Sunny, Vet's Visit and a Picnic!

Alfie had one more appointment at the vet's in Oakgrove this morning (Thursday). We took him for a walk across Eaglestone Park earlier and went to vote in the local elections at the community centre near the shop, just opposite from Brother's Fish Bar, which we used last night as we didn't fancy cooking. Alfie doing his usual 'thing' of letting the whole neighbourhood know he's about with his excited barking and yapping as well as running ahead of us like a little hare. We thought if we took him for a walk it would mean he would have used up some energy before we took him in the car to the vet's.

We got to Pet's Practice and were seen well before the appointment time. No further treatment is necessary. The scabby mess under each of Alfie's eyes has cleared sufficiently. I have one more half tablet of antibiotics to give him with his food this evening and we have to keep cleaning the wounds. The open wounds have healed quite nicely although the skin there is still quite pink, but the vet said that the colour in probably unlikely to return. I'm certainly happy about the outcome. We just have to keep an eye on things and to not let a build up of the matter to return and keep it clean.

Chaffron Way is still inaccessible, due to continuing road works. They seem to be putting some form of traffic calming measures in, no doubt to stop people speeding. It's probably a good thing, but all this means we have to drive round via Standing Way to avoid this work rather than going more directly along Chaffron Way. We took Alfie home before we went to the Shell filling station in Grafton Street and put some air in the tyres before we drive to Oxford tomorrow for Carol's appointment at Churchill Hospital. I have my father's voice still  ringing in my ears, even around 20 years after he died, regarding always doing the various checks you need to do to your car before going on any journey, such as the old, water, tyres, etc etc. A good thing to have to do, but as I say, he always said all this 'have you checked the water . . . tyres . . .oil?'  . . . etc etc

We then drove over to Roosksley as Carol wanted to look in one of the stores there, Decathlon, which  stocks sports clothing and equipment. She rather likes the Regatta jacket I bought the other week and would like something similar. I don't think she'd get one for the same price as I paid as it was on line. They have a good range of styles, colours and brands in Decathlon, but not the same sort of price. We then went into Halford's a few stores along as I wanted to get valve caps to put on the car tyres. One is missing and I really want to keep the tyres in good order, so caps seem a good idea to replace.

Coming out of the carpark at the retail centre at Rooksley you can only turn left instead of right and onto the grid road. To prevent this, the council has put a sort of island in the centre of the road and it's quite clear, with adequate signage, that you must turn left, go round the roundabout near B and Q and then come back towards the main road. But, no, certain people just refuse to do as they're told. So the barrier to prevent a right turn has been made even larger so in effect it would be quite impossible to get round it. Why do some people insist on disregarding such safety measures???

As we were driving out of the estate, Carol suggested we have some sort of picnic as it was really pleasantly sunny and warm. It would have been a great pity to not take advantage of it, so we drove to the shop in Two Mile Ash to buy sandwiches, crisps and drinks and then went to sit at a picnic table at Loughton Lodge. It would appear to be quite a busy dog-walking area, as we saw quite a few people doing just that.

A couple of youths turned up with a bulldog as we sat eating our picnic. Well, I say youths, but they were probably around 20. One had driven in a rather ancient V.W. They stood and admired the car, regardless of it's age. How could they manage to spend a mid-morning standing around chatting in a carpark? Didn't they have to be at work, or collage? They were something of a cliche, how you'd expect a group of youths to behave, along with the huge, fat dog they had with them. No doubt the idea of having such a dog made them look 'ard. No, on second thoughts, it really didn't. Just fat and lazy. Carol said it looked pregnant. I don't think it could move very fast, certainly not very aggressive. It had a thick metal-studded collar on, a bit like the dog in Tom and Jerry cartoons, which is always chasing around after the cat or mouse. Anyway, these youths spoke in a series of grunts and one of them when to deal with the poor dog which cowered, which made us think it was not treated well to behave in such a way.

So we finished our picnic and returned home. At least we hadn't spent the morning staring at daytime television. With the weather improving and the daylight hours longer as the days move on we can at least get out and about.

Shopping in IKEA

Daniel is returning home next week. He's got a job-interview in Milton Keynes. He's only here for a day or two and will return afterwards. He's been at university in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. It seems crazy to think he has to come back a good 200 miles for a job on our doorstep. I'm not sure exactly where the company is or what they're called, but never mind. We have to get the spare bedroom prepared as it's currently being used as a storeroom and you can barely see the bed as it's covered in all manner of things, books mainly. I had spent some of the morning cleaning it ready and had to go out and buy a mop and bucket as the floor was in something of a state. On the way to Homebase in Winterhill I took a load of stuff to the tidy tip in Bleak Hall. Old bit of carpet and a bean bag which had definitely seen better days. I think it would have crawled there itself given half a chance, it was so battered and torn and unmentionable. Also a load of cartons, the packaging for some large-scale item we'd had delivered from Amazon or another on-line company or other. Well, I was prompted to do all this because it was bright and sunny, and if the weather is fine it's a good excuse to do some clearing out. I'm not sure what happens when it's dull, overcast or raining. Probably has the opposite effect.

When Carol came in from work I showed her my efforts with the spare room and she was pleased with the results. We usually get a take-away on a Friday and go to the Brother's Fish Bar in Eaglestone. But before going there Carol suggested we visit IKEA to have a look at book shelves as the one's we have currently in our lounge are not really in a particularly fit state and we could do with a new television unit. She said there was one we could have which was a sort of -all-in-one design, having a television unit at the centre with book shelves around it. You get my meaning. Well, I imagine you do. Also, it was a good excuse to replace the bit of rug I'd taken to the tidy-tip. 

I quite like wandering around IKEA. Not everybody's idea of a pleasant outing. I rather like the stupid names the come up with for their products. I'm not so sure of the amount of walking you have to do within their store. If you've never visited an IKEA store, you won't know how strange the layout of the different departments is. You walk in a sort of strange seeming labyrinth of inter-locking rooms or departments and have to go through each to reach the next. It's as well to remember to take a trolley with you and to collect items you want to buy as you go along, otherwise, if you suddenly decide to buy whatever it is that takes your fancy and want to go back, it's not each to remember where that item was and end up walking miles, or what seem like miles.

We started off in the restaurant/café. Carol is diabetic and she said she thought her blood sugar was low so she would need something to eat and drink. We queued in the self-service section of the café and I had a piece of apple pie and Carol had a sort of chocolaty confection-thing made with butterscotch or what looked like butterscotch. We had to get drinks, as you pay once and can fill up your glass or mug several times if you have an IKEA Family card, which we have. Unfortunately we have so many of these loyalty cards that when you get to the till to pay it can take some time to find the correct card. You get points for shopping in Tesco with a Clubcard, another in Sainsbury's if you have a Nectar card, and another in Waterstone's. Every store has one now. Boots has their Advantage card, Costa has one, Holland and Barratt's and so on. My wallet is stuffed full of the things and it gets to the point that we have to leave a lot of them at home or in the glove compartment in the car. They are a good idea and can be good especially when you get money off on certain products or a free paper when you spend so much in Waitrose or a free coffee or tea. We had to spend a couple of minutes searching for the confounded IKEA card.

We sat in an area in the café which had IKEA furniture in it. Well, nothing like being able to try out what a company sells by actually using it. We bought a chair to replace the armchair I used to sit in some while ago. It came with us from the house in Crownhill. It had not worn well; the springs in the seat were coming through and the arms were hanging off and it had been patched up with tape and was certainly past it's best. We went to IKEA to look at a replacement and the one I chose isn't actually as comfortable as it might be, which is a pity. Not something to sit in for any length of time. With my shoulder and neck problem I really need something with a bit more back support. We tried a new model which is more like a traditional wing-back chair and has a good deal more back support and a more padded seat. We'll come back when we have been paid to buy one next month.

Carol went off to find the toilet and I was left with the trolley in the café. There was an older couple sitting nearby, I don't think they spoke one word to each other in all the time I was sitting in there. They looked so miserable. I don't think he wanted to be there. No doubt taken there against his will and wanted to be somewhere else. Quite a few other husbands with wives looking just as miserable. Well, they must have had odd relationships or something to be so grumpy and miserable.

We spent some time looking at rugs in the rug and carpet section. A great many to choose from in every shape and size imaginable in in an absolutely enormous range of designs and colours. We choose a round rug for the spare-room with a sort of spotty design in a radiating pattern and door mats from the front door and the patio door as the old ones had become really dirty and tatty. On the way through the children's section we saw lots of stuffed animal toys. Over the years we have bought all manner of birds, animals and assorted strange stuffed toys, more than one or two mice and rats which the dogs have played with, a couple ending up in the bin due to being over-shaken or sucked by both Alfie and Poppy. We have a rabbit-toy which sits near the television and a few other assorted creatures but Carol saw a puffin toy which we had to buy.

So, we wended our way through the remaining departments and ended up at the checkout where we paid and ended up back at the carpark. We had to decide where to get out Friday-night take-out. We had to drive back towards Eaglestone and the traffic was building up along the road near the football stadium. It took about ten minutes to reach the roundabout where Saxon Street meets Groveway and then near Beanhill, near the junction into the road where Ashfield Medical Centre is located. Not surprising as the time was around 5 o'clock, going-home for most businesses in and around Milton Keynes. We were making for Brother's fish and chip shop and it took us some while to get through the heavy traffic. We parked near the shops in Eaglestone and took some cash out of the A.T.M. machine near the shop and then  noticed that the fish and chip shop was closed, with the shutters down. There was a notice stuck to the shutter. 'Closed due to family bereavement.' Sad to read this, but there was no way we were going to get our weekly fish and chip supper. So we decided we would have to go back the way we'd just come and go to get a meal from the Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet near the stadium, which we had only just driven past about twenty minutes earlier. Having collected our K.F.C. meal we drove back home and were glad that we had completed our evening's travels.

Outing To Bicester and Over-Night Snow

On Friday afternoon, once Carol and Kendra had finished work, we drove into the centre of Milton Keynes as Kendra wanted to go to the main Post Office. We managed to park immediately outside which made things considerably easier. We found that we could park there for 30 minutes without having to pay, which was great as we didn't have to look for another parking space. Once inside the Post Office, we found the place really busy. We were somewhat surprised to discover that Kendra was putting a Cadbury's selection box into a large padded envelope. We were expecting her to be sending something really important home to Canada, to her family or boyfriend, not a load of chocolate! I expect the cost of postage, together with the cost of the padded envelope, would have been far more than the value of the chocolate! I think it's because they don't have Cadbury's chocolate in Canada or something. 

From the centre of Milton Keynes we drove over to Westcroft as Kendra needed some shopping, so we went to Aldi and she did her shopping and we decided to do ours, which was convenient as it meant we didn't need to go when we usually go on Saturday. We then went to the Brother's fish and chip shop in Eaglestone on the return journey to buy fish and chips as we usually do on a Friday.

We have now learnt that one of the other three girls who were going to share a house with Kendra, hence the viewing of the house last weekend and another in Oldbrook the other day, has decided not to join them, so it's going to be even harder for her to find somewhere to live because the monthly rent would be far too much for just two of them. So she can stay living with us for as long as it takes to find something else.

Saturday morning started bright and sunny so we went for a drive out in the car to Bicester. There was a definite need to get out of the house, due mainly to the rain we've had recently. We've been to either Bicester Village or Bicester Avenue, both shopping centres. Bicester Village is an 'outlet' shopping centre which we've been to on a few occasions whilst Bicester Village is similar but based around a Wyevale garden centre. But we decided to visit the centre of Bicester itself. We have been in to go to the market and once, a few years ago, when I used to do care work, I had to go to a training day there. A bit of a waste of time, thinking back, because the agency who was supposed to give me work, didn't provide me with enough work to make it worth my while, so it was quite a long way to drive without much of a result.

We parked the car in a multi-storey car park in a  relatively new development called Pioneer Square which has a large branch of Sainsbury's and other shops, including a Vue  multi-screen cinema complex. We walked down into the street and were looking for somewhere to have a coffee as Carol, who is diabetic, was in need of something to eat and drink. We found a branch of Costa, but once inside it was far too crowded and we couldn't find a vacant table to we left in search of somewhere else. We then came across a camera shop, called Imagex, an independently owned establishment, and ventured inside and looked at lenses for the Canon camera I bought recently. The staff were very helpful and we've looked at a telephoto lens which we might yet buy as we want one to be able to take more inventive shots, particularly of the animals at Whipsnade.  As I had the Canon digital camera with me I was able to try the lens out and it seemed just what we had been looking for. We also saw a camera which Camera likes which I may buy for her as she has a birthday coming up in March and it would replace the little Olympus camera we had which got damaged when we went for a walk with the dogs and Alfie made Carol drop when he jumped up excitedly. 

We left the camera shop and walked back along the streets of Bicester.  The main street has been pedestrianized which makes it far safer. We eventually came to a cafe/coffee shop called Baguette Box and had coffee, cake, and a cookie which was just what we needed. Having seen all we wanted to we walked back to Pioneer Square and the car and left. Fortunately, we discovered when we entered that you could park there for two hours without paying, but I'm not sure how you would know when to start paying. How would they know in the carpark to start charging? I expect something to do with number-plate reading technology or something. So we returned home, happy in the knowledge that we'd used our timeout well, with the sun still shining.

This morning, however, we woke to find a blanket of snow had fallen and covered the garden and the car outside in the drive. Both dogs are somewhat shocked. Poppy loves the snow and usually gambols around in it like a spring lamb. Alfie, on the other hand, is not so sure. He has seen snow before, but as he suffers from cold as he has a thin coat of fur, I don't think he likes it very much. I think he doesn't like the feel of the cold on his feet.

Just Another Weekend?

On Friday, after Carol finished work, we went into the Milton Keynes Central Shopping Centre. We had a need to break our rather ordinary routine and get out of the house. We parked in Debenham's multi-storey car park and we had a good idea that it would be easy to park there. We met a queue of cars going into the town centre, most likely because it was Black Friday, which would mean a lot of shops would have pre-Christmas bargains. It seems that everyone has to go totally mad whenever there is any chance of a bargain but we were just keen to get out. We walked through Debenhams and the place was seething with shoppers. We went out into Midsummer Place and ended up in Waterston's and it was in the middle of being revamped which seemed amazing considering it was so close to Christmas. I don't think the shop has been modernised in all the time I have been coming to Milton Keynes. It will be a good deal brighter and modern once the work is completed. There used to be a Costa coffee shop upstairs as well as a Paperchase concession on the ground floor, both gone, so no doubt these were taken out due to the store being under new ownership. We did spend some time browsing and I have some ideas for book I would like to buy. Both Carol and I have done our Christmas present lists which makes it easier for us to buy each other presents. I am going to buy myself a new digital camera in the New Year, a Canon, which I have seen in Jessop's, the camera shop in the shopping centre, but may wait until then because it is bound to be a good deal cheaper in the January sales. I don't mind buying the camera in Jessops as the staff are very helpful and it was one of the businesses which very nearly collapsed when the economy was in a nose-dive and was rescued by one of the 'Dragon's', Peter Jones. If you've never seen the BBC2 show "Dragon's Den" no doubt you won't know who I mean, but anyone who rescues a good business from financial collapse and manages to turn it round to become a profitable business earns not only my total respect but my loyal custom. I can't wait to get the new camera and it will be a sort of joint retirement/birthday and Christmas present to myself!

The main shopping centre was seething with shoppers. I don't think I have seen it so busy, even in the build-up to Christmas. We went into W.H. Smith as Carol wanted a folder for work. We then decided we needed a break, with a coffee and something to eat. We had intended going into Costa near John Lewis but then went to Pret A Manger. There is a lot of choice regarding places to get a drink and something to eat and we've been to Cafe Nero which is the opposite side of Middleton Hall, where the Christmas display is currently on. We were surprised when we went to get our drinks in Pret A Manger when the young man on the till said it was free. We had hot chocolate and mince pies which were very good. A shock to get something without having to pay, but apparently, according to Carol, they are expected to give away some food and drink free to customers. No doubt a sort of 'good will' gesture or something. I can't imagine many businesses doing that sort of thing.

We did have a cursory glance at the Christmas display, but to be totally honest it is a real disappointment. I don't know what it is, but it's certainly not the best effort. The usual little train they have every year is there, but the whole thing lacks any sort of imagination. A load of snow, a few mechanical penguins and Father Christmas doesn't make for a particularly entertaining experience, but I suppose as it's aimed at very little chidren, that's all that matters, but in past years they've had a theme, such as 'Peter Pan', 'Pirates ' or 'Pantomime.' Don't ask me what the theme of this year's extravaganza is as it doesn't appear to have one and it's a shame you have to pay to see most of it. So, as a result, we didn't bother, unfortunately.

Our outing ended with us going home towards Eaglestone and going to the fish and chip shop as we usually do on a Friday evening. You really can't beat the fish and chips from the Brothers Fish Bar in Eaglestone.