Life's Little Niggles

There are quite a few little niggles I could mention as I go about my daily activities. What do I mean by a niggle? A fly in the ointment, a stone in your shoe? A minor hiccup? A spanner in the works of life? I'll try and explain a few I have come across. Such as having problems with opening packets, jars and bottles. Why do manufacturers insist on making it so difficult it get into the packets they put their products in? Such as teabags, particularly P.G. Tips. Why is it so hard to get through the cellophane wrap the boxes are covered in? They could put a pull-tag on the cellophane which means the covering comes off easily, but generally, no, there is never such a thing. Why cover the packets in this foul stuff in the first place? What is the point of it? It surely can't be to keep the teabags within dry, or can it? Then, once you actually get inside there is a sort of perforated flat, which you have to break into when you want to extract a teabag. They put a similar perforated section in boxes of paper tissues which are virtually impossible to break into and then you have to extract the tissues through a very thin opening, which means that several tissues get torn to threads in the process, most annoying when you have a cold, with a runny nose and want a tissue in a hurry. Going on from tissues, how about toilet rolls? How easy can it be for manufacturers to make a roll of toilet paper which are easy to start off when the roll is new? You go to the loo and then discover at the vital moment that the loo roll has run out so you hunt far and wide for a new roll and then have trouble getting the end of the roll to start because it so difficult to get hold of the end of the paper and when you do eventually find the end, it just disintegrates and becomes virtually useless. Ink cartridges for printers can be annoying. Not just the fiddly installation process, but the packages they come in can be very difficult to open. There again, they have to be covered in more cellophane and then you break your fingernails trying to open the packet and then the actual ink cartridges are wrapped in more cellophane. Another product which can be annoying to open are CD's which never come with a handy strip to pull which releases the enclosed CD from the confines of it's little plastic box. These boxes can be fiddly when it comes to getting the CD itself out as it's held inside with a weird little central 'hub' which has sort of plastic teeth on it. It can be quite difficult removing the CD from this 'hub' thing to such an extent that if you're not very careful you could damage the CD. And the 'teeth' of this 'hub' thing can break off very easily, because it's made of very fragile plastic which breaks off easily and if that happens it renders the thing useless, meaning the CD won't sit safely on it and so get damaged if the plastic case is dropped. If that's the case the whole case is useless.The same can be said of DVD cases and also trying to extract the confounded thing from a similar 'hub' which is as difficult to remove as a CD. You can break your fingernails if you have to try to open the plastic box the thing comes in which is just as annoying.

Butter and margarine comes in convenient plastic boxes. I know these products are more convenient than having blocks of butter which come in paper or foil which means you have to transfer them into butter dishes (do people do that today? I think my mother would have done that once upon a time, but that would have been in the 1970's.) These products also are handy because they spread easily from the fridge, but the little niggle I have is the horrible bit of paper they insist on inserting under the lid when you open it and sitting directly on top of the spread inside. What's the purpose of that? You just throw it away, or, if it's left inside, you have to lift it off every time you want to take out some of the spread.

Cellophane and plastic wrap seems to cause quite a few problems. Another example which often bugs me is what covers magazines. I have a couple of magazines which I subscribe to and they arrive by post. Getting into them can be difficult, but not necessarily opening them (again, not always come with a handy tag to 'pull' so the cellophane or plastic wrap will open easily, but if you're not careful you can tear the magazine within the packaging. On a couple of occasions the postman has shoved the magazine through our letterbox with such force that the magazine within the packaging is damaged or it may be it got damaged somewhere within the post office's sorting machinery. Then, once you've got inside the packaging and opened the magazine you often find a sheaf of leaflets which are annoying because you end up throwing them away. We recycle wherever possible, but generally these bits of paper are not for things we want to read or offers we need or want, much like the annoying leaflets for such things as pizza delivery services, double glazing or estate agents who insist that your house would sell easily, which I'm sure it wouldn't. All go in the recycling bin and are really a great waste of resources. Even if you buy a magazine in a shop, such as W.H. Smith, most magazines you buy from the newsstand have similar leaflets inside and I notice that Smith's now have a bin in their shops which are there to take these annoying leaflets as they fall out when you open the magazine.

At the petrol station. Why can it be so difficult to fill your car up with petrol? How is it, when you manage to remove the  petrol hose from it's holder on the pump, it can be incredibly difficult to pull the hose out of its housing? Why can't it remain a decent length enabling you to fill your car successfully? Also gripping the trigger-mechanism takes quite a bit of effort as it can be quite stiff and difficult to keep pressed so the petrol flows. This similar thing happens when you go to put air in your tyres, especially at our local Shell station. You need a 20p piece to operate the machine, which s reasonable I suppose price-wise, but attempting to pull the hose out can be tricky as it won't maintain a decent length so you can reach all four tyres. Particularly difficult when you need to get to the side of the car furthest from the air-pump machine. The hose keeps wanting to recoil itself when you let fo of it and you need to put a foot on it to stop it retracting into the machine. This job is difficult if done on your own which is why it's easier with a second person who stays with the machine as you need to be able to read the pressure of each tyre so as to make sure it is correct. Do the owners or manufacturers of this machinery not realise how difficult these operations are and perhaps modify them so as to improve them and make it easier for their users? The answer to that is 'probably not,' because most people never complain about these things.

More little niggles. How about this one? Pink bin bags. Those which are provided by Milton Keynes Council to put your recycled rubbish in. First of all, they come on a roll. A long roll and it can be difficult to find the perforations which you use to separate a single bag from the roll. Tear rather than pull, because if you don't you might rip the bag. The you have to peel the bag open, and because the plastic these bags are made of it's extremely difficult. I find that licking my finger helps so the separate sections allow the bag to open. As I say, these pink bags are very thin and flimsy, which means you have to be extra careful when you place your recyclable rubbish inside because otherwise it will tear and become worthless. Why do they have to be so flimsy and, therefore, easy to tear, allowing rubbish to spill out? Just ask those that provide them at Milton Keynes Council.

Dog-Walking in Woughton

Sunday morning and the dogs need a walk. They haven't been in a while. The problem is, as soon as you say 'walk' Alfie goes crazy. If you so much as touch his lead, which hangs on a hook on the wall in the kitchen, he sets off on his barking. Poppy is no better, dancing around madly. As I have explained in an earlier post, we usually have to put Alfie in a cage in the boot, and you have to arrange things so he doesn't see what you're doing as it's quite an effort to get the cage out of the house without him seeing. But Carol insisted we take him in the boot, without the cage. Once we had his lead on she got him out to the car and by some fluke got him in the boot and got his lead tied up to something or other so be couldn't jump back out once the lid of the hatch was closed. All well and good. Then we had to get Poppy in. She insisted in coming through to the front of the car and sitting on my knee. In other circumstances, she will sit quite happily on the back seat of the car. So we drove to Woughton where we go rarely with Alfie barking madly in the boot and Poppy sitting on my knee. Once there we had to avoid the pond which is immediately in front of the car when we parked as Poppy has the habit of going in any water to swim, in all weathers, so we had to keep both dogs on their leads to avoid any dog-swimming. Which we did successfully. We then walked off towards what is called Ouzel Park and the river, walking along quite happily through a meadow where there can be cows grazing, but, fortunately, none today. We came across a few stay people ambling along, minding their own business, until both dogs have to ingratiate themselves, but fortunately the people didn't seem to mind, but as it's muddy and both dogs are covered in mud on their feet, and if they jumped up they would transfer mud onto the people's clothes. We walked on and then turned round to return. Carol was talking to me about Poppy, had I thought she might be getting older, slowing down and any signs? I wasn't sure. As we walked along we went past a flooded area with water standing on the grass and a man was playing with his dog which seemed to be enjoying being in the water. The next minute I'd turned round to look for Poppy, and she was in the water. No signs at all of being 'old' as she was happily splashing about. How on earth she had got there so quickly I can't think as it was quite a distance from where we were walking along the path. She doesn't seem to show too many signs of age. So we returned to the car and left for home. 

Hippos In The Mist (and other animals.)

So we were promised a warm and sunny weekend, by the forecasters on B.B.C. Breakfast. After a couple of weeks of wind, rain and snow, which meant we were confined to the house, we made the decision to get out and drive somewhere in the car. Well, not only the weather was an excuse, but the cost of petrol is currently less than £1 at the moment, so it seemed a great reason to go somewhere, so we went to Whipsnade Zoo. It was misty as we drove away from Milton Keynes on a southerly direction down the A5 towards Dunstable, but the sun was making a very brave attempt to break through. We knew that the zoo wouldn't be open until 10 o'clock, and as we were far too early when we got to Dunstable Downs, we decided to drive into the visitor center car park on the Downs and walk along the path and visit the centre, which we have been to on several occasions in the past. It's run as a joint project between Bedfordshire County Council and the National Trust (of which we are members) and is actually referred to as the Chiltern Gateway Centre and houses a National Trust shop and café. We parked in the car park, which was beginning to fill up rapidly when we arrived and found that the actual visitor centre wouldn't be open for around another 20 minutes (at 9.30, which shows how early we were. )The fog/mist had come down and goes to show that this is the highest point in the East of England. There were a great many people walking dogs along the footpaths as well as runners going their thing (as usual.) A group we saw in the distance were gathered around a van with the sign Regimental Training written on it as well as some coloured poles in the ground which we then found out as we walked along the path were going to be used for some sort of running exercise when they began to run around them. They didn't look the sort of folk who intended getting out of the way for anyone as they had that intent look on their faces, making all other human life-forms including dogs, invisible. We walked down the path towards the Downs and came to the metallic structure which is part of the Gateway Centre and looks like some sort of metallic sculpture, similar to the Angel of The North which you can't fail to see as you drive towards Newcastle near the A1 and designed by Anthony Gormley. But this 'thing' is actually not a sculpture at all but uses the wind from off the Downs to generate electricity (don't ask me how.)  For want of a better name I'll call it the Wind Catcher. It is certainly quite odd-looking and might be a sculpture or some weird and wonderful space machine which has crash-landed.

The Wind Catcher. Make of it what you will.

We then came across a group go dog walkers with an assortment of dogs. If we had our two dogs with us they would have enjoyed making friends, but knowing Alfie, our Yorkie, he would have had a field day running up and down and sniffing everybody, including humans!  I never realised until recently that this area is what is known as an S.S.S.I. (A Site of Special Scientific Interest.) as well as an A.O.B. (Area of Outstanding Beauty.) The things you learn as you move about the countryside. Also, it has historic significance as there are Bronze Age burial grounds nearby, apparently. We came upon a beacon which must have been used during the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977 when a chain of beacons was lit across the country.

The Beacon, along with some dogs who were being walked along the Downs but who just strayed into the shot.

We wandered inside the visitor centre when it opened at 9.30. We browsed in the shop and saw a magnificent chair which both of of couldn't resist sitting in and taking photographs of ourselves. Well, it did rather reming me particularly of the children's television series called 'Jackanory' where someone sat in a similar chair to tell stories!

Then we drove away towards Whipsnade. It was by now around 9.50, so we had to queue up with other vehicles entering the zoo. We were again driving the car inside as it makes it a good deal easier to get around inside. You can always park outside and walk in and then walk around or use the free bus, but as we have Fellowship membership of Z.S..L. (Zoological Society of London) we always try to get the best out of our membership wherever possible, so it seems logical to drive in. The mist was slowly lifting, but it gave a really soft light and meant that we could see whatever animals were out in their enclosures in a sort of soft-focus view. Hence, seeing hippos in the below photograph.

We drove right round the zoo site and stopped off at various intervals to look at the animals. Not all were on view, but whatever were out and about we saw in a slightly different aspect from whenever we visit during the summer months.

We went to one of the many cafés on site for coffee and cake and then, when we drove further, had to visit the toilets. When I came out, I heard this amazing sound, a sort of roar with a sort of cat-like undertone. Apparently it made by one of the tigers in the near-by tiger enclosure. There are three tigers in this enclosure and this one was wandering around near the perimeter fence, sort of pacing up and down. We have never seen any of these tigers at such close quarters and managed to take a few photographs, but, unfortunately, it wasn't easy to do this with the wire of the fence getting in the shot.

We wandered around the zoo for a good two hours plus, including getting some first rate views of the giraffes in their house, where you have to climb up a walk-way so that you are virtually at eye level with these incredible animals. We were rewarded with some fine photographs which I may post on this blog or Flickr. Having walked around as well as driven we decided to make our way home to Milton Keynes and had to do some shopping. On approaching Milton Keynes stadium the traffic was building up for a football match so decided on Waitrose as Asda, which is close to the stadium, which be difficult to get to due to the amount of traffic.

Outing To Bicester and Over-Night Snow

On Friday afternoon, once Carol and Kendra had finished work, we drove into the centre of Milton Keynes as Kendra wanted to go to the main Post Office. We managed to park immediately outside which made things considerably easier. We found that we could park there for 30 minutes without having to pay, which was great as we didn't have to look for another parking space. Once inside the Post Office, we found the place really busy. We were somewhat surprised to discover that Kendra was putting a Cadbury's selection box into a large padded envelope. We were expecting her to be sending something really important home to Canada, to her family or boyfriend, not a load of chocolate! I expect the cost of postage, together with the cost of the padded envelope, would have been far more than the value of the chocolate! I think it's because they don't have Cadbury's chocolate in Canada or something. 

From the centre of Milton Keynes we drove over to Westcroft as Kendra needed some shopping, so we went to Aldi and she did her shopping and we decided to do ours, which was convenient as it meant we didn't need to go when we usually go on Saturday. We then went to the Brother's fish and chip shop in Eaglestone on the return journey to buy fish and chips as we usually do on a Friday.

We have now learnt that one of the other three girls who were going to share a house with Kendra, hence the viewing of the house last weekend and another in Oldbrook the other day, has decided not to join them, so it's going to be even harder for her to find somewhere to live because the monthly rent would be far too much for just two of them. So she can stay living with us for as long as it takes to find something else.

Saturday morning started bright and sunny so we went for a drive out in the car to Bicester. There was a definite need to get out of the house, due mainly to the rain we've had recently. We've been to either Bicester Village or Bicester Avenue, both shopping centres. Bicester Village is an 'outlet' shopping centre which we've been to on a few occasions whilst Bicester Village is similar but based around a Wyevale garden centre. But we decided to visit the centre of Bicester itself. We have been in to go to the market and once, a few years ago, when I used to do care work, I had to go to a training day there. A bit of a waste of time, thinking back, because the agency who was supposed to give me work, didn't provide me with enough work to make it worth my while, so it was quite a long way to drive without much of a result.

We parked the car in a multi-storey car park in a  relatively new development called Pioneer Square which has a large branch of Sainsbury's and other shops, including a Vue  multi-screen cinema complex. We walked down into the street and were looking for somewhere to have a coffee as Carol, who is diabetic, was in need of something to eat and drink. We found a branch of Costa, but once inside it was far too crowded and we couldn't find a vacant table to we left in search of somewhere else. We then came across a camera shop, called Imagex, an independently owned establishment, and ventured inside and looked at lenses for the Canon camera I bought recently. The staff were very helpful and we've looked at a telephoto lens which we might yet buy as we want one to be able to take more inventive shots, particularly of the animals at Whipsnade.  As I had the Canon digital camera with me I was able to try the lens out and it seemed just what we had been looking for. We also saw a camera which Camera likes which I may buy for her as she has a birthday coming up in March and it would replace the little Olympus camera we had which got damaged when we went for a walk with the dogs and Alfie made Carol drop when he jumped up excitedly. 

We left the camera shop and walked back along the streets of Bicester.  The main street has been pedestrianized which makes it far safer. We eventually came to a cafe/coffee shop called Baguette Box and had coffee, cake, and a cookie which was just what we needed. Having seen all we wanted to we walked back to Pioneer Square and the car and left. Fortunately, we discovered when we entered that you could park there for two hours without paying, but I'm not sure how you would know when to start paying. How would they know in the carpark to start charging? I expect something to do with number-plate reading technology or something. So we returned home, happy in the knowledge that we'd used our timeout well, with the sun still shining.

This morning, however, we woke to find a blanket of snow had fallen and covered the garden and the car outside in the drive. Both dogs are somewhat shocked. Poppy loves the snow and usually gambols around in it like a spring lamb. Alfie, on the other hand, is not so sure. He has seen snow before, but as he suffers from cold as he has a thin coat of fur, I don't think he likes it very much. I think he doesn't like the feel of the cold on his feet.

Cold Weather

We're experiencing a very much colder dose of weather at the moment. I think December must have been one of the mildest on record. We've hardly had the central heating on, except briefly in the evenings, but over the past couple of days, we've had to have it on for far longer. I had to defrost the windscreen this morning, something I haven't had to do this winter. As I write this post, the sun is out and it's relatively warm, but, generally speaking, it's still chilly.

Because of the mild weather, it seems the plants and other wildlife around us are somewhat confused. There are bulbs popping up all around Milton Keynes, particularly on the roundabout at Standing Way. They are daffodils. In other corners of the town, we have seen blossom coming out, several months earlier than usual. Trees are adding and it appears that the grass is still growing. Please, no I don't want to get the mower out. It can wait. I'm just not doing it in early January. It must be some sort of record. Even the squirrels which live in and around our garden are rushing about the place. Don't they hibernate? It must be too early for them to be stirring. No doubt if there is a really sharp frost of even snow, all these bulbs will stop blooming. But from past years, they get a good covering of snow which seems to protect them and then shoot up even faster once it melts.

I'm back up and running with my writing. I managed to make notes for this 'piece' over the Christmas and New Year period which has really made the writing so much easier. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I had at last found a way to link the various elements of my 'multi-strand' project together. I am currently working on a schedule and hopefully, will manage to construct the necessary framework for this project. Most of it needs a great deal of re-writing and editing and then transferring to Word so it can be printed out, but I do attempt to avoid too much printing as the ink cartridges are  so expensive and it can be a waste of not just ink but also paper.

Terribly Temperamental Technology

I have mentioned in an earlier post on here that we have a young lady staying with us on a temporary basis, Kendra, who has come from Canada to be an English teacher at Milton Keynes Academy. She came last Saturday. She has to open a bank account, as she doesn't have a British account and has been to Lloyd's Bank in Central Milton Keynes and had an appointment at 1 p.m. this morning to set the account up. Carol and I did our weekly shop in Morrison's this morning and then came home to unpack. We then took Kendra and left her at the bank as we wanted to visit Staples, the stationary store, giving us time to go there to buy some pens for Carol's work and then drive back to Lloyd's. It didn't appear to take too long and Kendra now has to wait to receive her bank card etc in the post, using our address until she can find more permanent accomodation. She had given us some cash as rent and we wanted to put it in our Nationwide account. So Carol dropped me off outside the shopping centre while I went inside the branch. The door from the street where we could park was not in use, so I had to walk through into the main arcade and enter there. Quite a long way round and it was extremely busy with shoppers. Once inside the branch I found that none of the tills were open and the only way to pay in the cash was through one of their machines. I have used one of these to pay in cheques (a virtually redundant form of payment thes days as most payments from a bank account is made using a debit card with 'chip and PIN.' There were queues at both machines, so I just had to wait in line for other people to use it. One person ahead of me was being given instructions by a member of staff on how to use the machine. Very easy, actually. You don't need your PIN, just put in your debit card and then use the 'touch' screen and follow the instructions. Only thing with a cheque is getting it the right way round in the slot otherwise the machine just spits it out until you get it the correct way round. I suppose it's so the technology can 'read' the cheque, managing to get the amount and your name and bank sort code etc etc and at the end of the procedure copying all the details onto your receipt to prove that you have put cash or a cheque into your account through this form of paying-in.

As I had a bundle of £20 notes, I had to individually insert them into the machine through the slot. It was a painfully slow process and not all the notes would go in correctly and some got 'spat' out by the machine so I had to re-insert them. You had to keep pressing the appropriate 'button' on the screen as the individual notes were put into the machine. There was quite a queue behind me, but there was no way on Earth I could speed the process up any more. It seemed that the machine could go no faster. Anyway, anyone who has read earlier posts on this blog will know very well I have a rather strange relationship with such technology, such as talking lifts, and in particular the moving walkway at Sainsbury's which keeps on telling you to 'hold the handrail and be prepared to push your trolley off the walkway.' So, it's nothing new to have to deal with the idiotic machine in Nationwide. I have to say I'm not over-impressed that they don't have staff on the tills on a Saturday morning. If they will insist having this sort of technology in their branches instead of having humans on tills to take your cash, they could at least make sure it works a good deal faster, because the rate it was taking my cash I think I would have seriously got annoyed and given the horrible machine an almighty punch or kick if I wasn't a patient sort of individual.

When we'd collected Kendra we had to drive over to Great Holm, the next 'grid' over from where we used to live at Crown Hill. She went to view a house which she may possibly be sharing with several other teachers from the Academy. We went in to have a look ourselves and it seemed a very spacious property, although it looked as if the former tenants hadn't made much effort to clean the place when the left. She has to see another property in Oldbrook, which might be better as it will be far closer to work as she doesn't have a car and it would be quite a journey there and back each day if she was to live in Great Holm.

New Year 2016

Well, here we are, the first week of January 2016. It's has been a relatively stress-free Christmas and New Year. We were on our own, so nobody else to bother us. Carol had a hospital appointment on the Sunday after Christmas Day, so that was on her mind for most of the holiday period. It might seem odd to have appointments on a Weekend day, but it makes sense in some ways, when they are endeavouring to cut waiting times for appointments. We walked through from Eaglestone, but even then it was incredibly difficult to find the place where the appointment was. Nobody told us that you couldn't enter the hospital via the main, front' entrance, as it is closed off for building work. Where you would enter if you had parked your car in the carpark. So we had to walk back round to the side and go in through another entrance and then walk along a very long corridor until we found were we were supposed to be for the appointment. Not very well sign-posted anywhere, unfortunately. Up a few stairs to another floor. 

Today Carol had to go to Ashfield Medical Centre for a blood test. It was a little after 8 o'clock and we got there far too early. No queue at the door as you now have to ring to get a doctor to ring you back and then decide if you really need a proper appointment. (See my earlier post on this matter.)  The self-checkin system wasn't working. Now there's a surprise. It hasn't been working the last couple of times I've been to the surgery. A member of staff put a notice on the screen saying 'out of order.' No sooner had she put it there than it fell off. So she came back out and re-affixed it, but it fell off again. There was one other person waiting. Unusual, as the place is usually heaving with people waiting and attempting to get appointments. We were in and out relatively  quickly and easily but then we had to get back to the Academy and there was quite a queue of cars at the Standing Way roundabout. 

We have a house guest staying at present. She is from Canada and has begun as an English teacher at Milton Keynes Academy and is staying with us until she can find permanent accomodation. She flew in to Gatwick Airport of Saturday and was driven up to Milton Keynes by someone who is also a teacher at the academy. She is very self-sufficient and we have made her very welcome. Hopefully she will have sorted out a flat or somewhere to share within 4-6 weeks.

The weather has been exceptionally unseasonal over the last month or so. Certainly not cold and icy as it usually is at this time of the year. We went to Whipsnade on Boxing Day, which was great as it was a good excuse to get out of the house. The Fellowship membership of Z.S.L. makes it well worth visiting as we don't have to pay entrance to get in and we drove the car round which saves all the walking.

I mentioned that we'd set up a subscription to a magazine called PhotoPlus. I was surprised to get a delivery yesterday morning, the camera bag which is a gift for becoming a subscriber. A really fantastic Lowepro Urban Reporter, which is worth at least £80. It certainly makes being a subscriber worth while if it means you get this bag. We were looking for a camera bag when we bought the Canon digital camera before Christmas, so this makes a sort of late Christmas present. It also means I can keep not just the camera in it and carry around when we go out and about, but also if necessary, the Apple Macbook laptop (which, incidentally, I'm writing this blog on at the moment.) plus lenses and any additional equipment that goes with the camera. I was expecting the bag to arrive in a month or two, not so quickly as it did.

I haven't done any further serious writing over the holiday period, but I have been making notes for a piece of writing I have been working on recently and as a result I have since been doing more work on the actual writing  over the past couple of days and which is going surprisingly well,  so it's a really good start to 2016.