Wet and Cold

 Tuesday. 3.25 p.m. I wasn't going to keep this blog going over the Christmas period, but I now think I will write something. It has been raining continuously since early this morning. I hasn't been heavy rain, but thin and miserable nonetheless. I have taken Alfie out several times, but whenever he discovers it's raining, he turns tail and returns indoors. I can't blame him.

Wednesday. 3.35 p.m. Not a particularly exciting day today. It has been a good deal milder than of late. The sun even shone, which always lifts my mood. The last couple of days have been overcast and gloomy, which is definitely par for the course in late December.  I will be glad when Christmas is over, basically because when Carol was around things were busy, with us going out to visit such places as Waddesdon Manor, where they always put on some sort of extra effort with decorations in the manor and a Christmas market within the grounds. 

I have now watched the final episode of 'The Crown.' I have seen all six seasons of the Netflix series. I have to say, the final season wasn't up to the high standard of the earlier seasons. It seemed to run out of steam and I think they should have ended it with the fifth season. For all that, it had extremely high production values, such as sets, costumes, photography and so on. You could definitely see where the budget was spent. 

Thursday. 8.50 a.m. I am about to go to Sainsbury's to do a bit of shopping. I'm rather concerned that it might be extremely busy, considering we are only days away from Christmas. 

The weather has done another flip. From bright and sunny yesterday morning, to wet and windy this morning.

1.55 p.m. I went to Sainsbury's. I picked up everything I wanted, which was on a list. I would have preferred to have used a manned till to complete my shop, but, as usual, there was one of these tills open, but it had a long queue of customers waiting. I was left with no alternative, and so regrettably went to use a self-service till. All went well to start off, scanning each item and placing them in my shopping bags. But on three occasions the confounded thing stopped working, for the slightest fault, and I had to get assistance. This is why I don't like using self-service tills; they keep on breaking down, and you have to wait for assistance from a member of staff.

3.50 p.m. We've had a tea party here at Dexter House. As we sat and stuffed our faces with mince-pies and drank tea, a raffle was drawn, with the proceeds going to Willen Hospice. I have won a battery-operated fan, which will be useful in the summer when we get warm weather.

Friday. 10.30 a.m. It's my turn with the washing machine. I had my laundry ready and in the machine at around 7.40. I am supposed to start it at 8, but I'm not very good when it comes to waiting. I went back an hour later, to discover the machine stopped and nothing to indicate it was working, whether it had finished the wash cycle, with the clothes rinsed. The door wouldn't open as it should. As you can imagine, I wasn't a happy bunny, because I wanted my clothes out and in the drier. My only answer to the problem was to ring Mears, who are responsible for maintenance at Dexter House. I went back to my flat and rang their number. I'm sorry to say, I wasn't polite to the woman I spoke to, although I did apologize. She was going to email Vashti, the S.H.O., to see if she would be able to get the washing machine opened. I was concerned that, if the clothes were left inside the washing machine, wet. If they were left long enough, they would get mouldy and I would be without anything clean to wear. Well, that isn't exactly correct, I do have SOME clean clothes. It was because everything will close down over the Christmas and New Year period and nothing would be done about the washing machine. The woman I spoke to told me it 'wasn't an emergency.' Well, it wasn't a life-and-death matter I suppose, but to me, it was an emergency.

I returned to the washing machine, and it was working! Apparently, there had been a power cut, but then I discovered that there were workmen in Dexter House, and they'd turned off the power! But nobody told me, hence the situation with the washing machine. I managed to get the clothes spun and when the cycle was over, I put the clothes in the tumble drier and the situation was resolved.