Fun and Frolics at Dexter House (But Probably Not)

 Thursday. 3.00 p.m. I can't believe I have got this far into the day, but written nothing on this blog. I must be slipping. Never mind.

I've been to the Oaktree Centre and got there just before 9 o'clock. Another delightful motorist insisted on tailgating me as I turned left out of Strudwick Drive and onto Chaffron Way. You just can't move out of the way quickly enough for some people. The Acorns playgroup now has two sessions on a Thursday and everything was already set up when I arrived. The gridlocked traffic early on most days of the week is really heavy and it would be virtually impossible to get there any quicker.

I took out Alfie after I'd had some lunch and I was surprised to find that Strudwick Drive, from the Dexter Avenue Roundabout, had been coned off and on Oldbrook Boulevard there was a large truck with its rear section tipped up, and I could see workmen in day-glow uniforms shovelling what looked like tarmac onto the road surface, so I assumed they were repairing potholes. It really is about time such work was done around Milton Keynes. Much of the grid work network has resurfaced (I believe it is continuing as I write this.) but many of the roads within the various grids that make up the city need attention.

Friday. 6.25 a.m. Alfie was asleep when I wanted to take him out at around 5.45. I picked him up as usual and carried him out through the door onto Strudwick Drive. We walked around Oldbrook Green and were back in the flat just as it turned 6 o'clock.

10.25 a.m. I have just heard, from a lady who is covering Dexter House since our S.H.0. (Sheltered Housing Officer), Barbara left, and someone has been appointed for the position. She is currently working for the N.H.S., but it will take around six weeks before she can start, because of having to have D.B.S. checks done and work out her notice.

Sunday. 6.35 a.m. Where did Saturday go? I can't believe I didn't report any of my activities. As I write this, I've been out with Alfie. We did our, by now, an obligatory circuit of Oldbrook Green. It is relatively mild and quite pleasant.

It's St George's Day, and it's supposed to be William Shakespeare's birthday. Happy birthday, William. He would have been 459 years old. Quite a few candles on his birthday cake.

Yesterday I went to Homesense at Kingston. I was looking for a mirror for the bathroom, as the one I have isn't very big. It's okay for shaving, well, more or less. They didn't have what I was looking for, although they had a selection of larger mirrors. I also searched for another duvet cover. King-size. A really great selection, and it took some time to decide on the one I eventually bought. I got two others from Homesense and which I alternate whenever I was my bedding, which is why I thought a third would be a good idea. I needed to get a bottom sheet, flat and also for a king-size bed, but they didn't have any. I don't like fitted sheets, as they never stay fitted, so I will probably go back and have another search.

From Homesense I went to Tesco and bought something for my evening meal and then drove home.

Later, when I was out with Alfie, walking around Oldbrook Green, I saw what I thought at first was a hot air balloon, but then I heard an engine and it was what I think is what is called a microlite. It had a sort of parachute above it and I presume someone sitting in a sort of sling underneath. At first, I thought it was going to land in Oldbrook Green, but it veered off towards the centre of Milton Keynes. I don't know whether it landed within the city. I just wonder how far something like that would travel on a full tank of fuel.

We have just got back from a further stroll around Oldbrook Green and Alfie made friends with two very lively labradoodles (if that is the correct spelling.) The lady who had them on leads then let them off. Alfie, as usual, always wants to be friends and at one point got wound up in their leads!

4.15 p.m.  When I got back from church, I had lunch and then I took Alfie out again. I am determined to do the 10,000 steps and then went out again and did around three circuits, which meant I exceeded the 10,000 steps. Oldbrook Green was heaving, with children playing in the skate park and the playground and older children kicking footballs and throwing some at the netball net. Lots of people walking dogs. One particular dog, which I think might be a shitsu, like Poppy (our old dog). When we approached, it started barking at Alfie. I think the dog is called Mable. Alfie didn't take a blind bit of notice and I'm proud of him. That dog has not been trained the same way as Alfie. Obviously not socialized.

Another Fun Filled Week?

Monday. 5.55 p.m. I am continuing to transcribe my handwritten writing onto word processing. It's a long and quite laborious process, but as I continue with it I am making significant alterations and, hopefully, improvements. I have a good idea where things are heading once this section is complete. I have several pages of plot lines and I will follow most of those notes as I continue with writing. Then I need to integrate some other plot lines into this 'spine' plot line which runs through the middle of the whole project. 

Tuesday.10.45 a.m. I have baked a batch of scones this morning. I had to organize my kitchen carefully as there is little enough room as it is. I had left the butter out overnight as it needs to be soft enough to work and it was fine, so I proceeded with the recipe. The only problem was that the mixture didn't make more than a handful of scones. I was more than pleased with the result. They came out of the oven near perfect. Golden brown and good texture. Then I decided to drive to Kingston and visit Homesense, which is part of T.K. Maax. I was looking for a suitable tin in which to make a cheesecake for Sunday as we have a bring and share lunch to celebrate the return Ross and Joy Dilnot returning after their operations. I drove down Chaffron Way towards Kingston and was confronted by a sign telling me that the road ahead was closed, so I had to go into Waitrose's car park to do a short detour and then come out on Brickhill Street  and continue on down Chaffron Way. 

Wednesday. 6.20 a.m. It's mild this morning, but what I would term, muggy. Sort of warm and wet, if you get my meaning.

I've just been watching an item on BBC Breakfast, about a man by the name of Martin Hibbert, who was seriously injured and then paralysed when he was caught up in the Manchester Arena bombing in May 2017. He is currently raising money by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. I noticed, when he was interviewed, that he had a logo for S.I.A., the Spinal Injuries Association, which is directly next door to Dexter House, and which I walk past with Alfie several times a day.

5.50 p.m. The weather has been behaving strangely all afternoon. It was teeming with rain earlier, and immediately it came to an end the ground didn't seem to be wet when I peered out of the kitchen window later. It sounded as if someone was having a shower as I sat and heard it. Then as I prepared my evening meal it began to rain and the sun was out. Just weird.

Thursday. 6.15 a.m. Yet another fine and sunny morning. We did a circuit of Oldbrook Green, but I'm sure Alfie would have preferred to stay tucked up in his lovely, cozy bed.

13.00 p.m. I've been out at the Oaktree Centre, helping to set up the playgroup which meets there on a Thursday. I was involved in a Bible study during the playgroup meeting and then returned a couple of hours later to dismantle everything.

Friday. 6.20 a.m. Well, here's a thing. Another fine and sunny morning. What more can I say?

June Is Bustin' Out All Over!

Okay, okay! Another blog post title quiz question. . . Where is this title from? Another musical . . . written by Rogers and Hammerstein. . . It's from their musical 'Carousel.' I actually thought it was from 'Oklahoma!', but after a Goole search, I found out my guess was wrong.

Saturday.7.10 a.m.  Yet another bright and sunny morning. It does seem that June is definitely 'Bustin'' out all over Oldbrook and further afield. Trees in full leaf. Flowers popping up all over the place. Birdies building their nests and fledglings taking their first flight. Goodness knows what else, but things are definitely bustin' out all over!

10.25 a.m. I decided I needed a hand mixer for use with my baking. Something simple, a hand mixer, which would make whisking up cake mix, batter, and other items far quicker and easier. I had a look on the internet, Amazon as a start-off, but so many brands that I haven't heard of, some cheaper than others and some definitely more than I was willing to pay. Then I thought of Argos and the fact I had quite a few Nectar points which I've collected through shopping in Sainsbury's and which I get with having a home contents insurance policy with Sainsbury's Bank. I had a look and then read the reviews of some of those hand mixers, the cheapest not having very good or at least, mixed (sorry about the pun! Just couldn't help it I'm afraid.) one saying it was liable to over-heat, so no good. I expected to pay a bit more, so I found a Kenwood model, a good brand, and supposedly reliable, so I decided on that one and at £22.99 seemingly good value. Multi-speed and you can store it with the whisks disconnected and stand on its flat base. So, it seemed ideal for my kitchen which has limited storage space.

I wanted to pay online and use the Nectar points and buy it through 'Click and Collect,' which I have done with some other items I have bought recently, such as my electric kettle, toaster, and more recently my food processor. It took several attempts to get the website to function and I had to pay 49p with my Debit card as the price of the food mixer was that much more than the number of nectar points would allow. Only possible to use £2.50 worth of points at a time if that makes sense. I eventually got the site to work for me, paid, and then an email to say that I could collect the item after 9 a.m because that was when Argos opened on a Saturday morning.

I needed to go to Lloyd's pharmacy in Sansbury's to collect a ready prescription, Beconase, which my doctor had prescribed when I mentioned the coughing I am experiencing at the moment and discussed during the telephone I had with her on Friday afternoon (I will mention this in the next blog post.) I also needed some shaving gel, because I had reached the end of the current pack and I cannot shave without gel, together with one or two other items. In and out relatively quickly and from there I had intended to drive to Argos, a short trip down Avebury Boulevard, or should have been until I discovered that the road was closed off due to work being done to construct a roundabout and traffic lights on the intersection with Avebury Boulevard and Grafton Street. It took me quite a while to work out a route to Argos, eventually driving further up Child's Way and going 180 degrees round the roundabout on Watling Street and then back towards the city centre and into the turning for Morrisons and through the car parks and park outside Argos. A good 20 minutes wasted in the process and several extra miles are driven somewhat unnecessarily, but I managed to collect the Kenwood hand mixer and return home, having completed the mission. 

later. I had been searching for cardboard bowls. For what purpose? Well, having made those scones I have mentioned in earlier posts, I found what I wanted in Sainsbury's this morning. I am giving them to my neighbours in Dexter House. I am putting the two halves of one scone in each bowl, buttered (actually it's Sainsbury's Olivia spread, but it's about as close to real butter and made of olive oil.) along with a teaspoonful of raspberry jam in an improvised kitchen foil container. I am attempting to be sustainable and environmentally friendly, having my containers fully recyclable wherever possible. My first delivery was to two tenants in the flat below me. I shall continue with further flats as the week progresses.

Now I have the mixer I want to experiment with other recipes. I have done scones before as well as brownies, which I may attempt once again and probably try something slightly more complicated, such as a fruit cake. I've made Victoria sponges, but I will need to buy some new baking tins and I think it's worth buying better quality, made of higher-grade materials because cheap, thin tins rust quickly and don't last as well as better, higher grade tins. It will be worth visiting T.K.Maax or Homesense, which is a subsidiary of T.K.Maax. You can buy some really good quality homeware items in both stores and at great discounts, up to around 60%. Never pay full price on anything if you can get something for a reduced price. 

Unsettled Weather

(Tuesday)It's really warm and sunny today. I was out a good deal earlier with Alfie this morning, probably arrow 6.45. It seemed a waste to not get out because it's getting light earlier and earlier each day and he has this habit, which I've mentioned on here before, of sitting and staring at me. He simply can't wait to get out. He loves to be let off his lead and to have a run. Fo a little dog he's got lots of energy. Runs like a little rabbit.

Alfie wears a harness. It's to protect his neck, because if you connect his lead to his collar, which he wears permanently, when he pulls, it can damage his throat. So a collar is far better because you connect the lead to a D ring which is on his back, at the centre of the harness. I went to Pets At Home at the Bletchley retail park yesterday morning because I wanted to get peanut kernels to put in the empty feeder on the bird feeding station. When I was in there I decided to look for a replacement for Alfie's rather tatty harness, which I wanted to replace. I picked up one which seemed to be the right size for him, but when I got home and tried it on Alfie it was far too big. So this morning I went back to Pets At Home and it was an easy matter of taking the harness to the pay desk and the lady let me pick up a smaller, and actually, a much nicer harness than the one I was replacing. 

I had to go and look in T.K. Maax while I was in the retail park. It's one of those stores which you have to keep going to look in because their stock changes on almost a daily basis and the prices are so good, you almost always manage to pick up a bargain. Not just clothes, but homeware items. They have another store called Homesense, and there's a branch at Kingston. I wandered around the kitchen department and picked up a really nice mixing bowl and a silicone spatula, which I wanted because I have also bought some non-stick saucepans and I don't want to scratch the surface in them using metal utensils. 

I walked to Tesco, which is a short walk across the main Fenny Stratford road. I wanted to get some daffodils, because I'm keeping them going in two vases, because Carol always loved them and I would buy them for her when she came home from work. I got some long-stemmed daffs as well as two bunches of the short-stemmed variety.

I drove back home along Saxon Street. There has been some roadworks the last couple of days along Standing Way, and when I drove through the roundabout that crosses Standing Way yesterday you were prevented from turning left which would cause chaos is you wanted to go to the hospital, which is several hundred yards further along Standing Way. Fortunately not a problem this morning. This roundabout can be difficult when it's busy, and I'm of the opinion that there ought to be traffic lights here when it's busy. Some drivers are not content to just wait patiently and seem to think they can cross without bothering to stop, which is dangerous and could cause a nasty accident.

I got home and managed to get Alfie into the new harness. It fits him perfectly. The old one has now been consigned to the rubbish bin. It has done it's job, but it was well past it's best.

I am somewhat disappointed that there have been no birds come to visit the bird feeding station. I can't think why they haven't been to visit it. I would have thought that they would have flocked to it since it had been restocked and new feeders put up. It's been filled up since the weekend. I know it can take a day or two for birds to get used to having food put out for them and there can be issues regarding cats or other predators, but it's been out long enough for them to get used to it. A bit disappointing, to say the least.

(Wednesday) As I write this, at 4.50 a.m. on Wednesday, I can hear rain rattling on the lounge window. I expect Alfie will want to go for his routine walk across the park, but I don't fancy going out to get wet, so he is going to have to be patient (not the easiest thing for him.) and wait for it to stop.