Garden Work Completed

 Thursday. 8.10 a.m. The work in the community garden here at Dexter House has been finished. The workmen were tidying up late yesterday afternoon, and now we have neat and tidy, tarmac-covered paths which should be suitable for those who have electric scooters to drive along and actually gain access to the sheds, which were installed around 3–4 years ago and had remained unused until the work was completed. There are also lights installed all along the paths, no doubt installed in case there is a fire in the building and the residents have to evacuate.

My FitBit has fallen apart. No, that isn't actually correct. What happened was that I was putting on my shirt as I was getting dressed, and the strap got caught somehow, and then the strap came apart. The metal pin which secures the device's body to the strap came out, and I managed to retrieve it from the floor. But, I have to be honest, the thing has begun to annoy me because the strap, which I bought on Amazon, is metal. Although it looks good, it has a magnetic connection instead of a buckle, but it keeps on coming apart, and often at the most inconvenient moments, such as when I am driving. It sometimes makes the watch part fall around on my wrist, and at one point, I almost lost the thing. The actual Fitbit is good, but the other fact is that you have to keep charging it, which is usually once a week or so. So, because of all this, I decided to buy a cheap digital watch on Amazon, which should arrive by Saturday.

Friday. 7.10 a.m. I have only just woken up. Barely 15 minutes ago. Probably the latest for a long time. Alfie has been out, and the weather seems quiet.

Monday. 10.05 a.m. I have been to get milk and a few other bits that were running out from Sainsbury's. I must have milk for my cereal and tea for breakfast. I was surprised that there was ice on the car's windows when I went out after 9 a.m., so I had to spray the defroster and scrape the ice with the scraper. As I write this, it's sunny and bright. 

Saturday. 9.50 a.m. It's getting light earlier and earlier each morning. Which means I can take Alfie out a good deal earlier.

I've been to Sainsbury's. Milk was needed as well as bread. I could go to Lidl, but they don't have the bread I like. It's made 'in-house.' I'm not a fan of your traditional white sliced loaf. This bread is malty and wholemeal.

I've mentioned about the work done in the community garden, here at Dexter House. This was done so that those who use electric scooters could store them in the sheds which were completed several years ago, but could not be accessed because the surface of the paths are unsuitable, and it would have been difficult to get into the sheds. Now this is possible, but as I write this, there are no scooters in the sheds. I would have thought people would have flocked to use the sheds and try out the newly surfaced paths.  The whole idea of all that work was because the fire officer said, I don't know how long ago, that the electric scooters should not be stored in the communal areas in Dexter House, as they are a hazard, if there was a fire. But they are still parked within Dexter House. Crazy situation.

Adventures In Happyville

 Thursday August 24th. 12.05 p.m. Well, I had intended to not write any blog posts until September, but I have got into the habit of writing something virtually each day, so here I am, writing this.

On Saturday, I went to Stoke Mandeville Hospital to visit a lady I know who is in there. I had been considering whether to go for quite a while, but first I had to make sure the car was alright, since I had the MoT done, and it needed work done on one of the rear brakes, and then I had covid and the lower back pain (which, incidentally, still returns. But I am not letting it interfere with my life. It took less time to get to Stoke Mandeville than I imagined, as the visiting hours began at 2 p.m., and I was imagining that the centre of Aylesbury was going to be busy with shoppers, which it didn't appear to be. On arriving at the hospital site I had to find a car park and eventually found a space in car park C. I wasn't entirely sure where the ward was I wanted to visit, Ward 17. I thought it was in the main building, but it turned out to be within the National Spinal Injuries Centre block. The signage isn't very clear, and once inside it was quite a walk, and then upstairs.

Terri, the lady I was visiting, said to me, would I go and get something to eat, such as a take-away? She told me there was a fish and chip shop about fifteen minutes walk away from the hospital, basically because all she would have to eat that evening would be salad. So I walked to the chippy but wasn't entirely sure I was walking in the right direction, so I asked someone on the way. I was walking in the right direction and soon found it and bought two portions of fish and one of chips and walked back. She was asleep when I got back to the ward, and she was asleep, and it took a while before she woke up, and we ate the fish and chips. 

When I eventually left to go home, first I had to find my way out of the building! When I eventually did, I then had to look for a toilet and walked towards the main entrance and then decided to take a shortcut, which wasn't such a good idea, because it took me down quite a steep slope, and unfortunately I took a misstep and found myself falling over and landing partially in a rather prickly hedge and grazed my right elbow. I was unpleasant, and I think it was more embarrassing than anything. I managed to pick myself up and go into the main entrance and found a toilet, and then I had to get back to my car in Car Park C. Once there, I had to discover how I was to get out, with no indication of how or where to buy a ticket. I presumed that I would need to buy one from a machine, but there were none in or around the car park. I asked someone, and he told me I would need to go to the A and E department and find a machine in the entrance, which was what I did. The machine would only take card payments. By now, I wasn't in a particularly good mood, and a staff member showed me how to use my debit card to pay. It cost £6.50, which I thought was somewhat steep. Never mind. I returned to my car, quite a considerable distance, and used the ticket which the machine had issued to open the barrier and so drive out and then home.

On Tuesday I went to Camphill. I hadn't been the previous week, due to the lower back pain. The previous week the theatre group had been involved with the play in a week project and quite a few children had come in to take part. It would appear to have been extremely successful. We weren't starting work on the next project, but some filming for the silent movies was taking place, and we watched a video of the play which was created during the play-in-a-week project. It was quite amazing and all the participants did a really exceptional job, but it was a great pity that the sound was poor, which made hearing the dialogue more or less impossible.

I went home, and then I discovered that the door of my fridge/freezer hadn't been closed properly, which meant that much of the food it contained was thawing. I had an idea that some of it could be saved, and then I thought that it could go in the fridge, which is in the communal kitchen within Dexter House. I could take it down in the blue plastic box I had for recycling bottles and other glass, but when I went down to the communal kitchen, I found the door locked, so that idea was out. Then, I thought that I could ask Vashti the following morning if she would allow me to put my food in the fridge so that I could leave the fridge/freezer on for several hours to let it thaw out, but then I discovered that she wouldn't be in until mid-morning, so that idea was also a non-starter. My options were narrowing. Then, to make things worse, the strap on my FitBit came apart! The buckle came away from the rest of the strap, rendering it completely useless. So, as someone or other said, problems go in threes- 1-I fell over and grazed my elbow at Stoke Mandeville; 2- The fridge/freezer began to defrost; and 3- The FitBit strap fell apart.

So, I decided, fairly late into the evening, that the only alternative was to clear out the partly-defrosted food. My thinking was, if I was to eat it, there was every likelihood that I was going to get food poisoning, which I didn't want, as I know it can be quite unpleasant and, possibly, dangerous, especially since I have had two heart attacks. So, I loaded the contents of the freezer into two black bin bags and took it to the bin cupboard outside. I then switched off the fridge/freezer and left it to defrost. After several hours, it was beginning to drip and the ice to melt. I was left with a lot of water on the kitchen floor, but it was easily mopped up.

By around 6 a.m., virtually all the ice had melted, and I was then able to switch on the fridge/freezer. I was planning to go to Sainsbury's to buy food, some of which would go into the fridge/freezer. By around 9 a.m. the machine was working fully, with the temperature at at the correct level for restocking. Job completed!

On Thursday afternoon, we had a tenants' meeting at Dexter House. Exciting stuff about, wait for it, rubbish bins! I won't go into the gory details on here. Then, the question of Christmas came up, something I don't want to even consider, because, in all honesty, I don't really want to be here. We were asked for ideas and I came up with the idea of putting on a Pantomime. No, not seriously, but one of the women sitting around the table gave me such a look that it could have melted plate steel. She asked me what I would dress up as, and I said, the Dame. I don't think the idea will come to much, but it was worth a try!

Things Can Only Get Better?

With such things as rising inflation, gas and electricity prices going through the roof and possibly going even higher, and the war in Ukraine continuing, are things going to get better? One would hope so. What difference will having a new Prime Minister make (the announcement of which of the two candidates it will be, announced this Monday.) what else is going to happen, to possibly improve things? 

Friday. 6.40 a.m. I mentioned that I'd had problems with my FitBit and that I had to contact the company and had been sent a replacement. I set the thing up, connecting it to my iPhone, and it seemed to work well enough, until it started behaving as it had done originally, with the screen going into lines like an old television set. Then, on Wednesday, it occurred to me that I might have set up the wrong device. Well, with two identical devices, it was difficult to work out which was the new one. The new one had been put away in its envelope in a drawer. So I bought it out and got it set up using my iPhone, and it worked! It was, by now, obvious that I had set up the wrong device. Because of this, I decided it needed a new strap, so I found one on Amazon and this new strap, made of leather and with a buckle, arrived yesterday. This is now fitted to the device and the FitBit is working well.

On Tuesday, I was determined to get Alfie booked to have a haircut. I went on the Groom Room website to book an appointment through the booking page, but it said you could only book via telephone. As a result, I decided instead to drive to their branch at the Bletchley retail park. As a result, he has an appointment on Tuesday morning.

Saturday. 3.00 p.m. I've been to the 1940s event at Milton Keynes Museum this morning. I had intended to go some while ago when I learnt it was on from an email I had from the Milton Keynes Heritage Association because I am on their mailing list. It opened at 10.00 a.m. but I didn't see the point of getting to the Museum too early because most of these events don't really get underway until around an hour later. I drove across Milton Keynes via Grafton Street and then encountered roadworks on the roundabout at Monk's Way, meaning I had to do a detour and then double back to get to the Museum. This was somewhat annoying as I wasn't aware of this further back on my journey across Milton Keynes. 

As I had been to another weekend event some months ago, which covered a variety of historic periods, including Roman and Anglo-Saxon, I paid my entrance fee and the ticket I bought meant I could come back for a year without having to pay again. I spent some time wandering around the various displays on the grounds of the museum and went into the café and had tea, a sandwich and a rather tasty coffee sponge. I bought a book I had seen in the shop on the way out on the history of Milton Keynes, which builds on my knowledge of the history of Milton Keynes.

I got back to Dexter House and as I parked my car I saw an ambulance parked outside. When I eventually took Alfie out for a walk, I saw one of the residents being wheeled out on a trolley and loaded into the ambulance. 

1,700th Blog Post!!

Tuesday. 6.20 a.m. Yet another milestone for my blog! This is the 1,700th post. I can't believe I have managed to keep it going for so long. I know that a lot of what I post is totally mundane, but who knows, in years to come some historians might find my meanderings useful. I am currently reading a set of books (not actually linked by their authors.) taking me through the history of Great Britain from around 1870 up until the early 21st century. Many of the later books rely on people's personal diaries and something called 'Mass Observation, which utilized ordinary citizens completing surveys about everyday living.

My FitBit Versa 2 has gone somewhat haywire. You have to keep these things charged regularly. If I have a complaint about them, it's the fact that you have to charge them around every five days or so. They don't have a battery which you replace every couple of years, so it has to go on its charging base unit and a full charge will take about two-three hours or so. But then the face when peculiar, a bit like an old television set, with lines and flashing. The clock face came back on, at which point I thought it was back to normal, but I was wrong. It just kept on flashing and behaving oddly. Anyway, as I don't think I registered it as I should have done, to set up the guarantee/warranty, I went on the Argos website, which is where I purchased it, and found it was purchased in February, so it would still be under its year's guarantee/warranty. I then went on the FitBit website and used the chat function, and the agent asked me to reset it, back to the basic factory settings. But it would not work, so I'm being sent a replacement. This is the second FitBit I've had which has failed like this. Apparently, it has got corrupted, which I don't fully understand how that could happen unless it got near a magnetic field of some sort. So, I will await the replacement coming in the post.

I'll mention what I have been watching on television as well as what I've been reading. To be honest, there's not a great deal to watch on broadcast television at the moment, unless you like sport, which I'm not particularly. We have the Commonwealth Games on virtually all the BBC television channels at the moment, which is fine by me. The BBC is the main broadcaster for this, so it makes sense. Then the Women's Euro games, which England won, and it's fantastic, but not my thing, but it definitely needs a lot of support, and again, it's fine by me. 

I'm currently reading 'Modernity Britain: 1957-62', written by David  Kynaston, as part of my journey through the 20th Century. It covers such things as the beginning of what you might call the 'Television Revolution', two years after the introduction of ITV, BBC television's programmes such as 'Hancock's Half-Hour', 'Tonight' and 'Juke Box Jury.' I think I vaguely remember some of these programmes. Also, 'Blue Peter' and 'Watch With Mother.'

Return of Winter?

Saturday. 10.15 a.m. It might be bright and sunny, but there's a chill wind blowing. As the old proverb goes, 'it's an ill wind that blows no good,' which is true in relation to Boris Johnson. We're now into February and I just wonder whether we will escape a freezing and snow-covered rest of winter. It seems possible that we might, but let's see how things turn out.

3.15 p.m. I've been for a walk at the Ouzel Valley Park, which is just down Chaffron Way from where I live in Oldbrook. I let Alfie off his lead in one of the meadows, checking beforehand that there was no livestock, as there is often either sheep or cattle in these places. I know he wouldn't annoy them, but cattle can be quite territorial when dogs are near. It was extremely windy, which is still is as I write this. I clocked up a little over 8,000 steps, as recorded on my new Fitbit Versa 2, so when I got back to Dexter House I wanted to get to my daily target of 10,000, so I took Alfie around Oldbrook Green and I managed to get to the target. 

Sunday. 3.40 a.m. I woke to hear wind howling outside. I went to the loo and shaved. Just no possibility of getting back to sleep now with that wind making that noise.

Last night I watched Billy Elliot: The Musical on Broadway HD. All I can say is, 'wow'! Not disappointed in the slightest. It's truly amazing. I always wanted to go and see it when it was either on in the West End or the tour when it came to the Milton Keynes Theatre (has anyone never come up with a decent name for the local theatre here in Milton Keynes? The recently opened theatre in Aylesbury is called 'The Waterside Theatre,' does at least have some sort of originality, but ours? Lacking some sort of originality, I must say. I would warn you that the show has quite a lot of expletives in it, which, in context, do make it more realistic, but can become somewhat contentious, especially if you were to take young children to see it, although it's not really suitable for children below, say, the age of around 12-13. I'm not sure, but I think the original film had a rating of around 13.

9.25 a.m. It has been raining. I have been keeping a watch-out to see if it had stopped, but just in case I decided to get Alfie rigged out in his Regatta rain jacket, and I put my bright yellow raincoat on. We went out and Alfie wasn't sure of the weather, although at that time it had stopped raining.

4.45 p.m. I went to church. There seem to be more people there than ever. It almost always happens that when the service starts there are quite a few seats available and then people arrive. Just the way it is. I usually get to church about half an hour before the start time, but it seems strange to me that people don't get themselves sorted out so they have to arrive late, just after things start.

On the way home I went into Morrisons to buy something for lunch because the service finished later than usual and then there was coffee. It seems as busy as ever. Once I'd had my sandwich and drink when I got home I took Alfie out around Oldbrook Green. It was exceptionally windy so I didn't intend spending any more than necessary out. As I write this, I can hear the wind whistling around the building outside.

A Little Of What You Fancy

I think the Partygate scandal, if indeed it can be termed a scandal, just shows how much Boris Johnson can obfuscate. Now there's a good word. I think I will henceforth attempt to find a 'Word of The Week. This word.

So, obfuscate. Wording something in such a way that it is so excessively complicated that nobody really understands it. This can be said of the crazy and somewhat pointless regulations regarding the pandemic lockdowns. Then, why on earth are there different regulations in the various constituent countries in the United Kingdom? Why are they not consistent throughout the whole United Kingdom? Then, on top of that, we have Boris Johnson who waffles on and seems to evade responding to the various questions in Prime Ministers Questions and debates in the House of Commons, such as, was he at a party in 10 Downing Street or other government establishments?

Wednesday. 2.50 p.m. So, Denmark has got rid of all its pandemic lockdown rules and regulations. So, when can we in Great Britain remove all of our stupid restrictions? Boris was more or less bludgeoned into introducing them in the first place, by the scientists who should have known better.

I think it's time to drop any more mentions of Partygate. It's getting really boring. 

Thursday. 7.45 a.m. Quite mild as I write this. I just hope it stays that way, at least, for the next week or so.

I've bought a Fitbit Versa 2. It replaces the old one I've had for a couple of years, which stopped working. This model isn't merely a step counter, but a watch that measures heart-rate, and many other things. I bought it from Argos, using my Nectar points and points I had collected doing various online surveys. I was surprised how quickly I was able to get it up and running and using it. I had ordered it via the Argos website and collected it from their store in Milton Keynes yesterday morning ('Click and Collect' I believe they call this.) Argos have stopped their catalogue and seem to only work with their website. I suppose it must have been extremely expensive to create these catalogues which came out twice a year and then distribute them. If you have the internet it's far easier to find and order items which you can then collect from their showrooms or have delivered.

I went to my first lecture of the National Trust Association at the Oaktree Centre at 2 p.m. It was somewhat off being there, but not for a church event, but nevertheless it was interesting. It was a talk by someone who used to work for Charles Ross fine art auctioneers in Woburn. Charles Ross is a regular antique expert on such television shows as Bargain Hunt and Antiques Road Trip. This gentleman, by the name of Evan Willison, gave an amusing talk (he didn't like it being called a lecture, and I can see why. Smacks of 'education' and it being somewhat po-faced, which this certainly wasn't. He mentioned many and various incidents which had happened to him over the course of working as an auctioneer for over 30 years. Very amusing. I was surprised by how well attended the event was. There are regular talks given on a variety of subjects as well as outings to various places, one coming up to the British Museum and another to Chartwell, home of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill. I don't think I will be going on that one, having already visited and the fact that it would take a good two hours to travel down to Kent and then another two hours back on a coach. Not my idea of fun, particularly as I'm over six foot tall and sitting on a coach for any length of time would be uncomfortable. Most coaches aren't designed with any thought for someone my height. I may wait and see what other outings they have and decide to go one something else, especially if it's to one of the National Trust properties.