Spring Bank Holiday

It might be Half Term for the rest of Milton Keynes schools this week, but it's work as usual at the Milton Keynes Academy. It seems to set it's own dates and times of it's terms itself, so it means that whilst children at the rest of the schools across Milton Keynes will be off this week, those at the Academy will be working. Never mind, though, as the Academy will be having it's Half-Term next week.

Carol and I went out yesterday. We went to  Willington Garden Centre, (just the other side of Bedford, and the next village to where I lived as a child.) We used the recently-opened road between Brogborough and the MI and Bedford, and I was very surprised how quickly we got to Willington (no more than half an hour.) It was surprisingly quiet, we wondered where all the people were. I hadn't been there in around 10 years (I used to take one of my regular 'outreach' clients there, I seem to remember.) and it was pleasant to wander around the plants and other items. We had coffee, and sat in the restaurant near the fishpond, and there is a part where the fish can actually come into the restaurant in a special section of the pond. Some of the fish were really large, and it was interesting to see them floating past in the depths of the pond as we sipped our lattes. From there we drove to Barton-In-The-Clay, where we visited the Old Mill Shopping Village, constructed around an old mill (not surprisingly). We'd been there several weeks ago and went into the antiques centre. We had brought a rather attractive glass ornament in the shape of an elephant, and we were somewhat surprised to find that this centre was closing down, due to the end of it's lease. It was somewhat sad to see the place half-emptied of it's stock. We would have bought another rather nice piece of glass, but they wouldn't accept a Debit card, and as we had no cash on us, we couldn't buy it.

Murder in Fishermead

Carol sent me an email from the Academy on Friday. Apparently there had been a fatal shooting in Fishermead, an area of Milton Keynes in the next 'grid' square from here. 

The victims of this incident had gone to the Sir Frank Markham Community School (which was the former school which the new Milton Keynes Academy replaced.) and Carol had known some of the younger family members of the victims of this incident. This incident has been covered in both national and regional news on television.

 The following statement was issued by Thames Valley Police about the incident:

'Thames Valley Police is continuing to investigate a shooting which happened in the Fishermead area of Milton Keynes yesterday (26/5).

The incident happened in an alleyway at Fishermead Boulevard shortly after 10pm.

A 19-year-old man died at the scene and an 18-year-old man is in a critical condition in hospital.

Det Supt Rob Mason, who is leading the investigation, said: “We are obviously still at a very early stage of this investigation.

“We believe that the victims in this incident are friends, but we do not know if the offender is known to them.

“The second man is critically ill with a gun shot wound to his head and is currently under an armed guard at Milton Keynes General Hospital for his own protection.

“I realise that there is a lot of concern in the community as well as a lot of speculation about the reasons behind this incident. We are still trying to establish the facts and cannot be drawn on rumours and speculation. We have a large and highly visible police presence in the area which should provide some reassurance to the community at this difficult time.

“I continue to urge anyone who has any information about this incident to contact police urgently.”

Anyone with any information about this incident should contact Thames Valley Police via 0845 8 505 505.'

Alternatively, if you do not want to speak to police or leave your name, please contact the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.'

M.A.D.

Two weeks ago I went for an interview to work as a volunteer at M.a.D. (Make A Difference) a charity which works with you people, particularly those who have behavoural problems. It is based in the old Milton Keynes bus station building, and previously was a night club. Recently P.M. David Cameron gave a speech there to Sixth-Formers from Milton Keynes Academy (and can be seen on The Guardian newspaper website, if you know where to look. There are photographs on Milton Keynes Academy's visual display boards throughout the Academy building (and I've seen them whilst waiting in the reception area for Carol.) I have been sent an email from M.a.D. this morning which had attachments which included a Befriender Pack. I will have to make a C.R.B. Disclosure before I can do any work for them. They are particularly interested in my puppetry-work, as puppetry is  the sort of thing that they are keen to have going on in the building.

Sunny and Bright

It's still sunny and bright, and, thankfully, the wind has dropped. We still need some rain, as things are looking really dry and brown.  The lawn (if you can actually call it that. The patch of grass at the back of the house.) has cracks in it. And we're not even into June yet.

5th Anniversery

Today is the 5th anniversery of my heart attack. I'm still here. I feel as well as ever. Thank you Lord. I would never have met Carol, who makes things brighter and better. Love you, Carol!

Alfie Goes Missing . . . Again!

I let the dogs out early this morning. It was around 5 a.m. I was about to make tea, as I usually do. I was keeping an eye on Alfie, to see where he was, and then saw that he wasn't anywhere to be found. I went into the garden and went to where I'd last seen him, near the gate in the corner at the bottom of the garden. I saw that there was a hole at the bottom of the gate, and no Alfie. I went into the house to get dressed (at that point I was in pyjamas and slippers) and shot upstairs. Carol was just waking up, and I got dressed quickly and told her that Alfie was missing. I went out of the house through the front door, along the road and through the gap in the houses and onto the Red Way. I eventually got to the path (if you can really call it that- it's so over-grown you can hardly get through) and pushed my way through the bushes and got to the back of the garden. I found Alfie, and he came to me and let me pick him up. I returned to the Red Way to find Carol had come out and was calling me, as I'd come through the gap between the houses higher up the road and we went back home. Alfie was really trembling. I think he was more scared than anything else. He'd got out, but couldn't find his way back in. We have managed to block up the hole at the bottom of the gate, but I'm now worried that Alfie will try and get through somewhere else, as he doesn't give up once he gets started.

Lost Dog

Alfie was lost yesterday morning. I got into a bit of a panic. I had taken Carol to work, got back home, had breakfast and went upstairs. Poppy was on the bed, but Alfie was nowhere to be found. I looked in all the usual places, for example, under the bed. I went round the house several times, but no response. Generally, if you call him, Alfie will appear, so this time it was unusual. I was beginning to get concerned. Had he got out? I'm certain he hadn't, and not out of the front door. He has run off, down the street, but never goes far, and then he'll come back when you call, but he has no sense of road safety, so he'd get run over, which is what caused me to panic. If he wasn't out the front, he must be out the back. 

He loves the garden, and has a routine of checking things out, first going to the neighbour's fence on the left and going to the place where their dog barks at him (to such an extent that the fence begins to move horribly. It's a beast of a dog and I'm sure it could do a lot of damage to both our dogs, if given half a chance. Our neighbours never repremand their dog, call it in or stop it in any way.) He then goes to the ancient garden shed and disappears inside (the door is off and really needs repairing. It's not our property, our landlord should look after it more, including the fence. I have already mentioned this to the letting agency, but nothing has been done about it. Lastly, he goes to the fence at the end of the garden and appears (you'll laugh!) to be looking through the slats and out into the gap at the back of the fence. Anyway, I called him several more times, but no response. Then, after a while, I decided to look over the fence. As a sort of last resort. I had to stand on a chair, and there he was, the other side of the fence, in the space, between the fence and the trees and bushes which line the Redway which runs behind our garden. There is a gate in the fence, which we rarely use, as it is quite difficult to get open, and the trees make it quite difficult to gan access to it the other side, but this time I was really desperate to reach Alfie. I had my slippers on, so I didn't want to walk out onto the rough ground, so I went back into the house to put on my shoes, and then went round the front of the house and along the road and through the gap in the houses and onto the Redway. I had to walk quite a way before I reached the back of our house and get in to where Alfie was. He looked at me so helplessly, he'd got out and didn't know how to get back, however he'd done it. I had to call to him, and he crawled through the gap and I managed to pick him up. He was really licking me and almost saying 'thank you' for rescuing him. I managed to get back through the fence and took him in the house, having shut the gate securely and closing the glass sliding door into the house. I had to keep the door closed all day, as I still wasn't sure how he'd got out.