privileges) shown in red below and keep the "Guest Wi-Fi" strictly for guests.

(Your router screen may vary)

Towersey Festival - Practical Guide

This is my practical guide based on many years experience mainly aimed at the UK based/English speaking dancers. Be aware that in 2020, the festival is moving (again) to the Claydon Estate in Buckinghamshire so this guide might not be as reliable as some of my other guides.

Summary: A medium sized broad spectrum mainly folk festival with a excellent dance programme.

Getting there

It's a rural "stately home" site that appears to be approached down narrow lanes some distance from major roads. If driving, I would allow plenty of time to do the last 5 miles. Users of public transport should check their options very carefully. The site is compact, you don't need to drive around.

Food & Drink

There's a good choice of "festival food" stalls on site. These are occasionally "expensive" and never cheap. There would appear to be no off-site places to eat or buy food and drink without travelling several miles. There were several on-site bars in 2019 charging not quite £5/pint

The Event/Programme

There's a very strong English Ceilidh programme with several top bands playing every day several times from Friday through to Monday. There's often a Contra, BalFolk or other dance event. There's a fair sprinkling of dance workshops.The single dance marquee is big enough and has a good floor.

There's also a large concert programme and a full programme of children's events during the day.

Language

Like most places in England, the predominant language is English.

Meeting Friends

• In the evening, don't arrange to meet a friend on the main dance-floor. It;s too big, crowded and dark for this to work reliably. Similar difficulties could occur with the main bar.
• Arranging to meet at a specific corner of the dance marquee will probably work
• It may be best to meet friends at a named catering outlet - once you've discovered which ones are there this year

Accomodation

• There is extensive camping space
• It's often divided into different areas for those who want to have their cars nearby and those happy to have their cars in a separate car park
• Camper vans may have their own area
• I would expect availability of hotels, etc to be very low.

Other Points

• I found the hot showers to be reliable - the days of the grotty football cub showers are long gone.
• The toilets are good
• There's talk that fewer tickets will be available for 2020