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. 

Almost August

 Friday. 6.25 a.m. A bright and sunny morning. The digital thermometer currently reads 23ºc. The window in my lounge is open and so keeping the flat cool.

Tuesday. 9.45 a.m. I haven't posted anything on here for a while, as you will have noticed if you read my posts regularly. I have been continuing with my family tree expansion on Ancestry and have made some interesting discoveries as well as completing my journey to find out whether I am descended from Dick Whittington. My late mother always went on about this, and I have at last made the connection! As Whittington and his wife had no children, the connection was actually with his wife, Alice Fitzwaryn. I worked as A.S.M. on a pantomime based on the traditional  'Dick Whittington' story in 1971 at Greenwich Theatre, and it now seems really strange to think he was in my family tree. My mother told me that there was a rumour that Whittington was in her family tree, and, obviously, in mine. I can't think how she would have known, because this was long before the internet and such sites as Ancestry. I sometimes think if something is a rumour, then there is a slight possibility that it could be true.

I took my car to Anglo Motors to have its annual MoT. It was due at 11.15, and I got there in plenty of time and found a parking space, which can be difficult as there are always many cars parked along the road outside and in the yard.

Being early, it meant the mechanics could get on with the test, which they did. I always attempt to get to an appointment well before the arranged time, whether for a doctor's appointment or for an MoT. The car passed without having to have any further work done on it, which was a relief. Well, I haven't been anywhere far in it over the last year. I paid and then found that the car was very low on diesel. The warning light came on, which means that you have around 5 miles worth of fuel in the tank, and then you come to a grinding halt, which isn't something I would want to happen. The nearest place I could think of to put diesel in the car was Asda, so I drove there. This is a self-service site, and you use your bank card by putting it in the pump, entering your P.I.N., removing your card and then filling your vehicle, which is exactly what I did. Having filled the car with diesel, I drove off and went home. 

When I got back to the flat, I was looking for my bank card, but couldn't find it. At which point I panicked, because without that card, I wouldn't be able to go shopping, buy groceries or do anything which required its use. It wasn't in my wallet, where it should have been. Then, it occurred to me that I must have left it in the fuel pump at Asda. So I drove there and absolutely no sign of it. I imagined, right or wrong, that if it had been left in the pump, someone could find it and then, horrors of horrors, start using it to pay for goodness knows what. Being a contactless card, it wouldn't be difficult to use without a P.I.N. number. I drove home and when I got in I found a number to ring my bank and got them to cancel the card and send me a new one. But, no sooner had I done that, I found the confounded card, in my trousers pocket! So all that panicking was for nothing.

Wet And Miserable August!

 Thursday. 12.35 p.m. It might be bright and sunny as I write this, but the weather generally, according to the weather forecast on BBC Breakfast this morning, is that we can expect rain for the next month, which might not be what those who have holidays booked want to hear.

2.35 p.m. I had the car booked in at Anglo Motors to have some work done on one of the rear brakes. It was scheduled to be done at 9 o'clock. I was there in plenty of time. Thankfully, the traffic was relatively light at that time. There was a problem locating the wheel nuts. Up until only a few years ago, I had no idea what 'wheel nuts' were, but then I found a small plastic box in the car containing these items. They are required if you have to take off the wheels of your car. I had to go into the workshop to look, and they eventually were located under the front passenger seat, when meant the work could continue. The work went ahead, and it was completed within an hour and cost a good deal less than I was imagining. I then drove over to the retail park at Bletchley to visit Pets At Home and the Groom Room which is within the store in order to get a groom appointment for Alfie. They are booked sold for weeks ahead, and I couldn't get one until early September. 

Saturday. 5.45 a.m. Where did Friday go? There wasn't anything worth writing about, which is unusual for me, as you would know if you read this blog on a regular basis.

I still have a certain amount of  discomfort in my lower back. It is worse when I bed, especially when I am getting dressed. I have ordered a heat pad from Amazon, because I was told, when using Voltarol, that it would help the healing process if I used a hot water bottle. But I don't have one, so I looked on various websites, including Boots and Superdrug, but they don't appear to have anything even close to a hot water bottle, except heated pads. I then went on Amazon and have found an electric heated pad, which I have ordered. I think it should be better than a hot water bottle because it won't lose its heat and has Velcro fastening to keep it in place.

10.00 a.m. Well, the weather is certainly doing it's 'thing'! The title of this post is totally correct. I went out to my car at around 7.45, removing the cage which Alfie rides in when he goes out with me in the car, with the idea of getting the car valeted, but I didn't realize until I got outside that it was raining quite hard, so that idea has to be shelved for now! I just thought that the car could do with a clean, inside and out, and as it hasn't been done in ages, I would get it done. Never mind, for now at any rate.

I've been to do a fairly small shop in Sainsbury. A good time to go, as the place is more or less deserted. The moving walk-way, which links the car park on the lower floors to the upper store is currently being repaired, so you have to use the lifts, which are busy. You would think there would be alternative stairs, but there aren't.

5.10 p.m. The intercom for the front door of Dexter House sounded at about 4.30. I answered it and nobody appeared with my Amazon parcel, so I went down to see if the delivery driver had come into the unit. I saw two parcels left on the kitchen window, one for myself. I took it back to my flat and set it up and after about fifteen minutes I had to leave it as I had to put my meal in the oven. I think it may be working as the pain in my lower back appears to be reduced. I will have to have some more time with it before I decide that it is doing it's job, which as I really hope it will.