A Good Deal Cooler, With A Promise of Rain!

 Tuesday 18th August. 3.15 p.m. Well, it hasn't rained, or, if it did, it hasn't left much of an impression.

This morning I went out with my video camera and walked around Woolstone which is one of the villages around which the city of Milton Keynes was built. I had hoped to find something worth videoing, such as a stretch of the Grand Union Canal, with boats moored, or drifting through, something vaguely historic to shoot, ducks swimming or sitting at the side of the canal, but none of that could I find. It was a pleasant enough walk, and the video footage was reasonable. 

Thursday 20th August. 8.15 a.m. I have mentioned how, in an earlier post on here, how I had to ring the Nationwide helpline, because of the mysterious text I had, informing me that there was a strange £250 payment on my account with Argos. It turns out that nothing was taken and my bank account is safe. But, to make sure there is no possibility of this sort of 'scam'; happening again, they would close down my current debit card and issue me a new one. The card has not arrived, so I rang Nationwide again and asked what I had to do, because my pension was in my account. I was told that, if I went into the Nationwide branch in the main shopping centre, along with some form of ID, in this case, my photo driving licence, which, fortunately, had come only just come  back from the DVLA in Swansea. I could take out sufficient funds, so I could do a small shop in Sainsbury's.

Friday 21st August. 6.00 a.m. I mentioned in an earlier post, talking about the persistant cough which has been plaguing me for weeks. I do not have a temperture, infact, I haven't felt better in myself in ages. Just this cough, which seems to be caused by horrible thick mucus at the back of my throat. The doctor had given me a prescription for codeine, which I immediately took into the Boots pharmacy,which is immediately next door to the Central Milton Keynes Medical Centre. Unfortunately they didn't have it in stock. I wasn't over-enthusiastic about trailing around Milton Keynes chemists, to find one which has a supply of this medicaion. I had a parcel arrive in the post. I wasn't sure what it contained, but, on opening it, I ound a bottle of codeine which was on the prescription, which I hadn't managed to get made up. But how come I had this bottle of the very medication I needed? I have no idea. Perhaps the doctor had got it for me, but whatever the truth, I was able to take it, even though it tasted awful, and, as I write, I am sure it's sorting out the horrible cough.

Wild and Windy

 (Thursday) It's blowing a gale outside as I write this at 7a.m. I think even King Lear and his Fool would have had problems on that blasted heath, having to battle this wind. On BBC Breakfast's weather forecast they're saying in some parts of the country the wind speed is in excess of 85m.p.h.

(Friday) It's not as windy this morning, but still chilly.

Because I turned 70 in October I had to reapply for a new Driving Licence. It seemed that the easiest way to deal with this issue was to go to the D.V.L.A. (Driving Vehicle and Licence Agency) and apply there, which I did in September. I was expecting that it would arrive within days, but took into account the fact that they would be working with fewer staff in their office, due to the social distancing regulations for the pandemic. I still hadn't received it up until today, so I decided to try and sort out here it was, so I needed the reference number I was sent via an email and wrote it down, together with my Licence number and then had to find a number which I could ring to, hopefully, discover what was going on. This was extremely difficult to find on their website and when I rang it, I heard a recorded voice and then it ended which was of absolutely no help. I then discovered there was a 'chat bot' which seemed the only alternative to a phone call. It didn't take long to get an agent to respond and I explained what the problem was and it ended with being given another number to ring, which I did. Around a ten minute wait (and the music I had to listen really getting on my nerves.)and when I got through I again explained what my problem was and eventually got told that the licence had been posted out only days after I had applied. So, because I hadn't received the licence, I was informed that a fresh one would be mailed out within the next couple of days and if I didn't receive it to telephone again. I'm just worried that it could have been intercepted by criminals (no doubt someone would be looking out for what they believed would contain a driving licence) and use my data for fraudulent business, no doubt using my ID for illegal use, which is why I needed to get this issue sorted out.

(Saturday) Here I am at 3.20a.m., sitting with my MacBook on my lap, in my armchair in my lounge with the wind howling outside and not able to sleep. It just isn't going to happen so that explains why I'm writing this at the moment, even though there's not much to write about.

7.05a.m. It now not as windy, thankfully.

9.25a.m. I think I might have got the weather wrong. Been out with Alfie for the second time and it's actually as windy as ever. Perhaps it's because the side of the building my flat is, it's far more sheltered from the wind. It was bitterly cold and Alfie was keen to get back inside. The sun keeps on going in and out, as it disappears and reappears behind clouds.

Been into the Centre:MK, the main Milton Keynes shopping centre to meet up with my friend Nick who came over from Northampton by bus, where he lives. We were scheduled to meet at 11a.m. I had to take Alfie out before I left and then drove into the centre of Milton Keynes, parking in my usual car park near The Point. Very few cars so it was easy enough to park, probably because not all the shops in the centre are open. I put my face covering on because you have to wear one in the shopping centre and the shops within it. Big black crows everywhere as I walk through from the carpark. Puts me very much in mind of the Hitchcock film 'The Birds.' They're everywhere, on the ground, in the trees and perched on the roof of the bus shelters and other items of street furniture.

I walk towards Costa which is near Marks and Spencer to wait for Nick to arrive. There's nowhere to sit. All the seating has been removed within the shopping centre. The benches which are dotted around the place, which obviously couldn't be removed, gave been 'blocked' with boards informing you that the bench has been closed off because of social distancing. All right, but when you eventually need a rest from all the walking you have to do to get from one shop and the next, you do occasionally need to sit and rest. When Nick arrived we decided to walk to Starbucks to get coffee and something to eat. On arrival we had to queue as the store was busy, no doubt because it was a Saturday. I ordered a chocolate chip cookie latte and a ham and cheese toastie and we walked around to sit on benches outside near Marks and Spencers. A bit cold and windy but there was nowhere else to sit. A bit difficult to drink and eat walking along but that doesn't matter. We then went into Marks and Spencer, but we had to walk round to the entrance that came out opposite one of the malls. The escalators were not working but we soon realised that it was because non of the floors above were open and the men's department, which we wanted to visit, was on the ground floor and tucked away in a corner and out of the way (why are the men's departments in stores always hidden away and considerably smaller than those for women? It was like a jumble sale, no thought put into presentation and lots of items of clothing shoved on clothing racks. Not the usual Marks and Spencer way of doing things. Nick bought a shirt. I browsed but didn't see anything I liked in the sale.

Nick said he wanted to buy postage stamps, so we walked the length of the shopping centre and crossed over the road going towards the theatre and when we got to the post office we found there was a queue to get in. We had to wait around ten minutes before we could get inside. From there we walked back into the shopping centre to use the toilets and then I walked back to my car because by now all the walking had made me tired and we departed, me to drive home and Nick to remain and then catch his bus back to Northampton

(Monday) Rather cold and windy this morning, which I was not expecting when I took Alfie out earlier. this morning. I've managed to transcribe quite a few pages into word processing, using the speech-to-text function on the iPad. It certainly speeds up the process, although I have to check spelling and some words get mis-heard.