Car Repair and Storm Clodagh

You may recall that back in the summer when we had visited Ascott and the incident with the pot hole which damaged the car and set the alarm off which turned out to be something called the E.S.P. (Electronic Stability Programme). Well, today the car went to Perry's in Bletchley to have the work done to repair the said item. It went over to their workshop at 8 a.m. and was completed by 10. I was then informed that they couldn't release the car until the insurance company who were paying for the work paid the balance which would take at least two hours so I was given a lift home and as I write this I'm still waiting for them to telephone me to tell me that they have been paid so I can get a taxi booked to return to collect the car. Complicated? It is somewhat, and annoying to say the least.

At very nearly 3.30 I have still heard nothhing back from Perry's as regards the insurance company paying them the cost of the repair, even though they assured me they'd ring at around 2 p.m. to let me know. Getting somewhat annoyed about the whole incident.

Today has been very windy and wet. Storm  'Clodagh' currently the cause of all this.Who chooses these names for storms and do we really honestly need to have them named?

4.30. Had a phone call from Perry's to say I can collect the car and pay the excess as they have still not heard from the insurance company. So I phoned to book a taxi and got to Perry's and paid the excess and got the young man who dealt with all the paperwork to re-set the digital clock on the car's dashboard and drove home. Mission accomplished.

No sooner had I got home than Carol came out of the house. She has been at home as she's not been well. I have explained the details of our early-morning visit to the Urgent Care Unit at the hospital. We have been attempting to get her a doctor's appointment without success so we drove to Ashfield Medical Centre and she managed to get an appointment within 10 minutes of arriving although the receptionist wanted us to go home so the doctor could ring us. What is the point of this new appointment-booking system? Why have a ring back when it takes so long to even get through to the surgery to MAKE any sort of contact? Just making life more complicated and stressful. So unnecessary for all concerned.

Late Night Visit to Urgent Care Centre

I mentioned on an earlier post on here about how I attempted to get Carol a doctor's appointment and failed because after around two hours of trying to get through on the telephone because that is now the only method available to get seen by a doctor at our surgery. So she still hasn't got an appointment and her health has got worse over the weekend ( I shall not describe on here what it is that is causing her problems as it it somewhat personal and she wouldn't thank me for giving such information, if you will excuse me from doing so. This doesn't matter because I really want to write about the N.H.S.'s inability to make available access to their services by people who are in need of serious attention and the fact that Carol, as a teacher, is what you would describe as a 'Key Worker' along with such people as ambulance drivers, paramedics, doctors etc, who keep the country going and cannot make appointments during work hours, hanging on telephone lines attempting to make doctor's appointments by using such ludicrous systems as set up by out-of-touch bureaucrats who sit in offices and don't use such services themselves (or so it would appear.)

At around 3 0'clock on Sunday morning Carol was in real pain. She has been taking paracetamol without much success, so we decided it would be best to visit what is called the Urgent Care Centre at Milton Keynes Hospital, formerly known as the Walk-In Centre. It's for those who need medical attention but not serious enough to need to go to Accident and Emergency. I have used that service when I had my original heart attack and subsequent angina attacks which then lead to over-night stays in hospital. She rang the 111 phone number and gave details of her problem and was then told to go to the Urgent Care Centre where an appointment was booked for  3.50 a.m. We had to get dressed and I was half asleep, as you can imagine at such an early hour. The dogs must have wondered what on earth we were doing getting up in the middle of the night so they had to be put in the kitchen, much to their surprise as they usually spend the night with us in the bedroom. Spoilt doggies.

It was an easy drive to the hospital. We live directly behind Milton Keynes Hospital and we could have easily walked through to the Urgent Care Centre but we decided as it was so late and dark (and who knows who would be wandering around the streets at that time of night. Probably no safe unfortunately.) We got to the carpark and decided against payment. Sorry, we didn't have any cash and it seems unfair to expect you to pay when you visit any hospital department. Fortunately the reception had details of Carol's ailment on their computer but this didn't mean we were seen any faster. There was only one other person waiting so we couldn't see why we had to wait so long. Another hour or so before a nurse saw her and then another hour before a doctor saw her. Only two other people came in and sat in the waiting area. The two vending machines in the place were not working. Not very good considering you were likely to wait several hours to be seen and the place was really dirty with empty coffee cups, coke cans and crisp wrappers on the floor. Some people seem incapable of putting their rubbish in the bin provided. No magazines to read either or even a television on as you might expect. The plastic chairs you have to sit on are so designed to make the whole experience as uncomfortable and unpleasant as possible. Possibly an attempt to put off that element of the community who treat the N.H.S. and it's services with some sort of contempt and think they can get every single minor cut, broken finger nail, sniffle, sore ear, throat or big toe treated in such places and waste money and time doing so. I know I'm ranting a bit but such people don't need to clog up the system when they can deal with those minor ailments by going to a chemist and speaking to a pharmacist who will tell them to take aspirin or paracetamol or just go home and go to bed for a couple of days until they feel better or to just be more sensible and take evasive action so as not to cut their finger or stub their toe and thus allow more serious ailments of other people to be dealt with in a calm and sensible manner.

Anyway, we left after barely two hours and Carol was given a prescription for some medication as well as being told by the doctor who eventually saw her that he'd sent a letter or no doubt an email to our surgery to the effect that she needed an urgent appointment. So we drove home where I then made mugs of tea which we drank in bed and went back to sleep. So I imagine I'll be rung on Monday or probably Tuesday by the surgery in Beanhill to give Carol an appointment.

After our early-morning visit to Urgent Care, we didn't get up until quite late. It must have been at least 9.30. The sun was shining so it seemed in order to get out so we drove up the A5 past Weedon to visit the Heart of Shires shopping village, somewhere we've visited on quite a number of occasions. There are quite a few of these sort of places dotted along the A5 which we love to visit because the A5, Watling Street is a rather pleasant drive as an alternative to the M1 which is such a soulless drive and the service areas over-priced and very bland. This particular place has a wide range of really great shops, selling a range of products such as food and drink as well as antiques. We had a pleasant meal in Darlington's Tea Rooms where we both had ploughman's lunches which were better than the average you would get elsewhere with plenty on our plates and we also had coffee. Very efficient service and reasonably priced in very pleasant surroundings. It was a shame that the weather changed as we were in there and by the time we went back out to the car to return home it was getting very windy, the sky began to cloud over and it looked as if it was going to rain.

Just Another Weekend?

On Friday, after Carol finished work, we went into the Milton Keynes Central Shopping Centre. We had a need to break our rather ordinary routine and get out of the house. We parked in Debenham's multi-storey car park and we had a good idea that it would be easy to park there. We met a queue of cars going into the town centre, most likely because it was Black Friday, which would mean a lot of shops would have pre-Christmas bargains. It seems that everyone has to go totally mad whenever there is any chance of a bargain but we were just keen to get out. We walked through Debenhams and the place was seething with shoppers. We went out into Midsummer Place and ended up in Waterston's and it was in the middle of being revamped which seemed amazing considering it was so close to Christmas. I don't think the shop has been modernised in all the time I have been coming to Milton Keynes. It will be a good deal brighter and modern once the work is completed. There used to be a Costa coffee shop upstairs as well as a Paperchase concession on the ground floor, both gone, so no doubt these were taken out due to the store being under new ownership. We did spend some time browsing and I have some ideas for book I would like to buy. Both Carol and I have done our Christmas present lists which makes it easier for us to buy each other presents. I am going to buy myself a new digital camera in the New Year, a Canon, which I have seen in Jessop's, the camera shop in the shopping centre, but may wait until then because it is bound to be a good deal cheaper in the January sales. I don't mind buying the camera in Jessops as the staff are very helpful and it was one of the businesses which very nearly collapsed when the economy was in a nose-dive and was rescued by one of the 'Dragon's', Peter Jones. If you've never seen the BBC2 show "Dragon's Den" no doubt you won't know who I mean, but anyone who rescues a good business from financial collapse and manages to turn it round to become a profitable business earns not only my total respect but my loyal custom. I can't wait to get the new camera and it will be a sort of joint retirement/birthday and Christmas present to myself!

The main shopping centre was seething with shoppers. I don't think I have seen it so busy, even in the build-up to Christmas. We went into W.H. Smith as Carol wanted a folder for work. We then decided we needed a break, with a coffee and something to eat. We had intended going into Costa near John Lewis but then went to Pret A Manger. There is a lot of choice regarding places to get a drink and something to eat and we've been to Cafe Nero which is the opposite side of Middleton Hall, where the Christmas display is currently on. We were surprised when we went to get our drinks in Pret A Manger when the young man on the till said it was free. We had hot chocolate and mince pies which were very good. A shock to get something without having to pay, but apparently, according to Carol, they are expected to give away some food and drink free to customers. No doubt a sort of 'good will' gesture or something. I can't imagine many businesses doing that sort of thing.

We did have a cursory glance at the Christmas display, but to be totally honest it is a real disappointment. I don't know what it is, but it's certainly not the best effort. The usual little train they have every year is there, but the whole thing lacks any sort of imagination. A load of snow, a few mechanical penguins and Father Christmas doesn't make for a particularly entertaining experience, but I suppose as it's aimed at very little chidren, that's all that matters, but in past years they've had a theme, such as 'Peter Pan', 'Pirates ' or 'Pantomime.' Don't ask me what the theme of this year's extravaganza is as it doesn't appear to have one and it's a shame you have to pay to see most of it. So, as a result, we didn't bother, unfortunately.

Our outing ended with us going home towards Eaglestone and going to the fish and chip shop as we usually do on a Friday evening. You really can't beat the fish and chips from the Brothers Fish Bar in Eaglestone.

Attempting to Get Doctor's Appointment

I have been attempting to get a doctor's appointment for Carol this morning. Our surgery has a new system which means you don't need to queue up outside before 8 a.m. before the surgery opens. You have to telephone and they use a triage system whereby you have to tell the receptionist what your symptoms are and they decide what sort of priority it requires and then the doctor will telephone you during the day and after a discussion will decide whether you need to have a face-to-face appointment. All very well and good, as it will weed out the time wasters, those with minor ailments, sore throats, cut fingers and so on (which are so minor the patients with these sort of ailments should go to a chemists and speak to the pharmacist and stop wasting the doctor's time so that more serious ailments can be dealt with or at least be seen by a nurse at the surgery. There us a walk-in centre at Milton Keynes Hospital which is only a short distance from Ashfield Medical Centre or else if your needs are more serious you should go to Accident and Emergency.) 

I started ringing the surgery just after 8 a.m. and all I got was a sort of engaged tone, similar to what you get if you were to keep the phone 'off the hook.' It took half a dozen more attempts and by 9.30, by which time I had almost given up all hope of getting through, I managed to get through to a recorded message which lead to a menu with several options and from that I got to a further selection of options and a horrible repeating message and music (not as bad as some orgnisations, but bad enough when it keeps on playing over and over.) I eventually got to speak to a human and after some explination as to why Carol needed an appointment or at least a doctor to speak to via telephone, the woman told me that she would need to phone when he got home from work. So, all a waste of time and effort to be told that and I hope Carol can get through when she done ring. Who dreams up this sort of sytem in the first place? Do they have any idea how stressful it is when you can't get through? It's not easy if you're working and you need an appointment and particularly if you're too busy, as Carol is, to ring the surgery. Also, it seems the Academy doesn't like it if you go for an appointment during the day which means you have to arrange to go for an appointment outside work hours, which isn't easy. 

I've been reading back some of the material I wrote months ago. I haven't looked at it for a while and I'm really surprised by how good it is. Or at least, that's what I think of it. I'm attempting to find a way to develop this particular storyline further and have written a couple more pages. It needs editing, infact, quite heavily. But at least it's no worse than it could have been which is great. 

I'm not getting involved in Black Friday, or whatever it's called. I went to Tesco at Kingston yesterday morning and they had signs up all over the store telling you that the store would be open from midnight tonight for customers. It's just an attempt to get as many customers as possible buying madly before 25th December. When you see how totally mad some people can get when these sales are on it's something that I'm keen to avoid at all costs. It does annoy me that companys put their prices up so people buy stuff just for one day's worth of presents and then a few days later those same companys have to start their January sales and the self-same items are reduced considerbly. You might just as well wait and buy your presents then and get th discounts.

Chilly Wind and the Boiler Won't Work!

It's bitterly cold. There's a biting wind howling outside, and we can't get the central heating boiler to start. There's a red light blinking on the front of the confounded thing which means that we might have run out of gas on the meter, it being a meter which has to be 'topped up' using a key. But it could mean that there's insufficient pressure in the water feeding the boiler. I have to go out to the cupboard outside at the front of the house and stand on a little stool to look at the meter, taking the gas card with me (the electric meter is in the house, in the hall and uses a plastic key to top up the credit.) It's not easy, particularly when it's dark, doing this operation and you need to take a torch to be able to see the read-out on the meter as well as stretching at arms length to be able to put the card in the meter and pressing the button on the front of the meter which has to be done in order to see how much is still on the meter. You have to also remember to turn off the boiler in the kitchen because otherwise this reading won't work, and if you have been to the shop to 'top up' the card it won't work. It turns out there is about sufficient left to keep the boiler going and heating the house and water to have either a bath, a wash so I can have a shave or do the washing up. Carol is able to get the boiler to work, getting the pressure right and the thing 'firing' which takes a good 20 minutes of effort. The thing needs servicing, which has never been done in all the time we've lived here. Our beloved landlord wouldn't spend any money on this sort of thing or even having the required safety check done whicn legally he is required to ahve done anually to make sure that the boiler isn't giving off poisonous fumes. His usual answer if you mention it, the same thing when asked about having the fence repaired is that he'll 'ask a friend' to come and do it. But it would appear that he can't have many friends because we're still waiting and waiting and waiting . . . I bet he doesn't live in a cold house where the central heating doesn't always work and it should have been sorted out long before the winter sets in and we get freezing weather. I think in all honesty we'll need to do it outselves. And the gas engineer needs to be C.O.R.G.I.  registered in order to do any work to test the boiler and be able to give us a certificate. I have now learned that C.O.R.G.I was replaced by something called the Gas Safety Register which is about the same thing. Replace in 2010, apparently.

There are bits of the shed roof in the garden, blown off by the high winds. After the fence to one side of the garden was blown down last winter in the wind, it now seems we will have to contend with bits of the rickety old fence at the side of the garden beginning to be blown down. It looks like bits of roofing felt. I just hope that the rest of the house doesn't land up in a similar state with slates or bits of gutter falling off in the wind. 

Wind Drops and Sun Shines

After the almost galeforce winds of the past few days, today it's a good deal calmer. According to reports on the internet yesterday evening there were 60-70 m.p.h. winds around Milton Keynes. The sun has been out for part of the morning, although the wind strength has reduced considerably.  But the remaining fence around our garden has not been blown down, fortunately, but in some respects, miraculously. Apparently the Tesco Express branch in Tinker's Bridge had it's facia damanged by the high winds and had to be removed by firemen. There is a 'Yellow' weather warning in place for the area. There are four levels of weather warnings given by the Met Office, each given a colour. They are as follows:

Green: No severe weather

Yellow: Be aware

Orange: Be prepared

Red: Take action

I've never come across these coloured weather warnings before, so at least I've leant something new.

A change of subject. Our Post seems to come at any time, or so it seems. At one time, and not that long ago, you could virtually tell the time by the Post being delivered. Where I used to live in Bedford, we had two deliveries at one time. The first was at approximately 7 a.m. and then there'd be a second at 11 a.m. or at least around that time. Now we're lucky to get it at midday or even 2 p.m. I know they've cut the early delivery, but why do you have to wait most of the morning to any delivery at all? I was annoyed this morning (the delivery was just after midday.) to get a card pushed through the door, informing me that I would have to pay £1.50 because an item (not sure whether it was a parcel or a letter.) hadn't got the correct amount payed on it. So, I'll either have to drive to the sorting office at Brinklow which is about two miles from here and pay to get the item or I can pay using a credit or debit card on-line and they will deliver the item within two days. I'm intrigued to know what this item is and why whoever sent it forgot to put the correct amount of postage on it. I just hope that whatever it is is worth the £1.50. I'll just have to wait and see.

Howling Gale and Getting Dark

I'm writing this at around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I don't usually write this blog so late in the day, but why not break a habit? I suppose it's because I have something to write early in the morning. I don't altogether like it when the clocks change in October. I don't particularly enjoy the winter, although I enjoy Christmas. Dark evenings and getting up in the dark. And today there's the howling gale.  Storm Barnaby. Or so I'm told. Why have they started giving storms names? The first one last week was called Abigail or something. It seems they are to be alternately female and then male. But what on earth is the point of giving it a name in the first place? In America they give hurricanes names. So why do we have to copy everything that America does? And if we must have names for storms, can they have better names? Barney just makes me think of that awful mauve dinosaur thingy that used to be on television. Awful. Barney just doesn't suggest a storm of any magnitude to me at all. And what are they going to use for the next batch of bad weather? Camilla? Perhaps not. Cathy? Dennis? Edith? Fred? Gladys? Harold? Anyway, the wind is getting far stonger and at this rate the fence the opposite side of the garden to the side that got blown down last winter looks as if it' going to land up the same way.

A Bit More Writing and Rep At The Seaside

I managed to get some writing done this morning. Not a great deal, but at least something. I think when you're a writer you spend more time on working out plots and characters, the actual mechanics of a piece, longer than the actual, physical, pen-to-paper (or in my case, pencil.) writing. I suppose it's a bit like the scaffolding on a building site, along with the foundations, the work that goes on before the actual building with bricks and mortar s very important, the undergound pipes, sewers, drains and so on. You need the scaffolding in order to make the process of building easier.

There was a programme on television last night, BBC East, one of the 'opt-out' slots on BBC1 last night, all about the Summer Theatre at Frinton-On-Sea in Essex. I mention this place in one of my earlier posts on here. This company has been going as a weekly 'rep' for something like 76 years, doing a season of around 6-7 plays which run for a week each, and have no more than a week's rehearsal and put in in what is little more than a village hall., what is known as the McGrigor Hall I remember going to see a production of Noel Coward's play "Hay Fever" with my grandmother there when we went on our annual summer holidays when I was quite young and I think it might have been that which sparked off my interest in theatre. The closest I got to that sort of set-up when I was working in theatre was doing a season of four plays at the Century Theatre in Keswick when we each play ran for two days and then changed so we had to 'strike' the set after the show at around 10 o'clock and bring in the set for the next play and then re-light it all, including  re-setting all the furniture and props. Quite a tiring process. I can't believe that they manage to produce a show on such a tiny stage. The careers of quite a few quite well-known actors started their careers there such as Sir Anthony Sher, Gary Oldman, Vanessa Redgrave, Timothy West, David Suchet and Linda Bellingham. This television programme was narrated by Richard Wilson who was in a play there last year called "The Dog." He's of course best known to television audiences for his portrayal of the character Victor Meldrew in the sitcom "One Foot In The Grave."

Wet and Windy Weekend

After the warm and pleasant weather last weekend (see the preceeding post on here.), we had to endure wind and rain all this weekend. Added to that we had Hallow'een last Saturday, with people knocking on doors 'trick and treat-ing' which set both dogs barking. As it is, Poppy is scared stiff whenever there's a loud bang, such as a firework being let off, and Alfie just barks continually. It's not so much the fireworks being let off, it's the randomness of it. Hopefully it is now over for another year. Guy Fawkes night was on 5th November, so being mid week there weren't likely to be as many firework parties as there would be at the weekend, so either last weekend or the weekend just gone would have been when people would have them but I think that Hallow'een has superceded Guy Fawkes unfortunately. You can see by the amount of junk that the shops stock and how they are attempting to make it a big thing to boost sales. As a child I remember we used to make a big thing out of November 5th which included not only fireworks but a huge bonfire and lots to eat, such as potatoes in their jackets, cocoa, bonfire toffee and a whole host of warming food. Unless it's a big community event I don't think people have Bonfire Night partys any more which is a shame. Probably a lot  of this is because people are unaware of the significance of the Gunpowder Plot and the attempt to blow up parliament in 1605.

Changeable Weather

Yesterday was foggy. Early morning you could barely see a hand in front of your face. Similar to Sunday morning, but then the fog cleared and we had an amazingly hot day. But today it is fog-free. It's dull and overcast. One of those dull days. I can think of no other way to describe it. But then, saying that, it's surprisingly mild. It's the sort of day where it's difficult to know what to put on when you go outside. Not really cold enough to put on a heavy jacket or coat and not warm enough to do without a lighter jacket or coat, such as a fleece.

It looks as if the local shop has a new owner. I drove over to buy some jelly babies for Carol. (As she is diabetic she has them on hand just in case her sugar level drops and they have sufficient sugar in them to give the required boost.) The shelf units in the shop are different and the staff is different. It looks as if they've taken over and made an effort to shake things up. There seems more space between the shelves. I did wonder the last time I was in there but didn't look too closely.

Autumn Sunshine for Stowe visit

The day started foggy and murky. But as the day progressed the fog cleared and it turned out to be an exceptionally bright, sunny and warm day. We went to the 9 a.m. service at Milton Keynes Christian Centre. Which means as it ends at around 10.15 we had the rest of the day to go out. As it's been a rather wet and miserable week of half-term, it seemed a pity to not make some sort of effort and go out somewhere in the car. But where? We had been to Whipsnade Zoo last week, so we thought it a good idea to make the most of our National Trust membership and visit a property which was within easy reach, so we chose Stowe Landscape Garden, around a 15-mile journey from Milton Keynes and just outside Buckingham. We have visited on several occasions in the past and, in fact, we probably visited there as a couple on our first date. Carol tells me now that until she met me she had never heard of the place. Since we've been visiting there is now a new carpark and visitor centre and they have restored the original inn near the entrance which is apparently where visitors would have stayed when the gardens were originally constructed in the 18th century and you walk along a path and enter the garden at the opposite side to where we used to enter when we first visited around 10 years ago. All very much improved along with a smart restaurant and shop. If you prefer not to walk you can always hitch a ride on the buggy which takes you direct to the garden entrance, but as we had to wait a long time for the transport to return we decided to walk, which takes around 20 minutes. As it was so warm and sunny this was hardly a hardship and with the pleasant scenery, mainly of open countryside and meadows with grazing sheep, it made a rather pleasant stroll.

Bell Gate Drive. A pleasant walk from the visitor centre to the garden entrance at, would you believe it, the Bell Gate entrance.

A detail of the spectacular frieze of  the domed ceiling

Lion statue carved by Flaminio Vacca

Statue of George II

We discovered that Stowe House was open. Although we'd visited the landscape gardens several times before we had never been inside the adjacent house, basically because it is a school and it is only open on a few days during the year. Today being Half-Term it was open, so we walked there from the entrance, a fairly considerable walk. But we discovered tht it was worth the wait as the inside is quite spectacular, with some amazingly decorated ceilings including a dome where we were totally unaware of. Stowe Landscape Gardens alone are really spectacular and intriguing and, once you learn a little more about who built it and the significance of it's political meaning it becomes far more interesting and makes your visit more worthwhile. As we are already National Trust members we can visit the landscape gardens for free, but Stowe House has an entrance fee of £4.50 which is actually not a great deal when you consider what is on offer for the price and considering further the amount which must have been spent on restoring it to it's former glory, a very small price indeed. The autumn sunshine had brought out quite a crowd of people, a lot of children, some in pushchairs and plenty of dogs on leads. We have bought our two, Poppy and Alfie, before now, but it was just as well we hadn't on this occasion because we wouldn't have been able to go inside the house.