No Blood

I was booked to go to my doctor's surgery for a blood test. Incorrect- to have a sample of blood taken for a blood test. It was booked for 9 a.m. so that it would be out of the way quickly. I am not good with needles, blood and the fact that it's going to be taken. It goes back to a morning long ago when I had to go to the hospital in Bedford to give a blood sample, had to fast before hand, gave the sample, began to feel queasy, went outside, queasy feeling continued, sat on low wall, and fell over on the ground, biting the dust and gravel, at which point an ambulance arrived (it was arriving at the hospital for another purpose, but it's timing seemed spot-on) and then I was surrounded by paramedics and carted off to A and E department. Felt a complete idiot of myself, and have ever since not liked giving blood.

Well, this morning the nurse couldn't find a vein to put the needle into to take blood, on two attempts, for whatever reason it wasn't possible, so I have to go back for another appointment next month. I have been told that I have narrow veins, and that drinking plenty might help, but even that didn't work this time round.

Snow gone?

The weather has changed from cold and snowy to cold, dank and miserable. I looked out of the window earlier and there was some fog about. There was a small amount of ice and snow at the front of the house, but not too much to worry about. A cheque we have been waiting for has finally arrived. Over-payment of something, so we have been into the centre to put it in the Nationwide. Carol drove me to the branch, I got out and managed to use one of the machines to put the cheque into the account without having to queue. It would have taken at least an hour, I reckon, to reach the cashier, and it didn't look as if they were going to put on extra staff to help the situation. Well, at least you can use the machines- key in your P.I.N., follow the instructions on-screen and put the cheque in the slot. It even gives you a photocopy of the cheque and you don't even have to put in the amount written on the cheque. That's modern technology for you. Outside the shopping centre, it was total chaos. People losing their tempers because they can't park where they want to. Carol had to drive round the block until I came out of the Nationwide. People going totally nuts because there are sales on and they can't get to the shops they want to. Total madness.

100th Post and Counting

I have just written my 100th post! I have also found out that it has been visited 1055 times. I'm not certain whether this is 1055 individual people or whether it's the same people visiting my blog over and over again. I'd really love to have a few comments from anybody who reads this regularly, as I must be doing something right to have so many visits. So, come on you lot out there in cyberspace, just write something when you've finished reading what I have written. I really want some form of feedback, no matter, negative or positive. What has brought you to my blog? What have we got in common? Have you already got your own blog? Have you had a heart attack and been through the same things as I have? Or just enjoy my musings, however mundane they may be? Please, please comment before you leave.

A Thaw . . . at last!

There have been further strange noises outside as ice and snow falls off the roof of the house. Yesterday it was a good deal milder, thankfully. We've been indoors for far too long, apart from taking Daniel to the train station and brief shopping trips. We really want to get out, being entertained with Christmas television is beginning to pall considerably. At last there are signs of the grass in the back garden, which has been covered by several inches of the white stuff since the first falls of snow well over a week ago. Hopefully we can go out this Saturday, somewhere or other, possibly somewhere we can drive to in the Cotswolds or Oxfordshire. We've been to Thame, Burford and Stow-On-The-Wold, old fashioned market towns with stacks of history. The dogs need a good walk and perhaps tomorrow me can take them out for a treat, which they deserve. Alfie, particularly, needs a good run to use up his energy. Poppy, on the other hand, will just enjoy a sedate stroll.

Snow still . . .

The gas ran out on Saturday (Christmas Day). It was to be expected, as we have had the heating on constantly since the cold weather has been with us. I had to put the emergency credit on, meaning I had to go outside in the cold and snow and balance on the chair and attempt to put the card in the meter slot. This emergency ran out yesterday morning, so it's been cold in the house. I walked to the local shop in Eaglestone (the nearest place to top up gas and electric credit.) It was easier to walk there rather than defrost the car, which would have taken longer than the time it would take to walk to the shop. The paths there were thick with snow and ice and on several occasions I nearly slipped over. The dustmen thought it necessary to block the way with piles of rubbish bags, which was rather unnecessary. People have been shopping in town, as I saw a couple unloading their car with John Lewis bags. It's amazing that it's a day after Christmas and people are out buying the same sort of things they could have bought a few days ago for a good deal more. I got to the shop to discover that I  couldn't top up the gas as the machine they have their wasn't working. It meant another day without gas. It didn't actually run out until this morning.

We decided to go across Milton Keynes to Budgens to top up the gas card, as we weren't sure where the nearest place is to do this. On the way back we visited Carphone Warehouse to look at new mobiles, as we both want to replace ours. Mine gave up on me ages ago, unfortunately. The battery will no longer charge, and it will cost around £20 for a new one, and for that money I may as well buy a completely new model and top up the credit for £10.

Carol's Christmas present

And what WAS the present I got Carol? What had I been so eager to receive in the post, and which eventually turned up on Friday, but wasn't delivered to the house, due to us being out shopping in Tesco's, which meant the postman wrote one of those annoying 'couldn't deliver your parcel' cards, which was stuck through the letterbox for us to find when we got home? It was a rather beautiful Steiff teddybear, 'Flynn' complete with his own suitcase, which had been advertised in "The Guardian" newspaper 10 days previously. Carol loves teddybears, and this I know she would love. I had to go to the sorting office to collect it. Had I left it to order any later it would most likely not have arrived before Christmas Day. 

Christmas Day

A Merry Christmas to all those who follow this blog. Be back after the holiday.

'Sno Go Area

How many puns can I make up using the word 'snow'? Not particularly amusing, I suppose, but I'm running out of ideas for the title of each post.

We got up early this morning and decided to go to Tesco's to do some last-minute shopping. This was a vain attempt to avoid any crowds there were likely to be. It worked, up to a point. There has been a slight thaw today, there has been a very weak sun out, and as a result the temperature seems a good deal higher, but it still took some while to defrost the car before we could get out of the driveway. We have heard the sound of ice breaking off from the roof and falling past the bedroom window. It was somewhat disconcerting at first, as it sounded rather like someone throwing stones at the window, but I saw it fall, so it was nothing much to worry about.

We eventually got the car defrosted and went to the Kingston Tesco's. It wasn't particularly busy, but the carpark was very iced up and there was the danger of slipping over. We did our shopping (had a look at iPods which Tesco now sells. Really impressed and secretly would like one. Clever bit of kit. Trust Apple to come up with something so brilliant. Also mobile phones. Mine has worn out and needs replacing urgently.) and then went into Marks and Spencer's. Carol bought a rather nice T-shirt and we looked at shirts for me. In two days they'll have a sale, so what's the point of buying things that will do doubt be cheaper in a few day's time?

We got petrol as we left Tesco's. Typical that they raise the price when there's a Bank Holiday and people are going to need to fill up their cars. Just another example of exploitation if you ask me.

We got home, opened the door and found that the Postman had left one of those 'You were out when we tried to deliver  a parcel' cards. We only missed the delivery by 30 minutes or so. I'll have to drive to the Sorting Office at Brinklow (actually just over the road from Tesco's at Kingston.) to get the parcel. I'll go at around 3.30 this afternoon.  I know it will be the present I ordered for Carol on-line 10 days ago, which I have been expecting. At least it will mean I can get it wrapped and put under the Christmas tree with the other presents. I had my doubts it would arrive in time.

Snow, Snow, quick, quick, snow . . .

Well, it hasn't gone away, nor does it look as if it's likely to go any time soon, so we're dug in here and will make the most of it over the Christmas period. We were supposed to go to a carol concert at church on Sunday afternoon, but it was cancelled. I think, looking at the state of the roads and the footpaths, it was safer to cancel, unfortunately. There was a film shown yesterday evening, "A Christmas Carol," the new Disney version, but we didn't go, for the same reason as above. We've wrapped all our presents and went to M and S at the railway station when we dropped off Daniel yesterday afternoon, where we got some basics. A rather nice tin of Scottish shortbread and a chocolate yule log amongst the items! As the slogan for Marks and Spencer goes 'there's food, and then there's Mark's and Spencer food!' It is extra-special.

Milton Keynes under snow

It's been snowing continuously all afternoon. As I write this post (4.10 p.m.) and I look out of the window of this room it's getting gradually darker and darker and the garden is several inches under snow. It is still snowing, but not as heavily as it was earlier. The car, which is parked on the drive at the front of the house, has a thick blanket of the white stuff on it's roof and bonnet. By the morning we are going to need a shovel to clear the drive and a snow plough to get out of this estate. The whole of Milton Keynes appears to have completely disappeared under snow. I'm wondering if there are going to be any gritters on the road tonight or, indeed, any snow ploughs clearing the major roads around here. It's as well we don't need to go anywhere important in the car tomorrow.

Falling Snow

We've been shopping to Morrison's early this morning. The car doors were again frozen up when we went out to the car and I had to get the washing-up bowl filled with hot water to defrost the doors before we could get into the car. We decided that we'd try to avoid the mad crush that there was likely to be and when we got to Westcroft it wasn't particularly busy. We had to go to Boot's to get Carol's prescription made up and went to Morrison's to do Christmas shopping and then returned to Boot's to collect the completed prescription. It was quite slippery as we walked across the carpark and by the time we came back to the car having completed our shopping the car doors were again frozen up. It took some effort to defrost the doors, and by now it was beginning to snow. As I write this (1 p.m.) the snow is falling heavily and has been doing so for the past couple of hours. We unloaded the car and I made hot chocolate with marshmallows which went down really well, considering the freezing temperature outside. We don't need to go anywhere else today and now have enough food to see us through the holiday period.

Threat Of A White-Out

It rained yesterday, and then it turned into snow. There was a Christmas get-together at the Academy, so I met Carol in the Science department. The 'do' wasn't scheduled to start until 5 p.m. so we wasted some time watching something on iPlayer on her laptop and then went up to The Hub, which is at the top of the building. The room was set up with a really lavish buffet, so we lined up to help ourselves. Someone had worked extremely hard to prepare all this food. We sat and ate, and at least it meant that we didn't have to make a meal when we got home. I had a really bad headache, more like a migraine, caused, I think (although I'd say that I was sure) by the medication. 

Nobody else from Carol's department turned up for this 'do', and most of the people there were the ancillory staff, such as cleaners, caretakers and catering. So, where had the teachers and department heads got to? Somebody said that people had come in to the room before the 'do' began and had helped themselves to some of the food and had left. Why didn't they stay?

We went home about an hour and a half later. There'll be an awful lot of food left over today. A real waste of time and effort.

This morning the gas ran out so I had to put emergency credit on the gas meter, so I had to go through the rigmarole of getting the chair out near the meter cupboard, putting the card in the meter and trying to see the digital display (impossible, as it turned out.) I had to use my mobile phone's display to light the meter to read it and it was difficult to see whether the emergency credit had been accepted. You can hear a distinct sound when this works, so someone had the foresight to design this thing with something you could hear instead of see when there is insufficient light. Still, it's a difficult job, trying to balance on a chair outside in the dark and cold early on a December's morning.

We'd bought a couple of raffle tickets at last night's 'do.' The prize was a Blackberry (not a small fruit for making jam and fruit-filled pies, rather, a rather elaborate mobile phone, or, to our American cousins, 'cellphone.') We had no cash on us last night, so we had to go to an A.T.M. to take sufficient cash out to pay for the raffle tickets.  Our next problem was getting into the car, as the doors of the vehicle were completely frozen up. No amount of pushing or pulling would free either the driver or passenger-side doors. So I had to go indoors and fill the washing-up bowl in the kitchen sink with hot water and then pour this over the car door locks. This defrosted the doors and we  managed to drive to the Tesco Express at Oldbrook and take money out of the A.T.M. On arrival at Tesco I couldn't get out of the car as the passenger-side door had re-frozen! Carol had to get out and pull the door from outside and this opened the door and I was able to get out. It just showed how cold it was this morning, that the door had frozen up in the short time it took us to drive from home to Tesco's.

Working In Theatre- Part 2

I've decided it will be best to break these autobiographical musings into 'parts', as it will be easier to read if it's in installments. I'm saving them before they 'go live' as a lot of what I'm writing was around 40 years ago and I'm really stretching the powers of memory to put in all the little details I want to.

I mentioned in the first installments the basics of putting on a play, from the first read-through to First Night. Those technical rehearsals I remember could sometimes go on into the wee small hours of the following day, and the efforts we went to to get the lighting, sound cues and scene changes right were all part of stage management's job description. You had to be able to merely merge with the scenery in some instances, and be very efficient with the scene changes, moving around back-stage as if you weren't there. It was no good being clumsy and noisy as you moved around back-stage, so as not to distract the actors on stage, or to spoil the show for the audience.

In those days we were expected to not only fulfill our stage management duties, but to also do the occasional small part. Generally, in some productions, we would be merely used as 'extras' or 'walk-on's', somewhat in the same way as 'Walk-Ons' or 'Supporting Artistes' are used in television and film productions.  In theatre this is usually referred to as "Spear-Carrying" as you might be on stage in, say, a Shakespeare production literally carrying a spear in the background. I hadn't been at Cheltenham long before I had to appear on stage in the production which followed on from "Jane Eyre", a production of "A Winter's Tale" by William Shakespeare. We had to fill up various scenes in the background as shepherds or something similar, and you soon learned to stand absolutely still in the background so as not to 'up-stage' the actors by fidgeting or scratching your nose at an inappropriate moment! 

Towards the end of the season, just before Christmas that year, they staged another Shakespere production, this time "Romeo and Juliet" and we were called upon to appear on stage during the opening scene, a street in Verona or somewhere or other, and had to fight with staves during the feuding between the Montagues and the Capulets. We were rehearsed with a fight arranger and assimilated into the action, but it was quite a feat not to get your hands hit by the guy I was supposed to be fighting with using the staves! There was another production I was in, called "They Don't Grow On Trees." Myself and the other A.S.M. were cast as 'men from the lunatic asylum'  (to perhaps be a little more politically correct these days 'mental health unit.') The concept of the play was that this couple was advertising for a nanny or au pair to look after their children, and the actress at the centre of the action (played by Vivienne Ross) played about a dozen different characters, including this character who had escaped from a mental health institution. We were supposed to rush in and 'arrest' her and cart her off in an ambulance to the hospital. I actually had lines, but unfortunately the audience laughed so much I wasn't ever heard! The character jumps out of the window to make her entrance, and I think we had to follow! At one point during the action she had to go off stage to make a costume change, so another member of stage management was dressed in identical costume and hid behind the sofa so as to make the exit. I don't know whether the audience guessed that there was a double involved in all this!

I'm really trying to remember exactly what plays were in the season when I was at the Everyman. I have mentioned four plays, "Jane Eyre", "A Winter's Tale", "Romeo and Juliet" and "They Don't Grow On Trees." Others included "Spring and Port Wine", "Hedda Gabler", "A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg," "The Circle",   "Salad Days" (which replaced "The Country Wife" as it was going to cost to much to stage, due to wigs and costumes.) and "The Lady Of The Camellias." There was a World Premiere, of a play by a playwright called John Peacock, "The Children Of The Wolf."

I left Cheltenham when my contract ran out just before the pantomime went into production

Surgery Letter

My doctor's surgery has written to me to say that I should make an appointment with their Heart Clinic. I can't see the point, as I have been to several appointments at the Cardiology Department at Milton Keynes Hospital, the most recent being back in November, with a follow-up appointment with my G.P. I have had my medication changed, and I'm due to have a blood test to check on liver function on 31st December. What difference will it make? I can't see it will make any difference. It seems such a waste of paper to write to me when I live so close to the surgery. Why not email me? Wouldn't that save paper and the environment? I think these letters get sent out because I'm on a database somewhere and things are flagged up when the words 'heart condition' are put against your name. I reckon the staff wouldn't be going through people's individual details looking for such things so they can send out a letter. I had an appointment at Milton Keynes Hospital some while ago, as a letter was sent to me advising me that I was booked to see a consultant, and when I arrived at the hospital and eventually saw the consultant he said to me 'what are you doing here? There was not need for an appointment to see me!' Crazy. The computer just generated the letter and it was sent out automatically. It would appear that no human hand was involved, perhaps not even putting the letter in an envelope and putting it into the Postal system (even letters can be folded and put into envelopes my mechanical aids these days, such is the power of scientific discovery and invention.) So, what a waste of N.H.S. resources. As it stands, I think I'm being well enough looked after by the various professionals I come into contact without going for further appointments.

Car Colission

The cabbie who ran into the Atoz on Friday morning came back that evening and gave me the address of the repair shop in Bletchley. I went over there early this morning. It is in a side street near the football stadium. The man there took the make and model of the car and says that he will get a quote for a new side panel, as the dent can't be knocked out. I am concerned that is not left too long, because, from experience, a small scratch or dent soon rusts and it can lead to all sorts of problems if left too long. He will let me know as soon as he has located a replacement part and phoned the man responsible for the damage and sort things out as regards when it can be repaired, but I'd prefer it done in the New Year, as we don't want to be without the car over the Christmas period, due to being able to use it to go out and about.

Foggy and Cold

We opened the door to go on our daily walk to the Academy this morning to find that the place was shrouded in fog. You can usually see the Academy from our front doorstep, but to day it was obscured by the fog and if there had been no lights on there we wouldn't have seen it at all. As I write this (8.45 a.m.) the fog has lifted and it's quite bright, but still cold.

Sunday Christmas Tree Shopping Trip

We bought a real Christmas tree last year, not particularly large, but we didn't want to have an artificial one, and a real one with roots which we could put in the garden and would grow gradually, and then bring into the house to decorate for Christmas. We got one at a really good garden centre up the A5 beyond Milton Keynes. It was reasonably priced and came complete with it's own rather nice pot in which it was pre-planted. If you buy a tree which has no roots it tends to shed it's needles and they drop all over the carpet and the tree dries out and this even before the Christmas holiday season is over. You then land up with a tatty, dried out Christmas tree which has to be disposed of some how or other. Which is why we had decided on a live Christmas tree with roots last year. Unfortunately, the bottom half of the tree has died off, but the top has remained green and healthy. The little tree has been outside the house since we moved here last February, but it doesn't really make a very good tree to bring into the house for use as a Christmas tree to be decorated. So, yesterday afternoon, immediately after church, we went back to the same garden centre and bought another tree, around the same size as the first one. It is now decorated, complete with some rather pretty lights which we got in Tesco's on Saturday morning. These are LED, battery operated lights, which means you can put the tree wherever you like without the disadvantage of having cable trailing over the floor from a mains electric socket. 

Saturday Shopping

We went to Tesco's  at Kingston shopping on Saturday morning. Fortunately we had the sense to go early and as a result it wasn't too busy. There weren't too many people and the queue at the checkout was relatively free, so we got in and out easily.

When we got home we unloaded the car and then decided to go to IKEA, as Carol wanted to get a breakfast bar for the kitchen and two stools. We haven't had a decent table to sit at to have meals in the kitchen. We generally eat our meals on our laps in front of the television. It took some while to decide what sort of table we should have. You can select the type of top you want and then the legs and construct it yourself, which is easy enough as the table I am currently sitting at which has the iMac on it is constructed like that and came from IKEA. The type of table Carol wanted was outside our budget and the legs, rather like a cross between a trestle and an artist's easel, wasn't in stock, so we chose telescopic legs made of metal. We then had to choose a couple of bar stools to use at the breakfast bar, and couldn't decide whether to have them with or without backs. We eventually chose stools with backs, and folded.  We also bought some magazine racks as I want to store my copies of BBC History Magazine in them and so tidy the book shelves in the sitting room. We also got a hanging device to put on the back of the bedroom door. It seems incredible to me that the owner's of this house never put hooks on the back of any of the doors so there is nowhere to hang coats, dressing gowns and other items, so this seemed a good alternative to actually screwing hooks into the doors.

Anyone who has shopped in IKEA will be familiar with the layout of these stores, and how you have to trail through all the displays to find what you want. You have to remember to write down the item number you wish to purchase and then go to the warehouse area and find that item, having written down the aisle number and location number. It can then be extremely frustrating when you eventually get to the location to find a label which says 'currently out of stock.' We didn't find the stools we wanted in the location so choose the folding stools with backs. On getting them home I found it incredibly time consuming removing the plastic wrapping on them. Why do they need to be so over-wrapped? Then, having removed all this plastic wrapping, you discover that one part, the footrest, has to be attached seperately. Why? For what earthly reason do they make a stool, which is folding and about 95% pre-assembled, and then leave this bit unconnected to the rest of the stool? There is a leaflet showing how to screw it together, with a key gadget to tighten the screws, but why is this one bit not attached to the stool already when you buy it?

We watched the semi-finals of "Strictly Come Dancing" on television this evening and had a really tasty sweet and sour chicken meal which Carol cooked afterwards.

Car Run Into

I've been to the local shop to get milk. It's a really cold morning, and the car took ages to warm up, so I didn't want to go too far. I got what I needed and drove back home. As I approached the house, a cab had drawn up to let the lady who lives next door out and the cab was obstructing our driveway. I hooted my car horn, the lady got out and went into her house and the cab drew away, allowing me to move into the driveway, but just as I moved he reversed into my car and dented the front of the car, just over the wheelarch. He obviously wasn't paying attention to what was going on around him, no doubt in far too much hurry to get to the next customer, and I was going to get his number or at least stop him to tell him about the incident, but he was off up the road before I could get his number or at least attract his attention. I then went to the house next door and got the name of the cab company which I rang. They phoned the driver and he returned about 10 minutes later and admitted it was his fault, but couldn't recall hitting my car. We have exchanged telephone numbers and addresses and he will pay to have the repair put right. Just more bother and aggrevation which I really don't need at the moment.

I have just had a telephone call on my mobile from a company who tells me that I am owed compensation for insurance protection. I have never had any sort of insurance with insurance protection on it.  I don't have a credit card, nor do I want one or need one. In my current financial situation I doubt very much whether I would get one. I'd much rather pay for things with cash and have complete control over what I spend my cash on. He insisted that I would have but I protested that I haven't got any sort of loan or credit to owe compensation on. I had to put the telephone down to get the conversation to end. Why don't these people take no for an answer and just go away? What a waste of time and effort!

I can imagine that I must be quite a difficult person to deal with on the telephone as I can generally see through these things a mile off. The other one is about mobile phones, how they say they can cut your bill, and I usually say, I bet they can't. It usually starts of with 'we'll give you a free mobile' then I say something like 'there's no such thing as a free lunch' and then they say that they can improve on my current mobile phone tarriff. I just say that I don't need a new mobile, I'm not interested in all the things a mobile has on it, such as a camera, internet, free texts etc etc as I don't need them and don't ever use them. It turns out that the so-called offer means you are tied into a long contract that you don't want or need. I'm quite happy with my pay-as-you-go mobile phone, as I don't use it that often. I have broadband internet on my iMac and the internet connection on a mobile phone is slow and extremely expensive and the screen is too small to be able to see it and it's too fiddly to actually navigate it properly, so in that case I'm not going to bother with it. I think that is the problems at the moment, and how we got into this awful situation with the Credit Crunch. People living on credit, having 'funny money' and then getting into debt. People getting mortgages and loans that they can't possibly pay back, and the banks knowing very well that they can't and then expecting the Government to bail them out when they get into trouble. So, we now owe billions and billions in debt to goodness knows who.  End of rant.

Outing To MK Central

I went to the Academy at 3.30 to fetch Carol. I waited in the reception area. When she came out, we were greeted by one girl (one of the students) who was really offensive and rude to her as we were walking to the carpark. The standard of behaviour at the school is really bad. I can't imagine speaking to a teacher like that when I was at school and getting away with it. The problem seems to me that there is no ultimate sanction, as there was when I was at school (yes, I know, it was 45 odd years ago, and things have changed.) such as a good clip round the ear or 'The Cane.' (I'm not in favour of capital punishment, but at least it was a deterrant.) No child should have to endure physical abuse of any type, but they know that they can't be punished in this way and they also have 'rights.' 

We got home to discover that Daniel was going back to St Albans (his father lives there and he also has a part-time job working for a firm on Paddington Station in London called 'Upper Crust.') and he needed a lift to the station by 5.15. We took him to the station. We went into the Centre, and parked the car in Debenham's car park. It is one of those car parks where you have to drive up a circular ramp, which can be quite hairy as it's quite steep. You get to a barrier and have to open it by pressing a button which has to align with your driver's side window, so when you wind down the window you can reach the machine, press the button and then remove the ticket. This is all well and good if you can draw up near enough to the machine, but if not you have to reverse and come back at a better angle so you can actually reach the machine. Anyway, at least parking there you are right on top of the shopping centre and we walked down into Debenham's store using their escalators. and then wanted to go into the Central Shopping Centre as we were going to see the Christmas display in the Middleton Hall (just outside John Lewis's department store in the central hall in the shopping centre.) This has been a major attraction in Milton Keynes ever since the shopping centre opened in 1979 (I think it must be at least 30 years old, but I'm not too sure whether it opened in 1979 or not.) This is generally aimed at children, but there is a 'child' in us all and it is such a central part of the Christmas holiday period that we couldn't go without seeing it. I have to say it wasn't as good a recent years. 

We then went to W.H. Smith as I wanted to buy a magazine which I have regularly, B.B.C. History, and I have a card which allowed 20% off all purchases. We paid (also buying some chocolate and the Christmas edition of "Radio Times" which is another tradition, you have to buy this two-weekly edition so as to see what delights we can expect on television over the holiday period.) We paid, and then Carol saw that there was a book signing going on. It was Ben Collins, who was "The Stig" on "Top Gear" on BBC2. Daniel has been undecided as to what he wants for Christmas, so Carol decided to buy this book ("The Man In The White Suit" and get the author to sign it as a present for Daniel. We have brought most of our presents from Amazon this year, and this was one present that we needed (another we have yet to buy is for my daughter, Chloe.) Anyway, it was well worth it as we also got the discount with the card I had.

We could have gone home and had our evening meal at home, but Carol thought it would be nice to have a meal out. We have been to Giraffe, a rather nice chain of restaurants, which has a branch in Milton Keynes. We weren't too impressed by their menu, so went to look at the menu at Nando's, and ended up having our meal there instead. It was really nice to spend some time together out and about and had a look in some of the shops. I notice that many have sales on, which must be a reflection of the current financial situation, as most shops don't have sales until well after Christmas. It's the same old thing at Christmas, as it has for goodness knows how many years- you go made buying your presents, all selling for top prices, and then, as soon as Christmas is over, you find that the same items are selling for well below what you paid BEFORE Christmas in the New Year sales.

Spectacular Sunrise

It's not so cold this morning. There wasn't a hard frost, although there was definitely something of a nip in the air. As I walked over the footbridge with Carol this morning we saw a quite spectacular sunrise. You can see a panarama of around 360 degrees over Milton Keynes. The colours were quite vivid along the horizon, together with the twinkling lights of the city below looked really beautiful. It was a pity I didn't have my camera with me so I could have uploaded it here. There wasn't any ice along the Redway, but as soon as we reached the bridge there was ice and what looked like the remains of snow which made walking quite hazardous. As they say, whenever snow gets left behind after a thaw 'there'll be more coming to join it.' And that seems to be what the weather forecast was yesterday, we can expect it to get milder, but there will be more snow over the next week or so.

Working In Theatre- Part 1

I had always been madly keen on theatre since I was about 5 years old, not particularly acting, more in the production side of things. My family had absolutely no knowledge of the world of theatre, as they were all in farming. Anyone who came along with any sort of information regarding how I could get into 'The Business' had their brains picked! I had originally intended getting in to television to do floor management, and had been told by the B.B.C. that I would need to have a couple of years experience in theatre stage management before I could work in television. As it turned out, I never did get to work in television, preferring a different career path. I was going to go to university and get a degree in performance or at least something theatre-related. I was lined up to go to Bristol University, but my A Level mocks weren't very good, so I attempted to go another route and apply directly to theatres and get some sort of stage management post. I wrote to a whole host of theatres across the United Kingdom, and eventually got an interview at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham. They were running a Student A.S.M. scheme (Assistant Stage Management), where you were taken on for a year and learned stage management 'on the job' as it were. I was paid the princely sum of £1. 10s (or £1.50 in decimal currency) so my parents had to subsidize me the whole time I worked there, which went towards my upkeep, board and lodging and so on. 

I began my career on 16th February, 1969. I was taken to Cheltenham by my parents in the Land Rover, as it was a very cold, snowy, day. I even took my bicycle with me, as it was felt that I would need this if I was to need any sort of transport. I had been given the address of suitable accomodation in Cheltenham, which my mother did not think I would manage in, as it was my first foray into living away from home, so it was decided that I would live in the local Y.M.C.A. I have a feeling that I must have lived there for several months until I moved into a house with a family, no doubt my mother found this by placing an advert in a local Cheltenham newspaper.

The first show I worked on was an adaptation of "Jane Eyre." That first Monday was the Technical rehearsal of that show. It had Angela Richards as Jane Eyre and Philip Voss as Mr Rochester in the cast. I have to admit to being extremely 'green' as regards life and how things worked. I think we lived a very sheltered existence!

There was a very complex scene change that was rehearsed during this Technical, and I recall being detailed as to what was to be 'struck' during this particular scene change. Someone put something on the set, (I seem to remember it was a portfolio, one of those things artists use to store their artwork.) and I inadvertantly removed it! I was described as being 'over-zealous' but the stage manager!

The season was run in the tradition of 'repertory' theatre, a basic company of actors, appearing in a season of plays, which ran for two weeks. A show would run for two weeks (although I seem to remember some shows ran for three weeks.), and while one show was running, the next one would be rehearsed, one would end it's run on a Saturday, and that night, once the curtain came down, the old set was 'struck' and the next show's set would be constructed. We were supposed to work until 2 a.m. and go home to sleep, and then return the following morning to continue building the new set. On the Monday there would be a Technical rehearsal, which could go on for hours, sometimes into the small hours of the next morning, where all the lighting, sound and other cues were put into the action, all scene changes, costume changes and so on would be rehearsed and then put in. Then, depending on what time there was left, there would be a dress rehearsal, where everything rehearsed during the Technical would be put into a run, which was, in effect, a performance, but minus an audience. On the Tuesday there would be another rehearsal and then the show would open that evening. Sometimes there would be a very brief gap before the first performance. Then it would be straight into the First Night performance.

There would be a couple of days break before the next show went into production. The cast and stage management would meet for a read-through of the play, and the designer of the show would present a scale model of the play's set. This would have been produced from the working drawings/ ground plan he/she would have produced, and these  would be used by stage management to mark out the floor of the rehearsal studio. This would give the precise position of such things as stairs, doors, windows, fireplaces etc so that during rehearal the actors would have some idea where to move to on the set and time such things as entrances/exits. This marked-out floor would then be set up with furniture, not necessarily the actual furniture that would be used when the play was produced on stage, but it would allow the actors somewhere to sit when the directions required it. Also, during the 'blocking' of the moves, the D.S.M. would write the moves in the prompt copy and keep these moves up to date as these often got changed as the play progressed through rehearsal. He/she would also have to make notes as to things like the positioning of props, cues for music/sound effects, costume changes, off-stage sound effects (or 'spot effects, such as doorbells, gunshots, crashes etc.) but generally these points would be noted by an A.S.M. (Assistant Stage Management) who would also sit in during rehearsals.

Once the moves were completed for all the play, stage management would be sent out to find props, the items that the actors would use during the play, from firearms, to bits cups and saucers, hairdriers, books, infact, any item which was used on stage. Some of the more difficult to find items were often hired from specialist firms, such as guns, period things such as sports equipment, but generally we had to go out and scour the town to beg, steal or borrow items from local businesses. You had to learn to be quite imaginative as regards borrowing things. The various shops that lent things would get a credit in the play's programme and they'd get free tickets, but it could be quite difficult to find some items and it could be quite a feat of effort to walk into a shop and brazenly ask to borrow something which was worth a fortune, such as a piece of antique furniture which I presume was insured, because they was always the possibility of it being damaged whilst being used on stage. For instance, a piece of scenery might fall on it particularly item during a scene change. Or it could get lost or stolen. Fortunately nothing did happen with any of the items we borrowed, but the theatre must have some sort of insurance policy to cover such likely events.

Working in 'Rep.'

I worked in stage management with a number of theatre companies during the 1970’s. I was a D.S.M. at Century Theatre in Keswick, which is in the centre of the Lake District. Century was a touring company, but not just a touring company in the sense of touring shows to venues around the country, but the entire theatre, including sets, costumes, props and actors, toured, rather in the manner of a circus. This remained their manner of presenting plays during the 1950’s up until the ‘70’s, when the theatre settled in the Lake District, doing several summer seasons in Keswick. It was a rather unique set-up in that respect, and really remarkable in that it was constructed from a collection of Leyland trucks, bolted together to form the stage and auditorium, and the actors lived in caravans. There were also a couple of trailers for wardrobe, dressing rooms etc. We did four shows, running in repetoire, and changing every two days. All the sets and furniture for each show were stored in a large furniture lorry. 

 It had been on a different site prior to my time with the company, near the lake in Keswick, but when I was there in 1973 the theatre was on a carpark near the bus station in the centre of the town. At one time during that summer a funfare arrived and shared part of the carpark, so you can imagine the problems that caused, mostly caused by sound coming from the fareground and this caused real problems when we were performing our plays. 

I had responded to an advert in “The Stage” for a stage management job, and didn’t actually go for an interview, surprisingly. I just turned up in Keswick at the theatre at the beginning of the season, and we started rehearsals for the first play, and had never met any of the actors, the director, stage manager or anyone at all. Looking back this seems quite incredible, that I just went off without asking any questions about where I was to live when I was there, and even more so that the company took me on without any sort of reference, or without even going for an interview. 

We did four plays, as I’ve mentioned. The first one we rehearsed was “How The Other Half Loves” by Alan Ayckbourn. This had about three-four weeks rehearsal and then it opened, and then the second play was rehearsed.  I seem to remember it was a play by Hugh Leonard called “The Patrick Pearce Motel.” Then that was opened and joined the first play in repertoire. This was eventually joined by the third play, “The Man With A Load Of Mischief" by Ashley Dukes. The fourth, and final play was “Romeo and Jeanette” By Jean Anouilh.

We had fun with this last play. The director, John Ridley, had a rather mad idea, which he announced during the first day of rehearsal. When the curtain went up at the beginning of the play he wanted the stage empty, all except a cockerel. Now, not a stuffed one, or one in a cage, but a real, live one, sitting on the table in the centre of the stage. Well, you can imagine what members of stage management had to say about this daft idea. How can you expect a cockerel to just sit or stand on the table and not move, and not merely fly out into the audience and cause chaos, or even fly off into the wings of the stage (sorry, no pun intended.) First and foremost we had to find a cockerel, and then ‘train’ it to sit on the table and not move. And, unbelievable at it may seem, this cockerel (called Leon) did precisely as it was told and every single performance it stood on the table when the curtain went up and didn’t budge and inch!

At one point during this play the cockerel is taken off stage and is slaughtered and then returns on stage, dead, with it’s head removed, readly to be plucked and then, finally cooked and eaten! Well, obviously, we couldn’t do this with a real bird every performance, so we had to make a ‘prop’ bird, as near as possible identical to the live Leon the Cockrel. The wardrobe lady made a sort of stuffed toy version of Leon out of fur fabric which had been died to resemble as near as possible the same colour as the real bird, but minus it’s head! It had wings and a tail added and looked quite convincing. We then needed some tail feathers and a few feather on it’s wings. Unfortunately the real Leon was reluctant to give us any of his feathers for his duplicate, so we had to wait until some of his feather fell out, which really didn’t happen, so we had to pull a hand-full out of his rear end and then sew them into the prop version. 
We did do a fifth play, I seem to remember. It was "Time and Time Again", yet another Acckbourn play. It wasn't performed in Keswick, but taken to Carlisle and presented at a hall there, not a proper theatre. I cannot see what the idea of this was, as we played to non-existant audiences. This was after the run of the four plays in the Century came to an end (or it may have been mid-way through the season, my memory is somewhat hazy on that issue.) We also did some lunchtime theatre, a very short one-act play, toured around village halls and small venues around Cumbria, which was done during the day, once all the four plays in the season were up and running.

New Medications

Following my doctor's appointment on Monday afternoon, I have been put on two new lots of medication. The first is ramipril, an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor. It is a vasiodilator, a drug which widens the blood vessels, making it easier for the heart to pump blood around the body and thus lowering blood pressure. The second tablet is lansoprazole. It is known as a proton pump inhibitor which help reduce the amount of acid your stomach makes. I have to admit that I have been suffering from really bad indigestion and heartburn recently. This is most likely as a result of taking statins. It seems incredible that you need to take another dose of medication to counteract the side effects of another drug. 

Now that I have turned 60 I don't have to pay for prescriptions. It's just as well, because at well over £7 for each item I would be paying something in the region of £30 a month for all my medications. At my former doctor's surgery I was allowed to have all my repeated prescriptions to last two months. Well, it made a lot of sense to do it that way, apart from cutting the cost of the prescriptions, it meant not having to keep going back each month for a repeat of my medications. I wanted to do this at the Farthing Grove surgery but was told off because the P.C.T. wanted to avoid any waste of medication. I would say that was the last thing I would do, as all my medication is life saving and I can't do without any of it, so to waste any of it would be totally untrue. It means that I now have to make sure I have sufficient medication at any given time and that my repeat prescription is put in well before any of it runs out.

A bitterly cold and frosty morning

It's bitterly cold this morning. It was difficult to tell whether there had been a fall of snow or a hard frost overnight when we walked over to the Academy early this morning. The dogs wanted to get outside, and Alfie barked. I still reckon that there must be a cat in the garden shed. I'll have to brave the elements and have a look.

We are having trouble with our electric cooker. Well, to be accurate, it isn't actually our property, but our landlord's. The thing either burns everything we put into it or it doesn't cook it at all. The rings take ages to warm up and don't always work properly. We have contacted the agency about this, and they promised that they'd get in touch with the landlord and ask him to replace the thing, but we still haven't heard anything. The cooker has already ruined a chicken and several pizzas due to over-cooking. We really need this sorted out otherwise Christmas is going to be somewhat difficult if we can't cook properly.

Doctor's appointment

 I went for my doctor's appointment well before 3.30 yesterday afternoon. I was scheduled to pick Carol up from the Academy at 4, so when I made the doctor's appointment I thought that I'd have enough time to get to the Academy on time. But I was still sitting and waiting in the waiting area well past 3.30. People came and went, seemingly going straight in to the doctor's surgery before me. When I did eventually get in (to see one of the doctors whom I haven't had an appointment with before) it was at least 4 o'clock. I am being put on some new medication, something which is supposed to protect my kidneys. It's incredible that you have to take further medication to counteract the side-effects of other medications. I was given the results of my blood test. My cholestrol is 5.2, slightly over what it should be. I was told that it should be below 5, so that isn't too bad. I don't make a point of eating particularly fatty food, but, taking Pravastatin I think I'm entitled to be somewhat less careful as I know the statins break up any excess cholestrol. The doctor was explaining what all these drugs do, but frankly I didn't take in much of it as I wasn't 100% focussed due to tiredness. I have to have a further blood best in the New Year to keep an eye of liver, kidney and other functions (including cholestrol levels.) I left the surgery with a bundle of prescription forms, and drove straight to the Academy. Carol was waiting outside and her friend Minette came out and we drove to Springfield to collect Trevor from the childminder. We took them to Fishermead, where Minette and her husband Gerald lives. We drew up near a chemist's, so we went in to have my prescriptions made up, and Carol wanted some medication herself, some Actifed tablets, but it turned out that the chemist had none in stock. We left the prescriptions being made up and I will go back sometime today to get the medications. We needed some items for our evening meal and find somewhere to buy Actifed and went to Sainsbury's. We bought a loaf of bread, some salad and garlic bread and then went home. Daniel made us spaghetti bolognaise for our evening meal.

Contacting Doctor's Surgery.

I needed to make a doctor's appointment this morning. If you need to make an appointment with my doctor's surgery  (The Grove Surgery in Netherfield, which is right next to Milton Keynes Hospital, a short walk under the road and into the hospital campus.) you have to ring after 8.15 a.m. for an appointment that day, or at 2 p.m. for the afternoon. I have found that you can generally get an appointment if you turn up at the surgery just as it's opening, but the last time I did that I had to queue for 15 minutes or so. I tried several times and got the automated system. You then get through to a recorded voice, then it says 'the surgery is experiencing a lot of calls, please call back later when it won't be so busy' (or words to that effect.) The thing then hangs up on you, much to my annoyance. Fancy being hung up by a machine! My old surgery, Hilltops, at Great Holm, and my doctor in Bedford had a 'ring back' system, which meant that you pressed '5' on the prompt and put the receiver down, and when there was a free line, the surgery automatically phoned you, which meant you didn't have to keep ringing back. This surgery doesn't have this facility, unfortunately. It took me a good half-dozen attempts to get through and actually speak to a human and make an appointment. What annoyed me further was the fact that the receptionist asked me WHY I wanted to see a doctor (as a result of the cardiology consultant's letter I received.) It's as if they don't think your appointment will be important enough to warrant wasting a doctor's time. Then it begs the question, when would it NOT be important enough to see a doctor? Anway, the appointment is at 3.30 this afternoon.

No Snow

It's quite sunny as I write this (1.30 p.m.) We've been to church, and there was hardly anyone there when we arrived. It was cold, so might that explain so few people? Although people turned up once the service began.  Perhaps people go to the 12 noon service and not the 10 o'clock service due to the weather.  There's going to be a Carol service on 19th December, which may be fun to attend. Mulled wine and mincepies will be served. As good a reason to go out on a cold December evening! 

Yesterday we drove over to Westcroft to go shopping at Morrisons and it was really quite foggy. It seemed a good deal thicker there than in Eaglestone. Might it be something to do with there being more water there than here? Is it higher there than here, or higher here than there? I don't know. Carol shopped for some clothes in one of the other stores, then to Morrisons for groceries.

Shopping Trip

I've been out to get just a couple of items this morning. Carol had been off work for three days last week (as you will no doubt know if you read this blog on a regular basis.) but still has the remains of blocked up sinuses and sore throat. She has been taking medication, mainly Actifed, which is supposed to relieve congestion. We have several retail parks around Milton Keynes, one at Kingston, where there is a large Tesco supermarket. We did some shopping there the other evening. There are also quite a few other stores within the complex, Next, Papas and Mamas (which sells baby and children's things), Blacks, Marks and Spencers and Boots. There is also a branch of Boots at the retail park at Bletchley (just beyond Asda and IKEA's stores) as well as a Next (which is supposed to sell discounted items.) as well as a branch of T.K. Maxx, Brantano and Argos. Carol asked me to get her another pack of Actifed, so I thought that I'd go to the branch of Boots near Bletchley, and also get some Vicks Sinex, which she also uses for congestion. They had the Vicks Sinex, but didn't have the Actifed, so I bought the Sinex and came home. I had something to eat and then decided to go out again, this time to Westcroft (the other side of Milton Keynes, and near where we used to live at Crownhill.) It's a relatively short distance mid-morning, and easier in the long run to visit rather than going into Miton Keynes Central shopping centre, because of parking and the distance to walk. I went into Boots and got the Actifed, without any problems, paid and left. Then I decided to go to Morrisons, the supermarket which is in the central area (known as a local centre around Milton Keynes. Kingston is a 'local centre, with the branch of Tesco and other stores around a large carpark.) I had to buy a pot of cream to go with our meal this evening. 

I walked through the door and into the supermarket and the place was heaving. I realise that it is a Friday today, and as soon as people are paid they go shopping. But it was as if a plague of locusts had decended on the place. I can imagine it being busy later, after most people finished work at around 4.30- 5.00 p.m. or even Saturday (or Sunday, as Sunday has become like any other day of the week now.) but mid-morning seemed a bit odd somehow. Christmas is several weeks away, but people were going mad, filling their trolleys with goodness knows what, as if for some sort of siege. Are we about to run short of mincepies, sausage rolls, Christmas puddings, turkeys and all the usual Christmas fare? Are the shops likely to be closed for weeks on end over Christmas and the New Year? I don't think they are likely to be shut for more than a couple of days at a time. But people's thinking is that they aren't going to be able to manage without all these things so 'buy today and forget about tomorrow.'

Well, regardless of all that, all the tills had queues stretching for miles (I over-exaggerate, but you surely get my idea.) and so I decided to queue for the 'self-service' tills. (I have written in an earlier post about my dealings with these devices.) I eventually reached a vacant one. Having just one item to scan and pay for, it shouldn't have taken too long. I managed to get the thing to scan the pot of cream, but I couldn't get it to complete the transaction. At which point a member of staff appeared and snatched the pot of cream from my grasp, put it on the shelf which is intended for your bag and so designed, so that when you put your shopping items into the bag it trips the mechanism that moves the cycle of the self service till to it's next phase. (If any of this makes sense, which it would if you have ever used these self-service tills.) It was the fact that the man snatched the cream out of my hand so abruptly which annoyed me, as if I was some sort of delinquent child which needed telling off for being naughty, or at least, an adult with few enough brain cells to comprehend the workings of so complex a piece of machinery. He didn't speak to me, but just went off to deal with some other unfortunate customer who happened to come within his territory. I shall try to remember in future that you must put your items of shopping on the shelf (which is intended to take your carrier bag) as it is this which triggers the machine to finish it's cycle.) Anyway, I paid and left.

Cardiology Department Diagnosis

This morning I had a copy of the letter the Milton Keynes  Hospital cardiology department sent my G.P. following my recent appointment. The following is a report in that letter. If it is in any way helpful to anyone who has had a similar medical problem, had a heart attack, suffers from angina, or in any way identifies with my medical history, then I am recording it here.

Diagnosis list

'1. Myocardial infarction 2006 (angiogram at Bedford, conservative management.)

2. DSE 2008: no inducible ischaemia.

3. Hospital admission with troponin negative chest pain and equivocal exercise test- September 2010.

4. DSE October 2010: negative for inductible ischemia.

Medication List

Asprin 75 mg od

Pravastatin 20mg od

Isosorbide mononitrate 20 mg

Plan

1. GP to please discontinue isosorbide mononitrate and commence Amplodipine 5 mg od- uptitrating to 10 mg od

2. GP to please commence proton pump inhibitor

3. GP to please commence ACE inhibitor if no contra-indications.

On his admission his troponin was negative and he went on to have an exercise tolerance test which showed no gignificant changes, although there were some equivocal lateral ECG changes. He had no limiting chest pain but managed 6 minutes, 7.3 METS.

Cardiovascular system examination was unremarkable and his blood pressure today was 129/72.

He had a dobutamine stress echocardiogram on 16th October which was negative for inducible ischaemia.'

 I have Googled 'ischemia' as I had no idea what it meant, and this is what I found:

'Myocardial ischemia is an intermediate condition in coronary artery disease during which the heart tissue is slowly or suddenly starved of oxygen and other nutrients. Eventually, the affected heart tissue will die. When blood flow is completely blocked to the heart, ischemia can lead to a heart attack. Ischemia can be silent or symptomatic. According to the American Heart Association, up to four million Americans may have silent ischemia and be at high risk of having a heart attack with no warning.

Symptomatic ischemia is characterized by chest pain called angina pectoris. The American Heart Association estimates that nearly seven million Americans have angina pectoris, usually called angina. Angina occurs more frequently in women than in men, and in blacks and Hispanics more than in whites. It also occurs more frequently as people age—25% of women over the age of 85 and 27% of men who are 80-84 years old have angina.

People with angina are at risk of having a heart attack. Stable angina occurs during exertion, can be quickly relieved by resting or taking nitroglycerine, and lasts from three to twenty minutes. Unstable angina, which increases the risk of a heart attack, occurs more frequently, lasts longer, is more severe, and may cause discomfort during rest or light exertion.

Ischemia can also occur in the arteries of the brain, where blockages can lead to a stroke. About 80-85% of all strokes are ischemic. Most blockages in the cerebral arteries are due to a blood clot, often in an artery narrowed by plaque. Sometimes, a blood clot in the heart or aorta travels to a cerebral artery. A transient ischemic attack (TIA) is a "mini-stroke" caused by a temporary deficiency of blood supply to the brain. It occurs suddenly, lasts a few minutes to a few hours, and is a strong warning sign of an impending stroke. Ischemia can also effect intestines, legs, feet and kidneys. Pain, malfunctions, and damage in those areas may result.'

Baby Sitting Service

A work colleage of Carol's, Minette, has had problems with childcare. Something to do with the nursery where her little boy, Trevor, goes to, so I was asked to look after him yesterday. He's nearly four and knows me fairly well. He's been to our house and gets on well with Poppy and Alfie. I took Carol to work by car, and then drove to Minette's flat to collect them. The weather has not be quite as bad as it might have been, but it was really cold and the roads within the estate where they live was slippery and dangerous.

I then took Minette to the Academy and dropped her off and then returned home with Trevor. He doesn't say a lot and must be one of the quietest children I know. He was quite content chasing the dogs around the house. Alfie kept barking at him, probably as he isn't used to having new faces in the house and he doesn't meet many people, except when we go out for walks. I think it may be that his little routine was changed for the day, as he usually gets me to himself (even with Poppy at home) and also he may be trying to get Trevor to play with him. He may also be trying to protect me, although I can't see how he can see a toddler as a threat. We watched television, mainly the BBC Children's channel. I don't think I've seen so much children's television in years. I have to say "In The Night Garden" is quite beautiful (as children's shows go) and I can appreciate the design, colours and the overall concept of this programme as I have worked with puppets and at one time even devised a project that was almost taken up and commissioned by an independent television production company. I had been to Waterstone's the day before to buy some books to read to him (an offer was on, 'buy two, and get one free." One of the books is the classic Maurice Sendak book "Where The Wild Things Are.") All this takes me back to when my daugher, Chloe, was a child, and I used to read to her (she's now 26) and the fun I used to get out of doing all the voices and generally making a big thing out of reading. I have read "Pooh" and done all the character voices (what parent hasn't done this for their child?) Anyway, we had a good time and I enjoyed the experience, even though I had to keep an eye on Trevor relentlessly all day, and by the end of it I was really tired. I suppose I have some good experience, working in care and particularly with people with learning disabilities. You can never take your eyes off them as they can get into all sorts of trouble.

Carol returned from the Academy with Minette at 3.30, although Minette had to go back to work as there was some sort of Sixth Form open evening which she had to attend, so we had Trevor with us until gone 7 p.m.  He had fallen asleep on the sofa, with Daniel, (my stepson) who was playing a computer game. We gave him his dinner and then took him to collect Minette from the Academy and then take them home. We then went to Tesco's at Oldbrook, as Carol had a desire for chocolate (after a tiring day, can you blame her?) and when we got home I made hot chocolate (one of my specialities.) By which time it was heading for 9 o'clock and we began to watch a fascinating television programme on BBC2 called "At Home With The Georgians." I have a particular interest in history, so this was worth watching. The BBC seems to be making a real effort to make some good programmes that appeal to a minority, rather than all the trivia (including "Strictly Come Dancing."). I don't like so-called 'reality television' and particularly things with 'celebrities' in. I do, however, enjoy the actual dance element of "Strictly" but all the hype about celebrities is so boring.

Sunny and Bright

Carol has to stay late at the Academy tonight as it's Parent's Evening. I think I'd find it very difficult if I had to do a full day's work and THEN have to stay behind for another couple of hours. It means finishing at around 7 p.m., but it depends on how many parents she actually has booked. If it was only 5 or 6 it means sitting around for hours in between appointments. I will be going over to collect her in the car and then we'll go to the Kentucky for chicken for dinner as we won't want to cook when she gets home.

It's quite sunny and mild at the moment. We went to Tesco's to do some shopping late last night and it was bitterly cold. There was no ice on the car this morning, which must mean that temperatures didn't dip below freezing.

Our dogs have the idea that there is something in the shed at the bottom of the garden. We think it may be a cat, as there is a cat which hangs around in the garden.  I think it may be the same tabby cat which I saw yesterday when I came in from shopping. It soon disappeared when I walked to the front door. Both Poppy and Alfie make a fuss to be let out into the garden, then run across the garden and into the corner near the shed door. Poppy would chase a cat if given half a chance. Poppy doesn't seem to mind the cold that much. She has a thick coat, with a sort of double layer of hair, an outer, longer coat and a thicker, under layer. Alfie, on the other hand, has only a thin, silky coat and suffers terribly from cold. I went out this morning to do some shopping and left both dogs locked in the kitchen, basically because Alfie, if he has the least suspicion that we are going out and leaving him on his own, makes an awful fuss, yapping, barking and pleading to be taken with us. When I got back he was sleeping in the clothes basket, but immediately jumped out when I came in the room. Later, I found Poppy upstairs asleep on our bed, but couldn't find Alfie anywhere. I looked in all the usual places and then decided to look under the bed. He was asleep in one of the storage baskets we have under there.

Overnight Snowfall

We've had quite a bit of snow falling on Milton Keynes overnight. The car had a blanket of the white stuff on it as I walked Carol over to the Academy. She's still not completely over the throaty bug she's had for the last day, but if she stays off work much longer she will need to go to the doctor's for a sick note. Another case of burocracy. When I got back to the house I scraped the snow off the car windows as I need to go out later to do some shopping. We're down to 68p on the electric meter. The gas ran out yesterday and we had to use emergency, so that will need topping up too. According to the B.B.C. weather forecast we can expect more snow, but it can't be as bad as Scotland, which has had something like two feet of snow over the past week or so.

During my last doctor's appointment the other week I mentioned some of the side effects of the drugs I am taking for my heart. I have changed the times I take the Isosorbide Mononitrate, from 4 and 9 p.m. to the original 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. I have some slight headaches (these were really bad when I was originally prescribed this medication, but it wore off after about a month.) I have found that I wake in the night and cannot get back to sleep. I was informed by my doctor that it wouldn't be the Isosorbide Mononitrate that cause the sleeplessness, but the Bisoprolol which I have been taking since I had the original heart attack in May 2006. I have done some research on the internet and one site has mentioned 'sleeplessness' as one side-effect. Certainly, I can say that at times I have the opposite, I get very tired, usually during the afternoon, but at the moment I am finding that I do wake in the night and cannot get back to sleep. I am currently trying other things to help me sleep, such as having a bath before I go to bed and sometimes having a warm, milky drink, such as hot chocolate to help me sleep. My dosage of the Bisoprolol have been halved, from 10mg to 5mg, but I cannot say I have noticed any difference as regards my sleeping pattern. The other side effect has been muscle cramps, which was the chief reason for halving the dosage, and the muscle cramps seem to have subsided, although at times they can be fairly mild. 

A Cold and Frosty (and Snowy) Morning

The temperature dipped to well below freezing overnight. We had the heating on yesterday afternoon as the house became really cold. The lounge can become really warm when the sun comes out, as it acts as a sun trap, but even the weak sun we had yesterday failed to warm the room enough so that we could do without the central heating. I had to put on emergency gas (we pay using a pre-pay meter and it is 'charged' with a card, which has to be topped up, which we do regularly at the local shop.) so that we could have the central heating on. It's quite a job to do this, as the meter is outside at the front of the house in the meter cupboard (where else?). I have to stand on a chair to reach this meter, and lean into the cupboard (who on earth had the bright idea of putting it in such an awkward place?) I'm over six feet tall, but even standing on a chair and leaning into the cupboard at full stretch, it's quite a difficult procedure. The electric meter is inside the house, on a wall in the corner at the bottom of the stairs. Why couldn't they both be put inside? Then you have to put the card into the slot in the meter, having remembered to turn off all appliances (usually the gas boiler.) You then have to hold the card until the digital display shows up that it has accepted the payment, and then press the button again. The whole thing bursts into life and this shows that the payment has been taken. And that's it. At least with the electric meter you can see immediately how much there is left before it runs out. When it gets to around 50p the meter will make a noise, not unlike a mobile telephone ringtone, at which point you put in the payment key (not like the card which is used for gas) and it puts on around £5 of emergency electricity, which gives you enough time to go out and get the key/card charged to make your payment. Then the amount used is subtracted from what you've just paid, and so the cycle goes on. Paying in this way does at least mean that we can keep track of how much we use and it's a good deal easier than a monthly or quarterly bill. The gas meter, being outside, is a little more difficult to see how much credit remains. The first you know that the gas has run out is when you go to use the hot taps in either the bathroom or the kitchen, to have a bath or to do some washing up and the water runs cold. There is a red light that flashes on the boiler which indicates that the gas has run out, at which point you have to charge the pre-payment card and put it in the meter.

We woke up this morning to find that there had been a modest fall of snow, not as much as they had in other parts of the country. Scotland and Yorkshire had a good four inches or so. The car had a covering of ice and snow on it when we went out to Morrisons to do some shopping. I had to scrape this off the windscreen and the windows before we left the driveway. On the weather forecast on television this morning they said this cold spell could last around two weeks.

Coughs and Sneezes

Carol has been off work since Wednesday with a really sore throat. At one point she could hardly speak, so it was really no good her going in to work as she would never have been heard by the children she teaches. There is enough problems with behaviour at the Academy, without problems being able to speak. 

It is bright and sunny at the moment, but the temperature has been dropping gradually over the past week or so. According to the BBC Breakfast news there has been snow in parts of North Yorkshire and Scotland, and it would appear that we are going to get snow here before the weekend. They had a report this morning on television from Pickering in North Yorkshire, an area we know well as we had a holiday there a few years ago and went by steam train from Pickering to Whitby which was a great journey up over the Moors. 

We had severe snow and ice last winter and as a result many of the roads within Milton Keynes became potholed, many of which have since been repaired. It took the Council quite some time to get round to repairing these holes, but many have only just been dealt with. I have seen Council workers out repairing the road near here, so I suspect someone has decided that it would be best to repair any remaining holes before the wintry weather hits hard. 

Walking Home

I walked over to the Academy to fetch Carol from work at around 4 p.m. yesterday. It's getting dark at that time and she doesn't feel 100% safe. You have to buzz reception at the gate to get in, and you are being constantly watched by surveillance cameras, as a security precaution. Carol has a card which she swipes to open the gate as she's a staff member, but I don't have a card, not being a staff member. I waited in the reception foyer when I got inside the building. Carol appeared after about 15 minutes and we walked out of the Academy campus. There was a group of students leaving as we left, and they were walking ahead of us. They were somewhat abusive to a man who was about to enter the campus, calling him all sorts of names and  and we walked in the same direction back towards home and across the footbridge over Saxon Street. The group of students were gathered near the bridge and going down steps towards the bus stop on Saxon Street and they were shouting abuse at Carol. Then, as we got to the middle of the footbridge and looked down at the road, there was a boy running backwards and forwards across the road. There was fairly heavy traffic passing, including busses. It appeared as if the children were playing some sort of 'chicken' game and at one point one of them, a boy whom Carol knew from teaching him, looked as if he was very nearly run into by a passing car. When we got home Carol telephoned someone at the Academy telling them about the incident with the man entering the campus as well as the 'chicken' game the children were playing in the road. Apparently the abusive behaviour was caught on the C.C.T.V. cameras and would have been recorded. The 'chicken' behaviour was definitely a safety issue and if it was ignored there could be a fatal accident. Further round, on   Chaffron Way there is a small model lighthouse at the side of the road, with plastic flowers on it, and I had wondered what it was there for. People leave flowers and messages at the site of fatal accidents as a sort of memorial. Carol told me this was where a child from the Frank Markham school (the school she worked at before the Academy replaced it around 18 months ago) was run over and killed because he attempted to cross the road. There are perfectly good under-passes and footbridges across these roads around Milton Keynes, so there is absolutely no need to cross the busy grid roads at all.

Wintery Weather

It's relatively mild this morning, but still quite nippy nevertheless. We are being warned that we can expect the temperature to drop mid-week, and with some possibility of snow in some areas of the country. I just hope that it's not going to be as bad as last winter and the winter before that (read my earlier posts.)

New Heart Drug

 A new heart drug looks as if it's on it's way. From what I've heard about it, it sounds as if it has the same sort of effect as statin drugs, reduces the amount of cholestrol in the blood, thus cutting the risk of clots and, consequently, heart attack. The following was taken from the Reuters website:

'An experimental Merck & Co heart drug, from a class of medicine with a troubled past, appeared to be safe and had a "jaw dropping" effect on both good and bad cholesterol levels, according to data from a clinical trial.

Merck's anacetrapib increased good HDL levels by a stunning 138 percent after 24 weeks of treatment, and lowered levels of bad LDL cholesterol by 40 percent in patients already taking LDL-lowering statins, researchers said.

"The lipid effects are jaw dropping in both directions," said Dr. Christopher Cannon, the study's lead investigator from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He presented the data at the American Heart Association scientific meeting in Chicago on Wednesday.

Researchers found no anacetrapib safety issues during the 18-month study, and patients receiving the drug had fewer serious heart problems than those given a placebo.

Even if development of the medicine continues without a hitch, it will likely be at least five years before Merck can begin selling the drug.

Anacetrapib belongs to a class of drugs called CETP inhibitors that produced one of the most spectacular clinical failures in pharmaceutical history. A pivotal study of Pfizer Inc's highly touted torcetrapib was stopped in late 2006 after higher death rates were found among those taking the drug, pulling the plug on an $800 million Phase III program.

Based on the data from the anacetrapib trial, called Define, "we are 94 percent confident that anacetrapib doesn't have the clinical (side) effects of torcetrapib," Cannon said.

The HDL increase seen with anacetrapib "is double what torcetrapib does; it's four times what niacin can do if you can push niacin to its full 2 gram dose; and 10 times the effect seen with statins," Cannon said, comparing anacetrapib with other therapies.

It is believed that HDL has a heart protective effect, possibly by carrying LDL away from the arteries.'

By Bill Berkrot and Ransdell Pierson

NEW YORK/CHICAGO | Wed Nov 17, 2010 8:44pm IST
 

 (Reuters)

All very fine, but what about the side effects? Will there be muscle cramps, and other side effects? Most notably, running to the toilet a lot, which is a side effect of statins. 

Cold, But Sunny

So we get to Friday. Not a great deal to report, I'm afraid, except to say that it's sunny and bright but there is a definite nip in the air. I walked Carol to the Academy and put on scarf, gloves and wooly hat. The car's windscreen had a slight coating of frost on it, but it would have taken longer to de-ice the car than the time it would take to walk to the Academy, so we left it. Which reminds me, I ought to buy some antifreeze and some deicer spray when we go shopping later, as it will be a necessity as the winter progresses. They've had flooding in Cornwall, according to the B.B.C. news, and Scotland and parts of Yorkshire have had snow. I just hope this doesn't bode too ill for the remainder of the winter, and certainly not as bad as the last two winters.

Cold and Foggy Morning

The day began foggy and cold, but as the morning progressed the sun come out and as it warmed things up the fog  gradually disappeared. The extreme weather we were expecting has not really come to anything, although I'm not so sure about the rest of the country. It was wet and windy on Friday, but then that soon cleared up. As we were driving to Bournemouth on Saturday we were hoping that the weather would improve, which it did. As I write this (12.25 p.m.) the sun is out, although it's not particularly warm, but when I drove into the centre of Milton Keynes to go to Sainsbury's, it was really quite foggy and visability was quite poor. One thing I don't like is driving in fog. It can be really rather dangerous, particularly when other drivers don't seem to care about the effect their driving has on others. Hurtling along as if they hadn't a care in the world, and not slowing down to take into consideration the weather conditions makes driving really difficult and stressful. As I drove past Milton Keynes College, which is over the road and beyond the Academy on Woughton Campus and a mere stonesthrow away, I saw a group of what must have been students standing in the middle of the road attempting to cross. They seemed to have absolutely no sense of danger as they were perilously close to being run into by a passing car because they could only been seen when you were relatively close as the fog was quite thick in that area. I also saw a youth wandering across the road with his attention taken up with his mobile, checking his text messages or something and almost certainly totally unaware of any traffic that might run into him. This seems to be a common sight, people more interested in their mobiles, either talking on them or texting, or else with headphones on plugged into their iPods. I have even seen people riding bicycles with headphones on, which must be even more dangerous because they can surely not be able to hear any car horns or just the sound of cars approaching. Even worse is the sight of car drivers using their mobiles as they drive, which is actually illegal and can get you a fine of around £60 and a few points on your Driving Licence.

Trip To Bournemouth

Last Saturday we went to see Carol's parents, who live in Moordown, Bournemouth. We haven't seen them for well over a year, what with one thing and another. We left bright and early, around 7.30 and got there just before 11 a.m. Carol's mother went through her kitchen and has given us a lot of things that she no longer wants, such as cooking tins, cake tins, glasses and a food chopper/mixer. We went to Allum Chine, which is in the up-market of Bournemouth, full of big houses and really expensive, walked along the promenade, and, although it wasn't particularly warm, was fairly crowded. We had coffee in a restaurant and sat out on the terrace. We saw a couple of seagulls approach, and they looked as if they could give you a nasty nip with their beaks if they were that way inclined. I was surprised how large they were. You normally see them at a distance, and not at such close range. They were picking up the remains of food that people had left behind. We then drove into the centre of Bournemouth and went to a Weatherspoons pub and had a meal. It was very busy. We then went into Debenhams, which was immediately next to the pub. I am looking for a decent shirt and we went into the menswear department and had a look. We bought a shirt in Milton Keynes on Friday, in the Debenhams branch there, but it was worthwhile having a look in the Bournemouth branch. When we finished the meal we drove back to the flat and left for home at about 4.30, arriving home at about 7.30.

Internet Off-Line

We had problems with the internet, starting last Tuesday, when the modem/router got damaged. I had to ring TalkTalk (our internet service provider) to get a replacement. Have you ever had to deal with a company through it's call centre? I bet you have, and I bet it's been a really awful experience, having to listen to dreadful music when you're put on hold, and the droning voice of a woman who say 'your call is important to us.' The endless waiting, the patronising tone of the person who eventually answers. The ridiculous questions. The security checks. I could go on and on. And then, eventually,  getting through to some sort of menu and THEN having to make the decision on what key to press. Or to just 'hold' until 'one of our agents is free to speak to you.'

I eventually got through (after about three attempts. I almost lost the will to live, or to throw the phone out of the window . . .) I had to go through a load of nonsense to find out what was wrong with the router, at one point having to stick a sharp point in a hole in the back of the thing. I used a ball-point pen. It didn't get the thing to work, as you would imagine. I was then passed on to another person, and each time this happened I had to go through all the security rigmarole. They decided that the old router wasn't going to work so they'd have to send us a new one. This arrived yesterday, when I went into Central Milton Keynes yesterday morning. There was a  card from the Post Office stuck through the door when I got home to say that they couldn't put the parcel through the letterbox as it was too big (and thank goodness they didn't as it would most likely have broken the router.) and if I went to the sorting office after three hours I could collect it.

Anyway, it took most of the evening to set up the new router (a considerably smaller and less complicated gadget compared to the old one.) and get the internet working again as we couldn't work out which password and username was which, as the broadband had one and the connection between the iMac and the router had another.

On a different matter, but still with TalkTalk. You have to pay your monthly bill by direct debit. By the time this is due there is never enough money in the bank account to actually cover the bill, so this gets returned to TalkTalk (as it would with any company who you pay your bills with.) As a result the amount we owed got into arrears. I rang up last week and payed the outstanding bill using my debit card, a simple enough task. But the whole idea of setting up a direct debit, you would have thought, was that it's an easier, simpler means of paying your bill, as you can just forget it and the company gets it's payment without any fuss. Further to this, you tell them when you want the money to come out of your account, usually at the time when you have money going IN to the account, so that the direct debits are covered. Well, this is what I tried to explain to the person I spoke to at TalkTalk. They told me that it wasn't possible to change the day that the money came out of our account. I said that virtually all the other companies we pay our bills to by direct debit allowed us to set up the day they are paid. But TalkTalk won't play ball over this issue. I said that they were totally inflexible. I will have to wait for them to phone up so each monthly bill can be paid by debit card. I'd just like to know if other people find this a really annoying business and totally inflexible. There must be  a few as I'd expect them to have quite a lot of customers.

Anyway, all this to explain why I havent' managed to post anything to this blog for a week.

Doctor's Appointment

On Friday I put in a repeat prescription at the doctor's surgery, as my medication is beginning to run out. I like to get this sorted out fairly rapidly, as I don't want to find that I am down to one or two tablets before I put in the repeat prescription. Then, at midday, I got a call from the surgery to say that I would have to make an appointment with one of the doctors before they'd give me a prescription. I think it's the statins that they are concerned about. As I've mentioned in this blog elsewhere, I have had problems with statins from the first time I was prescribed, and have been taking Pravastatin for quite a while without too many side effects. One of them has been muscle pain. So I attempted to make an appointment by telephone this morning. I started ringing at 8.15, and the automated system told me 'the surgery isn't open at the moment . . .' and a few minutes later I got through and the message was 'the surgery is experiencing a hight demand' etc. I then decided, as the surgery wasn't too far away, I'd drive there. The traffic was quite heavy, but I got there fairly quickly, parked the car and then walked into the surgery. There was quite a long queue at the reception desk, but I got to the receptionist and managed to get an appointment at 9.50, so I returned home as there was no point waiting at the surgery for an hour and a half.

On returning I didn't have to wait long. I was hoping that the surgery would have had the letter from the hospital regarding my consulatant's appointment last Thursday, and the doctor had it on his computer screen. I mentioned that I was getting headaches and imagined it was a result of taking Isoborbide Mononitrate. The doctor now tells me that it would be as a result of taking Bisoprolol, the headaches are the cumalative effect of taking this particular drug, and that I should take only 5 mg rather than 10 mg each morning. I am to continue taking the Isorbide Mononitrate. I am to have a blood test and he wants to check my cholestrol, so on the way out of the surgery I made an appointment at reception and have to come back at 9 tomorrow morning. The doctor printed out a prescription and I took this to the pharmacy in Netherfield, a short walk from the surgery, to get it made up. One of the advantages of reaching the age of 60 is that I don't have to pay for my prescriptions, which is quite a considerable saving. The prescription was made up, except of part of the Pravastatin order, which was incomplete, so I will have to return tomorrow sometime to get the remainder of the prescription.

I got home to discover the Post had been delivered. There was a bank statement and a buff, official-looking envelope, which I never like the look of as they invariably mean trouble, but, on opening it, I discover it contains good news. A cheque from H.M. Inland Revenue, a rebate of Tax for nearly £500. I was expecting it, so I immediately drove into the centre of Milton Keynes to deposit it in my Nationwide account. It should be cleared through the account by Friday.