Fun With Tech?

Friday.  9.15 a.m. I always have a problem trying to find a title for each blog post. I sometimes start off with anything which comes to mind, often a song title, and, as the contents of the post reveal themselves, I change it to suit.

It's really sunny and bright as I write this post. I have been out, as usual, with Alfie, and found it was dry. I have an idea it rained in the night. I'm waiting for my washing to dry. Most of it is in the drier and should be done by around 9.35 a.m.

Saturday. 2.00 p.m. Here I am, sitting here in my sitting room (do people ever speak of their 'lounge'? Is it middle class to have a sitting room? Is a lounge what you have in a pub? I don't know. If you're further up the social scale, perhaps you'd refer to a drawing room. Interesting thought. It always made me wonder what a drawing room was for. Not drawing, in the sense of drawing on a piece of paper. It's a contraction of withdrawing, when the upper echelons of society went after they'd had their dinners, the ladies probably went to the drawing room, and the men withdrew to the smoking room to talk about things such as politics without the ladies) 

The weather is more settled today. It's somewhat overcast, a bit dull, no sunshine and there is a bit of a breeze. Considering me almost into December, it's unseasonably mild for the time of year.

I went to Sainsbury's at around 9 o'clock this morning. It was quiet, which is one advantage of going early. I attempt to find a trolley which doesn't have wonky wheels. It surely can't be difficult to keep these vital pieces of equipment running smoothly. Just an occasional spray with WD-40 on each wheel would most likely prevent wobbliness (is that even a word?) Some squeak and others have one or two wheels which refuse to turn, or they bump along when you push them. 

There was only one operator on the manned tills when I came to pay. Why on earth don't they put on more operators, particularly on a Saturday, when there's bound to be more people shopping? It was the same last week when I was in John Lewis's and in the restaurant. Just take staff off other areas. I think they are attempting to wean people off manned tills and onto self-service. The problem is, whenever I use them there is a problem. It always seems to happen, the old thing of 'item unknown' or' 'item in bagging area' or something really strange and unnecessary. They still need someone to be available when there's a problem, as there was this morning. The confounded thing kept going wrong, and I had to have a staff member come and deal with it. I think the machinery is far too sensitive, for whatever reason.

The same situation as I've mentioned before, since they've relocated many items, but I'm beginning to adjust to the new locations of many items I buy. 

10.30 p.m. I've been watching one of the 'extras' on the three-set DVD, 'Lord of The Rings.' It turns out that there is an 'extended' 'Director's Cut' set which has around 30 minutes of material which was excised from the original theatrical version of the films. I want to get this, if it's still available. I have read the novels around four times, probably once every decade since the 1970s and each time I read the books I find something which I didn't notice on previous readings. The Peter Jackson films, which this three-DVD set is directed by, are about as close to what I envisioned the look and feel of the books as you could get and are a remarkable work of sheer genius. It's incredible to think that it's twenty years since the first film was released.

Christmas Is Coming!

Sunday.10.15 a.m. I am making an effort to reach my 10,000 steps today and, hopefully, exceed that target. As I write this, the FitBit shows I have done 4132 steps. I have been out with Alfie around 7 a.m. and we have also been out at around 9.15 and did two circuits of Oldbrook Green.

4.55p.m. I have exceeded 11,000 steps (the actual reading from my FitBit is 11,647.) I took Alfie out and we did another two circuits of Oldbrook Green and went around Oldbrook, some way along Strudwick Drive and some other roads. I'm now knackered.

Monday. 10.35 a.m. Here's a thing. I've been to Sainsbury's. I bought some brandy butter. Well, you can't NOT have brandy butter at Christmas, with your mince pies or Christmas pud. On the label, it says 'contains alcohol.' Now, THERE'S a surprise! It's got brandy in it, so it's bound to have alcohol in it. Or is it? I suppose it could have brandy FLAVOUR in it, perhaps essence or something. But what do you expect from it? Tea? Coffee? It really makes you wonder who has the idea of putting obvious labels on things, such as cups of coffee that state, 'hot. May cause burns.' Or a glass bottle, 'will break if dropped.' Doh!

2.45 p.m. The weather has changed considerably. As I write this it's raining and was tipping it down when I went out with Alfie just after lunch.

Tuesday. 7.40 a.m. Fairly mild this morning. Not a lot more to report as I write this

It didn't seem quite as busy on the road, driving to Camphill yesterday morning. There wasn't the great long queue of cars at the roundabout just before the Camphill entrance, thank goodness. Another super day with the theatre workshop guys. The morning was spent with some of the guys being interviewed on video, talking about a show they had done earlier in the year, particularly how much they had achieved, what they had learnt and how it had grown their confidence. I'm not sure where this video will be shown, most likely on YouTube and other online sites and used to show the way drama helps people with learning disabilities and particularly to help with funding and making sure it carries on. A few drama exercises to get limbered up and to help with speech and after lunch Terrie, the leader of the group began working with the group on rehearsing the first few scenes of 'Twelfth Night.' The group are allowed to put their own stamp on things and add their own ideas. It looks very good at the moment. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this show develops.

Wednesday. 7.50 a.m. The weather is changing. I wasn't expecting rain when Alfie and I went out. He soon took me back indoors and is now merrily curled up on the sofa.

9.35 a.m. It's windy. In fact, looking out of the kitchen window, I can see the branches of the trees moving quite vigorously. The sun is now shining, but I don't expect it means it's very warm out.

Thursday. 7.45 a.m. Mild and calm this morning on the weather front. 

12.50 p.m. I've been to the Oaktree Centre this morning to help set up the playgroup. I left Dexter House a good deal later than usual, and as a result I managed to avoid the gridlock which I have to experience in earlier weeks. Then, on the way home at around 11.45 I had to go on a somewhat circuitous diversion because Chaffron Way was closed off at Watling Street. It was really annoying and there was no sign that this was going to happen further back towards Shenley.

5.05 p.m. As you may know (or, for that matter, maybe not) I have an iPad. I bought it during lockdown and it has been used quite a bit and I have uploaded quite a few apps, Facebook, Twitter as well as having The Telegraph app and a subscription which means I don't have to buy a print copy. I had intended using the iPad with an Apple Pencil, so I could use an app called Procreate. I downloaded it and had a look at it, but it turned out the iPad didn't work with the Apple Pencil. I just assumed that all iPads would work with such a device. Both were bought through the online store, Very, so I could pay by instalments. You never get told the basics for such things. I wasn't aware, until a few days ago, that there were so many different iPads in the range. They range from a mini version up to around a 12.5 inch version. Mine is 10.2 and, after some research to discover which version it is, that mine is a seventh generation model and doesn't work with Apple Pencil. I am therefore planning to buy a new iPad which will work with the Apple Pencil. I went into the Apple Store in Midsummer Place and spoke with a staff member, showing her the Apple Pencil I have, which has the special tip missing. It turns out it's a second generation pencil and only works with later iPad models. I had hoped to buy new tips, but they didn't have any in stock. At home I went on Amazon and have ordered some (a good deal cheaper than the Apple store.) and they should arrive sometime tomorrow. I will now order a new iPad and hopefully, the Apple pencil will work with it. (I will be more careful that I order a model with is compatible.)

A Bureaucratic Nightmare

Thursday. 7.30 a.m. It's a great deal colder and far wetter than it's been in quite some time, so it was something of a shock to myself and Alfie when I took him out at around 7 o'clock. He didn't intend to hang around too long outside and soon took me back inside and, as I write this, is tucked up on my bed.

Friday. 4.00 p.m. Some things defy description or logical explanation. Let me elucidate further. I may have mentioned them in these blog posts before, so, if you have read about them before, bear with me. The first is Mears, the contract company who do the maintenance in Dexter House. You may recall that my kitchen was upgraded during the summer. In fact, the work began at the beginning of July and went on for around a month or more. Before the work began I had a visit from two ladies who set out my options for such things as the type of worktops I could have, the cupboard fronts as well as handles on the drawers and cupboards. I asked at that time about the possibility of having an extractor fan fitted, because of the fire alarms being set off when I burnt toast or something in the oven. This has already happened and it means the entire place has alarms set off and the arrival of a fire engine which can be very embarrassing. I was informed that, yes, I could have such an extractor fan and that it would be fitted in the window near the sink. All well and good. There was even a special socket installed near the window, which was where the phantom extractor fan would be located.

Work on the kitchen was completed. I was told by the foreman or manager of the work that the extractor fan would be installed once the kitchen was finished. But nothing happened. And nothing happened, and I waited and, nothing happened. This went on for weeks. I rang Mears and got nowhere. I rang a few weeks ago and had another go and was told 'an order has been raised.' Which raised my hopes that the work would be done. How long would it be before I heard anything? Pigs might fly. Who knows? Then, a day or so ago I was speaking to Barbara, the SHO here at Dexter House, and she told me a workman had turned on Tuesday, totally unannounced, when I was at Camphill, ready to do the installation of the extractor fan. My question is, why just TURN UP unannounced? Did they just expect me to be at home, ready to let them in and do the work? Why did they not contact me via email, text message or phone, to arrange a convenient time to do the installation of the extractor fan? I still await some sort of communication regarding this issue.

The next issue regards my glasses. I had my eyes tested by a visiting optician and around a week later the completed glasses arrived at my door. I had distance glasses as well as reading glasses, but the reading glasses fell apart around six weeks ago. The lens of one side just fell out of the frame. I hardly touched them and I have to wear a pair of ready-made reading glasses I bought in Sainsburys.

I didn't have any idea what the name of the company was who tested my eyes, or any idea how to contact them, but I have now found it, thanks to Barbara, the SHO (Supported Housing Officer) at Dexter House, who has given me a card with the optician company's name on it, together with two telephone numbers to ring. (The company is called Kindsight.) So, I rang the first number and, lo and behold! There was nobody on the other end, just a recorded voice. (How many companies work on this principle? Just a remote telephone number, not even a call centre with a human answering the telephone, and working from 'computerized 'voice activation'?) I had to 'speak after the tone,' and then press the hash key on my telephone keypad to 'save' the message. Will I get a response and get my reading glasses repaired? It is, as they say, in the lap of the gods. When these companies rely on digital or telephone communication, I'm not sure how much you can actually trust them.

The third and final issue revolves around one of the medications I take and have on repeat with my doctor's surgery and then made up at Lloyd's pharmacy in Sainsbury's. I have Atorvastatin which I take in the evening with other medications. I do a regular check to see what I have left and whether I need to do a repeat prescription. Having been a carer, I used to look after peop-le's prescriptions and medications and in some cases do reviews for them. I do the ordering via an app called Airmid, which is connected to my doctor's surgery, Central Milton Keynes Medical Centre in Bradwell Common. You used to be able to contact the pharmacy and then would put the order in, but now you have to go direct to the surgery and they do all the ordering (they use electronic prescriptions which, I presume, saves paper and should, in theory, be far more efficient.) 

I found, when I came to do the order on the Airmid app, that Atorvastatin was 'greyed out', meaning I couldn't order it for some reason or other. I did put in the order through the 'message' feature on the app and assumed that would be fine. On picking up the order the following day (they seem to be able to make the prescription up relatively quickly these days. It could be up to a week after I put in a repeat order.) Atorvastatin wasn't included. I was told by the pharmacist that I needed to have a review, and then I thought I might be able to have that done by Lloyd's. But apparently not. The doctor needs to do it. WHY? I would have thought the pharmacist, whose job it is to know all about the various drugs they deal with, could have done that. Then it turned out that the surgery had rung me so I rang (a day or so after the message had been left as a voicemail, which I never think to listen to. Perhaps, on reflection, I ought to.)

I rang the surgery and got through relatively quickly and spoke to a receptionist. I was expecting to have to make some sort of appointment with a doctor to review the Atorvastatin, but the receptionist ordered the meds for me and the repeat has been sent to Lloyd's pharmacy in Sainsbury's and, as I write this post, the order is ready to collect from Lloyd's as I had a text to tell me it was ready yesterday. So, what's this about a review? Have I still got to have an appointment? What ON EARTH is all this about? I just don't understand any of this. It's no wonder the NHS is in such a mess. Far too much bureaucracy. Things have really got worse, not better. It is stressful, first off, not knowing if I will actually GET the meds, and attempting to be offered some sort of appointment at the surgery. Even now, I don't have any idea of the outcome of this issue.

Camphill Theatre Workshop

Tuesday.6.00 p.m. It's been a very wet day. I've been to Camphill (back in the routine, more or less as it was before lockdown.) The journey to Camphill takes about twice as long during 'Rush Hour', because of the amount of traffic on the road.

As with each session in the drama workshop at Camphill, things begin with check-in, which is when every participant tells the group how they feel and what they have been doing up until that point. There are around 25 people in the group, give or take perhaps three, some are on holiday or at least, elsewhere, and somebody may come to get a taster of the group (rather like I did when I started with the group in around April 2019. I can't believe it's getting on for three years ago.) The check-in took longer than usual, probably just an hour. Some people have quite a lot to talk about. Then, a 'warm-up session is led by Terrie, the new leader of the group. I'm quite used to seeing actors going through something similar before they start a performance when I worked in stage management. It's rather like an athlete warming up before some form of activity, such as running a race. Then, a game called 'Grandmother's Basket', which entails everyone sitting in a circle. The first person has a basket and has to say the name of an object which they have in the basket and mime it (I don't think everyone did this, but never mind.) Then the basket is passed to the next person in the circle, who adds another of their own, as outrageous or imaginative as possible and also adds the previous person's item, and the basket continues around, with each person having to add another item and say the other items that have been added. It gets more and more difficult as the baskets further round. So, you can imagine, with around 25 people, the last person has to remember all the items that came before them. I think the group were quite brilliant at remembering all the items!

Terrie is developing a new show with the group (this had begun well before I returned to the theatre workshop.) which is a pantomime version of the William Shakespeare play 'Twelfth Night.' The group have been each been given their characters and has been working on the way they behave and move. At this stage, there is no written script. Some of the actual speeches will be incorporated into the piece, for example, the famous opening speech 'If music be the food of love, play on!' but Terrie is writing the dialogue so that it fits the capabilities of each actor in the piece.

After the tea break, there was an intriguing game set up on the stage and hidden behind the curtains. When they were opened, we saw the stage scattered with all manner of items, hats, pieces of costume, pots, saucepans, and goodness knows what else. The game we were instructed in was to walk around the stage and pick up an item and, in the manner of clowns, to use the item in a way which was not what it was intended for. You couldn't speak, having to communicate using mime.

After lunch Terrie launched into rehearsing some of the scenes from 'Twelfth Night, breaking down what story elements in each scene and then getting the guys to act out what they had been shown and extracting as much comedy out of the material as possible. 

I have to say since I've been involved with the theatre workshop at Camphill, I have noticed how the group has increased their confidence. In fact, a great deal of confidence is required to stand up on a stage and perform, remember lines and put your heart and soul into what you're doing, and for people who have some form of learning disability, together with communication issues, speech, hearing or whatever, it must be very difficult. That is the benefit of working in some form of theatre, which is what the workshop is all about. 

Mild November

Saturday. 6.20 a.m. I'm awake (well, almost!) and BBC Breakfast is on television. On the weather forecast, I've been told it's 19ºc (what's that in Fahrenheit? I can only really recognize Fahrenheit. I can't spell it, so my spell-checker has done it for me. I have Grammarly installed on this MacBook.

My MacBook has now upgraded the operating system. It now has Ventura 3.01 installed. It was done on Thursday when I went to help set up the playgroup at the Oaktree Centre. It took two hours, so I left the laptop downloading and installed the new OS when I returned to the flat at around midday.

9.30 a.m. I've been to Sainsbury's. Going early saves all the bother of queuing at the checkout, although you have alternative methods, self-service as well as scan-and-go (or whatever they call it.) I don't always trust the self-service machinery to not break down or something going wrong, so I have always preferred to use manned checkouts (are we allowed to say 'manned'? They are usually operated by women, although 'manned' should refer to men or women. Well, I know what I mean.

Sunday. 6.40 a.m. Wide awake (well, almost.) I have tidied the kitchen. Washing-up done. I can't stand coming home from something and finding a load of dirty dishes in the sink, so it's done and dusted. Meds took and waiting around 15 minutes before I take Alfie out as it is far too dark at the moment. 

8.40 a.m. I have now had breakfast and my regulatory cup of tea (well, mug, actually. Who on earth has cups and saucers in this day and age?) We went out, Alfie and I, and we walked around Oldbrook Green. I am attempting to get my number of steps in. Currently, my FitBit tells me I've done 1847 steps.

Monday. 7.30 a.m. A surprise this morning to discover it's foggy outside. 

I managed to exceed my 10,000 steps yesterday. Great! I must keep this going. I have lost quite a bit of weight, although I'm not so sure if it's all down to walking. 100.03 kg, although I can never really know what that is in stone. I'll have to do a conversion and find out. (That converts to 15 stone. Not so sure, I wanted to know that.)

10.45 a.m. I had intended to take Alfie out at around 10.15. We went out through the side door into Strudwick Drive and immediately outside was a 'men at work' sign in the middle of the path (you could hardly miss it. I think you would probably trip over it.) Looking towards Oldbrook Green, I could see a large tractor parked on the grass and two workmen in day-glow yellow suits, discussing cutting the hedge (which I had thought was due for a trim at some stage.) I had heard a strange sound, a sort of mechanical hum, earlier, so it may have been the cutter making the noise. As I write this, I can hear nothing, so perhaps the machinery needed repairs or adjusting to cut the hedge. Maybe it will be done later. Anyway, we didn't walk any further and returned to the flat.

4.25 p.m. I have done a bit more writing. I have been working on this particular sequence for quite a while and it has gone through several drafts. I get some of the dialogue in my head, and it seems to go round and round until I manage to actually get it down on paper. I find I get most ideas when laying on my bed and sometimes when I'm out walking with Alfie. It's said that Charles Dickens would go on long walks and it was at these times he got the inspiration for his writing, so I can see why and how this would work. This bit of writing is now on word processing and saved onto a memory stick. The only problem I have with memory sticks is that they are so small and easily mislaid. The one I have is so tiny it is easily lost. I have three in a plastic box SOMEWHERE in the flat and I can't find them.

Tuesday. 7.35 a.m. I wasn't expecting rain when we went out early. Alfie not over-keen on remaining outside and more than happy to rush back to the warmth and comfort of the flat. I think he's currently tucked up within the confines of the duvet on my bed! Who can blame him?

Another Week (So, What's New?)

Monday 9.40 a.m. It continues to be relatively fine but chilly. It's that time of year when you never know whether to wear a coat or leave it at home. I suppose it's the transition from summer into autumn. Not just a coat, but also an umbrella. Unfortunately, I'm hopeless with umbrellas. I either leave them somewhere or other, get the thing caught in something, like an overhanging branch of a tree, stuck in a sliding door or there's a gust of wind, and it gets blown inside out. How many umbrellas have I seen on my walks around Oldbrook Green, the wrecks of such instruments which have become torn from their user's grasp by a sudden blast?

Driving towards Camphill was crazy. Crossing the roundabout along Chaffron Way which intersects with Marlborough Street can be somewhat hairy, to say the least. It can be somewhat tricky as you can't see vehicles coming around one side and then all the way along Chaffron Way towards the roundabout at Brickhill Street it's a fairly straight run, but in the opposite lane the traffic is stationary, more or less nose-to-tail. There are two more roundabouts, one at Childs Way and the last, Portway, which is the busiest of the lot before I can reach the car park at Camphill.

As with more or less everything which happens in the theatre workshop, the day began with a 'check-in', which is when everyone involved put the chairs into a circle and each person talks about their day, what they have been doing and how they are feeling.

Some drama games were played, some of which I got involved in. One, called EastEnders, is a game based on the infamous BBC soap. I'm not altogether sure of the rules, but everyone stands in a circle, and you start off shouting 'Oi!' at the next person in the circle, and this gets passed around until someone says another phrase (I can't remember this phrase.) Then someone says 'get out of my pub!' or 'You're not my mother!' (all based on incidents in the soap.) It's quite noisy, as you can imagine, but it gets everyone working. The basic idea is to get people who generally have a problem with communicating and, can have a problem with speech, to boost their confidence and increase the power of their voices. It's certainly a good way to get the group to communicate. I'm not so sure if it's something I'm overconfident with, but mostly, for me, it's learning the rules! It's just great to be back at Camphill on a Tuesday and out of the flat for most of the day.

Terri, who is the new drama leader, has started the guys off on rehearsing and devising a panto version of Shakespeare's play 'Twelfth Night.' The guys have their characters and are working on developing their characters. Terri goes through the text of the play and then adapts the Shakespeare lines into something the gang can speak. Some of the scenes are very funny and I can't wait to see how it all develops.

Tuesday. 7.10 a.m. I could hear the wind in the middle of the night. It sounded very powerful and possibly enough to cause quite a bit of damage, with trees being torn down and branches falling. As I write this, it's a good deal calmer, but, when I took Alfie out we had to contend with rain which we weren't expecting.

I was cold when I woke earlier in the night, so I had to put on the much thicker duvet which is kept in the wardrobe. I will need to put in the duvet cover and change my bedding as a result of all this. Not actually one job I enjoy.

1.15 p.m. I have changed the bedding for the thicker, winter, duvet, which was a real effort. Why is this job so difficult? It's easy if you know the trick of putting corners to corners, the corners of the duvet to the corners of the cover. The buttons which do up are a pain, but it's worthwhile and done for a while.

Wednesday. 6.45 a.m. It appears to be a good deal calmer this morning. I can't hear the roaring wind like I did the other night when I woke up. I did one circuit of Oldbrook Green at around 7 o'clock as it was a good deal lighter by then. I don't think Alfie appreciated the walk and came back indoors and went to sleep on my bed.

Thursday. 7.20 a.m. Another totally untypical November morning. It's incredibly mild, with very little wind and no sign of rain.

Friday. 6.25 p.m. Not a lot has happened today. Well, that's life at Dexter House for you. If you want to vegetate, then you can just sit in your flat and bore yourself stupid with daytime television. (There can't possibly be many more programmes about selling antiques or houses that an intelligent person can take, surely? I think 'Homes Under The Hammer' really needs scrapping.) There is a Wednesday afternoon tea-and-biscuits get-together (for want of a name for it.) But it's really not my idea of fun. Attempted to get some sort of conversation going at the first one, but it was a bit like banging my head against a brick wall.

I have joined the Buckingham branch of the Historical Association, which I heard about when I went to the archaeological conference two weeks ago. I am booked for several Zoom lectures as a result of this membership and one Zoom call in December on Capability Brown in Bedfordshire.

Wet and Windy Weather

Thursday. 7.35 a.m. I could hear the rain and the wind during the night. As I write this, it's a good deal calmer, but when I took Alfie out, it was raining. 

Friday. 6.00 a.m. Where did yesterday go? Is that really all I wrote? Just one and a half lines? Well, let's see what today brings.

It's freezing and miserable, and I can hear the wind howling around the building.

12.15 p.m. You may recall, that is, if you read my blog posts regularly, that I bought a shelf unit from Amazon and then constructed it, the intention being that it would go in the pantry cupboard (for want of a better name for it.) and then it would be used to store a lot of cooking materials which wouldn't fit in the newly-fitted kitchen cupboards. The things that were removed from the old kitchen cupboards before the workmen did the work on the kitchen at the beginning of July (I can't now believe it's that long ago that the work was done.) have been stored in a variety of boxes and bags on the floor of my bedroom. I cleared out the collection of boxes that were used to deliver things from Amazon and have been cluttering up the pantry cupboard and could have been taken to the tidy-tip in Bleak Hall. But I thought of an alternative way to dispose of them: to break up the boxes and put the pieces in recycling bags which can be taken away by the dustman on their weekly visits to Dexter House. I began this around 7 o'clock this morning, as it seemed a good idea to get them out of the way. Now done and taken to the bin storage area. The shelf unit is now in place in the pantry cupboard and a lot of extraneous stuff taken out and will be sorted through and stuff selected for either keeping or disposal in some way or the other. So, as you can imagine, I'm very pleased to have done the work and the results seem very good. Now I can begin the job of sorting out the remainder of the stuff in my bedroom and then put it on the new shelf unit.

2.30 p.m. I have steam-mopped the kitchen floor. I haven't done it in ages, and it now looks spotless. The Vax steam mop is really efficient and far better than using an unhygienic mop and bucket. It dries so much quicker and you don't have to deal with a smelly mop and then empty the dirty water out.

Saturday. 7.00 p.m. I've been sorting out some of the stuff which has been parked in my bedroom. Quite a lot has made its way onto the new shelving unit, although some of this stuff has been binned as it has gone past its 'best before or 'sell by dates. 

There's not much else to report, except I have started watching the first film in the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, 'The Fellowship of The Ring' which I have been meaning to watch as I'm something of a Tolkien fan. I must have read the books at least four times, probably reading the entire trilogy at least once every decade since the 1970s, and recall reading it when I was an A.S.M. at Liverpool Playhouse in 1971. I had a paperback edition and have owned the trilogy in various editions over the years, but don't have any of them now. The Peter Jackson films really do the books complete justice and are more than satisfying, more or less achieve the impossible and the whole look and feel of all three films portray the characters more or less how I imagined them to be. Ian McKellen as Gandalf was born to play the part, and the CGI work on Gollum is brilliant.

Sunday. 3.05 p.m. A very mixed sort of day on the weather front today. It has been raining this afternoon but then the sun came out, and I managed to get to my target of 10,000 steps, recorded on my Fitbit. That's around 5 miles, which is a good amount of steps. 

A Fun-Packed Week!?

Monday. 1.30 p.m. I'm now working on the next stage of my writing. I have a vague outline of how things will move on, but then I drive off-road and across the country to take a diversion (sorry for the mixed metaphor. I'm not entirely sure whether that is.) Story lining is something like a journey. It's a road full of pitfalls, bends, diversions and hills and valleys. A bit like life.

10.00 p.m. It's pouring with rain as I write this. Alfie had an emergency call to go out, and I had to dress to take him out, without any sort of raincoat for either of us. 

Prayer is powerful! On Sunday, Ross, our pastor, prayed that it would rain this evening because it's Halloween. If it rained, it would deter children from going out trick-or-treating. Sure enough, it rained! Halloween is not something Christians should get involved in.

Tuesday. 5.55 a.m. It's been raining all night and there seems to have been quite a strong wind. It was that which woke me up, hence putting my fingers on the keyboard and writing this.

4.40 p.m. I have just returned from Camphill. I arrived around 8.45 a.m. Because the traffic can be quite heavy, and I don't like being late, I always leave Dexter House a good deal earlier than I would at any other time of day. I walked the short distance to the Chrysalis Theatre and when I walked through the front door I found some of the gang, some of which were dressed smartly in suits and ties. I wasn't sure what this was about but soon learnt that it was connected to the Tree Of Trees project which was part of H.M. Queen's Platinum Jubilee. The whole thing was about the planting of a tree, which was part of the amazing celebrations for The Queen's 70 years on the throne. It was a tree-like structure, designed by the Heatherwick Studios, and made up of 350 tree saplings, which were in metal containers and the 'tree' constructed from recycled metal. These small trees have been distributed to charities all around Britain and one of them had been assigned to Camphill in Milton Keynes. The day was to consist of a presentation by the CEO of Camphill for a number of dignitaries, including the Mayor of Milton Keynes, Lady Howe, Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire (who is the Monarch's representative in Buckinghamshire.) as well as Martha Kearney, presenter of the BBC Radio Four programme 'Today' and is a patron of Camphill Milton Keynes, along with the trustees of the charity which runs Camphill. 

The guys were instructed to be greeters to the guests and I was to be a greeter at the entrance with one of the guys, Matthew. Then, as the guests arrived, they were offered tea or coffee and, to be ushered into the main auditorium where the presentation was to be delivered. Unfortunately, Martha Kearney sent a message to say that she would be late as she was caught in a traffic hold-up on the M1, so, by the time she arrived, the entire schedule for the event was put out by around 45 minutes. 

Eventually, the presentation began and once it had been completed, the guests went out into the garden area near the Chrysalis Theatre for the tree planting and once that was over, photographs were taken. Quite a momentous occasion and no doubt be will long be remembered by the residents of Camphill and they were talking about it when everyone had left.

Before lunch, we did some drama exercises, and we had lunch and when we got back there was the usual session of each person telling what they had been doing eventually we did some work on the next production which is a version of Twelfth Night but adapted into a pantomime. I can't wait to see how this develops.

6.20 p.m. I had my evening meal a good deal later than usual. I had chicken tikka and I'm waiting for my apple and blackberry pie to cook. It takes 30 minutes to cook and I will make custard. 

It has been very windy today. Fortunately no rain. But the wind was strong enough to knock you off your feet. 

8.00 p.m. I said there hadn't been any rain today. Well, as I write this, it's really raining quite heavily. Just as well Alfie doesn't need to go out, as he would not like it. He is currently tucked up in his bed and, as far as I can tell, he's fast asleep. The wind is howling around the building, so it must be really unpleasant outside at the moment.