Car Repair

My Renault Captur needed work doing on it. I was told some while ago that it would need the timing
belt replacing. I don't even know what a timing chain is or what it does. I've been driving for 50 years and owned several cars but never come across this item in the engine. Well, I only drive my car and don't entirely understand how the thing works. The same with this MacBook Air, on which I write this blog. How on earth does the internet work? It's beyond me, but all I know is that it does work, miraculously. Anyway, I had to wait until my pension was paid into my account and then I went to Bleak Hall Motors to make an appointment for the car, which was yesterday (Friday). I was told it would take quite a long time, so there was no way I was going to sit in their waiting room until the work was finished, so I called for a taxi and went home and waited. I thought it might be a couple of hours, by which time the garage would phone me to tell me the car was ready to collect. This eventually came at around 4.15, and I then had to get another taxi to convey me back to Bleak Hall.  Bill paid and then I returned in the car, glad that the work is complete. Now the car needs servicing, basically because it's no point in having a car that doesn't operate properly, and anyway, with the computerised read-out on the dashboard constantly telling  me that it needs servicing in 20 days or so, I don't have much choice. It's sort of nagging me to have it done, so I will have to abide by it. I'll either go into Bleak Hall motors to arrange this or I can always ring.

(Saturday) Been out with Alfie at around 6.45. It's light enough at that time in the morning and the poor little dog was eager as ever. A cloud of seagulls on the green near Oldbrook Boulevard. I think they're probably after the worms or something, but they make a lot of noise and it makes me think of the seaside.

Someone coughing their lungs out in a nearby flat. I think it caused by smoking, so it begs the question: if that is the result, why smoke? If I get a load of smoke in my lungs, then it causes me all sorts of problems, and I was told, after I had my first heart attack, that if I'd smoked, then my heart attack might have happened around 5 years earlier.

Last night I heard fireworks being let off. Thank goodness Hallowe'en is over. A really nasty import from America, just a way to make money out of a load of tat which then ends up in land-fill. I think some individuals don't know the difference between Hallowe'en and Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes Night.) and that you don't have fireworks as part of Hallowe'en. Hopefully the rubbish being sold in the shops will now be gone, but we now have all the Christmas tat in the shops, endless shelves full of mince pies, Christmas puddings and wrapping paper and other stuff you don't need immediately for Christmas.

Later. I've been to Sainsbury's and I wasn't there long. The carpark was virtually empty. The store wasn't busy. I don't think the average shopper goes to a supermarket early on a Saturday. Most are tucked up under their duvets. But I suspect it's more to do with the rugby match in Japan, England v South Africa. I'm not sure what the time difference is between the United Kingdom and Japan. It does interest me, a good deal more than football, but I can take it or leave it.

I got hame and unloaded my shopping and was on the point of taking Alfie out for a walk, but the weather is foul as I write this, raining and there a high wind, but that wouldn't put off our Alfie.

Went to an archaeology exhibition in the Church of The Cornerstone. I've been inside the building, but not inside the actual church and was surprised by how small it was. It seemed an odd place to hold such an exhibition. It would have been better in the Middleton Hall, which is part of the main Milton Keynes shopping centre. Discovered that a Roman villa has been unearthed in a village called Piddington in Northamptonshire. It's just off the Bedford/Northampton road and not a long journey from here. There is a museum attached to it and I may visit in the near future. It's surprising what you discover when you visit such an exhibition and what other archaeology is going on in this area. I think I've driven along that road many times but knew nothing of this discovery, which was made around 40 years ago. Even so, nothing in the local papers to even mention it.

A Foggy Autumn Day

Autumn is well and truly here. It is quite mild, on the temperature side, but there is a fog hanging over Milton Keynes this morning. Not particularly thick, but enough to mean we have to have the car lights on as we drive over to the Academy this morning. Carol has teacher training today. She tells me it is generally very boring. I can't believe that they can make training so miserable and boring. Well, perhaps, on second thoughts, I can, because I've had to endure some fairly boring days sitting in a room, usually with no natural light, listening to someone droning on ad nauseam about something or other.

Today it's hallowe'en. We don't indulge in this infatuation with witches, warlocks and things that go 'bump in the night.' I'm afraid it's just an excuse for commercial exploitation. When I was a child Guy Fawkes Night on November 5th was the 'big night.' Building bonfires and fireworks, baked potatoes 'In Their Jackets' and hot chocolate, Catherine Wheels, sparklers, rockets and so on. Hallow'een has been built up, no doubt by being imported mainly from America. Our dogs hate the noise and commotion outside the house. People letting of fireworks. So we'll have the the next two weeks or so of misery for the poor dogs. Every time there is a loud 'bang' outside as someone lets of a firework, he starts barking. Poppy, meanwhile, hides under the nearest piece of furniture.

Actually, poor Poppy is aging rapidly. She has really slowed down. Her eyesight is going very slowly.   Both dogs sleep on our bed at night. Alfie is no problem, as he can jump up easily and snuggles down beneath the duvet. But Poppy has a problem jumping up. We had put a stool at the side of the bed so she can jump up on that and then onto the bed. But, because her sight is failing, she never manages this. She spends the night laying on the floor, but doesn't always settle. She tip-taps around the room and just will not settle. If she needs to go outside she now has the rather annoying habit of coming round to my side of the bed and barking at me. It good that she does this, so I have to go downstairs and let her out through the sliding patio door from the kitchen into the garden. But this happens several times in the night. She goes downstairs, very gingerly and slowly. She sometimes stops half way down and needs encouraging. Once she's been out in the garden she comes back inside the house and I slide the door closed. Last night, at about 10.30, she insisted on being let out. She came round and barked at me. I was nodding off. We had the radio on, as we usually do. BBC Radio 4 Extra, which is a digital channel. I was reluctant to take her down and was half asleep. I'm afraid I wasn't in the best of moods. Poppy managed to get down the stairs and eventually I let her out through the sliding patio doors from the kitchen. She did what she had to, but she found something which took her attention away from going back into the house. I had to get a closer look. It was a hedgehog, rolled up into an extremely tight ball. I think we have hedgehogs as regular visitors and some while ago both dogs were fascinated by them. The poor thing did the natural thing to protect itself by rolling into the defensive ball as all hedgehogs do. But it wasn't budging and I was eager to get Poppy back into the house as I was, by now, really tired and barely able to stand up. Poppy refused to respond to my insisitance that she come back into the house. I had to find a method to get her inside, so I rUshed back into the kitchen and took the garden broom which leans agains the fridge and used it to coerce the stubborn dog back inside. It worked. She had no alternative, being pushed along by a broom. Somewhat unconventional as a form of dog-management, but it worked a treat!

Later

As I mentioned in the blog post about our trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon last Saturday for my birthday, where I described how, when we got to the park-and-ride and I wanted to use my bus pass and then discovered that it had expired- on the same day- and we had to pay for my bus ride instead of having to not pay, I went to Milton Keynes Civic Centre yesterday (Monday) to get it renewed. I was attempting to avoid having to return with any form of identity they were likely to ask me for (which seems a commonplace demand from most businesses nowadays.) so I had a bank statement and several other items with my name and address on it. On arriving at the Council office I had to queue for a while but soon reached someone on the reception desk. I was given a form to fill in (which I completed sitting at a table to one side in the reception area.) and when it was completed I was given a numbered slip and told to wait. I sat in the main waiting area (where you have to go if you have to apply for any sort of benefit, be it housing, rent etc.) You have to then wait until your number comes up on a digital screen (another piece of technology common with so many places nowadays, whether it's the Post Office, Job Centre or even Argos, the catalogue shopping service.) It was frankly quite complicated, because my number came up on the screen and then got confusing as I wasn't sure when I was expected to go to whichever numbered desk it was and, indeed, where. The number kept appearing and disappearing, but eventually I got called. My concern would be, it's all very well and good having this system, and it makes it fair, but what if someone had a sight problem and couldn't see their number appear on the screen? Does someone come and tell you? Does it speak? Who knows. Anyway, I eventually went to Desk Number 22 and it was all very efficient. I could have a new photo on my bus card, and I had some which I had kept from another card (I think it was probably for my Driving Licence, which has to have a photograph on it, and had to be renewed a few months ago at the Post Office.) but, if I wanted to have a new photograph on the new card I would have to pay £10 for the privilge.  I decided that it was unnecessary as the one already on the old card was sufficient. I don't think I have changed enough in the time since that one was taken to warrant a replacement. The lady had to have some sort of identity (odd, when my picture on the original card was presumably in front of her on the computer screen.) so I used my Driving Licence, which she took away to have photocopied, and the form I had filled in was handed over and signed and that was that done. The new card should be with me within a week or so.

Wet and Windy Weekend

After the warm and pleasant weather last weekend (see the preceeding post on here.), we had to endure wind and rain all this weekend. Added to that we had Hallow'een last Saturday, with people knocking on doors 'trick and treat-ing' which set both dogs barking. As it is, Poppy is scared stiff whenever there's a loud bang, such as a firework being let off, and Alfie just barks continually. It's not so much the fireworks being let off, it's the randomness of it. Hopefully it is now over for another year. Guy Fawkes night was on 5th November, so being mid week there weren't likely to be as many firework parties as there would be at the weekend, so either last weekend or the weekend just gone would have been when people would have them but I think that Hallow'een has superceded Guy Fawkes unfortunately. You can see by the amount of junk that the shops stock and how they are attempting to make it a big thing to boost sales. As a child I remember we used to make a big thing out of November 5th which included not only fireworks but a huge bonfire and lots to eat, such as potatoes in their jackets, cocoa, bonfire toffee and a whole host of warming food. Unless it's a big community event I don't think people have Bonfire Night partys any more which is a shame. Probably a lot  of this is because people are unaware of the significance of the Gunpowder Plot and the attempt to blow up parliament in 1605.

Worsening Weather and Traumatised Dogs

Apparently we're in for some really bad weather. We're supposed to get the tail-end of a hurricane, which is currently crossing the Atlantic from America.  Called Hurricane Gonzalo. Where do they get these names from? Why are they sometimes women's names but then men's names? Is there anything in the fact that they are either male or female names?  A fortnight's-worth of rain is expected to fall within the space of eight hours, while gusts of wind of up to 80 m.p.h. (128 k.p.m.) are expected to be recorded in parts of northern Scotland. So, can the B.B.C. please not send their television reporters to cover these weather conditions, particularly not to the edge of some harbour, with waves lashing and boats being tossed by the waves? Similarly, when there were floods a years or two ago, they had to rush a television crew together with reporter, to some far-distant village which was cut off by rising water, several feet of it filling some street and then putting their reporter in the midst of it all in Wellington boots, wind cheater, oilskins, or whatever, just so the person had stand and chat to camera. It's laughable when they are telling people to keep away from such places and then put their own reporters in danger, together with crew. Do they expect to be rescued when there is a real problem, putting the lives of the rescue service at risk? No sense really.

As I write this the wind is increasing. It is actually quite sunny and bright here in Milton Keynes as I can see out of our lounge window into our garden, but the wind is most definitely getting stronger and the leaves are falling from the trees. 

It's also that time of the year which both our dogs dislike. It's around Hallow'en and Guy Fawkes Night (November 5th) when we get all those fireworks let off and so scaring the dogs. Poppy in particular, but Alfie doesn't like it when there is an unexpected explosion which sets him off barking. We'll be glad when it's over and done with for another year. I think it's fine when Guy Fawkes Night is over and done with over a few nights, but it's made worse when some idiot decides to set of fireworks randomly which causes the problems. I don't imagine it's just our dogs which get upset. Poppy goes and hides under the nearest piece of furniture whilst Alfie barks. It won't just be dogs. I would think cats would be traumatised by the noise as well as any other pets people would have.

Our dogs and Hallow'en and Guy Fawkes Night

Some kindly soul had the imagination to set of a firework a few days ago. I know, it's a few weeks until 5th November and Hallow'en is on Wednesday. The shops have had fireworks on sale for several weeks now, so presumably someone has bought some and thought it a good idea to set them off regardless of the day, time, or the effect it will have on dogs, cats and other animals, and, no doubt, people. Alfie, our Yorkshire Terrier, has never really bothered with the noise of fireworks around November 5th (Guy Fawkes Night to those living outside Britain.)

Poppy, our other dog, is really terrified of them, but her tactic is to hide somewhere in the house or dive  into your lap, under the bed, behind furniture, etc. Alfie started barking and kept on barking for most of the evening. Now, whenever there's an unusual sound, generally from our neighbours who make all sorts of strange and peculiar sounds at all hours of the day and night, he will start of barking. And he just keeps on barking. He has never bothered about the noise of fireworks before now, so it's odd that he should start this year. Poppy, on the other hand, has always been jumpy with fireworks, however far away they are. We're not exactly sure what happened to her as a very young puppy. She may well have experienced something particularly nasty which frightened her as a pup, which might explain her fear of fireworks.

Alfie has discovered something living in the garden shed. It has nothing of ours in it, just junk which I presume has been left behind by former tenants, or even the landlord; an old bicycle frame, a really ancient mattress and odds and ends. The door doesn't close properly. Well, to be exact, it is off it's hinges and it's extremely difficult to close it properly. The 'something' has turned out to be a cat. Now, cats and our dogs don't mix (well, do dogs and cats get on in normal circumstances? Well, the answer is generally, not very well.)

The other day we couldn't find Alfie. He wasn't in any of his usual places, one of which is sleeping on our bed. We looked all over the house and in the garden. The french windows were open, leading from the kitchen/diner into the garden. Poppy went outside. She appeared to know where he was. One of Alfie's little routines is to go round the fence and check. Well, it appears to be what he does. Poppy was up at the end of the garden near the rickety shed (well, I'm sure a strong gust of wind would knock it over.) She started barking and ran towards the house and I went out to her. She was telling us that Alfie was in the shed. Not difficult to get inside as the door is virtually impossible to close. It is completely off it hinges. I went and managed to get the door open and Alfie was inside, perched on some of the junk in there. At the back of the shed, at a safe distance, was the cat. I managed to get Alfie out and in the house, but it would appear that the cat is what is drawing him to the shed.