Police Raid on house in Eaglestone

We went shopping in Asda extra early this morning, around 6 a.m. Were we mad, or was it just a way of avoiding the queues? Not really. Just seemed a good idea at the time. Only trouble is, you have to try and avoid all the pallets and trolleys used by the night staff to stack the shelves. I almost broke my leg tripping over one pallet as I attempted to reach something from a shelf along one aisle and I could barely reach the milk in the dairy produce area. I think it's all very well having 24-hour opening, but not so good when customers can't get around the store with their trolleys or reach goods from the shelves. Apart from that it was a relatively short wait at the check-out, and we were back home in time to take Sam to work for 8.30.

We next went to Morrison's at Westcroft and treated ourselves to a full English breakfast. Carol had to have a prescription made up in Boots, and while we were waiting we met Jan, the lady who is on our Welcome Team at our church, Milton Keynes Christian Centre. She told us that there was an offer on ladies' fragrances, if you bought a certain brand or something for the ridiculous sum of £5 you were entitled to £5-worth of Boot's Advantage points, which sounded a good offer. So whilst I waited for the prescription to be made up, Carol went with Jan to have a look. She selected a fragrance called 'So . . .Kiss Me.' Need I say more?

We then went to IKEA as we wanted to get a trolley as we've got a job delivering IKEA catalogues around Eaglestone and the trolley will be useful to transport the catalogues. They arrived yesterday on the back of a HGV and we spent half an hour unloading them into the house as they came on a pallet. Something like 900 catalogues. The fact that the trolley came from IKEA is merely a coincidence.

No sooner than we had turned into Eaglestone than we noticed a couple of police cars parked along the road from our house and a policeman carrying a gadget which I know is used to break down doors. It looked as if a police was raid was in the process of being carried out. I had to post a letter a minute or two later and as the post box was close to all this activity I couldn't help but notice yet another police car turn up and a WPC get out of the car and walk towards the house which now has a 'for let' sign outside. No doubt all this will be covered by the local press and local television this evening, so will have to watch the BBC's 'Look East' programme at 6.30 and Anglia's 'About Anglia' shows.

Noisy Neighbour . . . quiet at last!

Well, no noise has come from next door for a day or two. We feared another onslaught of the drills, hammers, grinders, sanders et al, but it seems our fears were unfounded. We saw their car arrive back from somewhere such as B and Q or Homebase with something on the roof-rack. Maybe some sort of device to help saw wood, a work-mate or whatever it's called. I think the man devours Black and Decker catalogues and loves sales in these D.I.Y. places so as to try out the latest high-powered drill with hammer-attachment, just to try the patience of his neighbours. We await the next onslaught and if that happens, we'll leave him to it and go out for the day . . .

Bank Holiday Monday

A typical Bank Holiday Monday: it's starting to rain and there's next-to nothing on television, and we haven't got much to do . . .

Visit to Leighton Buzzard

Yesterday was yet another one of those days when the weather can't really make it's mind up. Warm one minute, with blazing sunshine, and then it clouds over and the rain starts. Or it just clouds over and it just goes really dull. We'd been shopping really early, and by late afternoon we had nothing else to do. It's really not like us to sit around indoors in the Summer. We're usually visiting somewhere or other, usually a National Trust property, which we did a few weeks ago when we went to Ickworth. We have recently renewed our membership, so we're ready for a further year of visits, and have planned to perhaps visit one more before Carol goes back to work in a little over a week's time and may visit Biddulph Grange in Staffordshire. It's not far if we go up the M1, and just past Stoke-On-Trent and wouldn't take much over 90 minutes or so.

We needed to get out of the house (our neighbour not making any sort of noise, but certainly likely to start up at any moment) so we decided to go to Leighton Buzzard, a short drive down the A5 towards Aylesbury and along the relatively-new by-pass. Not somewhere I'd immediately think of visiting, but we have a number of really interesting small market towns around Milton Keynes, such as Wolverton, Stony Stratford, Newport Pagnell and Olney, all with a lot of history and some quirky independent shops to browse in. It's one of those places you go past but there's no need to visiti as there really isn't a lot to go there for. We got to Leighton Buzzard and eventually parked near the library. I think I recall in the past doing a job working for Bedford Libraries, driving a library van, and I think we might have gone to this library. We walked into the centre of the town, and were surprised how run-down and uncared-for it looked. Particularly the branch of W.H. Smith which had tatty carpeting on the floor which was in desperate need of replacing and a really jumbled-up set of display shelves. Then into a bookshop. It was nearly 4.30 and the sun was shining, and the shopkeeper/owner was fixing posters on the windows. We have a habit of chatting to everyone we meet, if we can strike up a conversation, but she was just plain miserable and seemed far more interested in getting us out of the shop so she could shut the place up. We had intended having a coffee and went into the local branch of Costa's, but there were no free seats, so we bought cold drinks and went back to the carpark to leave for home. The place is really nice, but they could have made more effort to be more welcoming and it was really run down. A real shame and rather a disappointment, to say the least.

It took some time to get out of the town centre. Another town with a complex one-way system and poor signage didn't help us much.
We got onto the A5 heading back to Milton Keynes. It was by now really clouding over, and then the rain began, slowly at first, with a few drops, but by the time we reached the outskirts of Milton Keynes, the heavens opened and there was a deluge. Carol was driving, and she decided to pull into a layby. There was a really fast-flowing stream of water running along the side of the layby, and visability had been really poor as we drove along the road, which meant it was really hard seeing the road clearly and the windscreen wipers couldn't go fast enough to shift the falling water. After barely two minutes it stopped and we continued on our way, coming off the A5 near the football stadium. We noticed that the road was dry, which was a real surprise, considering that no more than a mile earlier it was flowing with water, so that rainstorm must have been incredibly local.

Noisy Neighbour

Carol is still on holiday from the Academy. She would be quite pleased to have some peace and quiet from the stresses of working in that place, so why does our neighbour insist on making loud noises all day, scraping walls, using electric drills, grinders etc etc? It got to such a point that we decided to get out and went for a meal at Caldecotte Arms pub. Nothing to expensive, but just nice to get out as the weather was fairly good. A good excuse to get away from the noise and stress of that stupid neighbour of ours.

Eye Test

I've been into Milton Keynes Centre and had my eyes tested at Boot's Opticians. I parked in Debenham's car park, as I was likely to be some while, having dropped Carol at the Academy, as they were having G.C.S.E. results this morning. I had some time to waste so I walked around the shopping centre, although most of the shops weren't yet opened, although I did go into W.H.Smith and browsed around in the book and magazine section. I got to Boot's at around 8.35, and was surprised to find them open. The eye appointment was at 9.00, but I had to fill in a form first and then had the pre-screening done, which includes the rather nasty test they do to check for glacoma, done with a small puff of air on your eyeball. I have had this done before and it's unpleasant. Even though I know it's coming, and you're expected to keep your eye open and stare at a red dot, I still jump when it comes. They have to do three for each eye, I suppose to get at least one of those three as an average reading. The you do the periperal vision test with a machine with lights that blink on and off and you have to click on a button. I had to sit back in the waiting area and then the actual eyetest began. No real problems, but I haven't had an eye-test for at least five years. Then I had to select a pair of glasses and an assessment was made as to the finished glasses, and I will pick up the finished glasses in a few days time.

Shift work increases chance of heart attack by more than 20%

Having listened to the rantings of the lady outside the doctor's surgery (as mentioned in the previous post.) and mentioning as she did Continental Shift Patterns, I decided to put this into Google, and was somewhat shocked to come across the following item, from The Standard of 27th July, 2012:

Shift work raises the risk of having a heart attack, a major review of working pattern health effects has shown.

Working unsocial hours was found to increase the chances of a heart attack by more than a fifth, with the risk of a stroke rising by 5%.

Shift patterns, especially night shifts, have long been linked to high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and diabetes.

But experts have disagreed about their association with heart and artery disease.

The new research, the largest analysis of shift work and heart risk to date, pulled together evidence from 34 studies involving more than two million people.

Coronary events - including heart attacks and angina chest pains - and strokes were more common among shift workers.

The chances of "any coronary event" were increased by 24%, and of heart attacks by 23%, while stroke risk was raised slightly by 5%.

Despite the relatively small effect, the impact on a large population could be significant, the authors pointed out.

In Canada, where a number of the researchers were based, 7% of heart attacks could be attributed to shift work.

The scientists, led by Dr Daniel Hackam, from Western University in Canada, wrote in the British Medical Journal: "Shift work is associated with vascular events, which may have implications for public policy and occupational medicine."

Night shifts were associated with the steepest increase in risk for coronary events, 41%. But research found no link between shift work and higher death rates from any cause.

All And Sundry

The last time I had a repeat prescription from my doctor's surgery, I noticed that at the end, on the second sheet (the page you tear off before handing it over in the pharmacy.) that it said that I should have a review of my medication. Infact, I should have had one around February/March time. Thinking about it, I was surprised that the surgery didn't send me a letter or even email, or even text, to remind me to make an appointment, but never mind. I wanted to make an advance appointment last week, around Wednesday, so we went into the surgery, to be told that you can't book an appointment in advance, only on the day you want the appointment. Which is annoying, considering my health condition and the fact that I have repeat prescription, but there was nothing I could do about it, except come back on Monday (today) as soon as the surgery opened at 8 a.m. and make the appointment. Sam was on an early at Maplin's, so Carol took me to the surgery and then returned home to collect him and then take him to work, but it turned out he wasn't on shift until 9 a.m., not 8.30. So she returned to the surgery. By which time I'd managed to get my appointment for 8.30.

When I arrived outside the surgery it was around 7.50, and there was quite a queue of people, standing outside, and down the steps and into the carpark. One particular woman was holding forth on all and sundry, really mouthing off about how she was going to have to  move to a smaller flat, because the house  she was in had so many bedrooms, and the Council wanted her to move to a smaller place with fewer bedrooms, then she was off on other people who were on Benefits and she was working and her shift-pattern had changed to the 'Continental Shift-System' or something (whatever that is.) She did '6-2, 2-10, and 10-6' or something. I couldn't work out where she worked or what work she did, but I can recognize the shift-pattern, having worked in care and also working in a warehouse or on a production line. Anway, listening to her moaning on and on, at the top of her voice, was rather like an episode of 'EastEnders' or some such dreary soap. Why do some people have to 'wash their dirty laundry in public' as the saying goes? The rest of the queue of people were fascinated by her rant, and we tried desperately not to laugh.

Anway, it certainly kept us all amused, and certainly me, considering I'm writing material which would benefit no end from this character before me, in full-flow, so all that will be filed in my memory banks for future use.

Anyway, I eventually got into the doctor's surgery without much of a problem. The last time it was around 20-30 minutes after the time the appointment was booked. So I was more than pleased to get in so swiftly. As I sat in the waiting area, the ranting woman was sitting immediately behind me, so I got a further installment of her goings-on. I'm sorry, but when there's such a ripe piece of entertainment going free, which not make the most of it? Life's never boring when you can spend some time observing other people, and even more so when they can be used for one's novel-writing.

The doctor went through all my medications, and I was expecting to get him to print out a prescription, which I could then just take to the pharmacy, which is conventiently next door to the surgery, to have made up. He told me that there was now 'a 48-hour rule' and that I'd have to get it done 'at the reception-desk.' As I had managed to time the medications review to coincide with my medications running out, I was somewhat annoyed by this. I have managed to set thing up so that I can order my repeat prescription 'on-line' meaning that I don't have to fill in a form and then go to the surgery. Even though the surgery is only a short walk, or drive, from home, it is more conventient to do this on-line. So, I went to the receptionist and she managed to go it on her computer, and it should be ready for collection on Wednesday, but possibly it might be ready tomorrow.

Carol came back, to inform me that Sam wasn't on-shift until later than she thought. She managed to take him to work and then return to collect me.

What are flavonoids, and how can they help heart-health?

Some foods, such as grapes, tea and chocolate, contain special components called phytochemicals that may be beneficial to your heart health. Enjoying them in moderation may be doing something healthy for your heart.

Flavonoids are one group of phytochemicals found naturally in red wine, tea, cocoa, soy, citrus fruits, berries, apples, onions and pulses (dried beans, peas and lentils). There are thousands of different flavonoids found in many different foods. For example, there are catechins in tea, flavanols in cocoa and isoflavones in soy. Research shows a variety of flavonoids may be beneficial for your heart health.

Flavonoids act as a shield in plants to protect against toxins and to help repair damage. It is thought that when we eat flavonoids, they act similarly within the body. As antioxidants, they help prevent damage from free radicals that can build up during normal body processes, such as breathing. When flavonoids prevent free radicals from building up, oxidation of "bad" lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol decreases, which prevents atherosclerosis, or plaque formation within the walls of the arteries. Flavonoids also appear to help prevent blood clotting, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, decrease inflammation and help with insulin sensitivity. Thus, although more research is needed, eating a variety of foods rich in flavonoids may lower your risk of heart disease.

From secondscount.org.

Hottest Day Of The Year

They had forecast this as being possibly the hottest day of the year so far. I can well believe it, because, as I write this (at 10.47 a.m.) the sun is out in full force. Carol and I have been into the Central Shopping Centre (Centre MK as it's called) and parked the car in Debenham's multi-storey car park, as it's the best place to park as you are more or less guaranteed a place, even though you have to pay. It was virtually empty when we arrived at around 8.45, having dropped Sam off at Maplin's where he recently started working. We walked down through Debenhams and out into the shopping centre. We were going to Boot's opticians, and they have a branch outside their main store, but it didn't open until 9.30, so we walked to the main branch and upstairs, where I made an appointment for my eye-test for 9.00 a.m. on Monday. We browsed for new glasses and selected three frames, so I will order these once my eyes are tested. You should get a second pair, for reading, when you get the distance glasses as theres a 'buy one, get one free' offer on in Boot's. We went into Marks and Spencer as Carol was looking for a skirt. We went up several floors on the escalator, and found it exceptionally hot the further up the building you went. There must have been something wrong with the air conditioning in Marks and Spencer, and they had several industrial air conditioning units dotted around the various floors, one of which we stood in front of to get the benefit of the cooling air.
Several other people came to enjoy the breeze from the air conditioning unit. But it was far too hot to remain inside the store, so we left, to find it a good deal cooler at the lowest level. It would be a good idea if Marks and Spencer was to rectify the fault in their cooling system, especially on a Saturday, which would, no doubt, have been their busiest shopping day of the week, and even more so with the current state of the country's economy. We left the building and walked to Gregg's, bakers, confectioners, call it what you will, and purchased two delicious-looking buns, with icing and surmounted with glace cherries, which we later consumed at home with our coffee. We browsed in W.H.Smith and then B.H.S. and then returned to Debenham's and went up on the escalator to the carpark. When you enter the carpark you have to take a ticket at the barrier, which rises to admit your vehicle, and then, on leaving, you put the ticket in another machine which tells you conveneitly how much you have to pay, and it returns the original ticket to you, which you then use in the machine at the barrier to let you out of the carpark.
Both our dogs can't cope with warm weather. Alfie, in particular. I must have mentioned that we took the dogs to Marston Mortaine where there is a country park, when it was exceptionally hot, and Alfie almost collapsed and died because it was so hot. It was very distressing, but we got him home and he got over it. Things are not helped by our neighbours, whose dog barks at our dogs through the fence, which sets Alfie off, barking and generally getting really wound up. So we have to call him into the house, but our beloved neighbours make no attempt to stop their dog behaving in this fashion. Dogs being dogs, I suppose it's in their nature to behave like this, territorial behavior or something, but we don't want our dogs getting over-hot. So, it end up with them having to come indoors and the French windows into the garden shut, to stop them going outside, which is rather unfair on them, particularly as they enjoy pottering around the garden.

Broken Glasses

Oh dear. Things break. Like the leaking pipe in the kitchen after the botched attempt to plumb in the washing machine and the car window which shattered. Now my glasses have fallen apart. I'll have to go without until cash is available, so no driving. Just becoming bat-like until I can buy new pair. May have to get my eyes tested.

Visit to Ickworth

 Sculpted frieze at Ickworth. Coincidentally, it 

features the Olympic games from classical times

Well, it's being a sunny and warm day, so, as Carol is on holiday from the Academy, we set out for a visit to a National Trust property on Saturday morning, and decided on Ickworth, which is near Bury St Edmunds. We set off really early, as we wanted to make the most of our day. As it turned out it was a really glorious sunny day. We left around 8 o'clock and got to Ickworth a little after 10. We stopped at a Little Chef on the A14 near Newmarket to have coffee as we needed a break (Carol was driving.) I was under the impression that Little Chef had closed down (another casualty of the recession.) but apparently not. I think they did get into financial difficulties (no doubt the darstardly banks are involved. Aren't they involved in most of the woes of industry and business?) but they have presumably been thrown a life-line by some private investor or other, such as one of The Dragons from "Dragon's Den." 

Having got to the turn-off near Bury St Edmonds it wasn't  exactly clear where we had to go for Ickworth, as there was a signpost which was pointing in what we assumed was the wrong way, but did end up at the entrance into Ickworth. This is a magnificent place, Italianate in style, with a central rotunda. As we are National Trust members we got in free. This is the f third time we've been out to a National Trust Property, we'd have made more visits if the weather hadn't been so awful during the earlier part of the summer. We've been to Stowe, where they'd recently opened a new visitor centre and restaurant (I think I've mentioned this in an earlier post.) and to Waddesdon with the two girls Carol tutors (we didn't go inside the manor on this occasion.)

This house was fascinating. As you can see from this photograph, it has a rotunda, a round central section, quite unlike any other National Trust property we've been to. Like a lot of these properties, they were built at a time when labour was cheap, and those that built them had the money to lavish on extravagant buildings. Here they built parts that were never lived in, and today part of this house has been converted for use as a hotel. We had an interesting guided tour of the servant's quarters, which made the visit more than usually interesting.