Day Out At Twycross Zoo

Carol said we were going to have an outing today and had said it was going to be a surprise but it turned out to be to Twycross Zoo.  We had originally decided that we'd go for a swim at D.W. Fitness and then decided against it as if we'd gone there at 8 o'clock we'd then be late getting out of Milton Keynes on our way to Twycross, which opened at 10. It was a reasonably good day weather-wise so it seemed a shame to not make the most of it and go out. We filled the car up with petrol where we usually go, the Shell station in Grafton Street and then drove out of Milton Keynes and on to the A5 near the stadium and went north through Towcester and not onto the M1 as we are still unsure that the Motorway isn't free of roadworks. The A5 is a far more pleasant drive as you see more scenery that you pass through and it seems a good deal less stressful than driving on the Motorway. Also, we have several places we like to visit, a couple of rather pleasant garden centres and shopping villages which have a certain quirkiness that we like and these places have cafes and coffee shops which make our visits all the more enjoyable. Also, they are good stopping places when you need what the Americans term a 'comfort break' or 'a bathroom break.' We also occasionally use the Aldi supermarket in Towcester for a change when we do our weekly supermarket shop. A good hour and twenty minutes or so after leaving Milton Keynes we arrived in the carpark at Twycross Zoo. found a parking space and walked in to the zoo after buying our entry tickets. I was surprised how compact it is, compared to, say, Whipsnade, which we have visited on several occasions and had membership for several years, which meant that, once paid, you can visit as many times as you wish throughout the year of your membership without having to pay the entry fee each time, in much the same way as membership of the National Trust allows free entry to their properties for a year. We only gave up the ZSL  (Zoological Society of London) membership when it became far too expensive (around £159 for a couple.) We managed to see so many animals that we have always wanted to see, such as gibbons and gorillas as well as urban utans, which we have seen in many television natural history programmes over the years, as well as giraffes and elephants.

 I just love elephants. I don't know what it is. The size of them as well as the fact that they can be so gentle, fascinating creatures.

 We enjoyed the antics of the penguins. Always so photogenic and seem to have a comical air about them. Perhaps it's the way they walk, but somehow they always amuse me for some reason I can't quite explain.

There's a great deal of building-work going on in Twycross Zoo at present. They are building new facilities, such as animal enclosures. It would appear that they are making these enclosures less like the old-fashioned idea of a 'zoo' where the animals were kept in cages with bars and not large enough to allow the animals to roam or fly around. The new elephant enclosure is more naturalistic and you walk through a sort of Asian inspired walk-way until you get to the elephants in a fenced-off area, giving more of a 'natural' environment which mimics as near as possible how they would lived in the wild. You can go into a butterfly 'walk-through' exhibit, kept at a high temperature, and the butterflies fly free inside and some come and settle on you! Quite amazing.

We had lunch in the fish bar, and it took around 20 minutes in a queue before we got served, but considering the number of people visiting today it's no wonder it was so busy, many of the visitors families with children. It is a very family-friendly place with plenty of things for small children to see and do. Perhaps the fact that it such a compact site is an advantage as you don't have to walk miles between exhibits as you would at other zoos, such as Whipsnade, where you seem to spend ages moving between the different animal enclosures. 

Apparently Twycross Zoo is the only place in the United Kingdom where you can see all four times of great ape. We saw Bornean orang utan, although only briefly as they soon disappeared into their houses when we appeared! Was it something we said? The other great apes there are West Lowland gorillas, and we saw a Silverback male, a really large creature, whom you would never want to meat on a dark night! We saw a family of bonobos, similar to chimpanzees, and it was great to see them playing, almost like a human family they way they interacted with each other. Also, chimpanzees, always seeming to be ready to have a game of some sort and some hiding away in their nests, so we didn't see them particularly well. Just one of the hazards of visiting any zoo I suppose. The weather can influence whether they come out to be seen. If it's cold, they hide away, and likewise, if it's too hot they stay in the shade. 

We also saw some huge Aldabran tortoises. Actually the first time I've seen them in real-life and not just in some natural history programme on television.

One of the best displays has to be the brand new Lorikeet Landing. These brightly-coloured little birds, similar to parakeets, are in an enclosure which you can go in and the birds are free-flying. You can purchase a bag of seeds and feed the birds. They dart about all over the place and some come and sit on you if you feed them the seeds. They are so brightly coloured they look as if they've come out of one of those children's television shows such as "The Midnight Garden," or "Teletubbies." We also went into the Lemur enclosure, very similar to what they have at Whipsnade, again, where you can see the lemurs up very close and personal, but on the occasion we were there we saw only one lemur! They didn't seem in the least bit keen to interact with us at all, but no doubt they were hiding somewhere in the long grass or some hiding place and watching us closely!

We spent a good four hours at Twycross Zoo. There were quite a few areas that we didn't have time to visit, so it seems we will have to make a further visit, perhaps later in the summer when (hopefully) all the building work has been completed. Fortunately they have managed to make the building work that is going on as inobtrusive as possible. We can't wait to see how the new enclosures look when they open and have their animals living in them. and when it was time to leave we visited the shop to have a browse and then drove home, back south down the A5. We stopped off in Towcester to visit Tesco's as we needed to get milk and a few other items and drove on home towards Milton Keynes.

As soon as we got home we discovered that the fridge/freezer wasn't working correctly. Infact the freezer section had stopped working all together and the contents were rapidly thawing out. Which might explain why the milk was off early this morning when I came to make tea as I usually do early. We have managed to order a new fridge/freezer from Very, the on-line and catalogue retailer from which we have purchased quite a number of items and it should be here on Monday. It means we will have to discard quite a lot of the food which is defrosting as it obviously can't be re-frozen. It's just as well we didn't buy more frozen food in Tesco as it would be wasted.

Final Day of Half-Term

Today, Friday. The final day of Half Term. We have had a couple of outings, but today we went into Milton Keynes Central Shopping Centre. We parked in Debenham's multi-storey car park and got there before 9 and found the place virtually empty. We couldn't get into Debenham's as they weren't open until 9.30. We have found that it's the best place to park as you can almost always guarantee there will be space to park, provided you get there early enough. You take a ticket from the barrier when you arrive and then, when you are about to leave you go to the machine and put your card in and it registers how long you've been in the car park and works out the cost so you just put the amount in the slot and the ticket is returned and when you drive out you put the ticket in the machine at the barrier which rises and lets you out. Much fairer than just guessing the length of time you'll be parking for if you park in any of the street-level car parks elsewhere in Milton Keynes.

We walked down into Midsummer Place and then through the  central shopping centre. None of the shops were opened but we walked as far as Middleton Hall where they usually have some sort of display or exhibition, the place where there's a Christmas display or something on during the school holidays so it was a surprise to see it completely empty over Half-Term. We decided to go into Costa and have coffee. Actually I had a cold drink and Carol had latte and we sat at a table near the window and could see out across the vacant Middleton Hall and were intrigued to see the little birds flying around inside. We went into Paperchase as Carol wanted to find a pencil case and then on to the Disney Store. Not somewhere I would  normally go on my own and surprised how much low-quality junk they sell. A real pity, I'm sad to say. We then went into W.H. Smith's and they had a good offer on if you bought any stationary, a really large set of pens which were originally priced at £20 and on offer for £9.99. Also, we got a voucher for £20 off books and statiionary when we went to pay at the till, so I will have to return next week to take advantage of this offer. We walked back through the shopping centre, stopping off at Waterstone's in Midsummer Place. I wanted to see whether they had a book of short stories in written by Susanna Clarke. She wrote 'Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" which is currently being adapted for television and being aired on BBC1 on Sundays. No sign of this book or the book of short stories which is a surprise considering the television serial. They generally have stocks and displays of books that are being dramatised on television in very prominent places so somewhat surprised that I couldn't find either book. Easy enough to find on Amazon. We walked on and reached Marks and Spencer and had a browse in their men's department but didn't see anything I would want. Then we went into the foothill and got food for this evening's meal, a £10 for several items, which turned out to be two meals for £10 so that sorted the evening's meals out for today AND tomorrow. Good value I must say. When we got to the till the poor girl on the checkout had real problems with the printer which printed the receipt as it wouldn't stop churning out a long print-out and she had to call a supervisor to get the thing to work. Then, when we got back to the car park the machine you use to pay wouldn't accept a £2 coin Carol put in the machine but eventually things seemed to sort themselves out. It's surprising that these bits of technology have a habit of going wrong and causing a lot of problems. But we managed to leave the car park and went home. By now it was raining really hard but as the afternoon progressed the sun did eventually come out.

Spring Bank Holiday Monday Outing To Packwood House

Carol is currently on Half-Term holiday from Milton Keynes Academy this week. Unfortunately she has developed a really nasty cold with a sore throat. It seems vastly unfair that you work yourself half stupid for the previous half of the school term, to then come down with a cold when you have time off to enjoy things and relax. We had intended going somewhere or other, most likely a National Trust property and had consulted the National Trust website to see what was the closest property which we hadn't visited before. We had considered Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, which we had hoped to visit over the Easter holiday period, and when we had driven up the M1 had got caught up in such awful delays caused by roadworks that we'd abandoned the journey and didn't actually visit any property on that particular occasion. So this time we decided on Packwood House, in Warwickshire, and not far from an English Heritage managed property, Kenilworth Castle. We had to put petrol in the car so went to the Shell station in Grafton Street before driving towards the A5 and out of Milton Keynes, thus avoiding travelling north on the M1 as we had looked at the A.A. travel website to discover that the roadworks on the Motorway were continuing. We drove up the A5 as far as Weedon and then turned off onto the A425 for Leamington Spa, a road we have used on several occasions.  Having driven past Daventry we had a need to find a toilet, and none appeared to be available immediately (a hazard of driving on long journeys, we find, not too uncommon, unfortunately.) Then we saw a sign at the side of the road for Skylark Fields Farm Shop, which appeared to have a cafe on it's premises and seemed perfect as a place to stop, with toilets ('comfort station' as Americans call such facilities. I don't like euphemisms particularly, but this one seems more than appropriate.) We had gone past the entrance and so it was too late to draw in to the entrance so we went about another quarter of a mile and turned the car round in the entrance of an agricultural machinery business and headed back to the turn for the farm shop we'd just seen. When we had done so we weren't even sure that this place was going to be open and then saw a field full of chickens, in amongst what looked like Christmas trees. These were free-range chickens and there seemed to be hundreds of them, possibly thousands, all happily pecking the ground and enjoying a very pleasant existence, certainly far better than hens that are kept in wholly unsuitable battery cages. We drove into what was definitely a farm yard with plenty of places to park and the cafe was indeed open and alongside a farm shop. We went into the cafe and were treated to a very pleasant sight with a well-stocked counter with cakes, sandwiches and other delicious food items. We sat a a table and we were able to see even more of the chickens outside in the meadow below the cafe in a delightful valley and a really lovely landscape of fields and trees beyond as far as the eye could see and not a single sight of roads or towns. We ordered coffee and I had chocolate cake (this after we'd used the toilet facilities, I must add.) All  extremely well served and the cake was excellent. Considering we hadn't known about this place it was very welcome to come upon it the way we did and from what we saw of the cafe, which when we were there was very busy, particularly by a large group of cyclists who seemed to be enjoying the food and drink. We next went into the adjacent farm shop which was well stocked with a wide range of food items and Carol was able to purchase a jar of raspberry jam which was sugar free, although I don't know how you can make jam without sugar as it's the principal ingredient of jam, along with some sort of fruit. The address for this delightful place is Shuckborough Road, Staverton, Daventry, Northants, NN1 6JY. There is a website at www.skylark-farm.com. we have decided that we must return as there is so much in the farmshop we'd like to sample, and the cafe is far to tempting to not return to as well as being able to watch those hens peking around in that field as well as enjoying the scenery.

We drove away from 'Chickenopolos.' I was put in mind of the closing sequence of the animated film "Chicken Run" where the chickens who escape from Mrs Tweedy's chicken farm, which is run along the lines of a  German prison of war camp and that the chickens are eventually going to end up being processed into pies through the use of an automated machine of gigantic preparations, in a sort of 'chicken utopia.' You'll have to view this fantastically clever film to see what I mean. But the chickens at the place we'd just visited really looked well looked after in their huge free-ranging meadow.

It is one thing to  study a map of the roads leading to Packwood House, but it was another being able to find exactly where we were going in reality. The road network around that area is very confusing, to say the least, and it took us some time to find the place. When we came off the Motorway there was very poor signposting to Packwood. This seems to be the case whenever we go looking for quite a few National Trust properties. I do think they ought to put up a good deal more signs to these places. When we eventually found Packwood it was around midday and the carpark was very  busy. Considering that it was a Bank Holiday and the weather, although not sunny, was fine. Having parked the car we walked to the reception area, a recently built and opened building. It seems that quite a number of National Trust properties have had new visitor centres and cafes built, including Stowe Landscape Gardens, Waddesdon (with it's new carpark facilities.) amongst others. We then went into the restaurant and had another coffee as well as roast pork baps and wedge potatoes. Very tasty indeed. Having eaten we wandered out into the gardens and spent time admiring the quite magnificent features of Packwoods surroundings.

A somewhat quirky and original garden design. A great many clipped hedges made up one area of the garden and it must take a great deal of time and effort to keep these hedges shaped and so well kept. We had a timed ticket in order to visit the interior of the house and this was due to be at 2.30 so we had a couple of hours to fill before we could go back to the house for our tour. We walked around the lake and saw some delightful follies which had been built. A bit difficult to describe, but here are a couple to give you an idea as it's a bit difficult to describe in words.

Original and certainly unusual, particularly the huge bed. Never seen anything like these constructions before.

We went into the shop to browse and I bought a Packwood guidebook. We have quite a large collection of other National Trust  guidebooks properties we'e amassed over the years. The house is interesting but not the most fascinating place we've visited and I have to say I found the gardens more interesting than the house. We didn't spent that long looking around and then came back outside and returned to the car and drove back home, but it was a pleasant enough day considering the weather and one thing and another.

House Guests

Carol came home from work and told me that we would be having house guests. Brian is a new member of staff at Milton Keynes Academy and he and his girlfriend, (another teacher, although she doesn't teach at the Academy, but at a school in Beaconsfield apparently.) have been having problems with their landlord (seems infectious, this business of landlords, as you will recall from earlier posts on here.) and as we have a vacant room, it seemed that we could come to their aid on a temporary basis, for around a month or so until they can find more permanent accommodation.  As we were given so much help when we had all the problems with our former landlord it seemed only right that we should do the same for other people in a similar sort of situation. So they arrived at around 6.15 yesterday evening, just as we were having our meal. We had to put the dogs in the kitchen when they came in and Alfie was excited when they met him, Poppy being her usual friendly self. They spent the rest of their evening ferrying their belongings from their former accommodation. We had to move our bicycles from their parking space in the entrance hall to the kitchen to make way for more of their belongings. All went smoothly and they hardly made a sound when they came back when we had gone to bed. Alfie is still not sure about them. I think it's to do with having his routine altered but by this morning he was far more settled. 

I managed to get the rest of the grass cut early this morning. I did most of it yesterday afternoon before I went to meet Carol from work. One of the plastic blades on the mower broke, and I had to replace it before I began mowing, so thankfully that job is out of the way before the Bank Holiday and Half-Term holiday as I don't really want to mow the grass next week.

Unsettled Weather and Unreliable Digital Watch

Another day of unsettled weather. When I walked with Carol over to the Academy at around 7.15 this morning it was sunny, but I put on my fleece as it was fairly chilly and not warm enough to be out in a short sleeve shirt. It became wet as the morning progressed and eventually the sun made a brief appearance, and then, at around 2 p.m. there was a clap of thunder. This set Alfie off barking, as he seems to think it's someone knocking on the door or Carol coming home. Poppy is terrified of thunder and came running to me upstairs in the bedroom. It was over within a couple of minutes and as I write this the sun is out. 

I managed to reset my Casio digital watch yesterday evening. Or so I thought. I has reset itself and thinks it's Saturday and the year is 2005. I don't understand why it is causing so many problems. Frankly it's not worth bothering with and I will have to replace it. A watch that can't be relied on is absolutely useless so it may end up being put in the bin. It's supposed to reset itself from a radio signal from the atomic clock in Rugby but it is more trouble than it's worth.

Wind, Rain and now Sunshine!

What a mixed lot of weather we've had today. It's been blowing a gale for most of the day, to such an extent that I'm really surprised that the rest of the garden fence hasn't been totally blown away, what there is left of it. It also rained hard and was making noises as it fell and hitting the windows. I went to the Ashfield Medical Centre to get an appointment this morning at around 7.45. It was raining quite hard but I had the foresight to wear my coat with a hood so it wasn't too bad. I managed to get an appointment with Doctor Haye at 3.10 p.m., but when I did eventually get in to see the doctor it was more like 3.25 or there about. Having peered into both my ears with the gadget doctors use to inspect your ears he has prescribed me Otomize ear spray. The problem is caused by ear wax, which isn't unsurprising. He also prescribed Daktacort for dry skin and rash. I have also got an appointment on 2nd June to have my ears syringed by the nurse.  I went into Cox and Robinson's pharmacy a few doors along to get both prescriptions made up. A lot of the same people wandered in from the doctor's surgery, also collecting their prescriptions. Interesting over-hearing conversations, which you can't really avoid as some people have very loud voices. People's addiction to their mobile phones intrigues me. It seems a lot of people would be lost without them.  Loud conversations on these gadgets as well as being able to hear the person on the other end of the line which you can hear loud and clear. In some ways, having a hearing problem because of ear-wax might be preferable in the case of these conversations. As I write this, back home in the living room, I can see the sun is out although there is quite a strong wind blowing. I'll be off to walk over to the Milton Keynes Academy in around 20 minutes to collect Carol. I have made a cottage pie for our dinner, already and waiting to heat in the oven.

9th Anniversary of My Heart Attack

Nine years ago today I had my heart attack. I feel really well. I still have a problem with my hearing, as mentioned in the last post, but it doesn't have anything to do with my heart. Although, thinking about it, I could be related to one of the medications I am on, which might be responsible for making my skin dry out and flake so that I get a build up inside my ears. But I feel so much better since I stopped taking Pravastatin which was causing muscle pain. I certainly don't feel so tired which I know is a side effect of taking a statin. My cholesterol level is below 5, which is good. Eating a healthy diet, avoiding fatty food, plenty of exercise of some sort or other, even if it means walking somewhere instead of getting in the car, eating plenty of fruit and vegetables are all ways of preventing another heart attack.

Impaired Hearing

I'm suffering from impaired hearing today. It started last night. I get this on a fairly regular basis. My ears seem to get blocked up with wax. Sorry, I know it's not the most pleasant of topics, but I can't avoid it. It seems the only way to relieve it is to go to the doctor's surgery and get one of the nurses to syringe my ears. It causes really bad headaches and my hearing deteriorates markedly. I've had the syringing done several times. I seem to get really dry skin on my face and around my ears which may have something to do with the build-up of wax inside my ears. I was prescribed a cream to clear up the dryness but I need to see the doctor to get another prescription. I thought I could get an appointment with the nurse by ringing the surgery this morning, but I was told when I got through that I need to see the doctor and then be referred for an appointment with the nurse. Which now means that I will have to go to the surgery on Monday morning before 8 and queue up and get an doctor's appointment. I may not get one on Monday, which means a journey back to the surgery on another day and if I have to make an appointment with the nurse THAT might be in a week or two's time. So I'll have to suffer with impaired hearing for a good deal longer. So, it begs the question, why on earth can't I make a nurse's appointment without seeing the doctor? Surely, as I've been to have my ears syringed several times before, I'm not going to waste the nurse or the doctor's time over something trivial. With the N.H.S. in some sort of financial crisis, it would save one doctor's appointment if I went direct to see the nurse. I can't fathom this out at all. Or is it so the doctor can peer into my ears to see if there's an infection or something so I can then see the nurse or have some sort of medication for it prescribed? Doesn't make a lot of sense to me somehow, I don't know what you think. Actually, I can't think why it's called syringing, as no syringe is used. They use warm water which is injected into your ears with a special sort of gadget which is most certainly not syringe-like. If it was, knowing my dislike of needles, I don't think I would sit around having the thing inserted in my ears or, indeed, anywhere near my person.

I have been working on a new piece of writing. I have had the idea for this story for some time but haven't come across how to develop it, until a few days ago. I have written several pages but have been working on the main central part of the plot which has been going very well this morning. It will take quite a bit more thought and effort to complete it, but when I have it finished and revised it I will upload it to Shortbread Stories, a site which is specifically for short stories which can be downloaded and read using ebook readers and Kindles.  I have now got several bits and pieces at various stages of development in my notebooks which I put away when things aren't quite going as well as they might, but then, when a new idea comes to me I bring them out and do a bit more work on them.

With everything else going on at the moment my digital watch has packed up. Well, it is working, but it's not showing the correct time. So it's not much use to me.  It's a Casio digital watch which I got from Amazon. It has something on it called  'wave ceptor ' which means it keeps the time correct by receiving a radio signal from the atomic clock somewhere in England which happens at midnight. I does mean that the time is always accurate, but the watch has had a habit of going completely nuts and showing the wrong time. I have to say I'm not very impressed, even though it was a cheap watch. I have never had any problems with digital watches until this one started playing up. It had a resin strap which didn't last long which I had replaced with a metal one.  I once bought a really decent digital watch from Samuel's jewellers. It wasn't cheap, around £45 or so. They told me I could buy an extended warranty for it which would cost something like £15, which seemed a good idea at the time, because I needed a reliable watch, so if it broke down and needed repair the extended warranty would cover it. Or so I thought. It had quite a nice strap on it, made of fabric and leather, which was what appealed to me. So I bought it, and wore it, and all went well, it kept good time and I was happy with it. But then, well over a year past the day I had originally bought it, the thing went wrong. The screen went blank. No time. No nothing. Just dead as a proverbial dodo. So I took the thing back to Samuels, thinking, goody, I have an extended warranty, they'll fix it. There should be no problem. But what do they tell me when I take it in to have it looked at? It's the battery or something. It's not covered by the warranty. I'm not happy about this, as you can imagine. You would think that something like a battery malfunction would be covered by the warranty. But apparently not. But they had made their money out of the original sale as well as the extended warranty which for some reason didn't cover the fault. Very convenient and as a result I don't intend spending my money in H. Samuel's jewellery shops ever again if that's the way they treat their customers.

Blog post number 640: Busy Monday Morning

This post is number 640. In the half-hour or so since Carol went off to work I've managed to 1) Finish cutting the grass 2) Hoovered the lounge 3) Put on a load of washing 4) Tidied some of the clutter off the bookshelf in the lounge 5) Cleaned the bathroom windowsill, sink and toilet. So it's time to sit down for a while and write this blog, go through emails and start on some serious writing. Just composing this is part of my writing.  I am preparing to rearrange the bookshelf as I have a pile of at least a year's worth of BBC History Magazine to file in the new racks we bought in IKEA on Saturday afternoon so I will have to take out some books and move the whole set of racks to the left of the shelf so that the magazines follow in chronological order from left to right, which makes more sense to what it is at present.

A little while later. 11.58 a.m.  I put out the washing from the washing machine. There is quite a breeze so it won't take long to dry, although it looks a bit overcast so it may rain. I have now managed to rearrange the bookshelf. It makes a good deal more sense and I should be able to find the magazines I want to read much easier. I pulled out the sofa as it is in the way of the second bookshelf and was surprised by the amount of rubbish that was behind it. I have removed some books which makes space for some of the least read books on the opposite bookshelf  and old  disposed with a load of old magazines which can go with the rubbish when the bin men come on Wednesday. Quite a successful morning's work. 

Macbook Decides to Open

Having had problems with this Macbook, which I use to compose these blog posts on, the confounded thing has now decided to open quite happily when I plugged it in to keep it charged up. I will still take it in for the free half-hour session at the Apple store on Tuesday morning just to have it checked out for a virus or whatever, but it is really quite annoying after all the problems I have had. Oh well, I just hope it remains in a working state.

We went to IKEA in Bletchley yesterday afternoon, Saturday, and bought two bedside cabinets as well as some magazine racks which I will use to file editions of BBC History Magazine. We came home and proceeded to construct the first of the cabinets and made up the second one this morning and both are in place either side of our bed. Carol gave Poppy a bath and haircut this morning which she desperately needed as her coat had become very shaggy and it was a wonder she could see out as her eyes were quite hidden under a fringe of hair. I mowed around half of the grass at the rear of the house (I can hardly call it a 'lawn' as it is such an uneven piece of ground.) and will attempt to finish the job off over the next week. I think the rain we've had over the past few days has meant the grass has grown quite considerably which lead to me getting out the mower.

Swimming and Bacon Rolls

We got to D.W. Fitness at around 8.25 this morning and found the swimming pool empty so it was really pleasant to be able to have the place to ourselves for at least twenty minutes until the children's swimming teacher came in. The steam room wasn't very hot so I didn't remain in there long and then went in the Jacuzzi for 10 minutes or so. Carol been swimming in the pool and came and joined me by which time the children came in to start their swimming lesson and the was getting crowded and the noise-level getting quite loud so we went out to get dressed and went to B.H.S. which is oposite the carpark from D.W. Fitness with the intention of having something to eat in their restaurant which was totally deserted when we arrived, no customers around, a  tray on one of the tables full of dirty plates and cups, the till umanned, all the food open to the public. We looked at the menu on the wall behind the counter and had decided we wanted bacon rolls or sandwiches and coffee, but no staff member came to serve us, but after 10 minutes a young man came out of the room behind the counter,  presumably the storage area. We asked for bacon rolls or sandwiches, which he said weren't available. He said we should go to Marks and Spencer, which was a few doors along the row of shops. We weren't exactly impressed by this response so we left, and on the way we went to a cash desk and told another member of staff that we had waited for ten minutes before the staff member came to serve us in the restaurant and then we went to the restaurant in Marks and Spencer where we were served very efficiently and had lattes and bacon rolls. On the way out of the store we bought some food items for this evening's meal and then drove home.

Unable to Login To The Internet

Yesterday morning I was unable to get into the Mac Laptop yesterday morning, unfortunately, which means that I couldn't get on here to write up a blog post. I am now writing this on our second little laptop, which may not be an Apple, considerably slower, but it at least works and I'm able to do all the work I need to do on a computer, including this blog and reading and writing emails. It is taking a lot to re-learn as it doesn't work anywhere near the same as an Apple.

Yesterday, Thursday 7th March, was General Election Day here in the United Kingdom. Seeing how the S.N.P. seemed to take virtually every seat in Scotland it makes you wonder how much longer we will be a United Kingdom, because I imagine there will now be a second Scottish Independence Referendum. Elsewhere, it looks as if David Cameron will continue as Prime Minister and no doubt Ed Miliband will resign as Labour Party leader as Labour didn't do very well, particularly in Scotland where the S.N.P. took most of the previously Labour-held seats. I spent most of the night watching the Election results coming in on BBC Television.

I rang Apple earlier this morning regarding the problems with the MacBook Air laptop. I thought I was actually ringing the Apple store in Midsummer Place in the Milton Keynes Central shopping centre but it seemed to be a call centre. I had to go through a voice-activated menu, which knew my name, even though I hadn't mentioned it. A bit creepy. It's difficult to know whether the system has actually respond, as you have to repeat some words which it's unclear to know whether it has understood, but the very idea of a machine 'understanding' you seems creepy. I eventually go through to a human, and I had to go through a few system-checks to find out whether the laptop was working, which it plainly isn't, but it's difficult to take instructions over the phone, hear the instructions whilst attempting to use the keyboard, but in the end I decided it was easier to go into their showroom and get someone to check it out and if they can fix it there and then, then O.K. So I made an appointment for Tuesday at 11.45 a,m. I just hope it it done there and then and doesn't incur any sort of expence, as, what with the car needing repair as well at the moment, we don't need this sort of expence also.

May Bank Holiday Monday outing to Wimpole Hall and Home Farm

On Saturday morning Carol had a hair appointment at Arcana In Shenley Brook End booked for 8.30. We were there bright and early, intact far too early and we sat in the car and saw the staff arrive and once it was completed we decided, as it was such a bright and sunny morning to go out somewhere in the car and headed towards Buckingham. We went into Tesco in Buckingham as I needed to get so cholesterol-reducing drinks which we'd forgotten on our trip to Morrison's on Friday evening. We were surprised how quiet it was. Very few customers. Might it be something to do with the fact that Aldi have recently opened a store only a mile or so out of Buckingham? It would be partly be who Tesco have lost so much money over the last year or so. We came out and went to Bicester Avenue garden centre for a wander round and didn't stay long, dropping to to a garden centre outside Buckingham and had coffee and sandwiches before heading home. Just getting out of Milton Keynes for a couple of hours did us a world of good.

Today, as it's a Bank Holiday, and as the weather was so fine and sunny we decided to visit another National Trust property. We had considered a swim at D.W. Fitness, but there was a marathon on in Milton Keynes and it was either beginning or ending at the M.K. Stadium, which is where the gym is situated, so it seemed a better option to get out of Milton Keynes before the marathon began, hence our drive out of the town at 8 a.m. and heading towards the M.1 and the road towards Cambridge, Caxton and the route to Wimple Hall and Home Farm which is near Royston. We have been on several other occasions, but not for a number of years so it was quite a change to visit today. We got to Wimpole Hall at around 9.40, so we had to wait because it didn't open until 10 a.m. we were surprised that it took less than an hour to reach the place, no doubt put down to the fast dual carriageway that has been built between the M.1 at Brogborough right through to the Black Cat roundabout on the A.1. When we arrived there were few cars in the carpark, but by the time we left around two and a half hours later the place was positively heaving with humanity and there was a long queue of vehicles making it's way into the grounds. It was just as well we had arrived so early.

We went into the stable block where we got our tickets for the Hall, Garden and Home Farm and Carol purchased a back-pack in the shop which meant we could carry our bits and pieces around the garden and farm.

We went to have coffee and sausage rolls in the restaurant to start off our day and then walked to Home Farm, a 10-minute walk from the house. We spent some time looking at the animals and then walked back, stopping off to look at the walled garden and Carol came across a lady gardener who was selling rhubarb and then we walked back towards the house. We entered through the front and Carol had to leave the back-pack at the entrance as they wouldn't allow visitors to take luggage around the house because there would be a possibility of knocking into valuable items. We spent a little longer walking around the grounds before we went back to the carpark and drove home to Milton Keynes. We dropped in to Waitrose in Chaffron Way as we needed salad and one or two other items that we inadvertently forgot from our shopping trip to Morrison's on Friday. Just surprised by how busy it was considering that it was a Bank Holiday.

When we arrived home there were some stragglers still running past on the Redway as part of the marathon. It's just as well we went out when we went out otherwise we'd have been stuck in the house all day.

It seems we got the best of the day because as I write this it has got considerably colder and it's raining quite hard.

Claiming On Car Insurance

We have been told that we ought to claim on our car insurance for the 'accident' to the car in the pot-hole and the broken E.S.P. (Electronic Stability Program.) I rang Swinton after 9 this morning and they gave me the claimline number to ring. I duly rang the number and then had the usual long wait you get on a callcentre number.  It was really difficult hearing what the man was saying as you could quite clearly hear other agents talking. It makes you wonder if your personal details can be overheard by other people ringing the number. I'm afraid it's not very private in that case. After the umpteenth reminder from the mechanical and electronic woman telling me 'all our agents are busy . . .' I gave up. The awful pop music they insist on shoving down your ear 'ole is enough to send you nuts, so I went away. Drove to the local shop to get credit for the electricity and gas using the key for electricity (which still had around £8 left on it) and gas, which goes on a smart card (around £9.) I suppose we are using less of both since the weather has improved and the clocks moved forward. I eventually went back on the phoneline and had to give more details of how the incident occurred. We could claim on the Council for not keeping the potholes on the road repaired, but in all honesty I can't see the point as we're never going to find the exact pothole and then they'll deny all responsibility for it, so it won't be worth the time and effort so it may just go on the car insurance. As it is we will have to pay the first £350. Which makes you wonder why on earth you pay all that out on insurance when the company doesn't pay the full cost of repair.

It's another fine and sunny day. But even with the sun out there is still a chill in the air. I just hope it remains fine and sunny over the weekend. Monday is another Bank Holiday. So we must make the most of the weather and get out and visit somewhere or other.