Mixed Weather

It's been raining for most of the day. Quite heavily, infact, but, as I write this, the rain has stopped and the sun is out. Makes me laugh, though, as we're supposed to be in a drought in this part of England. What does make me cross, though, is that the water companies waste so much water with leaks. The gas company has been doing roadworks near here and it's been going on for weeks. Why on earth it has to take so long I can't imagine, but there's a real mess up the road and leading out of Eaglestone. As I came in the other day, there was a van parked up on the grass near the Redway, with a 'workman' inside, looking to me as if he was asleep, and there was WATER running down the gutter into a drain! I realise that workmen are entitled to a rest now and again, but why was this water being wasted when there is a hosepipe ban in operation around here? None of this makes any sense to me. Crazy world we live in.

Carol Didn't Get The Job

Well, you may be wondering what the outcome of last week's trip to Barnsley was. Well, after all that effort, Carol didn't get the job, which means we're not moving to Yorkshire after all. We'll be staying right here in Milton Keynes. So now you know.

Faulty Technology

I do a number of 'on-line' surveys and get paid for doing them. Some you accrue points which can be used to convert into vouchers for a number of well-known retail outlets, or they can be converted into Amazon points. I have managed to get quite a few items from Amazon, books, a digital watch, an external hard-drive for the iMac, as well as managing to get a microwave, an electric iron and a mini DVD player as well as a Sony e-reader from Argos and Curry's. I had a cheque to pay into my Nationwide account come in the post on Saturday and decided to go into the city centre to pay it into the account. The branch has a couple of automated machines that allow you to pay in cash, cheques as well as the usual A.T.M. functions found on most other 'hole-in-the-wall' machines. I put in my cashcard and pressed the relevant keys in order to pay in the cheque. I put the cheque in the slot as indicated, to have it immediately rejected and spat out unceremoniously. I had thought that I had managed to put it in the slot in the correct way, as indicated by the illustration shown on screen. But again it was rejected. It grabbed the cheque in a very brisk fashion. Can't they programme a machine to at least have a few manners? Doesn't seem they can. I attempted this action several more times, much to the amusement of the lady who was waiting to use the thing behind me. I then decided, when the cheque was thown back at me for around the sixth time to give up on the whole process, and was about to queue up to use the traditional method of payment, through a human being behind a desk (the whole purpose, supposedly, of having the automated system would have been to cut down on having to queue.) I went to another machine the other end of the banking hall, and this one worked perfectly, without a single hitch. How can one machine be so difficult, and the other work perfectly? What particularly annoyed me was that none of the Nationwide staff who where nearby made any effort to help resolve the problem with the machine. I was always under the impression that their staff were quite helpful, so this has really changed my view of them.

Carol's Job Interview

Carol has been applying for teaching jobs in the Yorkshire area. On Tuesday she had one at a special school in Barnsley. We drove up after school on Monday and stayed in a Travelodge hotel overnight, as the appointment was at 8.30 the next morning. She had to give a presentation, amongst other things, on how teaching in a mainstream school differs from that in a special school. She had been working on this for around two weeks, over the Easter holiday infact.

We got up to Barnsley in good time, found the hotel (after a bit of searching) and then went off to find the school, which was only around 10 minutes away from the hotel. On arriving back at the hotel we went for a meal at a Frankie and Bennys, which was over the road from the hotel. 

The following morning we were at the school before 8.00, in really good time for the appointment and she went into the school at around 8.15. I then went back to the hotel until 12 noon, as that was when we had to check out. I filled in the next couple of hours until I was due back to pick up Carol at 2 by wondering around the Barnsley area and sitting and reading my book which I had taken with me. Carol came out of the school at around 2 p.m., not knowing whether she had got the job or not, as this won't be decided until Monday, as it depends on the school's budgets. We drove away from Barnsley and got on the M1 and stopped at Meadowhall shopping centre near Sheffield and had a meal. We got back to Milton Keynes by around 5.15. The weather had been reasonably good, but on the way back it rained heavily, but as we drove closer to home the sun did come out briefly.

A Surprise Parcel!

We were quietly watching television this afternoon (actually the run-up to the Grand National, if you must ask!) when there was a loud knock at the door. I didn't take much notice at first, as our neighbours make all sorts of odd, extraneous noises, and this made the dogs bark! I went and answered the door, to discover a postman handing me this large, brown parcel, which I took. We haven't ordered anything, nothing from Amazon, which is where most parcels come from for us, and took it through to the lounge to open, and discovered inside a rather nice cafetiere, two matching mugs and a packet of ground coffee, all curtesy of Taylor's of Harrogate. There was nothing to say where it was from, as you'd expect. I think it may have been some sort of draw on the Classic FM website, there again it may be something to do with Betty's of Harrogate (who own Taylor's.) Carol and I love Betty's teashops, when we visit Yorkshire, there being several branches, one in Harrogate, another in York, and one in Northallerton (all of which we've visited during holidays in Yorkshire.) so it may have been when I've signed up for emails from them. Several years ago I won a rather nice Robert's digital radio from a similar draw on Classic FM (which I still have and use regularly.) Just goes to show that if you sign up to things you do eventually win something.

Alfie Has A Haircut!

Alfie, our Yorkshire Terrier, has been to the grooming parlour  this morning and had his hair cut. Quite drastically, I have to admit. His coat was getting very knotted and untidy and it was in desperate need of a trim. As I've mentioned on this blog before now, getting him into the car is quite traumatic, as he gets so wound up and makes an awful noise, so it was a relief when Carol was able to simply pick him up and get him into the cage in the back of the car with very little noise. We took Poppy with us, as she really doesn't like being left in the house on her own, and drove across Milton Keynes to Pets At Home, where the grooming parlour is situated. 

Alfie made his usual noise as we drew into the car park, letting everyone know that he'd arrived. We took both dogs into the Pets At Home showroom, with the grooming parlour at the back, and had to wait a while before we could take Alfie in. Eventually we took him in and left him with the staff and went off to do shopping elsewhere, especially Tesco's in Wolverton. We got a phone call by mobile about and hour and a half to say he was done, which was actually as we were driving back. 

When staff at the grooming parlour brought out Alfie, we were a little shocked by how he looked, as he had been somewhat shorn of his previously-long and somewhat matted coat. He didn't make any noise, possibly because he was a little bit traumatised by the whole experience, and this was something odd as he makes quite a noise when something upsets him. We took him home in the car and may decide to buy him a coat of some sort as the weather has been quite cold over the past few days, and he does suffer from cold. I must say he does look much better and you can see his face clearer and as a result he should be able to see where he's going far better!

Next month it's Poppy's turn, as her coat is in a definite need of a trim!

Easter Holiday

Carol is now on Easter holiday, the Academy breaking up last Friday.

Yesterday we went into the Milton Keynes Central Shopping Centre. We parked in Debenham's carpark, arriving a little after 9 a.m. and finding the place virtually deserted. We went down the escalator into Midsummer Place shopping centre, with the sun streaming in through the windows, although we found it was chilly. The weather is somewhat deceptive at the moment. We were somewhat shocked to discover how many shops have closed down, presumably as a result of the recession. Game was on the verge of closing, but apparently has found a buyer. They have, or had, two shops in the shopping centre, one was closed up. It makes you wonder why companys have two branches in the same town. Barrets shoes has gone, including the cafe Let's Eat, down opposite W.H.Smith. That has been there ever since the shopping centre opened in the late '70's and was a good place for a snack. Pity it has gone. There are several other vacant units, including Pumpkin Patch, which sold children's clothing.  Virgin Megastore, which sold CDs, DVDs and so on went ages ago and became Zavvi, but even that has now gone. I begin to wonder where all this is going to end and how many shops we are going to end up with. We eventually got to Waterstone's, which used to be part of H.M.V. but has now been sold to another company, Russian I believe, but I'm not sure. They also  have two branches in the shopping centre. We had a browse and then had coffee in the in-store Costa's. A clever idea to have a coffee shop inside a book shop as you can browse the books over a latte as you decide which books to buy. Carol bought a book on teaching learning disabilities, and I have seen several books I'd like, but may eventually buy them on Amazon, as they are cheaper (with Amazon you pay one lot of postage and packing to cover however many books are in one order. They have their U.K. warehouse just up the road from here at Ridgmont, on the intersection with the Milton Keynes/Bedford road and junction 13 of the M1 Motorway, and we see it regularly whenever we go past.) Carol had a look at the in-store branch of Paperchase, as she love their products and bought a couple of pens. Having finished in the shopping centre we went to Sainsbury's and bought some items for lunch and then came home.