I haven't posted on here for well over a week. The way things have been going I really had no desire to write anything. Carol's passing has hit me hard. We had such a wonderful life together. The funeral is arranged for 11th January at Crownhill Crematorium at 2 p.m. Postcode : MK8 OAH. The finer details are beginning to be put in place, such as what hymns and songs will be sung and the numbers for catering for the wake, which will be at the Oaktree Centre, the address of which is: Wallinger Drive, Shenley Brook End, MILTON KEYNES, MK5 7GZ.
I was invited to stay with my daughter Chloe and her husband, Steve, in Worcester over the Christmas period, from the Saturday before Christmas until the Wednesday after the New Year holiday. It would mean I wouldn't be on my own in the house in Milton Keynes, and I could take Alfie, my Yorkshire Terrier, with me. I had, at first, asked if I could be collected from home to be taken back to Worcester, but it proved impossible. Then Chloe suggested possibly going by railway, but it would have meant at least a two-hour journey and a change in Birmingham. It would have been difficult taking Alfie, probably on a lead or at least a carrying case of some sort along with luggage. Not going to happen. Then I thought, I've got a perfectly good car, which has only recently been serviced, in good working order. I can drive to Worcester, fill up with fuel in Milton Keynes and go across country. It'll be a lovely journey. I didn't envision using the Motorway as I'm not a good driver on a Motorway. So I left mid-morning on the Saturday and it was fine driving from Milton Keynes, through Buckingham and then out towards Banbury. I didn't need to set the satnav for that section of the journey. I had intended then finding the road for Evesham and then onto Worcester, but I got into Banbury at exactly the wrong time. Nose-to-tail traffic, of people doing their last-minute Christmas shopping. I could not find my way out. I eventually had to set the satnav for Chloe and Steve's postcode and just followed the directions. It took me via the M40 and eventually the M5. It was fairly straightforward and the traffic wasn't too heavy and I just stayed in the slower lane most of the way. When I got to Worcester I had to reset the satnav for the final stretch to Chloe's address and arrived at their front door at around 3.30.
When I'd unloaded Alfie from the cage in the boot (incidentally, he'd been absolutely quite for the entire journey. Probably because I'd put the parcel shelf in which would have meant it would have been quite dark in the back of the car and he'd be safe in the cage.) I took him into the house. I don't think he was expecting two young children to be running about, George, age 3 and Eddie, just turned 1 (not quite walking but getting there.) so whenever George ran around, Alfie began to bark. It took him a while to settle down and by the weekend he had got used to having them about.
So, we had a lovely Christmas Day with Steve's parents and his sister, Katy, as well as other family members, which included Steve's grandfather who is in his mid 90's I spent a lot of time chatting to him. They Skyped other members of the Wilson family who could not be in Britain, spread far and wide, a couple in Australia. I've never used Skype before, so it was a new experience. The picture and sound quality is amazing when you think how far away some of the family members are. I'll have to give it a go sometime. In the evening we sat around a table and played games, one being Linkee which is similar in some ways to the BBC1 show 'Only Connect.' Another one was to identify objects from a very close-up photo.
We walked to a park, or, at least, a large green space. It seemed to be a popular place to walk dogs and Alfie made friends with one or two, but one large dog kept following us. It wasn't on a lead, which was annoying, and I don't think Alfie liked being followed. It took some while to get any mud off his paws when we got back to the house.
On Saturday we went to what is called Worcester Woods where there was a run. I don't know how many participated, but probably several hundred. Alfie came in the car, but he sat on my lap but he wouldn't sit still. Then, when we got out of the car, he didn't appreciate the crowds and I didn't appreciate all the mud. None of this made life easy for me, but never mind. He had a lovely run around a large field. Not really my sort of thing, but never mind.
I didn't leave Worcester until Wednesday morning. I thought it probably best not to travel back to Milton Keynes over the holiday period as there was likely to be heavy traffic on the Motorways. I left at around 8.45 and got to Milton Keynes at around 10.45. I had managed to reset the satnav the night before, but I couldn't get it to work once I left Worcester, so I just decided to get on the M5 and make for the M42, then the M40 and got off onto the road I know reasonably well and went through Buckingham and back towards Milton Keynes that way. I really need to spend a bit more time looking at the satnav in the car before I go on another long journey and set it up properly.
I was invited to stay with my daughter Chloe and her husband, Steve, in Worcester over the Christmas period, from the Saturday before Christmas until the Wednesday after the New Year holiday. It would mean I wouldn't be on my own in the house in Milton Keynes, and I could take Alfie, my Yorkshire Terrier, with me. I had, at first, asked if I could be collected from home to be taken back to Worcester, but it proved impossible. Then Chloe suggested possibly going by railway, but it would have meant at least a two-hour journey and a change in Birmingham. It would have been difficult taking Alfie, probably on a lead or at least a carrying case of some sort along with luggage. Not going to happen. Then I thought, I've got a perfectly good car, which has only recently been serviced, in good working order. I can drive to Worcester, fill up with fuel in Milton Keynes and go across country. It'll be a lovely journey. I didn't envision using the Motorway as I'm not a good driver on a Motorway. So I left mid-morning on the Saturday and it was fine driving from Milton Keynes, through Buckingham and then out towards Banbury. I didn't need to set the satnav for that section of the journey. I had intended then finding the road for Evesham and then onto Worcester, but I got into Banbury at exactly the wrong time. Nose-to-tail traffic, of people doing their last-minute Christmas shopping. I could not find my way out. I eventually had to set the satnav for Chloe and Steve's postcode and just followed the directions. It took me via the M40 and eventually the M5. It was fairly straightforward and the traffic wasn't too heavy and I just stayed in the slower lane most of the way. When I got to Worcester I had to reset the satnav for the final stretch to Chloe's address and arrived at their front door at around 3.30.
When I'd unloaded Alfie from the cage in the boot (incidentally, he'd been absolutely quite for the entire journey. Probably because I'd put the parcel shelf in which would have meant it would have been quite dark in the back of the car and he'd be safe in the cage.) I took him into the house. I don't think he was expecting two young children to be running about, George, age 3 and Eddie, just turned 1 (not quite walking but getting there.) so whenever George ran around, Alfie began to bark. It took him a while to settle down and by the weekend he had got used to having them about.
So, we had a lovely Christmas Day with Steve's parents and his sister, Katy, as well as other family members, which included Steve's grandfather who is in his mid 90's I spent a lot of time chatting to him. They Skyped other members of the Wilson family who could not be in Britain, spread far and wide, a couple in Australia. I've never used Skype before, so it was a new experience. The picture and sound quality is amazing when you think how far away some of the family members are. I'll have to give it a go sometime. In the evening we sat around a table and played games, one being Linkee which is similar in some ways to the BBC1 show 'Only Connect.' Another one was to identify objects from a very close-up photo.
We walked to a park, or, at least, a large green space. It seemed to be a popular place to walk dogs and Alfie made friends with one or two, but one large dog kept following us. It wasn't on a lead, which was annoying, and I don't think Alfie liked being followed. It took some while to get any mud off his paws when we got back to the house.
On Saturday we went to what is called Worcester Woods where there was a run. I don't know how many participated, but probably several hundred. Alfie came in the car, but he sat on my lap but he wouldn't sit still. Then, when we got out of the car, he didn't appreciate the crowds and I didn't appreciate all the mud. None of this made life easy for me, but never mind. He had a lovely run around a large field. Not really my sort of thing, but never mind.
I didn't leave Worcester until Wednesday morning. I thought it probably best not to travel back to Milton Keynes over the holiday period as there was likely to be heavy traffic on the Motorways. I left at around 8.45 and got to Milton Keynes at around 10.45. I had managed to reset the satnav the night before, but I couldn't get it to work once I left Worcester, so I just decided to get on the M5 and make for the M42, then the M40 and got off onto the road I know reasonably well and went through Buckingham and back towards Milton Keynes that way. I really need to spend a bit more time looking at the satnav in the car before I go on another long journey and set it up properly.
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