Alfie- Trimmed, And Other Less Important Matters

(Wednesday) Alfie was booked to have a haircut at The Groom Room within Pets At Home at the Beacon Retail Park in Bletchley at 2p.m. I had a telephone call from the Groom Room to ask me if I would like to move the appointment to 12 o'clock which I immediately agreed to. I had to contain Alfie within his cage in the back of the car as it just won't sit inside the car. Safer for the both of us. within his cage. What amuses me is that he makes a tremendous noise when he's put into the cage and the door is closed. But once I'm driving along he is extremely quiet. It's when I stop the car that he then starts up barking and getting excited. A bit like when I move to go out and pick up his lead he starts barking loudly.

I got a phone call from the Groom Room at around 1.15 to say that Alfie was ready for collection so I drove back to get him and it's always a shock to see him when he's well and truly shorn. Quite short, and it's great to be able to see his face properly.

(Friday) I am continuing to write. I had a storyline which was on Pages writing processing software and saved on my MacBook.

(Tuesday) Boy oh boy, this is getting so boring. Which is why I haven't written anything on here for a while. Not like me to be unable to write SOMETHING, even if it is just a load of repetitious rubbish. It's a week since Alfie went to the Groom Room to have his trim. The weather has become decidedly unsettled. We had a Facebook Rooms meeting of the creative writing group on Saturday at lunchtime. Not sure it was entirely successful but it was just great to have some sort of conversation with other humans.

The door leading out of Dexter House into Strudwick Drive, which I use to take out for his walks has decided not to function successfully. You have to more or less break your hand to get the catch to release the door, so this means I have to carry His Nibs out through the front door which is a bit of a hike and even though he is small, he is a weight and is a bit of an effort. Carrying Alfie stops him barking. It may sound crazy, but it would appear he can't, or won't, bark.

Oh dear, am I that desperate for something to write, having to describe the above problem with a door? It would appear so. Then, a couple of days ago, I decided to have a bath and, having run the water and put my bath gel in, I found that the water was barely warm, and certainly not hot enough to have a decent wallow. What is going on? And to cap it all, Barbara, the SHO (sheltered housing officer) told me that there was a leak into her office as the flat about had a leaking toilet (or sink or bath, one or the other) and it came through the ceiling and ruined some paperwork which needed to be reprinted. The company who is supposed to do the repairs (I shan't mention it here) was called to repair someone's light fitting and it two FOUR WEEKS before they came and sorted it out. The door which I mentioned above is not to be used and has been reported, and no doubt it will take weeks before it is fixed and it must be done because it's a fire exit.

The Excitement Continues

(Sunday) Do you sense a somewhat sarcastic tone to my title for this blog post? Probably, you say. Well, you would be right in some respects.

My Fitbit has ceased to function. It is an ex Fitbit, it has ceased to be, to quote the famous Monty Python 'Parrot' sketch. I had it charging on it's charging station (for want of a better term to describe it.) It isn't always clear whether it charges and it should vibrate when it's inserted properly and apparently you should get a smiling face appear on it's face/screen (or whatever it's called.) But none of this happened. I repeated all this over several days and then decided, this afternoon, to visit the Fitbit website and used the 'chat' system to describe to one of the agents what the problem was.

(Wednesday) Yesterday I got my printer to work! Which was a relief, considering the amount of effort it has taken to get it to work. I can't think what prevented it functioning. I printed off the plot line which was written long before Carol was diagnosed and I haven't managed to do any work on it since then and continues the plot of the spine plot of the writing project which runs to over 80 pages, which came as a surprise when I printed it out yesterday. It needs a great deal of editing, but, considering it's a first draft, it's not surprising. A lot of spelling mistakes for example and general glitches, grammatical and so on.

The replacement Fitbit arrived during the morning. I went to pick up the old one to find it working! So I have two Fitbits, although the one which came in the post doesn't have a strap, which I might buy in John Lewis and keep it as a spare. How perverse are these gadgets? Take ages to fathom out and set up as well as charge and then you never know whether it's going to work or not.

(Thursday) A somewhat overcast morning. Not sure what the day has in store.

1.15 approximately. I have just been out with Alfie and I'm shocked to see no less than five large caravans parked on Oldbrook Green. A car was driving off and over the kerb as I got to the crossing point. There are certainly not supposed to be on there. The weight of the caravans and the vehicles which tow them will break up the surface of the green. Fortunately it is dry at the moment but when it's wet there is often water standing on the surface and it can be like walking on wet carpet or more like a marsh and if it's like that the surface will be damaged beyond repair. I got home and went on the Next-door site and see that several people have already seen the caravans and the local authority have been informed.

(Friday) The caravans parked on Oldbrook Green have gone, thank goodness. I imagine some official from the Council have dealt with the matter. A few tyre marks are visible on the grass, but apart from that there is really no sign of the caravans ever being there.

(Monday) I'm seriously finding it increasingly more and more difficult to find anything worth writing about on this blog. Which is why you won't find me posting as often as in the past. It does get somewhat monotonous, which is a good enough excuse to not bother posting. Although there are many writers who can whittle on about next to nothing and manage quite nicely and probably get paid into the bargain. Probably paid by the word or number of words. Think of the pages and pages of description in many of Dickens novels. I expect, because they were written in instalments, be had so many words he had to write in order to fullfill the number required for an instalment. hence the sometimes tedious rambling on relentlessly.

The 'New Normal'

What on earth do they mean when they say 'The New Normal'? It's such a stupid expression. It is related to the current situation regarding the lockdown which was introduced to attempt to slow the spread of the corvid19 virus? So, what was the 'normal' before the pandemic? Going about your business without social distancing? I give up because nobody seems to know. I have come to the conclusion that it's a rather empty term anyway, so I'll forget it.

Wednesday. It's somewhat miserable, overcast with a 'sort of' drizzle. We didn't exactly get drenched when I took Alfie out around 6.45 this morning, but there again we didn't come back dry. I now realise that what I have written in that last sentence doesn't make a lot of sense, but who cares?

I intend walking into the main Milton Keynes shopping centre later as I have a haircut booked for 10a.m. I don't really want to drive as I'm not sure whether I have enough change to pay using the ticket machines in the usual carpark, although I do have an app called RinGo (who comes up with the names of these apps? What a silly name. Never mind.) but it doesn't always work so I can't trust it although it saves having to take change with me. I prefer to walk and I don't want to have to think about parking and, after all, walking is good exercise.

I'm really struggling to write anything vaguely interesting in these blog posts and had considered resting this blog until things change. It seems unlikely that this will happen any day soon, although I do miss my Tuesdays at Camphill. I can't believe my last text to Teo, the leader of the drama workshop, was in 30th March 4 months ago!

Later. I've been into the shopping centre to get my hair cut. I used the RinGo app to pay for parking, although I got there far too early. I had a chance to amble around the centre before walking along to Central Barbers where I waited about 10 minutes before my appointment, which was well on time and done to perfection and I'm so glad it's done. Over 4 months of hair being cut was wonderful and it makes me look about 10 years younger.

(Saturday) A mild day, but looking at the sky there are dark clouds so it's difficult to say whether it will remain dry or not. Quite a strong wind blowing.

I was planning to go to the creative writing group, which was meeting in the Milton Keynes Shopping Centre. At first I thought it was meeting in the Midsummer Place branch of Waterstones, but I got a message via Facebook which said they would meet outside Costa near Midsummer Place. It occurred to me that we would be able to sit in the seating area either outside or in the mall. As it was a pleasant and sunny afternoon I decided to walk and got to Costa but then saw that the seating had been removed in both places and even inside I could see that seating had been removed. I could have checked my mobile to get some idea where the meeting was going to be and would have sat and looked at my iPhone but all seating in the shopping centre had been restricted so that was out. So, I gave up on the idea and began to walk home. It was then that I needed a toilet but the main one in the shopping centre had a long queue outside and even the one in Midsummer Place was closed off to the public. Not a good idea. I suppose I could have tried the toilets in the upper floors below the carpark near Debenhams but I didn't bother so I began to walk home.

Opening Things Up

(Saturday) So, some businesses are opening up again as some of the lockdown restrictions are being relaxed. Thank goodness. Pubs particularly. I won't be going.

It's hot and humid, clammy. I have the tower fan on, so all the effort to get it has been worthwhile. I went to get a few things from Sainsbury's mid-morning. A few people queuing once I had parked the car and I was in the actual store within ten minutes and got what I needed because I had a list and was out within about 45 minutes.

Alfie needed a walk and instead of Oldbrook Green, whose charms are beginning to wear more than a bit thin, I decided that the Ouzel Valley Park was worth a visit as it's only a couple of minutes drive down Chaffron Way. Dark clouds brooding as we ambled through a couple of the fields and because I couldn't see any grazing livestock I let Alfie off his lead. A great amount of smelly sheep droppings which I had to steer Alfie from as he wanted to eat it. A rather unpleasant doggy habit which I'm eager to discourage. A very distinctive smell, which I know from the sheep at Malting Farm. We went through a couple of kissing gates but I decided at second thoughts to not walk quite as far as I had originally intended so we made our way back to the car and Alfie was put back in his cage in the back of the car and returned home.

(Sunday) I've taken Alfie out twice already, just before 7a.m and then around 9.15. Then I shot off to Tesco in Oldbrook Boulevard to buy a Sunday Times and a few bars of chocolate. I was shocked to see an advert on the from of the paper for flats in Television Centre, the somewhat iconic BBC studios which have been sold to a property developer and partially converted into high-end flats and offices with a couple of the studios bought up to date and then being hired by what is called BBC Studioworks and then re-hired to ITV for their daytime shows such as Good Morning Britain and Loose Women. Crazy state of affairs.

Later. Been for another wander with Alfie around Oldbrook Green. Quite busy, with people walking dogs, others playing football and some doing what look like acrobatics or at least gymnastics, standing on their hands (!). The children's playground was busy, but people not observing social distancing. So, no doubt be can expect another 'spike' in coronavirus infections.

Monday morning. I've heard from Chloe that the work on building the extension to the house will start tomorrow, Tuesday. Hopefully it will be completed by Christmas. So, I hope when it's all done I can actually go and stay with them for a while. Things really moving forward. Also, I hear that the creative writing group I'm part of will be meeting in Waterstone's coffee shop on Saturday afternoon. Something else to focus on.

1.45p.m. I've been out with Alfie around Oldbrook Green. There's a lady who has two dogs, I think sheep dogs but not sure, who are very good because she throws a ball for them, using a gadget which seems to fling the ball a long way and they retrieve it and work as a team. Very focussed and well behaved. On the other hand there is a man who has a rottweiler (I am fairly certain that's what it is. He lets the dog off it's lead but it wanders around, with him walking ahead and then he never seems to be able to get the dog to come back although it seems to follow him eventually. I have to say I'm not too keen to have this dog near Alfie because it's a big dog which might or might not harm Alfie. Not proof of course that it does but you never know. I think it's irresponsible to let a dog off and let it roam around like that as you never know what it might get up to, even getting run over by a car or attacking other dogs or even children.

Haircuts For Alfie and Me

(Monday) I have managed to book a grooming session for Alfie at the Groom Room at Pets At Home in Bletchley for 21st of July. He has been there before and he knows the staff and they make a fuss of him and he loves being pampered. Who can blame him? I set up and on-line account this morning and then did an on-line booking but then I had to pay a deposit. The Groom Room staff then phoned me and I payed over the phone with my card. It is rather crazy because we already had an account at the Groom Room but it doesn't link to what I had set up on line, but by using the reward card I was able to update my details. So, at last the poor little chap can have a wash and shampoo and a good trim because he is becoming really scruffy, his claws need a trim and the hair round his face needs tidying up so he can see where he is going. I'm usually very hot on looking after him as he usually has a good trim several times a year and it's because of the pandemic that he has got into this state.

(Tuesday) Another indecisive day on the weather front. It is overcast and I'm not sure whether it's going to rain or not. Probably rain, thinking about it since I've peered out of the window. Alfie is expecting to be taken out and at 8.35a.m. I may just do that to keep him happy.

We went out but got a wetting. Alfie just doesn't appreciate getting wet, under any circumstances. I don't blame him. I don't either. We didn't stay out long.

(Wednesday) I've been to Sainsbury's this morning and for the first time in months I didn't need to queue up to get in, which was a complete surprise. I managed to buy everything which I had on my list and therefore I was in and out of the store in barely an hour. There were very few people in the store, which made it so easy and I used a self-service checkout which by now I am fairly proficient at using. I think it's a question of finding the bar codes on each item so that it's faster to scan as you go and make sure that each item goes onto the packing area or else the machine will tell you off, but there was none of the 'unknot item in bagging area,' which, frankly puts me off.

(Thursday) I knew that barbers and hairdressers were soon to reopen after some of the loocdown restrictions were being lifted. I have said on here how I am in a real need of a haircut, so I have been on the Central Barbers website and have booked and paid for such a haircut on 8th July at 10a.m. It means that I just go into the central shopping centre and walk to Central Barbers premises and I won't even have to wait if it's prebooked, thank goodness.

(Friday) Last evening I was going to feed Alfie as I usually do. He has a small amount of mixer at the bottom of his bowl and then I put the meat on top, usually Sainsbury's own brand of dog food in a pouch, which is just squeezed out of the pouch on top of the mixer. But last evening I found that I had run out and he had to have what was left of my meal, mostly meat pie and veg, which he scoffed without any arguing. He has a good appetite for a small dog and I have now been to Lidl to buy him enough of at least a week, the Pedigree branded dog food which he has if he doesn't have the Sainsbury's own brand. Sorry Alfie that I forgot. I don't think he was that bothered one way or the other!

On the weather front, it's mild but windy. Not sure if we don't get further rain. We could do with it as everything looks very parched and dry.