Splish! Splash!

Thursday. 5.30 a.m. Oh, dear! I knew this was going to happen. The title of the last blog post now seems rather out of date. As I write this I can hear rain outside (best place for it, really.) But it has at least cooled things down. It really was far too hot yesterday evening. I don't think Alfie is going to appreciate it when we go out, but out he must go. A quick visit to the green and pleasant area along Strudwick Drive and back inside. Let's wait and see what transpires.

Later. 8.45 a.m. The rain has finished, but it is now overcast. Perhaps we can expect further rain. I'm not actually bothered because it has cooled down and it's a good deal more comfortable.

I'm not entirely sure whether the cough is now caused by hayfever. I don't usually suffer, although several years ago I did suffer. This is usually worse when the weather is hot as it is now and the pollen count is high. I was prescribed Beconase nasal spray by my doctor. I've been taking it for barely a week and I'm not sure whether it is working or not, but the horrible cough seems to have settled down, although I have had a few coughing episodes, but not as unpleasant as they have been in the past. I think I just need to keep on with the medication as I expect it will take a week or two to really take effect.

Later 5.45 p.m. I'm rather pleased with the two pages of dialogue I've managed to write. Dialogue isn't the easiest to write as it can often come over as unrealistic. What you say is never in complete sentences, often in short phrases. it's the same with plays, nobody waits when someone finishes speaking. We usually overlap our speaking or interrupt.

Friday. 5.40 a.m. I'm not sure whether it's been raining overnight. It is considerably cooler than it has been for the past few days. I'm just about to take Alfie out and then I will know.

Alfie has a rather, how should I say it? Rather a naughty habit. Poppy had the same ability, which was to make rather unpleasant smells from his rear end. I think you can describe it as 'silent but deadly.' I immediately thought, 'he needs to go out.' Which may or may not have been true. But, to avoid any accidents I decided it was probably best to take him out. As it was raining at the time, I put on my bright yellow Regatta raincoat. We arrived on the grass immediately outside alongside Strudwick Drive and Alfie obliged with several wees. But he immediately decided, because it was raining, that he would head straight back home in the dry. I couldn't really blame him, but I was determined that he should oblige with the 'other business. But, try as I might, he pulled towards home. Even when we got to the grassy area opposite The Cricketers pub, he did a further couple of weeks but then made a determined effort to get out of the rain and I gave in and we went home. A very strong-willed little dog to say the least!

I have to say I'm not impressed with the shoes I bought, Skechers, which I bought on Amazon. I haven't had them for much more than six months and THEY LEAK! My socks are wet from coming in from the rain and walking on wet grass. Not just the fact that they leak, but the uppers are flaking off. The 'leather' (which can't be genuine.) is coming apart. I really don't expect a £60 pair of shoes to more or less fall apart after such a short length of time. I put it down to the fact that the soles are made of a rubbery substance which just splits, hence the leak. Not impressed.

Later. 10.35 a.m. I've done more writing this morning! Well, as they say, no time like the present. I've had GBN Breakfast this morning. I thought I'd give it a try. It takes a while to get used to something like this. I've always been a BBC Breakfast viewer for I don't know how many years. I think they need to tweak their format. There's no news bulletin which we get on BBC1 and all the other 'traditional channels. Perhaps a sort of headline section. I could also suggest an arts section, which seems to have been forgotten. Sport, as usual, gets all the attention. 

I wanted to get some plastic folders to put the sections of writing in. I had already got some from Sainsbury's several months ago, the idea is to put the handwritten manuscripts into these so that I could refer to them and use them when I transcribe them onto word processing. I decided to drive to Sainsbury's to buy some more and buy milk which had run out, so I couldn't have my customary cup of tea (actually, mug. I haven't got a single cup in the flat, or a saucer to go with it. I have at least half a dozen mugs to choose from.) On arriving at the Sainsburys stationary aisle I discovered they don't seem to stock the same sort of clear plastic sleeves, so got what are called 'popper' sleeves, more substantial than the other sort I had and with a sort of overlapping bit that 'pops' closed. Then I can write on each one with a felt-tip pen so that I can recognize what's in each folder. When I got home I tore each handwritten page out of the notebook which I had numbered carefully and had to tear off the bit along one edge which had holes in and fortunately each has a convenient perforated edge which makes tearing it off easier.

Later. 2.15 p.m. I'm still attempting to get out with Alfie. It's been raining continuously since early morning and there seems to be no sign of it easing off. One single raindrop on his coat and he more or less refuses to stay outside and takes me back home. There's not a lot I can do to convince him to stay out. This is a dog who definitely dislikes rain and getting wet.

Saturday. 5.35 a.m. It would appear to be quite rain-free as I write this. I hope so, as I'm about to take Alfie out. He's currently laying on my bed. Just about to finish this so I can publish it.

Please Release Me!

Okay! 'Please Release Me', blog post title is taken from a song title. A song sung by Englebert Humperdink in the 1960s. Very appropriate when considering relaxing lockdown.

Monday. 7.20 a.m. Alfie and I were out around 5.45 this morning, really early I know, but I'm definitely not one to lounge around in bed, particularly when it's sunny and bright with the birds singing their little heads off outside my window, which is wide open. As I write this I can hear pigeons making their stupid noise. 

I was out early because I wanted to be back in time for the opening of the new news channel GBN, which officially came on the air at 8p.m last night but their first breakfast show began at 6 a.m. A totally new way to present news, not with 'rolling news, which is how the BBC News channel works, or Sky News. Interesting to see they have a set that is dark, compared to the light and airy sets chosen for ITV's Good Morning Britain or BBC Breakfast. I think it suggests a more serious approach, with bookshelves filled with books on a range of topics, art, science etc., wine glasses, and other artifacts which subtly reflect the type of audience they want to attract. The presentation style is intelligent but light. I'll have to wait and see how things develop before I can give a more nuanced assessment.

We're being threatened by the thought of yet another month of restrictions being imposed by our totalitarian government. Why is it, with infections falling, a vaccination programme being rolled out and reaching some 60-70% having had either one or two doses, do we now have to endure further lockdown? At this rate, we'll be stuck in this limbo more or less permanently. The scientists who deliver doom and gloom are working with flawed computer modeling, and results from testing aren't exactly accurate. It's the 'risk factor' which is playing such a large part here. The fact of the matter is that all life is a 'risk.' From the moment we are born, we have to encounter 'risk.' Being born is a risk, probably not as much as a risk as, say, if you were born in the Middle Ages, where ideas of hygiene and cleanliness were more or less unknown. Crossing the road is a risk. Getting in a car is a risk. We should be able to make our own  'risk assessments' and just get on with our lives. As things are and have been for the past almost eighteen months, we have managed, to a certain extent, to live with covid and it would seem it's not likely to disappear overnight. Humans have lived with viruses for thousands of years and survived. So, what is different with the coronavirus, covid-19, or whatever you want to call it? It's the fact that it's mutating, so we now get the 'Kent Variant'', the 'Indian' or 'Delta Variant. The virus is going to keep on mutating because that's what they do. Are we going to forever keep running away from it, in a sort of endless race, a sort of marathon of sorts? Just not going to work. Some scientists are now saying that lockdowns don't work. Well, I suppose they might be right. We need a certain amount of what they term 'herd immunity,' which is how we deal with such things as viruses. We've probably got this natural immunity now, which means we will build up natural immunity and probably more so with the various versions of vaccines.

Later. I'm up to episode 5 of 'Clarkson's Farm' on Amazon. I have to say that I have found Jeremy Clarkson incredibly annoying in the first few episodes. He just throws money around on goodness knows what, great big tractors which are really impractical. For example, it's too big to fit in his shed. He grows potatoes and then has to leave them in the ground because he doesn't have anywhere to sell them. He builds a farm shop and doesn't follow the planning rules and puts the wrong sort of roofing material on the building. He opens the farm shop and hasn't got a properly surfaced carpark, so when customers eventually turn up, and they turn up in droves, virtually blocking the surrounding roads with their cars, and then these cars get stuck in the muddy carpark and have to be towed out by Caleb, the young man who is employed by Clarkson and is only 21, but knows more about agricultural practices than men three times his age. In my opinion, he's the sort of hero figure in this show and I trust he gets paid properly by Clarkson because he manages to get him out of no end of problems. But by episode 5 we begin to see Clarkson growing into his job as a born-again farmer. When he has to get stuck in (and, in some ways, literally stuck in.) when the ewes begin to start lambing. He takes a while to get the hang of being a sheep midwife, but I have to admit he eventually becomes rather adept at delivering lambs. He starts off rather badly in episode one but as the series progresses he seems to rather enjoy his newfound place in the world. It's good storytelling. He begins his farming journey not sure whether he will like working as a farmer. He does, however, begin as a complete novice, but by episode five he says he enjoys the life, watching the lambs being born and actually contributing something to society with the food he produces. It's around this point that the pandemic starts and the first lockdown is introduced. It seems that it's the fulcrum around which the rest of the story-arc will be built and Clarkson changes from rank amateur to almost professional.  It's worth watching and because I had ancestors who lived in and around the area where it's filmed, Chipping Norton (some brave ladies, called The Ascott Martyrs were arrested for attempting to get their husbands to join a union and were imprisoned in Oxford Gaol. This was the 1870s and in some ways, things have hardly changed. Decent living wages being only one of them.) I have more than a passing interest in the show.