Spring Has Sprung!

 Saturday. 8.10 a.m. It's bright and sunny. Mind you, it can be deceptive and might well be chilly out. I won't know until much later.

1.00 p.m. It has turned out to be quite warm. Not sunny, but mild nevertheless

I've been to Boots Opticians to collect my new glasses. I had two pairs made up, one for long vision, for driving and every day, and the second pair for reading. I was shocked to find when I put on the long vision pair, how sharp and crisp everything was. 

I then walked through the shopping centre and went into Midsummer Place. Just inside the doors, a man had set himself up, with an amplifier and microphone, and was singing. I say 'singing', but, let's be perfectly honest, it wasn't very good. One of the pieces he mangled (for want of a better word.) was a song which Carol and I had as our 'sort-of' song, 'Chasing Cars,' originally done by 'Snow Patrol.' Brought back some memories, and happy, but it upset me to some extent, not more so than having some idiot mangling it. 

I walked back to the car and, just as I was about to get in my car, t a really large car turned up, I think it was one of those huge 4-by-4 monsters. The driver was attempting to reverse into a space, just opposite where I had left my car. As the car began to manoeuvre, I saw that one side was heavily dented. It looked as though something or someone had run into the car, or else, the driver had smashed into another vehicle or run into a wall or something. The way the driver was making a complete hash of reversing into the parking space, it was no wonder the car got dented. 

Sunday. 8.00 a.m. I was woken in the night by a very heavy rainstorm. I'm not sure what time it was, but I think it must have been around 2 a.m. I went into the kitchen to look out of the window, and it was difficult to see across the garden (obviously not helped by the fact that it was dark, although there were very bright lights along the various paths. Bright enough to guide any passing aircraft into land, or even some alien space creatures.) The rain was so violent, there was a sort of fog. It was extremely noisy. Fortunately, it didn't go on for more than five minutes. I expect there will be a great deal of standing water on the roads around Milton Keynes, no doubt there will be vast puddles in and around the roundabouts, pooling where the water can't run away. The roads in Milton Keynes were built without cambers, and gutters which allow water to drain away. It seemed more like a cost-cutting exercise when the city was built, but it was a mistake. If the Romans could build their roads with cambers, why aren't modern roads built with them? I actually think most roads are. 

As I write this, the sun is shining.

1 p.m. I was on refreshment duty at The Oaktree Centre this morning. I've been involved with this for several months now. I used to be on The Genesis Team, which is responsible for setting up the Sunday services and setting out the chairs, but I was beginning to find it quite tiring, as it involved lifting and pushing, the chairs on trolleys and then lifting the chairs off the trolleys. 

Today we had what's termed 'Café Church', which means there was no service, but a chance to fellowship with church folk and, hopefully, allow those who don't generally go to church, to come along and enjoy coffee and tea, pastries and cookies, in a relaxed and totally informal setting, with some live music. I got to the Oaktree Centre at around 9.40 and had to start filling the coffee urn. This takes at least an hour to warm up sufficiently before a decent cup of coffee can be produced from it, but for some reason, it didn't seem to warm up properly. It would take at least the whole length of a normal Sunday service, to be ready for people when they came out at the end. I wasn't on my own doing the refreshments. A lovely lady who is in my Thursday morning Bible study, Hyacinth, was with me. But there was real, what I call 'frothy coffee' being made, a la Costa or Starbucks, produced by a proper coffee machine. Several people have been trained as baristas to make this coffee. The machine they use is in the cafe area and is a Gaggia machine. But most people would seem to prefer this coffee, rather than what we had to offer. Because the urn wasn't functioning properly and not heating up sufficiently, we could only offer Nescafé. Nothing wrong with that, but when you've got coffee which is as good, if not better, than what you could get in a high street coffee shop, such as Costa or Starbucks, who could blame them?

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.

Time and Tide

Friday. 8.25 a.m. Yet another mild morning.

11.15 a.m. I've been to Aldi this morning. It's so easy to go in and get what you want and be out quickly. No fuss, no frills. The main supermarkets have so many distractions, things that you could possibly do without at that particular moment, such as clothes (alright, I know, we all need clothes, but you know what I mean.) They want you to browse and maybe not buy something immediately, but come back and buy it later. Also, books, toys, cards and a whole host of other stuff.

1.40 p.m. The roofing contractors appear to have left at around midday. A considerable amount of their equipment is scattered all over the grass below my kitchen window. The machine which I could not identify turns out to be a sort of lift, similar to what they used on my father's farm, an elevator to lift straw and hay bales up to the highest point when they built stacks. This machine is a good deal narrower and has its own engine to power it. They use it to take tiles up to the roof. 

Saturday. 9.55 a.m. The lady in the flat beneath me smokes like a chimney. Now, I know, it's a choice and everyone has a right to do what they like in their own home. But when the Mears workmen were in her flat and the door was open, cigarette smoke got into my flat. I have never smoked and don't intend to ever smoke. I know the effects it can have on your health, not just the possibility of contracting cancer, but it can cause all sorts of illnesses, clogging up your arteries and causing heart attacks, strokes and so on. Not just that, but the smell of cigarette smoke is unpleasant, causing me to cough. I was told, after I had my first heart attack in 2006, that if I'd smoked I would in all probability have had my heart attack five years earlier. Under no-smoking legislation, which came in under the Blair government, smoking is not allowed in public spaces, which includes the common areas of Dexter House, but tenants are free to smoke in their flats. I just get annoyed that I'm having to endure cigarette smoke contamination when I don't want it and the fact that it's possibly endangering my health I get very annoyed, but there's not a great deal I can do about it.

I felt sorry for the Mears' workmen because they had to work in all that cigarette smoke. I don't think it's acceptable to expect anyone to have to work in such an environment. It's totally unhealthy. I remember, when I worked for Guardian Home care, around ten years ago, I had one of my clients who I visited several times a day, also smoked in their home. I had to breathe that smoke in for a couple of hours. They call it passive smoking, which I didn't like, but there wasn't much I could do about it. Why couldn't I object? It was unpleasant, in the same way, that the cigarette smoke coming from the flat below me is both unpleasant and dangerous to my health.

5.55 p.m. I've been to Camphill this afternoon to see a performance of 'Twelfth Night.' I had to park in the Peace Pagoda car park, which is across Brickhill Street from The Chrysalis Theatre. I knew it wouldn't be a good idea to park in the Camphill car park, as it was unlikely to be enough space. I had to use the ticket machine and work out how to use it, as it had contactless payment. Once that was done, I walked over the bridge and entered the Camphill campus from the opposite side to where I usually enter. On arriving in the foyer of The Chrysalis, I was totally surprised by the number of people who were waiting to go into the theatre. I estimate there were more than a hundred people. The seating had been set up, which pulls out from one of the walls in the theatre, and has raked seats built in. 

The show was brilliant! There were a few prompts but never mind. Most of the cast knew their lines, and some didn't. The audience loved it all and laughed in all the right places. As a result, the actors played up to the reactions they got. The performance was videoed, so there will be a record for the future. It will be great to be able to watch on my television set, via YouTube or Vimeo.

Sunday. 8.00 a.m. Yet another bright and mild morning. I was out with Alfie at around 7.15 and there was a huge moon in the sky, so I had to go and get my iPhone and photograph it. I'm not entirely sure the result was successful, but at least I tried.

12.45 p.m. We had another Café Church session at the Oaktree Centre this morning. The only problem I have is, that, in a relatively small space, with a lot of people, when everyone is talking, you can barely hear what is being said. In some respect, it's not a problem, but not being able to hear properly is.

On the way home from The Oaktree Centre, I drove down Chaffron Way as usual. It's no more than a ten-minute drive and generally totally without incident. But driving down the long stretch between the Watling Street roundabout and the roundabout at Grafton Street, I had a BMW on my tail. It came up behind my car and was so close it was somewhat intimidating. I think this sort of behaviour is done deliberately, usually to get me to get out of the way. I was doing around 45-50 m.p.h., so I wasn't exactly crawling along. But there are some drivers, usually male, that simply can't tolerate another car in front of them. Then, around the point where there were chevrons along the middle of the road, I think where vehicles would go if they were turning right for The Bowl, the driver put his foot down and overtook me. Having just looked up 'chevrons' on the Highway Code website, I read that you're not supposed to enter this area unless there's an emergency, and this certainly wasn't an emergency. He shot off at great speed, probably between 70-80 m.p.h., and it was very unnerving, to say the least. Mind you, it was rather a pointless exercise for him, because by the time I reached the Grafton Street roundabout, he had to wait in a queue of around six cars to enter the roundabout, so, his speeding past me was a waste of time and energy.

The Cold(er) Blasts of Wintery Weather

Thursday12.00 p.m. It's a good deal colder this morning. I thought there was ice on my car before I drove off to the Oaktree Centre at around 8.50 a.m. to help set up the playgroup, but it wasn't ice, just moisture, so that was a relief.

Friday. 9.15 a.m. The washing is in the dryer. It will take around 45 minutes before it is dry enough to remove and for me to hang my shirts in the wardrobe and the rest in the drawer unit. Then, with my shopping list in my hand, I will be off to Sainsbury's.

Yet another relatively mild morning. Totally unseasonal.

Saturday. 6.55 a.m. It's dark. Well, that's a surprise? No, well, it is usually at this time of the morning in early December. 

Sunday. 8.10 a.m. My posts on here are getting thinner and thinner. 

The weather is getting considerably colder as the days go by. What do you expect in December?

The World Cup is dominating everything at the moment. I am no fan of football, so it's something to avoid. It's not necessarily the football that I find annoying, but all the waffle they dole out, the constant chatter which is more like padding between the games and the fact that all three main television channels have games on at the same time. You get highly-paid, so-called pundits, such as Gary Lineker, rambling on incessantly, and then they have what I think you call 'vox-pops', where they go out into the streets and ask members of the public for their views. Totally irrelevant and meaningless. Not journalism at all. Crazy. 

12.30 p.m. We had café church at SCF this morning. In fact, I have just got back. The idea is to attract non-church-goers into the Oaktree Centre and there's free cake, coffee, tea and other goodies and games for the children to play and a time to chat with anyone and everyone and make friendships. I have spoken to several people I haven't met or even spoken to before and a good sense of community.

3.35 p.m. I have resubscribed to Britbox, the streaming service which is owned by all the major British television providers, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5. There is a lot of classic drama on there, Doctor Who, Keeping Up Appearances, Fawlty Towers and more and quite a lot of original content. I was interested in watching the new series of 'Staged' the comedy starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen, which is set during the pandemic and imagines them staging a play via Zoom. The new series is exclusive to Britbox. At £5.99 a month it seems excellent value and the content is constantly changing, with stuff being taken off and new stuff being added.

6.25 p.m. I'm watching the BBC's 1970s serialization of 'I Claudius' on Britbox. This was one of the BBC's hits in its day. Derek Jacobi was Claudius, with a stammer. It is somewhat stagey by modern standards. No exteriors and definitely studio-bound, but that was the way television drama was made in the mid-1970s. It has stood the test of time remarkably well. They must have spent a lot on sets and costumes. Also made on tape rather than film. It's more like a filmed stage play. Derek Jacobi's makeup is a bit ropey. I don't know what age he was when he played the part of Claudius, but he's made to appear as an old man, who is telling the story. Other actors who appear are Sian Phillips as Claudius's mother, Brian Blessed, (here far more restrained than his usual 'shouty' acting in later programmes and films.) and John Hurt as Caligula.