Another Day Older!

Friday. 7.15 a.m. I've been out with Alfie. He was fast asleep when I went to pick him up off my bed. It had been raining overnight, and there was a slight rain falling.

2.50 p.m. Today is the last day Barbara, the SHO (Sheltered Housing Officer) at Dexter House. I knew she was leaving, but I wasn't entirely sure it would be today. I went to Sainsbury's just after 9 o'clock this morning, intending to buy one or two items and a leaving card. I knew that other tenants had got her cards, so I didn't want to not give her a card.

I have now written the last piece of the jigsaw in my writing project, which links two sections together and therefore allows me to bring in a new character. I have his backstory, which will also be assimilated into the text. It has taken quite a while to find a way of completing this section, a sort of bridge from one part to the next. It is now transferred into word processing.

Saturday. 7.15 a.m. It's dry and mild as I write this.

Today is April Fools' Day. So, where are the foolish newspaper articles? The crazy pranks? They should read as if they are real, but then it turns out they are nothing of the sort.  Have we lost our sense of humour? Think how the BBC, in an infamous edition of 'Panorama', did a spoof filmed report about how spaghetti was grown with a voice-over by Richard Dembleby. This was in 1957, when spaghetti wasn't as popular as it is today, so people wouldn't have been aware that it was only made of flour and water. Watching BBC Breakfast this morning, just too po-faced to do anything that might raise a smile. Probably too scared of the 'woke' brigade, which might object. Get over yourself. Where on earth is your sense of humour?

Sunday. 6.55 a.m. Mild, a bit chilly this morning.

12.50 p.m.We had another Café Church at The Oaktree Centre this morning, (home of Shenley Christian Fellowship). As usual, there is no worship, no service, but plenty of coffee, tea and pastries. Live music is played, and it's a time for fellowship and to invite those who don't normally go to church. The only problem is noise. The sound of the music was great, but the amplification system had to be turned down considerably. Also, because the café area is relatively small, with a fairly low ceiling, when it's filled with people, all talking at once and fairly loud, it gets so noisy you can hardly hear yourself think. It gives me a headache. 

I spoke to two friends, Margaret and John. They had been to an early service at M.K.C.C. (Milton Keynes Christian Centre.) It would appear that they have returned to having three services on a Sunday morning. I asked them if they were involved in the afternoon tea which is advertised at Dexter House on Friday 28th April. They are. It will be like the Christmas tea party they host (with other members of M.K.C.C.) with tea, sandwiches and cake and a quiz. I asked them if they knew that Barbara was leaving (our S.H.O. at Dexter House. They said that they had. Apparently, Barbara had said that she would stay on, but only if she could work here part-time, which sounded reasonable to me, and to Margaret and John. But the Council told her, no. They weren't interested. It was a full-time job, and that was that. A pity they are so inflexible, because Barbara was good at her job, and certainly far better than the previous woman who was here when I first moved in. It would have meant that another person could have had a part-time job and she/he could have learnt the ropes from Barbara. A real pity, as she fitted in so well here.

4.00 p.m. I walked Alfie around Oldbrook Green as soon as I got in from church. Stuffing my face with cookies and pastries, which were on offer at church, I felt I was in no need of lunch, which I usually have when I get in from church. There are no end of bluebells flowering around the Green and, something that made me smile, in the puddle which gathers on the grass on the opposite side to The Cricketers, which always seems to happen after a shower of rain, a pair of ducks sitting on the puddle! A duck and a drake. Sad to think that this is the only bit of water they can swim on, when there are plenty of lakes around Milton Keynes, along with the Grand Union Canal only a mile or so away. I think they are Mallard ducks. The male has a grey/brown body with a green head, and the female is brown. There are many to be seen on the canal, so I can't think why they decide to sit on this miserable puddle in the middle of a bit of grass.

A Slight Chill

Friday.3.10 p.m. It's April Fools' Day. I have seen so many that are so obvious they don't deserve to be even considered as 'April Fools' stunts or jokes. I think if you spot them immediately, they haven't worked. It's the ones that more or less merged with the rest of what's in the newspapers, then they're worthy of the title of 'April Fool' and people are more likely to be sucked in and fall for them.

3.50 p.m. I'm attempting to connect my new Canon printer to wi-fi. After a great deal of searching, I found a video on YouTube which shows how to do this. But attempting to put my wi-fi router's password in it is next to impossible as the digital screen is very small, so it's extremely difficult to key in the upper and lower case letters and numbers of the password. I suppose if I keep on with it I will eventually succeed, but it really is hard work and my eyesight isn't good enough to see it. Ho-hum! What do they say about persistence? 'If at first, you don't succeed, try, try again!' How very true! It seems to be the same with most gadgetry you buy these days, you never get a printed manual of instructions. As with this Canon printer, you get extremely basic 'set-up' instructions with the item and some of it online, but then you really have to search the internet to get more detailed instructions, such as I have on YouTube. The printer is supposed to 'find' the wi-fi signal by showing the username (for want of a better way to describe it.) but when I attempted this it would find everyone else's Wi-Fi signal except my own.

Saturday. 2.45 p.m. I found I have several voicemails on my iPhone. One from Mears, asking me to phone to arrange an appointment for them to come and inspect my bathroom ahead of having an upgrade. I was near the phone when they rang on Friday afternoon, so I don't understand why I didn't hear it ring (actually, it doesn't 'ring.' It plays music from 'Star Wars.' I think it's the Darth Vader theme.) Well, does that mean I'm a step closer to them actually doing something about my bathroom? Don't hold your breath, but it does look as if my emailing that parish councillor has probably paid off.

Sunday. 8.05 a.m. Golly gosh! The sun is shining, even though not very powerfully. Another church service on Zoom this morning. Not entirely sure that it works, but I suppose it's better than nothing. Next week we're back at the Oaktree Centre.

Monday. 4.45 a.m. It's still too dark to really know what the weather is doing. As far as I can tell, no rain, and it's probably windy, but I'm not entirely sure.

It's raining, although not a heavy downpour. Alfie was not amused and was out only briefly and then shot back indoors when he felt the rain. Who can blame him?

8.30 a.m. I have responded to the voicemail from Mears, It was from a mobile number and there was nobody there to answer (now THERE'S a surprise!) so I have left my name and number. So do this mean I have to sit around with my mobile waiting for a callback? The plot thickens as they say . . .

8.55 a.m. Goodness! A fairly rapid callback and I have someone coming from Mears tomorrow at 9.30 a.m. to inspect my bathroom. Things are moving forward at last.

6.15 p.m. I have again attempted to try to get the Canon printer to connect to the router so I can in turn connect my iPad and iPhone so I can print from them, but no go. It remains stubbornly resistant to working. I am going to leave it so that I don't end up throwing the thing out of the window. Can you blame me?