Heart attack

Thursday, May 04, 2017

Rest of Fence Replaced

I had to drive to Sainsbury's early yesterday morning for some shopping that we needed. On the way along Saxon Street I noticed that the major pothole which is just one of many in and around the Eaglestone area, and which it's quite difficult and dangerous to avoid in order to not damage the car, has now been marked with green paint. No doubt the Council has actually admitted that it's a major problem and will no doubt, in due course, get round to repairing it. I'm fairly certain that the state of the roads in and around Milton Keynes have had a detrimental effect on our car which meant we had to have certain parts replaced at great cost, namely, the coil springs, which would be made to deteriorate gradually as a result of having to drive over not just potholes, but speed bumps, a number of which are in and around Eaglestone. It wouldn't be just my vehicle that has been effected, but probably quite a few other drivers' vehicles who also use the road system around Milton Keynes.

Gary began working on replacing the fence that separates our garden from his. The work began mid-morning and went on for the rest of the afternoon, which meant I had to close the lounge curtains as I had the second Better Together session beginning at 2.30. A vast improvement on what was there before. I'm surprised the old bit of fence survived the winter and looking at it after it was removed, just a crumbling, rotting disaster. It was rickety, to say the least, and a gale, such as we had a couple of winters ago and which blew out the fence the opposite side of the garden (and which was replaced by Council workers, because  the house on that side is owned by the Council) might have destroyed it completely. 

Having now got myself an iPhone, we have now ordered one for Carol. We had a telephone call from Sky, as we are already Sky customers. They have recently added mobile phones to their expanding portfolio. It only seemed a question of time before this was done. We ordered another iPhone 5 (similar to mine) and it comes with a SIM card and you get a rolling data contract, which means that you don't loose your data at the end of a month and goes on to the next. It's for a 30-month contract and the payment is added to our Sky bill, which now means we don't have to buy top-up credit each month, which is simpler in the long run and probably cheaper. You also get the option to up-grade your mobile when a new model comes out and send the old one back when they are offered. The whole process of setting it up and ordering was done very efficiently by the lady on the telephone and the mobile is expected to arrive by courier sometime this morning. I have to say, even though the iPhone is a good deal more expensive than other mobiles, it is a good mobile and works as you would hope. It makes the Samsung Galaxy mobile i had seem fairly feeble by comparison. Much faster and more 'user-friendly' which is what you'd expect from an Apple product.

Some time later

I knew vaguely when the iPhone was going to be delivered. Sky very conveniently emailed me to say that it would be delivered by the courier company D.P.D., and with modern technology it was possible to 'track' the parcel from it's journey from the company depot in Raunds, near Wellingborough and if you put the consignment number in their website you could even see a photograph of the driver. (Looked a bit grumpy to me. Why couldn't he smile?) Using Google maps it was even possible to have a vague idea when the van was and at one point it showed up as being approximately 30 minutes from our house. I expect it's linked to G.P.S. and SatNav technology and when a parcel is signed for, using a touch-screen keypad device, a signal is sent to a computer system that tracks the parcel. I was also given an indication that the parcel would be delivered between 9.50-10.50. In the end it arrived at around 10.20 so I wasn't at all surprised when the very distinctive van drew up outside the house and the driver walked up the path to the front door and I was waiting with the door open. You then have to show some photographic identity (in this case my Driving Licence) and he handed over the parcel. Delivery completed when I signed the digital screen on the device I was handed.

It's another warm and sunny day today. Just hope it remains this sunny for the weekend and we don't suddenly get a downpour when we want to go out for the day.

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