Yesterday afternoon (Sunday) we had an invasion of flying ants in the lounge. It was Carol who noticed them, along the skirting board under the window and near where we store Alfie's toys in a basket next to the television unit. I can't think how they got in the house, but no doubt the recent warm weather has something to do with this invasion. It's supposed to happen annually when the queen ant of a colony sprouts wings ready to mate. They don't usually sting humans, but we weren't over-keen to find out one way or another and certainly didn't want them in the house. Carol doused the carpet with ant-killer powder, and we whisked Alfie out of the way into the kitchen, much to his dismay, but we weren't sure he wasn't likely to get bitten and didn't want him near the poison. They began to die as the poison took effect and I then used the vacuum cleaner to clear up the powder. Unfortunately Alfie's toys got covered in the powder, so the only solution was to put them in a black bin bag and put the whole lot out for the dustmen. We really didn't want him playing with them after they were doused in the ant killing powder. They were crawling along the skirting board and on the carpet. Panic over, we could then return to watching television.
Monday morning. I took out Alfie as usual for his walk. There were people in the children's playground area who had an alsatian which was not on a lead so I avoided that area and immediately put Alfie on his lead. I was concerned that the bigger dog might harm Alfie. He isn't scared of bigger dogs generally and always wants to make friends, but it's difficult to know whether this alsatian was going to be aggressive and wasn't keen to find out so to avoid at all costs seemed the best solution.
We drove over Woburn Abbey to drive through the park. The deer were not close to the road and having looked I could see them in the distance over towards the road leading to the Abbey. There is a sign up as you drive into the open park space which tells you the number of deer killed so far this year. It says 12. It seems crazy that drivers don't slow down to avoid the deer as they are large animals and do have a habit of wandering into the road, so how on earth do people manage to hit them and kill them? Surely not impossible to merely slow down, or are some drivers just too reckless when they drive through the park? We drove round the loop which we always take so as to make a return journey back through the park and then went to Wyevale Garden Centre at Woburn Sands to have a browse in The Works there as Carol wanted to buy glue sticks for her crafting. The Works always have a good range of not only books but also a wide range of other items such as for crafting and had Christmas stock in for those who make Christmas cards and decorations. Let's just say it's the first sign I've seen of Christmas, even though we're only in August.
Lots of children in the garden centre, because it's till the school holidays. Some very well behaved but one or two screaming to get their own way. Some parents let their children get their own way and don't know how to discipline them. They don't know how to say 'no' when a child demands something. We avoided Frost's garden centre, which is the first garden centre you come to when driving from Woburn. I could see many cars in what must have been a carpark extension and we know from experience that they put on special events for children during the school holidays, such as a circus, so drove past to go to Wyevale instead.
We ended up in the café and had lattes and scones, jam and clotted cream. The scones were really fresh and were warm, straight from the oven. Almost like homemade. The latte was better than average and would seem to have a far higher coffee content than at most places we've been to.
We left Wyevale, heading back to Milton Keynes through Wavendon. There's lots of roadworks along this stretch of road and it looks as though they're building more houses on the piece of land between this road and the main road that leads out towards the M1, which is now lined by large warehouses, the biggest being for John Lewis. Very soon Wavendon will be totally engulfed by housing. The large roundabout which is on Staanding Way and which is the first roundabout you encounter as you come into Milton Keynes from the M1 has been totally transformed and expanded, with traffic lights on it which make it safer and easier to negotiate.
Monday morning. I took out Alfie as usual for his walk. There were people in the children's playground area who had an alsatian which was not on a lead so I avoided that area and immediately put Alfie on his lead. I was concerned that the bigger dog might harm Alfie. He isn't scared of bigger dogs generally and always wants to make friends, but it's difficult to know whether this alsatian was going to be aggressive and wasn't keen to find out so to avoid at all costs seemed the best solution.
We drove over Woburn Abbey to drive through the park. The deer were not close to the road and having looked I could see them in the distance over towards the road leading to the Abbey. There is a sign up as you drive into the open park space which tells you the number of deer killed so far this year. It says 12. It seems crazy that drivers don't slow down to avoid the deer as they are large animals and do have a habit of wandering into the road, so how on earth do people manage to hit them and kill them? Surely not impossible to merely slow down, or are some drivers just too reckless when they drive through the park? We drove round the loop which we always take so as to make a return journey back through the park and then went to Wyevale Garden Centre at Woburn Sands to have a browse in The Works there as Carol wanted to buy glue sticks for her crafting. The Works always have a good range of not only books but also a wide range of other items such as for crafting and had Christmas stock in for those who make Christmas cards and decorations. Let's just say it's the first sign I've seen of Christmas, even though we're only in August.
Lots of children in the garden centre, because it's till the school holidays. Some very well behaved but one or two screaming to get their own way. Some parents let their children get their own way and don't know how to discipline them. They don't know how to say 'no' when a child demands something. We avoided Frost's garden centre, which is the first garden centre you come to when driving from Woburn. I could see many cars in what must have been a carpark extension and we know from experience that they put on special events for children during the school holidays, such as a circus, so drove past to go to Wyevale instead.
We ended up in the café and had lattes and scones, jam and clotted cream. The scones were really fresh and were warm, straight from the oven. Almost like homemade. The latte was better than average and would seem to have a far higher coffee content than at most places we've been to.
We left Wyevale, heading back to Milton Keynes through Wavendon. There's lots of roadworks along this stretch of road and it looks as though they're building more houses on the piece of land between this road and the main road that leads out towards the M1, which is now lined by large warehouses, the biggest being for John Lewis. Very soon Wavendon will be totally engulfed by housing. The large roundabout which is on Staanding Way and which is the first roundabout you encounter as you come into Milton Keynes from the M1 has been totally transformed and expanded, with traffic lights on it which make it safer and easier to negotiate.
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