(Thursday) So, we're allowed to meet up with family and friends outside, since some of the pandemic lockdown restrictions have been lifted. Thank goodness. It's like being locked up in solitary confinement. Well, let's be perfectly honest, it is solitary confinement in some ways. I took Alfie out for his last walk around Oldbrook Green and there were far more people around than there have been in ages. Youths playing football and others in what appears to be family groups but some not adhering to the 2 metre social distancing regulations. Several of the notices which had been attached to various bits of exercise equipment were laying on the ground and people sitting in the covered shelter but it would appear that things are gradually going to return to some sort of normal.
(Friday) It's 7.10a.m. I'm waiting to take Alfie out, but I'm trying to avoid him making a noise because a certain person who lives in Dexter House again complained about his barking (Alfie, not this idiot. Although, thinking about it, Alfie behaves better.) It's sunny and warm and I don't want to have BBC Breakfast on when all they go on about is the pandemic, which seems to have totally engulfed their news broadcasts. There must surely be more to report on in the news. This 'person' (for want of a better description.) leaning out of his flat window when I came back with Alfie yesterday afternoon, and hurling abuse at me. Just not acceptable and almost like something out of a Shakespeare play or even Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
I have had a delivery from Staples of a paper rack and a couple of pads of paper which came yesterday lunchtime. Ordered on Wednesday and surprised that the parcel was delivered barely 24 hours after the order was made, on line. I'm still waiting for the Apple pencil, which was ordered via Very almost a week ago. No notification from Very to let me know where the item is in the system, not even that it's not in stock. The iPad came within two days of ordering, so I don't see what the problem is. I realise that these businesses are working within social distancing guidelines, so some deliveries are likely to be a lot longer in arriving, but not being kept informed is not very good customer care in my opinion, The order from Weird Fish, of the shorts I ordered through their website was supposed to have arrived yesterday before 6 o'clock, but still nothing, so I assume that is on it's way.
The paper rack is now put together, but causing problems because the screws that hold it together won't tighten sufficiently so I have had to improvise making cardboard washers and putting them on the screws and tightening the screws with a Phillips screwdriver and it seems to have done the trick. It now means I can organise the handwritten pages of my writing which need putting into order so I can transcribe it all onto my MacBook and in the process make some amendments.
Later. I have 'Good Morning Britain' on, ITV's answer to the BBC's breakfast programme. I'm not sure which is better, but I think their set is a bit more imaginative. It make me laugh that it comes to the former BBC's Television Centre, which they rent from the new owners and then re-rent to ITV. It seems bonkers.
Walking with Alfie around Oldbrook Green, there was a ride-on mower cutting the grass. It seems they cut the grass several times in succession. The only problem is that they leave the cut grass and it has a tendency to get on your shoes and then walk it into the flat and there's piles of cuttings all over the floor. Nothing much you can do about it except sweep it up or pick up with the vacuum cleaner.
I have begun to sort out the handwritten pages of my written material. It's got really muddled and I will need to get some plastic wallets to put these collated pages in otherwise they will get muddled up again. Some were numbered but other are not which makes it far more difficult to sort out. I have begun to transcribe more of these hand-written pages into word processing.
(Saturday) 6.15a.m. It's another reasonably bright and sunny morning. The flat window is open and I can hear the birdies singing merrily. Alfie is expecting to be taken out, but I must wait because it will only upset someone who shall remain nameless. Just doesn't need winding up, but it's so easy. I have managed to get Alfie out by carrying him until we get round the corner into Strudwick Drive. It's preventing him making a noise and if you carry him (which he doesn't like) he can't, or simply won't, bark. It's restricting his natural tendency because that's what makes his character and I don't like stopping him. I have written a shopping list which sits on the coffee table and I intend going to Sainsbury's after 8 o'clock as there's no point going earlier because of the queuing system and I know that NHS frontline staff get preference between 7a.m and 8a.m.
Later. I was at Sainsbury's at around 8.15 this morning. The queue didn't stretch as far as when I first went when the lockdown restrictions were first put in place, when the queue was right back to the lower level of the carpark. This morning things moved reasonably quickly and I was inside the store and finished within about 30 minutes. I think it may actually have been less. I'm getting far better at using the self-service checkouts and I have a feeling that since the pandemic they are keeping them in better order so you don't get so many glitches, none of that 'unknown item in bagging area.' I'm definitely more confident and can scan each item faster. The trick I find is being able to discover where the bar code is on each item so it's easier to scan. I have now got the wallets so that I can sort out the different stories I have written which are in handwritten form, some of which need collating into their correct order, which, hopefully, these wallets should help with.
I got back to the flat and put all groceries away, most importantly the frozen things which needed putting in the freezer section of the fridge/freezer. I took Alfie out for a walk around Oldbrook Green and then started watching the video of 'Cats' which is being shown for 24 hours via YouTube as part of the 'Show Must Go On' project. I didn't watch the entire show but paused it and completed watching an hour or so later when I was eating my lunch. I saw the original London production at the New Theatre probably only weeks after it opened in 1981. I saw the touring production which came to the Derngate in Northampton a couple of years ago.
(Friday) It's 7.10a.m. I'm waiting to take Alfie out, but I'm trying to avoid him making a noise because a certain person who lives in Dexter House again complained about his barking (Alfie, not this idiot. Although, thinking about it, Alfie behaves better.) It's sunny and warm and I don't want to have BBC Breakfast on when all they go on about is the pandemic, which seems to have totally engulfed their news broadcasts. There must surely be more to report on in the news. This 'person' (for want of a better description.) leaning out of his flat window when I came back with Alfie yesterday afternoon, and hurling abuse at me. Just not acceptable and almost like something out of a Shakespeare play or even Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
I have had a delivery from Staples of a paper rack and a couple of pads of paper which came yesterday lunchtime. Ordered on Wednesday and surprised that the parcel was delivered barely 24 hours after the order was made, on line. I'm still waiting for the Apple pencil, which was ordered via Very almost a week ago. No notification from Very to let me know where the item is in the system, not even that it's not in stock. The iPad came within two days of ordering, so I don't see what the problem is. I realise that these businesses are working within social distancing guidelines, so some deliveries are likely to be a lot longer in arriving, but not being kept informed is not very good customer care in my opinion, The order from Weird Fish, of the shorts I ordered through their website was supposed to have arrived yesterday before 6 o'clock, but still nothing, so I assume that is on it's way.
The paper rack is now put together, but causing problems because the screws that hold it together won't tighten sufficiently so I have had to improvise making cardboard washers and putting them on the screws and tightening the screws with a Phillips screwdriver and it seems to have done the trick. It now means I can organise the handwritten pages of my writing which need putting into order so I can transcribe it all onto my MacBook and in the process make some amendments.
Later. I have 'Good Morning Britain' on, ITV's answer to the BBC's breakfast programme. I'm not sure which is better, but I think their set is a bit more imaginative. It make me laugh that it comes to the former BBC's Television Centre, which they rent from the new owners and then re-rent to ITV. It seems bonkers.
Walking with Alfie around Oldbrook Green, there was a ride-on mower cutting the grass. It seems they cut the grass several times in succession. The only problem is that they leave the cut grass and it has a tendency to get on your shoes and then walk it into the flat and there's piles of cuttings all over the floor. Nothing much you can do about it except sweep it up or pick up with the vacuum cleaner.
I have begun to sort out the handwritten pages of my written material. It's got really muddled and I will need to get some plastic wallets to put these collated pages in otherwise they will get muddled up again. Some were numbered but other are not which makes it far more difficult to sort out. I have begun to transcribe more of these hand-written pages into word processing.
(Saturday) 6.15a.m. It's another reasonably bright and sunny morning. The flat window is open and I can hear the birdies singing merrily. Alfie is expecting to be taken out, but I must wait because it will only upset someone who shall remain nameless. Just doesn't need winding up, but it's so easy. I have managed to get Alfie out by carrying him until we get round the corner into Strudwick Drive. It's preventing him making a noise and if you carry him (which he doesn't like) he can't, or simply won't, bark. It's restricting his natural tendency because that's what makes his character and I don't like stopping him. I have written a shopping list which sits on the coffee table and I intend going to Sainsbury's after 8 o'clock as there's no point going earlier because of the queuing system and I know that NHS frontline staff get preference between 7a.m and 8a.m.
Later. I was at Sainsbury's at around 8.15 this morning. The queue didn't stretch as far as when I first went when the lockdown restrictions were first put in place, when the queue was right back to the lower level of the carpark. This morning things moved reasonably quickly and I was inside the store and finished within about 30 minutes. I think it may actually have been less. I'm getting far better at using the self-service checkouts and I have a feeling that since the pandemic they are keeping them in better order so you don't get so many glitches, none of that 'unknown item in bagging area.' I'm definitely more confident and can scan each item faster. The trick I find is being able to discover where the bar code is on each item so it's easier to scan. I have now got the wallets so that I can sort out the different stories I have written which are in handwritten form, some of which need collating into their correct order, which, hopefully, these wallets should help with.
I got back to the flat and put all groceries away, most importantly the frozen things which needed putting in the freezer section of the fridge/freezer. I took Alfie out for a walk around Oldbrook Green and then started watching the video of 'Cats' which is being shown for 24 hours via YouTube as part of the 'Show Must Go On' project. I didn't watch the entire show but paused it and completed watching an hour or so later when I was eating my lunch. I saw the original London production at the New Theatre probably only weeks after it opened in 1981. I saw the touring production which came to the Derngate in Northampton a couple of years ago.
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