T'was On A Monday Morning . . .

 'Title, from one of my all-time favourite comic duos, Flanders and Swann.

Saturday. 11.35 a.m. I had a strange dream last night. Seemed almost real. I was in a house, which appeared to be old, probably the 1930s or earlier. Not modernized, murky, dark, old-fashioned wallpaper. Dark paintwork and not well lit. I was with a lady, not sure who it was. Was she moving in? Might have been as the house was unfurnished. Almost as if someone had left it in a hurry, having taken out all the furniture. There were vases of what seemed to be dead or at least dried flowers in them. Some looked old and withered and others looked wispy and fragile. The lady went out and left me alone in the house and I had to put the dead flowers in bin bags. She came back later and helped me clear out bags and boxes of rubbish. A pile of magazines which I picked up and read. It was at that point the dream ended and I woke up. I think the house was very like the house my parents had in Cople, it was about the same sort of age. Not very well maintained and definitely in need of modernization. The curtains in this house were closed, making the place even darker. That is all I can remember.

Sunday. 6.15 a.m. Alfie appeared to want to go out at around 2 a.m. He kept coming to look at me and there was a slight pong, so I assumed he needed to go out. I had to get dressed quickly and we went out as normal, not forgetting to take the little torch I have for such an occasion because it was too dark to see clearly when we got out onto the grass along Strudwick Drive.  But it turned out he just needed to have a wee and we soon came back inside. But it actually turned out he wanted a drink of water and I had meant to fill his water bowl yesterday evening, but I forgot. So, I filled it for him and he had a long drink. As the bowl is hidden behind the end of the sofa, you can't see it except when I go to put his food out. It's there so I don't trip over it or at least spill it. So that was sorted out. 

I wasn't able to have my usual cup of tea (mug actually) and a bowl of cereal because when I came to pour milk on it, all I got was yogurt! It had gone off! Annoying as according to the 'best before' date it wasn't out of date until tomorrow. So, I'll just have to go out later and get some from Tesco at Oldbrook Boulevard.

10.20 a.m. It's hot and humid. The whole country seems overwhelmed by the fact that the England football team has actually reached the final of the 2021 Euros. It seems that is all they are talking about on BBC Breakfast this morning. Well, that's great, even though I have really no interest in football, but at least it's a positive thing and taking people's minds off the confounded pandemic.

'They Think It's All Over'?

Thursday. 6.50 a.m. I wasn't aware of the euphoria of England getting through to the final of the Euro 2021 football championship last night. I have no interest in football, as you will realize, but even so, it has to be quite an historic achievement, comparable to the 1966 World Cup win (although England hasn't won- yet.) So, the infamous quote by Kenneth Wolstenholme, 'They think it's all over . . . ' seems appropriate, although not . . . quite. Watch this space. I heard no crowds cheering, as I did the other evening, coming from the pub on the corner of Strudwick Drive and Oldbrook Boulevard, 'The Cricketers.' But, it isn't over until the final on Sunday evening . . .

I had to laugh the other day. I was walking back towards the flat with Alfie along Strudwick Drive when a youth shot past on one of those electric scooters, but he was looking at his mobile as he did so. He went to cross the road and as he did so he stopped on the island in the centre of the road and then dropped his mobile. I just thought it was just as well it didn't fall in the path of the next car or lorry which passes by as it would have been flattened. 

I sent the iPhone 7 back to Sky, having removed the apps. But I then got an email saying they couldn't credit my account until iCloud was disconnected. I really had no idea how to do this, but went on the Sky website and managed to click on what I thought was where I was supposed to, but it turned out not to be correct. Having rung Sky, after a lot of searching on the website (why bury this number? It should be in a far more prominent position.), and was told I would need to ring Apple. The same thing happened with this as I had problems finding the phone number, but eventually, I found it and got through.

I spoke to an Apple engineer how managed to talk me through the process of deactivating iCloud from the iPhone 7. Quite amazed that he could 'see' my iPad screen and direct me using the cursor, which made it considerably easier. So, problem solved and I trust that is the end of the matter. Why on earth they can't give you instructions regarding this type of thing that would make life so much easier. You always used to get an instruction manual with most things, but not with mobile phones and computers. I think they expect you to find anything from manuals to resolving issues via the internet.

Friday.7.15 a.m. It's really humid at the moment. I just hope it rains and clears the air. Not the best for me, but never mind.

My car insurance runs out at the beginning of August. I wanted to see if I could get a lower quote, so I went on several comparison websites, Compare The Market, Go Compare, and one other. I've been with Swinton for years. I pay in monthly installments and it was around £52 a month. I didn't get any extras for that, no breakdown cover or the use of a courtesy car. I did a search, putting in all my details, years of no-claims, etc and I have got what I think is a far better deal, at around £32 per month, with breakdown cover and courtesy car. I have paid a deposit and the next payment will be in August. Just seems crazy to pay more for less. Just a question of having a look for a better deal. As I'm not driving much more than a few thousand miles a year, which was taken into consideration when coming up with a quote. But it seems I get more for less, which doesn't make sense, but it's true. 

I have something called Grammarly installed on my MacBook. It isn't the full version, and it's useful to check not just my grammar but also my spelling. But I do object to it insisting I spell words the American way, for example, 'centre' for 'center.' When you've written a passage, it underlines the offending word and a window pops up and you get an alternate spelling. It's doing it now, as I save this section and it's insisting I spell centre as center. I know you don't have to agree with the alternative spelling, but it's still useful. A grammatical error it attempts to change is 'an historic' which is to change to 'a historic.' Which is correct? I wonder what my English teacher would say when I was at school.

Scorchio!

Sorry, more cheap tabloid headline-catching usage. Why am I sorry? Basically, because I can't stand cheap journalism which is basically just sensationalist just to get readers. And some people are stupid enough to fall for cheap journalism and buy the rubbish. For those with a low Gunning Fog Index rating? Okay, you don't know what the Gunning Fog Index is? Never mind. Doesn't matter. Just say, those readers of Red Top Tabloids probably have a low rating.

Monday. 11.05 p.m. I have woken up with some strange sound outside. Well, I presume it's outside. I thought at first it was a hairdryer because it's that sort of noise. The thinking is that someone in a flat either below or at least nearby was using such an electrical item. But it doesn't seem to be and it goes on for far too long. I begin to wonder if it's one of those slow-moving road sweepers you see which crawl along on the left side of the road with a revolving brush-thingy that sweeps up the debris in the gutter, leaves, and anything else which gets into the gutter. But if that's the case, why do it at night? No sense really. In fact, it would be dangerous, slow-moving vehicles are a hazard because of idiots who are impatient and want to get past them. Fifteen minutes have elapsed and I think it's stopped. Will it start up again and be even more annoying? Time will tell. Well, it's got me sitting here writing this, so does it really matter? Oh, for flippin' 'eck. The thing has started up again. Please just go away so I can get back to sleep.

Tuesday. 5.35 a.m. After being woken by the strange noise, as I write this, the only sound I can hear outside is pigeons making their ridiculous noise and the occasional car driving past. 

Later. A trip to Sainsbury's to collect a prescription from Lloyd's pharmacy and a few items for tonight's meal. Chicken salad and all the trimmings. It means I don't have to cook, and because it's so warm at the moment, salad seems a good choice. Just put it on a plate and eat. Nothing could be simpler.

My writing is going spectacularly. Really pleased with the result and will continue when I have worked out the next sequence. 

Football! Football and more football! Sorry, not interested. I just get sick of having it forced on me when I just couldn't care less. I know these big events, such as Euro 2021 or whatever they call it, come round every few years, four years or thereabouts, and the fact that this has been delayed since last year because of the pandemic, but it seems to take over everything, not just television, but the press and everywhere you go. Sainsbury's full of it, products have some sort of connection, whether it's sponsorship or tied in some way or other because these events are big money earners. I won't mention it again. Promise.

Wednesday. 6.15 a.m. We were out at 5.45. Just too warm and pleasant, with the windows open, why would you want to remain indoors? I think Alfie was somewhat surprised when I geared up to take him out. The BBC Breakfast weather forecast says that we can expect high temperatures today but as the week progresses we will get torrential rain. I don't mind, as I find that if it's too hot I can't cope. Just need things to cool down somewhat.

GBN News channel? I watched the opening night of this new news channel. It doesn't do what they call 'rolling news', which most other news channels use as their format. It's supposed to be 'presenter lead, and they keep saying, 'if it's important to you [the viewer} it's important to us!' The only criticism I have is that on Freeview, I have to watch the standard quality pictures. It would be better in full HD, which seems to be on other platforms such as YouView and Sky. There were a lot of problems with sound, some of it was out of sync with the pictures and in particular from their reporters from around the regions. But there's bound to be technical issues when a channel is live starting up. Just hope they get on top of these issues. I will wait and see and give it time to settle in. I will comment further after a week or two. Watch this space.