Thursday.It has been sunny but somewhat chilly this morning. We took Alfie out for his morning trot around Eaglestone Park and came across children being walked to school by their mums and dads, on their way to the primary school. Alfie was overwhelmed by all the people passing by and kept running up to them, running around in circles and enjoying the attention he was getting. I think he forgot that he was with us as we walked along the part of the Redway which crosses the park. Also, the children and parents seemed amused by his antics. He just wants to be friends with everyone he meets. I wore a long-sleeved shirt for the first time this morning. It was a necessity as it was, as I said earlier, fairly chilly, but as the morning progressed and the sun remained out, it got quite warm.
Carol had an appointment with the stoma nurse at Milton Keynes hospital at 10.00 a.m. in the Out-Patients' department. We got there far too early, as we almost always seem to do and parked easily in the multi-storey carpark. Just fortunate that someone was coming out of a space as we drove in, which made it easier. Any later and we wouldn't have been so lucky.
Friday morning. My Casio G-Shock digital watch has been showing signs of running out of power. The light which comes on when you press one of the buttons, for example, in the middle of the night when it's dark, doesn't work and the display had faded completely, so I thought it must be the battery needed replacing. The only place I know which will do a new battery as well as put it in is a small shop within the Central Shopping Centre, as they've done this before. I don't have the right screwdriver to open the back of the watch to install a new battery. I'm not going to H.Samuel or whatever the jewellers name is, which I've used before because a few years ago I purchased a digital watch from them, I think another Casio, very nice, with a good, sturdy strap (which is the part that seems to wear out quickest.) and I bought the watch with an extended warranty. The watch malfunctioned, it just stopped working, for whatever reason (I don't think it was the battery.) so I returned it with the idea that it would be covered by this 'extended warranty.' Samuels refused to repair or replace the watch, making some sort of excuse as to why this was the case, so I was not pleased, as you might imagine. Surely that would be the whole point of paying extra for an 'extended warranty.' So, I refuse to buy anything from them. Paying a bit more for your watch, as a sort of guarantee that if it goes wrong it will be either replaced or repaired, free of charge, was sort of putting my mind at rest that the watch would be reliable and therefore repairable. But no.
So we decided to drive into the Milton Keynes centre and park where we always do, near Debenhams, in the multi-storey carpark which is currently being renovated. We walked along the mall to Boots as Carol needed some painrelief tablets and then we went to The Watch and Clock Shop to get them to replace the battery for me. It was going to take at least 30 minutes, they gave me a numbered ticket to identify my watch when I returned to collect it and we then went to Patisserie Valerie for lattes and really nice almond and chocolate croissants. They recently moved from their old unit further down the shopping centre to their new location. I was really surprised that they had a waiter service, which I don't think many other similar restaurants offer in this day and age.
I needed the loo. As one does. So I left Carol in the restaurant and went out into the main shopping centre and into the newly-opened toilet block. Very smart. They recently moved the main toilet block from one side of the shopping centre to the opposite side. I needed to wash my hands and they've craftily hidden the soap and water under the mirrors over the row of sinks. You just put your hand under where they're marked on the bottom of the mirror and water comes out as well as soap. I reckon some people would find this difficult to find or get to operate. Then I wanted to dry my hands. I hunted around for the hand-drying machine, but in vain I couldn't find one. Then I returned to the sinks and they'd hidden them under the mirror-edge, next to the soap and water. It was marked but not clear enough and not somewhere you'd think to find a hand-drier. Also, operated when you put your hand underneath the sensor.
I returned to Carol in Patisserie Valerie, we paid the bill and as we walked out we saw that there were toilets with the store, so I needn't have left to go to the toilets in the shopping centre.
We walked towards John Lewis and ended up in Middleton Hall, where there was a jobs fair on and had a browse around the stalls and then walked back along the centre and went into Marks and Spencer. I was looking for a long-sleeved Rugby shirt, of which I have a couple already, the idea being they are ideal for when it's cold in the winter. Particularly ideal wear for when we're out and about and probably when we go to Whipsnade Zoo, because it can get really cold up on Dunstable Downs. We searched high and low in the men's department, but couldn't find one long-sleeved shirt I liked. You would think that they would have them in stock by now as the days get colder, but it seemed they only had summer stock in. When I got home I went on the MacBook and found on the Marks and Spencer website that they had plenty, which begs the question, why not in their bricks-and-mortar stores? We left Marks and Spencer's and made our way towards Midsummer Place and Debenhams and went up the escalator to the multi-storey carpark to our car and drove home.
Carol had an appointment with the stoma nurse at Milton Keynes hospital at 10.00 a.m. in the Out-Patients' department. We got there far too early, as we almost always seem to do and parked easily in the multi-storey carpark. Just fortunate that someone was coming out of a space as we drove in, which made it easier. Any later and we wouldn't have been so lucky.
Friday morning. My Casio G-Shock digital watch has been showing signs of running out of power. The light which comes on when you press one of the buttons, for example, in the middle of the night when it's dark, doesn't work and the display had faded completely, so I thought it must be the battery needed replacing. The only place I know which will do a new battery as well as put it in is a small shop within the Central Shopping Centre, as they've done this before. I don't have the right screwdriver to open the back of the watch to install a new battery. I'm not going to H.Samuel or whatever the jewellers name is, which I've used before because a few years ago I purchased a digital watch from them, I think another Casio, very nice, with a good, sturdy strap (which is the part that seems to wear out quickest.) and I bought the watch with an extended warranty. The watch malfunctioned, it just stopped working, for whatever reason (I don't think it was the battery.) so I returned it with the idea that it would be covered by this 'extended warranty.' Samuels refused to repair or replace the watch, making some sort of excuse as to why this was the case, so I was not pleased, as you might imagine. Surely that would be the whole point of paying extra for an 'extended warranty.' So, I refuse to buy anything from them. Paying a bit more for your watch, as a sort of guarantee that if it goes wrong it will be either replaced or repaired, free of charge, was sort of putting my mind at rest that the watch would be reliable and therefore repairable. But no.
So we decided to drive into the Milton Keynes centre and park where we always do, near Debenhams, in the multi-storey carpark which is currently being renovated. We walked along the mall to Boots as Carol needed some painrelief tablets and then we went to The Watch and Clock Shop to get them to replace the battery for me. It was going to take at least 30 minutes, they gave me a numbered ticket to identify my watch when I returned to collect it and we then went to Patisserie Valerie for lattes and really nice almond and chocolate croissants. They recently moved from their old unit further down the shopping centre to their new location. I was really surprised that they had a waiter service, which I don't think many other similar restaurants offer in this day and age.
I needed the loo. As one does. So I left Carol in the restaurant and went out into the main shopping centre and into the newly-opened toilet block. Very smart. They recently moved the main toilet block from one side of the shopping centre to the opposite side. I needed to wash my hands and they've craftily hidden the soap and water under the mirrors over the row of sinks. You just put your hand under where they're marked on the bottom of the mirror and water comes out as well as soap. I reckon some people would find this difficult to find or get to operate. Then I wanted to dry my hands. I hunted around for the hand-drying machine, but in vain I couldn't find one. Then I returned to the sinks and they'd hidden them under the mirror-edge, next to the soap and water. It was marked but not clear enough and not somewhere you'd think to find a hand-drier. Also, operated when you put your hand underneath the sensor.
I returned to Carol in Patisserie Valerie, we paid the bill and as we walked out we saw that there were toilets with the store, so I needn't have left to go to the toilets in the shopping centre.
We walked towards John Lewis and ended up in Middleton Hall, where there was a jobs fair on and had a browse around the stalls and then walked back along the centre and went into Marks and Spencer. I was looking for a long-sleeved Rugby shirt, of which I have a couple already, the idea being they are ideal for when it's cold in the winter. Particularly ideal wear for when we're out and about and probably when we go to Whipsnade Zoo, because it can get really cold up on Dunstable Downs. We searched high and low in the men's department, but couldn't find one long-sleeved shirt I liked. You would think that they would have them in stock by now as the days get colder, but it seemed they only had summer stock in. When I got home I went on the MacBook and found on the Marks and Spencer website that they had plenty, which begs the question, why not in their bricks-and-mortar stores? We left Marks and Spencer's and made our way towards Midsummer Place and Debenhams and went up the escalator to the multi-storey carpark to our car and drove home.
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