Heart attack

Friday, February 14, 2020

A Change In The Weather

It's sunny out, but it's chilly. Probably cold enough for there to be snow. I hope not, but I'm sure we will be able to manage. I took Alfie out at around 4.30, but it was so cold I don't think he appreciated it, but he needed to do his business and then we went home.

As I say, the weather is very changeable at present, from howling wind, to frost and fog, to sunny and so cold we could expect snow. But, let's be perfectly honest and just say, it's what you expect from the British climate and we're barely into February. I think in previous years we've had snow by now.

(Wednesday) I was determined to get my hair cut this morning. It's getting really untidy an I can't stand it when it gets long. I begin to look like a mad professor. Think the Christopher Lloyd character in 'Back To The Future.' I also wanted to go to Sainsbury's and had made a really detailed shopping list. My pension had gone into my account so I could afford to top up the freezer. I have joined something called CLASP (I think I may have mentioned this on here somewhere, as a result of visiting the history festival which was held in Campbell Park during the summer.) It stands for Community Landscape Archaeology survey Project.). On their Facebook page, I discovered that there was to be a conference near Peterborough on the technology used by archaeologists, which means they don't necessarily have to dig to discover what is beneath the ground, like the radar system called LIDAR and tomography (as seen on such television shows as Time Team.) So, I thought that it would be something that would interest me and as a result I have paid for a ticket which means I can now go at the end of March. I thought it was as well as get it booked before there was no more tickets and I would loose out.

So I drove in to the centre of Milton Keynes, and, having parked in my usual place, the carpark near The Point, I walked into the shopping centre and arrived at Essential Barbers. I was relieved to have my hair cut and walked back through the shopping centre. It was relatively early, around 9.50, so not many shops were open. That's the disadvantage of deciding to get there so early.

I bought a new notebook in W.H.Smith and the latest edition of the magazine Current Archaeology and then walked back to the car and home.

(Thursday) I was woken in the night by the sound of rain rattling on the bedroom window. It sounded ominously as if the weather was going to break in. I took Alfie out just after 7a.m., and discovered that the path along Strudwick Drive, which leads to Oldbrook Green, was flooded, making it virtually impassable.

Later. I've been back into the shopping centre. I had meant to go to the Nationwide branch because I intended to cancel a payment after I got my hair cut yesterday morning. I went to the branch yesterday as I walked through on my way to Essential Barbers, but it wasn't open. They are open at 9.30. I forgot to return, so this morning I went back in and then was told that the payment was made as a point-of-sale payment or something and I'd need to ring the company involved. It's so complicated. Anyway, it wasn't a Direct Debit.  I have since managed to ring the company concerned and the payment has been stopped.

I have a Costa loyalty card. It's the same idea as a Nectar or Tesco Clubcard, you get points every time you buy food or drink in one of their stores. They kept emailing me to say I could have a free coffee and gain extra points if I went into one of their stores. Which I did this morning, the branch which is near the Middleton Hall. I could do some observations and make notes in my newly-acquired notebook which I bought in W.H.Smith yesterday. Just noticed that many of the people I watched were in couples and, as a result, made notes. I had two fairly full notebooks, which I had kept when I lived in Golden Drive, but seem to have vanished into thin air since I moved to the flat, which annoys me because so much of what is in them could have been used to create written material, which was the main object of keeping them. Not stuff that will ever be restored to me, but I have a feeling that they might have been in one of the ten boxes which were taken by Willen Hospice, only days after I moved in October because I didn't have space for even half of what I had when I moved in. I didn't have an alternative and the CDs, DVDs and books they contained aren't missed and  the fact is, generally, once you've read a book, the chinches are you don't usually read again and most were paperbacks. The notebooks were valuable and I should have been a little more careful that they weren't mislaid, unfortunately, but considering everything I have been through over the last few years and in particular, the stress of attempting to find alternative accommodation, the notebooks were the last things on my mind.

Later. I'm still intrigued by the 'mystery building' which has appeared on the opposite side of Oldbrook Green to the Cricketers public house. I walked past earlier this afternoon and it now has a roof, fully tiled, and matching those on the existing building it's next to. I still have absolutely no idea what it's use will be. Probably just boring storage space for mowers and other equipment. Hey hoo!

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