Saturday. 9.15 a.m. I was due to take Alfie out, as usual. But there was a slight problem. Slight being the operative word; I couldn't find him. It turned out he was under my bed. Problem two: Having to get down on the floor is quite a problem for me. I left this until around 8.45 as I thought it was important that he went out. Eventually, I caught sight of his tail and grabbed him. I felt sorry for the old boy, as he was fast asleep.
Sunday. 3.15 p.m. We had Café Church this morning. That means that there wasn't a time of worship, but fellowship, allowing everyone to interact with one another, eat cake, drink tea and coffee and generally have a good time. It allows those who probably don't attend a church to come along and find out more about Shenley Christian Fellowship and discover that it's a friendly place.
I arrived as I usually do on a Sunday and discovered that the place was locked. At first, I had a thought that perhaps I was an hour to early, a bit like when the clocks change and we lose or gain an hour. But it wasn't that. There are usually people there, some setting up refreshments and the band rehearsing in the main hall. Julie, who is one of the leaders at SCF, was sitting in her car. She couldn't open up the building, as she didn't have a key and also had no idea how to switch off the alarm system.
Monday. 9.55 a.m. Warm and pleasantly sunny. The temperature is currently 27ºc according to the digital thermometer.
Time to sort recycling. Not the most exciting of jobs, but it needs to be done, otherwise my cupboard overflows. Some of the cartons are difficult to either fold or tear. I have two plastic bins of recycling and one black bin of other household rubbish. I carry the black bin, together with one plastic bin, take it to the bin store, open the first door and leave the two items in the inner room and then go back for the remaining bin. I then return to the bin store and open the outer door, and then discover the row of bins for recycling are full and there's no room for my two worth of recycling! I put the black bag in another allocated bin and then haul the two full plastic bins of recycling back to the flat. I will now have to leave it where they are until tomorrow, after the bin men come and empty the bins and then return to deposit my two bins with the recycling in the, hopefully, empty bins. What a performance!
Alfie is currently fast asleep on the kitchen floor and somewhat in the way when I am sorting the rubbish, but it doesn't matter as I can step over him. He snores, and it is somewhat amusing.
3.35 p.m.Vashti, the S.H.O. at Dexter House, told me that I ought to take my rubbish to the bin store at the other end of Dexter House. I had never thought of it, but I have now got rid of it, and we aren't apparently getting a visit from the bin men tomorrow. Do I get the feeling that they are only doing collections fortnightly? If so, we're likely to be overflowing with rubbish, recycling, etc.
We are only having Vashti here for half of the week. It's due to Milton Keynes Council running out of money and deciding that sheltered housing will have to cut its staff's hours in each unit. Vashti will be here in the afternoons and cover other units for the rest of the time. This makes sense now. The Council is run by Labour, in a coalition with Liberal Democrats. Labour is useless at financial management. Just look at the current Starmer government. Total disaster, and we're heading for a bailout from the International Monetary Fund, a replay of the 1970s when we had to go cap in hand to sort our economy out, and Labour had to make cuts to various services, and inflation went through the roof, and we had the infamous 'Winter of discontent.' I remember dustbin workers striking and going into London and seeing black bin bags piled up at the side of the road, the three-day week, shortages of things in supermarkets and television closing down at 10.30 because the miners and electricity workers walked out. They say, history repeats itself, but that's so true.
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