Heart attack

Monday, July 03, 2023

The Whirligig of Time

 Saturday. 6.50 a.m. Goodness, gracious! Today is the 1st of July. Nothing more to be said on this matter.

6.15 a.m. I've been to meet my friend Nick in the main shopping centre. I drove in at around 11.25, and we were scheduled to meet outside Costa,  opposite Marks and Spencer, at midday. Nick turned up, but, when I saw him, or thought I saw him, walking towards me, at first I didn't recognize him. We went into Costa and I ordered a strawberry and cream frappé, a ham and cheese toastie (my regular) and a rather nice slice of carrot cake. Once we'd eaten and drunk, we went into Marks and Spencer and browsed in the men's department. Actually, a real surprise this, quite a lot of items I liked and might even end up buying. They are throwing of their old-fashioned image, at last, appealing to those (me included) who prefer clothing to be a bit more adventurous and colourful. Who on earth would imagine M and S selling pink jackets? Or bright orange trousers?? The sort of thing that Michael Portillo might wear in one of his train journey television documentaries. Then, we wandered along the shopping mall, into Boots for a couple of items I needed. Virtually no humans at check-outs, it's nearly all self-service. Companies who insist on this sort of treatment of their once loyal customers will see them shopping elsewhere. We browsed in W.H. Smiths and several other stores, and then we walked to my car and that was where we parted company.

I had problems with the RingGo app. It causes more problems than it solves. I got it to go into the payment section and put in the security code of my card, but then the spinning ball thing wouldn't stop, so I wasn't sure whether the payment had been taken. I think it may have something to do with the internet connection, but I have deleted the app and reinstalled it, but even now I'm not sure if it works properly. It's more frustrating than anything. If it worked well, it would be better, but it's not. It does save having to take change with you when you park, but when it either doesn't open or connect, it's useless.

Sunday. 8.00 a.m. I've been out and done another video experiment using the gimbal. It seemed to work better, or, at least I'm getting to grips with using it and managing to get the horizon steady, but for some reason, I can't get the microphone which connects to the iPhone to work. You never know when it's connected. There's no light that comes on to indicate it's connected. I think it's just a case of trial and error.

I have looked at the instruction manual for the microphone, and it does have a light that should come on when it's connected, so it's my fault it didn't do what it should. Never mind. It's all a learning process, as they say.

The current temperature, as recorded on the digital thermometer, is 23ºC. A much more workable temperature

5.00 a.m. The current temperature in this flat is 24ºC.

Monday. 4.55 a.m. I've just got back in from taking Alfie out. It's another milder morning, but pleasant. A lady was out with her two dogs on Oldbrook Green. She had a larger dog, I think perhaps a sheltie or border collie, I couldn't tell, and a little spaniel, having fun with a stick, the little one running around behind her and having great fun. Alfie wasn't going to walk all the way around the Green, locking his legs and determined to go home to have a sleep. Who can blame him?

The title of this post is another from 'Twelfth Night.' It came to me, as these things seem to do, and I had an idea it came from 'King Lear', but when I did a Google search, it came up with 'Twelfth Night.' It refers to a spinning top, a toy which Tudor children would have played with. It comes in Feste's speech to Malvolio, at the end of the play, and refers to the circularity of the year and, indeed, time. After this, Malvolo storms off, saying, 'I'll be revenged on you'. 

Current temperature in the flat is 21ºC, so it has fallen around ten degrees in the past few days.

No comments: