A Change In The Weather

It's sunny out, but it's chilly. Probably cold enough for there to be snow. I hope not, but I'm sure we will be able to manage. I took Alfie out at around 4.30, but it was so cold I don't think he appreciated it, but he needed to do his business and then we went home.

As I say, the weather is very changeable at present, from howling wind, to frost and fog, to sunny and so cold we could expect snow. But, let's be perfectly honest and just say, it's what you expect from the British climate and we're barely into February. I think in previous years we've had snow by now.

(Wednesday) I was determined to get my hair cut this morning. It's getting really untidy an I can't stand it when it gets long. I begin to look like a mad professor. Think the Christopher Lloyd character in 'Back To The Future.' I also wanted to go to Sainsbury's and had made a really detailed shopping list. My pension had gone into my account so I could afford to top up the freezer. I have joined something called CLASP (I think I may have mentioned this on here somewhere, as a result of visiting the history festival which was held in Campbell Park during the summer.) It stands for Community Landscape Archaeology survey Project.). On their Facebook page, I discovered that there was to be a conference near Peterborough on the technology used by archaeologists, which means they don't necessarily have to dig to discover what is beneath the ground, like the radar system called LIDAR and tomography (as seen on such television shows as Time Team.) So, I thought that it would be something that would interest me and as a result I have paid for a ticket which means I can now go at the end of March. I thought it was as well as get it booked before there was no more tickets and I would loose out.

So I drove in to the centre of Milton Keynes, and, having parked in my usual place, the carpark near The Point, I walked into the shopping centre and arrived at Essential Barbers. I was relieved to have my hair cut and walked back through the shopping centre. It was relatively early, around 9.50, so not many shops were open. That's the disadvantage of deciding to get there so early.

I bought a new notebook in W.H.Smith and the latest edition of the magazine Current Archaeology and then walked back to the car and home.

(Thursday) I was woken in the night by the sound of rain rattling on the bedroom window. It sounded ominously as if the weather was going to break in. I took Alfie out just after 7a.m., and discovered that the path along Strudwick Drive, which leads to Oldbrook Green, was flooded, making it virtually impassable.

Later. I've been back into the shopping centre. I had meant to go to the Nationwide branch because I intended to cancel a payment after I got my hair cut yesterday morning. I went to the branch yesterday as I walked through on my way to Essential Barbers, but it wasn't open. They are open at 9.30. I forgot to return, so this morning I went back in and then was told that the payment was made as a point-of-sale payment or something and I'd need to ring the company involved. It's so complicated. Anyway, it wasn't a Direct Debit.  I have since managed to ring the company concerned and the payment has been stopped.

I have a Costa loyalty card. It's the same idea as a Nectar or Tesco Clubcard, you get points every time you buy food or drink in one of their stores. They kept emailing me to say I could have a free coffee and gain extra points if I went into one of their stores. Which I did this morning, the branch which is near the Middleton Hall. I could do some observations and make notes in my newly-acquired notebook which I bought in W.H.Smith yesterday. Just noticed that many of the people I watched were in couples and, as a result, made notes. I had two fairly full notebooks, which I had kept when I lived in Golden Drive, but seem to have vanished into thin air since I moved to the flat, which annoys me because so much of what is in them could have been used to create written material, which was the main object of keeping them. Not stuff that will ever be restored to me, but I have a feeling that they might have been in one of the ten boxes which were taken by Willen Hospice, only days after I moved in October because I didn't have space for even half of what I had when I moved in. I didn't have an alternative and the CDs, DVDs and books they contained aren't missed and  the fact is, generally, once you've read a book, the chinches are you don't usually read again and most were paperbacks. The notebooks were valuable and I should have been a little more careful that they weren't mislaid, unfortunately, but considering everything I have been through over the last few years and in particular, the stress of attempting to find alternative accommodation, the notebooks were the last things on my mind.

Later. I'm still intrigued by the 'mystery building' which has appeared on the opposite side of Oldbrook Green to the Cricketers public house. I walked past earlier this afternoon and it now has a roof, fully tiled, and matching those on the existing building it's next to. I still have absolutely no idea what it's use will be. Probably just boring storage space for mowers and other equipment. Hey hoo!

Haircut and Heat

A strange sort of subject-line for a blog post, you may ask, but, wherever possible, I attempt to use alliteration. It just makes it that bit more memorable and it's fun to try and find words that fit what I am attempting to write.

On Saturday morning I went to get my hair cut at Essential Barbers in the main Milton Keynes shopping centre. There is method in my madness (a sort of quote from 'Hamlet,' actually not spoken by Hamlet, but by Polonius, but I digress.) I am attempting to get back into television walk-on work and I have already signed up to two on-line agencies. I have uploaded some fairly out of date photographs of myself but need more up to date ones and my friend John in Bedford as agreed to take some for me, and I'm going over to Bedford on Wednesday morning to get them done. I need specifically a full-length photograph done for one agency, done against a white background if possible. I think it's so that if all those on the site have the same sort of 'look' they will look far more professional. So, I wanted to look neat and tidy, so a haircut was in order.

I arrived at a little after 9 o'clock and the shop was open and I didn't have to wait long to be sitting in he chair having my hair cut. I always like to be outside waiting but there was no need to this time. They open half an hour earlier than during the week.

Monday morning. Alfie is such a funny little dog. He spends a lot of time on the sofa. It's where Carol spent so much time, laying on the sofa when she couldn't sit comfortably when the cancer was at its worst. I begin to wonder whether Alfie is under the impression that as she lay there, often with him by her side, that she will come back. He doesn't come upstairs at night to sleep on my bed. He sometimes comes up at some point, but doesn't always stay with me. He often goes into the kitchen where his bed is, in the corner near the sliding patio doors. Perhaps that is safe and very snug for him. No draughts and he can hide away. He seems to quite like his own space. As I write this he's on the sofa next to me, staring at me, as if I'm about to do something spectacular. He's also snoring. But he doesn't like one particular cushion that usually lives on the sofa. He will look at me with a certain amount of surprise, expecting me to remove it, but he will often push it off with his nose. Don't ask me why he doesn't like it. Just amusing watching him with it.Perhaps it just takes up space or something. I'm still not sure what it is.

Later. It is actually quite warm today, so the title of this blog post is appropriate. I've been in to John Lewis's restaurant for the Willen coffee morning, a lovely group of people and really supportive and helpful. I have been downstairs to the electrical department looking at Canon digital cameras. I would like to upgrade to a more modern model. They  now have new features, such as connecting to your printer and laptop via wi-fi and Bluetooth, remote control and the use of an app on your iPhone to control the camera as well as a swivel viewing screen which enables you to view what you are photographing from a different angel. The remote might be handy if you want to get shots without being too obvious, such as setting the camera up on a tripod, say, out in the garden, with the camera focussed on the bird feeder. You could then trigger the shutter remotely without disturbing the birds. Or for taking self portraits. You could turn the screen round so you could see the pose and set the frame up accordingly and then trigger the shutter with the remote control.

Shopping Trips and Haircuts

I mentioned a few weeks ago how I had intended getting my haircut and went to the usual barber's in Monkton Park, only to discover, after waiting around 15 minutes and finding they weren't going to open up, that the business had closed down. The company is called Essential Barbers and they have another branch in North Furzton. So I decided to give things another go and drove there before they opened at 9.30 yesterday morning. So, hair now cut and won't need doing for at least a couple of months. 

From North Furzton I drove to Beanhill to go to Ashfield Medical Centre. I've mentioned on several blog posts the problems we're experiencing regarding Carol's repeat prescriptions. I still don't understand how it can take somewhere in the region of ten days to get a prescription ready so that it can be made up and ready for collection at a pharmacy. We give ample time for this. It should take no more than 48 hours. I attempt to make sure that Carol doesn't run out of any of the medications she has on repeat, particularly as we've managed to get the pain she's experiencing under control. On asking at the reception desk whether the prescription was ready, I was told that one item was ready and printed, but the rest of the items was not. I also had to ask for a fresh medical certificate for Carol as she needs one since she's off work sick. I was told that the doctor would ring to confirm this. So I returned home and no sooner had I got in the house and the telephone rang and it was the doctor for Carol. Then I heard from Lloyd's pharmacy at Sainsbury's with a phone call that they had some of the stoma material. But why had it been delivered to Lloyd's? The whole thing is going crazy. The stuff from Fittleworth should be sent direct to our address. Carol was determined to come with me to Sainsbury's as she wanted to get out of the house. So we drove there. It's perhaps the first time she's been to Sainsbury's for at least six months. One part of the repeat prescription was ready for collection, along with my own medications, which I had ordered earlier in the week. I seems odd to me that my repeat prescription was done within days, but Carol's has to take at least a week to be ready. The doctor had told me that the prescription which he had written and had printed out, would be ready on Monday  after 2 o'clock. So I drove there after 2 o'clock BUT THE PRESCRIPTION WASN'T READY! The receptionist at the surgery told me that the prescription was probably going to be in the doctor's surgery and couldn't be taken until the doctor was without a patient. This whole thing is now getting out of hand and as a result causing a certain amount of stress for both of us.

This morning (Tuesday) we had another attempt to get the prescription out of the surgery. One was ready for collection but the second one was still unready. We went to IKEA as we were looking for a new rug for the lounge, and, after a look in the rug and carpet section we couldn't find one which we liked, but we bought several other items of use and then went to get a hotdog, chips and a drink near the exit to the store. Plenty of it and extremely good value.

As I write this blog post, I'm watching Michael Portillo's television series 'Great Railway Journeys,' on BBC2, and as I write this he's at the Swiss Garden near Old Warden in Bedfordshire, somewhere we've visited and near where I used to live at Cardington. A really beautiful place to visit, part of the Shuttleworth Estate and directly next to the Shuttleworth Collection of aeroplanes and cars of various ages.

Changeable Weather and No Haircut

Early, when I drove off to go to church at Shenley Christian Fellowship on Sunday morning, it was very dull and over-cast, a sort of mist or fog, but nothing much to talk of. It was also snowing, a combination of snow and rain. The car wasn't frozen up, so I didn't have to scrape of any ice. It continued for most of the morning and, when I left Shenley it was still cold and the snow was beginning to get thicker and faster. By the time I'd got back home it began to fall thicker and faster still. As I write this at 2.05 p.m. the snow has turned into rain and there's no sign of any snow on the ground, fortunately.

Monday morning. It's quite warm and sunny. Well, as warm as it's going to get for late January. I had intended going to get my haircut this morning, at Essential Barbers in Monkston Park. I normally go on a Monday morning, early, because if I go during the early part of the week, I get a discount because of being over 65. There are definite advantages of being of a 'certain age.' I managed to park directly outside and assumed the barbers would be open as normal at 9.30. A staff-member usually turns up a few minutes before-hand to open up. There was another man waiting outside, waiting exactly the same as myself and we chatted for a few minutes. Actually quite a rarity to find someone not attached to there smartphone and quite eager to chat. But after ten minutes or so, there was still no sign of anyone arriving to open up.

Then a young man arrived. Where he came from I have no idea. Wherever he came from, he must have seen us standing outside the barbers to come and talk to us.He told us that Essential Barbers would not be opening up. It had been closed for a few week, most likely since just before Christmas. I have now seen a post on their Facebook page which was dated 4th January. It would appear that the owner has 'done a bunk,' although I'm not entirely sure what that means. I just feel sorry for the staff who no doubt will be without their jobs and get no sort of pay. They still have another branch at North Furzton, but as I write this I have no idea exactly where that is. As I drove away from the parking space I saw another man appear and wait, so I wound down the car window and spoke to him to tell him that Essential Barbers wouldn't be opening any time soon. I do think someone should have put a notice on the barber's shop door to tell prospective customers that they wouldn't be opening up for business. So, if I want to get my hair cut then I will have to find somewhere else.

I drove away from Monkston Park. I made my way to Kent's Hill, which isn't too far away. I was going to close our accounts at Nuffield Health. We haven't been for a swim there in a few months, since Carol's diagnosis, and it seems ridiculous to keep paying out if we're not going to use the facilities. 

Christmas Over-Kill

I went out early to get my hair cut at my usual hairdresser's, Essential Barbers, in Monkston Park. As they open for business at 9.30 I arrived in good time and was inside the shop as soon as they opened up and was in the seat and having my hair cut almost immediately and was done and dusted within 30 minutes and then driving home. 

The mad Christmas dash is well and truly underway. Carol thought she had someone coming to visit this morning, but during the morning realised it was tomorrow, so we went out with the intention of having a coffee and something to eat in The Range and a good excuse to browse. As we turned into the estate at Winter Hill, where The Range is situated, I was followed by this inconsiderate individual who expected me to speed up within the estate. He drove as near as he could behind we and got quite aerated because I wouldn't do what he wanted. We went right into The Range Carpark and he went left into Bunning's carpark so why get so annoyed when he was going to be turning off within seconds? Some people just have no patience and expect to have the road entirely to themselves and really don't like the idea of someone else getting in their way. Crazy!

Not many parking spaces left in the carpark. Walking in through the front door of the store we were greeted by every conceivable type of Christmas tree lights, flashing, non-flashing and in between, pulsing, and glowing madly. Then, going up in the escalator we were greeted by two obscenely over-eager Father Christmas figures, which began singing horribly, certainly enough to give any child nightmares. Swaying about madly, and totally scary. An endless range of Father Christmas figures lined the outer edge, giving the impression of a sort of mad convention of the characters. Over-kill definitely.

The whole of the upstairs floor in The Range taken over by Christmas decorations. An aisle full of twinkly decorations that play music, but none very tuneful as they weren't in harmony with one another. Also, we found a row of interactive characters, sort of Santa's helpers, little green-and-red clad elves. You press the button on their hands and they play a Christmas song, but, being us, with a sense of fun, we have to set off a whole selection of them, a total cacophony. We did this in a store at Westcroft a couple of Christmases ago, where each figure set of the next figure, as they interacted with each other. It caused a great deal of amusement for not only ourselves but other shoppers!

Good to see we're helping the Chinese economy ticking over nicely for yet another year. Almost all of this Christmas stuff will be made in China or at least somewhere in the East. Not that I'm knocking their ability to take so many of our jobs. But I can imagine much of it being made in sweatshops and the staff working for a pittance and probably having absolutely no idea what a Christmas elf of glass bauble for a tree is and then packed up and loaded into several vast containers and then onto a ship and then sent across the sea to be sold in these places. And then, after the Christmas rush is over, returned to some vast warehouse and the following year sold at vastly reduced prices.

We then went to the café and had intended ordering paninis and coffee. Actually not a bad little place to eat, but there was a long queue and the man on the till didn't seem to know how to do his job and it was him fiddling about which was causing the queue. He had no idea how to operate the till. Just the company's lack of training which was obviously behind this. We eventually got our lattes and what looked like chocolate cake and sat and ate it. Not particularly nice, it was partly chocolate and partly some sort of mauve-coloured cake. Over-priced and not worth the effort

Carol bought a fish tank as she wants to get an aquarium, which we bought along with gravel and water treatment. We will have to leave the buying of the fish for another day, perhaps in Dobbie's or Frost's garden centres. We went home and she set up the tank, putting the water treatment in the water as it takes 24 hours before you can put any fish in.

Coming out of the store we saw a couple in a car in front of us who'd obviously had an almighty row. It looked as if he was sulking because she wanted to go Christmas shopping and he didn't. The body-language said it all. He drew up in their car and she got out and he drove off in a right mood and almost hit someone crossing the carpark with a load of shopping. Oh dear, if that's the effect Christmas has on people, is it really worth all the bother and stress? Surely not. Perhaps the musical and discordant decorations we saw upstairs in the store were a sort of symbol of this sort of total disharmony of the shoppers (or at least, some of them.) So much for it being a season of peace and happiness to all men (and women.)

Hair Cut

I went to get my hair cut yesterday. My hair was beginning to get untidy and as the weather was a good deal milder and sunnier it seemed a good excuse to get mine cut.  I have been going to Essential Barbers in Monkston for a couple of years now. I used to go the the Central Barbers in the Food Centre, the shopping centre near the main Milton Keynes Shopping Centre. But then we found ourselves in Monkston a couple of years ago, I don't remember how or even exactly when and we came across a Budgen's and I think did some shopping for essentials there (the unit is now a Cooperative store.) We found that there was also a fish and chip shop along from Budgen's which we tried (but decided that it wasn't anywhere near as good as the Brother's fish and chip shop in Eaglestone and haven't returned since. Also, between all these, Essential Barbers. I found that they were far easier to get to than the barber's in the Food Centre, gave a better service and above all were cheaper. The other one kept putting their prices up which wasn't a particularly good selling point in my opinion. I know these companies have to cover their running costs, and in particular things such as Business Rates, rent, electricity etc. but if you keep putting your prices up then you risk loosing customers. As I'm now retired I get a reduction in the price which is a good enough reason to go to Essential Barbers. I can park the car immediately outside and, if I arrive at 9.30 I can usually get my hair cut immediately. I'm all for being punctual and in this case, it pays off, because yesterday, even though quite a gathering of customers arrived well before they opened up at 9.30 and was in the chair having my hair trimmed almost as soon as I walked through the door. My hair usually needs cutting between every 4-6 weeks. It hadn't been trimmed for much longer than that so I was in a serious need of a cut. If I keep it short it's easier to dry when we go swimming so I did need it done particularly for that reason. I'm probably more fortunate than a lot of men my age in that I have kept my hair, although it's gone grey, I haven't had to suffer baldness, thankfully. I think I owe that to good genetic material, passed on I think from my maternal grandfather who had plenty of hair on his head. Although I think through him I probably inherited my heart problems. Carol has her hair done at Arcana which is at Shenley Brook End. She last had it done a couple of weeks ago. They have started doing men's hair their, and I had considered going to get my hair there, but I think it's a question of what you know and trust, as Essential do what I like with my hair as I'm a bit fussy about that sort of thing. No point changing just for the sake of it.

Wet, Wild and Windy

The weather seems to have made a backwards step. So much for 'flaming June.' It's more like Autumn. Wind and rain. Just as well we went out when we did on Saturday, because we certainly wouldn't have bothered with the weather the way it is today. 

I went to get my hair cut early at Essential Barbers in Monkston Park. They opened at 9.30 and I was done by 9.50. Really cheered up when the lady who cut my hair asked me if I was 65 as I would get my hair cut for £6. I don't know whether I'm pleased or not, but I suppose I should be pleased. When we went to Twycross Zoo on Saturday I got my entry at reduced concession as I'm over 60.  I then drove to Sainsbury's as we had to have tonight's meal organised. I have made a mistake in thinking the new fridge/freezer was coming yesterday. I mis-read the email, which actually said 8th June. Then I got a call from Candy yesterday morning, the company who make the fridge/freezer we've ordered from Very and they say it will be delivered after Thursday and they will ring again on that day to give me more idea what time but within a 'four-hour window' which can mean anything. Just be glad when the thing is delivered and set up and running so that we can go shopping properly and put whatever needs to go into the freezer will be safe from thawing out. It's just annoying only being able to shop for food on the day, but there is no other way of managing things at the moment. 

I selected what I wanted in Sainsbury's and then went to the checkout to pay. I was intrigued by what the man in front had bought; a watermelon and a packet of balloons. What on earth was he going to do with these items? Your guess is as good as mine.