A Liitle Hitch In The System

 Wednesday. 1.50 p.m. It's considerably cooler today. The digital thermometer currently reads 22ºc.

Friday. 6.15 a.m. It's even cooler today. It's becoming increasingly autumnal as the days pass by. The infamous digital thermometer currently reads 20ºc.

I had more fun discovering Alfie's whereabouts. Under my bed for most of the night.

Saturday. 7.00 a.m. I've got the gimbal to calibrate at last, which means I should be able to go out and do some filming. It has been a long process, but it should be worth it. 

Another somewhat mild and rather overcast sort of day. The digital thermometer reads 22ºc.

Sunday. 6.55 p.m. I do like cider. I have tried several brands. I bought a few bottles of alcohol-free cider in Lidl the other week and stored it in my fridge. I thought I'd have some with my meal this evening and took the bottle out, which was right at the back of the fridge. It was covered in ice, and it seemed to be iced up inside. I had to chip some of the ice off the base of the bottle so I could stand it on a surface to open it with my bottle opener. Some mist came out of the bottle! I tried to pour out the contents, but only a dribble came out. I have left the bottle on the kitchen work surface. What do I make of this? I will have to check the temperature of the fridge. I don't want the other bottles of cider in there to freeze.

Monday. 10.40 a.m. It's a Bank Holiday. Yippee! Not that it makes much difference to me. I have sorted the recycling, and three bins have gone out to the bin yard. One black bin and two other containers filled with recycling.

I attempted another session with the camera on the gimbal, but then the camera came up with the message, 'battery exhausted', so I gave up, and the battery is currently being charged, along with a spare. All the fiddling with the gimbal is responsible for this, and the batteries only last for 90 minutes.

I ordered a couple of new batteries and a charger unit for my Canon camera on Amazon early on Saturday morning, and I was hoping it would arrive yesterday evening, but then I found out on the Amazon website that there had been a problem, and it would arrive on Wednesday. So, I feel somewhat annoyed, because the idea was that I was going to the Buckinghamshire Agricultural Show on Thursday, and I intended to take the Canon camera with me.

4.50 p.m. The battery charger and batteries arrived mid-morning. I was somewhat surprised, having been informed that the parcel wouldn't be delivered until Wednesday at the latest. The thing has been working, and I have the batteries charged. Thankfully, that is completed.

It's been warm and sunny today. Good weather for a Bank Holiday. The digital thermometer reads 26ºc.

Earwi' Go Again!

Tuesday. 6.30 a.m. Alfie has two lovely, comfortable and warm beds. One is in the lounge, behind the television, and the other is in the bedroom. But, for some strange reason, he decides to sleep on the floor. It can't be comfortable.

Thursday. 5.50 a.m. I'm awake (fancy that!) and thought it might be a good idea to put some thoughts on my blog. 

Alfie is doing his hiding act. I have a feeling he's under my bed. He will appear sooner or later.

6.45 a.m. Alfie did eventually show himself, and we went out on the grass along Strudwick Drive.

Someone in Oldbrook has chickens in their garden. Well, let's be perfectly honest, where else would you keep them? So, how do I know? Because I can hear a cockerel that crows regularly, and it seems to be coming from the direction of Century Avenue. Also, I get the vague sound of clucking, all heard when I go out with Alfie. Do the people who own them collect and eat the eggs? Do the chickens actually lay fertile eggs that become chicks?

When I went to Worcester at Easter, we went to Steve's brother's home, and he had chickens in his garden. It's good to let children have time with animals, such as pet dogs, cats and chickens (other pets are available) because it teaches them to be responsible, feeding them, cleaning them out and generally looking after them. 

Friday. 9.40 a.m. Yet another bright and sunny morning. The digital thermometer currently reads 27ºc.

Saturday. 4.30 p.m. Not a great deal is going on today. The weather remains mild, not sunny, or wet, just somewhat overcast. Fortunately, no sign of rain at present, but we could do with a good downpour because everything looks so parched.

Currently, the digital thermometer reads 25ºc, so a couple of degrees colder than yesterday.

Sunday. 2.10 p.m. A sunny day, with the digital thermometer currently reading 25ºc, so slowly going down from several days ago.

I think I might have managed to get the DJI gimbal set up. It's taken a great deal of time, effort and patience. Now I want to go out and actually use it with the Sony camera. I do hope so.

Monday 12.05 p.m.  It's another mild day, with the thermometer reading 23ºc.

I have tentatively tested the camera on the gimbal, and I'm pleased to say . . . it works!

4.15 p.m. I lost Alfie again. This is becoming a bit of a habit of his. I eventually found him in a small space behind the television. As he wasn't going to come out backwards, I just had to pick him up in one move. It was quite difficult, considering the space he was in. It's just as well he's a small dog. I could never have managed if he'd been an Irish Wolf Hound, Dalmatian, Collie or Labrador.

Life At Home- Part 3

 There was a piano in the house. I have an idea it was a Steinway, which is supposed to be one of the best makers of pianos. It was an upright. My brother, Robert, was a proficient player and had passed several grades at school. My grandmother, Ferriman, was also a good piano player. She used to play at the annual village Christmas parties, which were held in the parish rooms every December. I do remember that she also had a piano in the lounge at Mill Farm, and on the music stand she had music scores for several well-known musicals, such as 'My Fair Lady' and 'Salad Days', which is the only musical I ever worked on when I was an ASM at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham. 

I mentioned in an earlier post that my mother had a drawer full of such things as paper bags, string, elastic bands, and so on. She also had a button box, stuffed full of buttons. It was always referred to as the Queen and Prince Philip tin, because it had HM Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on the lid. I think it might have been full of biscuits at one time and probably a souvenir of the Queen's coronation in 1953 or even her marriage to the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947. I often wondered where all those buttons came from. Perhaps from clothes that got worn out, and the buttons were removed. If we required a button, we always knew where to find one. Another hangover from the war was a 'make-do-and-mend' culture.

Christmas was shared between three families: my family, when we lived at Malting Farm, my uncle and aunt, Gemma and Michael Ferriman, at Mill Farm and then my Kendall aunt and uncle at Church Farm at Eyeworth, near Sandy. There was always a lot to eat. We used to go to each one in the afternoon of Christmas Day, after we had lunch. Whoever was hosting did the main 'eats' and the guests bought such things as trifles, puddings, mince pies and so on. My mother made a simply amazing trifle, using confectioners' custard, which in itself was quite difficult to make, using eggs and goodness knows what else and probably the base of the thing would be home-made Swiss roll or sponge, drenched in real sherry. 

My father could be a real snob regarding sherry. He always insisted on having Bristol Cream, which is one of the leading brands. But my mother bought in cooking sherry from the local shop and kept it in the Bristol Cream bottle for when she used it in trifle. One morning, my father had a visitor, Percy Brocklehurst, who used to do a lot of electrical work for my parents. They sat in the kitchen, drinking sherry. My mother was probably in the next room, most likely sewing or knitting. She could hear the conversation going on in the kitchen. My father said, 'This is probably the best sherry. You can't beat Bristol Cream!' My mother had a bit of a laugh to herself when she knew well that the 'Bristol Cream' they were drinking was actually cheap and cheerful cooking sherry!

Tea was at around 4 o'clock at home. My mother's cakes were very much regarded by visitors. She made a wide range, from the classic Victoria sponge to traditional shortbread, which I believe was made to a recipe handed down from one of my elderly aunts. This was made in a round tin and she used her fingers to imprint the design around the edge, and once cooked, it was taken out of the tin in triangles, with sugar sprinkled on the top.

People always seemed to turn up at the farmhouse just as tea was being served in the kitchen. Because it was a farm, there were a number of company reps who used to do business with my father, Banks of Sandy and Jordan's of Biggleswade for example. Also, family friends, such as Percy Brocklehurst (already mentioned above.) For some odd reason, he always said that 'I always have a boiled egg when I've been on a long journey!' No, don't ask me why. As a child, you tend to believe the odd things adults say. So it might well have been something he made up on the spur of the moment. But I don't remember him actually eating a boiled egg on such occasions! If there was an electrical job that needed doing, he was always able to do it, such as rewiring something, repairing anything or other job. He drove a Morris Minor and all his tools were kept in the boot, and it was easy to recognise the sound of his car arriving before he came into the house.

Freaky Friday

Friday. 9.30 a.m. It's bright and sunny. The digital thermometer reads 24ºc.

I was resting on my bed. I'm waiting for my washing to finish. It's in the dryer. I hear the sound of a large vehicle arriving in the street. I'm intrigued to find out what it can be; perhaps a removal lorry? A delivery of something like an oven or fridge/freezer? Who knows? A neighbour is having a delivery of something. But no, it's none of those. I look out of the window and find it's a large car transporter, with one car on the top deck. The engine is running, but I can't see what it's there for. The ramp it down at the back. The vehicle has red lettering on it, saying 'Redcorn. Scrap vehicle specialists.' More and more intriguing. Is it there to take someone's car away? Yes, it would appear so. The driver has lowered an extension of the ramp to street level. Then, the car, which is on the top level, is tipped up. It's now at a rather precarious angle. Just don't ever ask me to drive such a vehicle with a car on top, at an angle of around 45º. Then, the driver goes to the forecourt of one of the houses further along the street and gets into a car which is parked there and drives it onto the car transporter. As I write, it is being secured with some sort of mechanism, which, hopefully, will prevent it from rolling off the lorry. It all looks incredibly precarious. 

So, why is this car being taken away? Has someone failed to pay the instalments on his/her car loan? Is it being reprocessed? I'm only guessing. Now the car is being lowered onto the lorry. Perhaps the driver has more vehicles to collect. This, of course, is only speculation.

The lorry has left Dexter Avenue. That was very quick and efficient. I reckon the car was being taken for scrap. Just a guess, but it looked fairly new, and t that might only be a guess.

Saturday. 8.15 p.m. It's been yet another mild day. It wasn't particularly sunny, but at least we didn't get rain, although we could do with a good downpour.

I have a new DJI gimbal for my recently acquired Sony digital camera. It is quite difficult to set up. There is an app which you download to your mobile phone, and it's supposed to be used to manage the device. I have managed to download it, but it is proving extremely difficult to set up with a password.

Monday. 10.25 a.m. It's bright and sunny again today. The digital thermometer currently reads 27ºc and, according to Carol Kirkwood on this morning's edition of BBC Breakfast, informed us that there was a fourth heatwave on the way.

9.15 p.m. I have now managed to get the app for the DJI gimbal to work on my iPad. I am in the process of setting it up. As usual with gadgets you buy these days, the instruction manual that came with is extremely basic. You can usually find information such as this on YouTube and after an online search, I have found a far more detailed instruction manual which I have managed to print out, using my Canon printer. 

Another Day Older . . .

 Friday. 1.50 p.m. I took my car to Anglo Motors to have its MoT. I had booked it via phone last week. I knew the old one would run out yesterday because I went online to check. I drove over to Mount Farm, the home of Anglo, at 11.45. I handed over the keys and then sat in the waiting area. After around 45 minutes, I learnt that it had passed! I'm so pleased, it's another thing to not have to stress about.

Sunday. 8.05 a.m. I woke a good deal later than normal. 

Yesterday evening, I lost Alfie. No, don't laugh. How on earth can you lose a small Yorkshire terrier in a flat this size? I think he was under my bed.

3.30 p.m. We have had extremely loud music emanating from the National Bowl, here in sunny Milton Keynes, both yesterday and today. Our ears were bombarded by the heavy beat of reggae music. Not my sort of music, but the whole area around the Bowl had been cordoned off with traffic cones and those plastic fences you see when there is some sort of incident. On my way to church, I found that Chaffron Way was closed off at the Grafton Street roundabout, which meant I had to make a rather circuitous route around Milton Keynes before I could get to Shenley Brook End.

Wednesday. 10.45 a.m. Where have I been? Why haven't I been writing stuff on here? Simples! Not much is happening around here. Well, this is Dexter House, centre of the universe, full of excitement- not. We need a resident artist here, say, David Hockney or Andrew Lloyd-Webber, doing art, writing music and getting things going. It would certainly liven things up. We should have an Olympic-size swimming pool in the communal garden, along with a gym and cinema complex. I have to say, as you will have noticed, if you read my posts regularly, that I can get carried away with my musings.

I went to Sainsbury's earlier. It was like a version of the Marie Celeste, virtually empty. I didn't get a trolley with a wonky wheel, which drives me nuts. It refuses to push without squeaking or just not moving at all. I think they should spend some time getting them maintained. So the wheels run freely and don't squeak.

Thursday. 8.45 a.m. It's another mild and relatively pleasant morning. I just hope it stays that way.

Yesterday evening, I was part of a Zoom meeting, which was for market research. I won't go into too much detail, just suffice to say, it was very interesting. I've done quite a few of these, some really boring, but this was fascinating, and what made it more interesting was hearing other people's opinions. I will get £60 for doing it, so that's great, and I want to get more of these, particularly when they're on Zoom, as it means you don't have to go anywhere, just sit and chat in the comfort of your own home. It ended relatively late, which means I slept well and didn't wake up until around 7 a.m. Until we had the coronavirus pandemic, I had never even heard of Zoom. I quickly got the hang of using it, and it has paid off to have the ability to use it. My various bits of technology, such as my MacBook Pro, iPad and iPhone, can be used to earn more cash. I have two apps on my iPhone, which I use to scan the barcodes of what I buy, using the phone's camera. I build up points which can be built up and then redeemed for various vouchers, such as Amazon, Argos, Sainsbury's, Tesco, etc. Well worth the effort. Another site I'm signed up to is called Consumer Pulse, which I've been with for years. When you buy clothes and other items, you record each on the site and, again, receive points which can be redeemed for vouchers.