Wild, Wet and Windy

 Friday. 8.50 a.m. St David's Day. I'm not Welsh, so it doesn't mean much to me. In England we do have St George's Day, but the English don't make much effort to celebrate the patrol saint's day. They do have a special St Georges's Day at Wrest Park, the English Heritage-managed garden and house, which is around halfway between Bedford and Luton.

It's a very wild and windy morning, with rain falling. Not a pleasant sort of day, and Alfie won't like it when I take him out.

10.20 a.m. It's bright and sunny as I write this. Just shows how quickly the weather changes in England!

Saturday. 8.25 a.m. I'm really saddened to hear of the death of Dave Myers, one half of the 'Hairy Biker's' chefs team. With his partner, Si King, they had a fresh approach to the idea of the male chef. Chefs have had a reputation, mostly begun probably by the likes of Gordon Ramsay, what I call 'all mouth and trousers,' shouting at his kitchen staff and using bad language. The 'Hairy Bikers' riding around on high-powered motorbikes, were far more gentle. Strange to think that they started out as make-up experts, working in television, but I have no idea how they managed to get into cooking.

I think their success was that you could identify with them. They weren't like many so-called 'celebrity chefs.' Nothing fancy about them. You got two blokes who rode motorbikes and were good at cooking and what they cooked wasn't fancy.

I've been into Sainsbury's this morning. The travelator is still being repaired (at least the down one is.) I'm still struggling to find things I buy regularly. Why this urge to move stuff around? I reckon it's to annoy their customers. The latest item to go missing is pâté. It has been in the same place for years and now I can't find it. I've wandered up and down the aisles, but I can't find it. Crazy.

I had an appointment at Central Milton Keynes Medical Centre at 11.20 this morning. It was to have a Shingles vaccine. I didn't know about this until I had my appointment the other day with the nurse who did my blood pressure. You can get it if you've had chickenpox and the virus remains dormant in your body, and you can get it once you get to around 65-70. As it can become quite painful if you get it, it seemed a good idea to have the vaccine. It is given in two doses, and you need the second one about six months after the first, and you're not fully protected until you get the second dose.

Sunday. 5.30 a.m. Yes, it is probably rather early to be writing this, but so what? 

I haven't had a violent reaction to yesterday's shingles vaccination, except a slight pain in my left arm, at the site where the needle went in. It made sleeping uncomfortable on that side, but it has gone done considerably.

7.10 a.m. Looking out of the window, it looks foggy.