Twixmas

 Tuesday. 2.05 p.m. I've just been to Mursley Farm shop with Margaret and Mike. We have been there before, with the Thursday Morning Lifegroup. I do know how to get there, but it didn't make a lot of sense taking two cars, so Margaret drove to Dexter House to pick me up, and then we drove on to the farm shop, which has a great cafe, serving a wide selection of goodies.

This post is entitled 'Twixmas', referring to the period between Christmas and New Year, 'Twix', having nothing to do with chocolate biscuits, but a contraction of 'betwixt.'

Wednesday. New Year's Eve. 7.55 a.m. Another unremarkable morning. I'm yet to see outside. It might be frosty.

The digital thermometer currently reads 21ºc.

10.15 a.m. The sun is shining. But, when I went to my car earlier, the windows were covered in a thin layer of ice, which I got rid of with some defrost spray and a scrape with my scraper which I keep in the car for such eventualities. I drove to Sainsbury's for the final shop of 2025.

Sainsbury's now expect their customers to use a £1 coin to release the trolleys before you commence shopping. Fortunately, I have a token on my key ring, but the metal one I had seems to have got lost, unfortunately. I'm wondering why the need to lock trolleys and expect customers to use a coin to release them. Might it be that trolleys make a habit of losing themselves out in the community? People take them out of the store and don't return them? I often see supermarket trolleys left in odd places, far away from their natural habitat, the supermarket itself, quite often dumped in ditches, ponds and similar places.

Thursday. New Year's Day. 8.20 a.m. I sat and watched Jools Holland's New Year's Eve show on BBC2, which included the traditional singing of Auld Lang Syne and The Band of the Scots Guards. The chimes of Midnight rang out, and then Lulu sang. I ate a couple of mince pies and drank a Whiskey Mac, Scots whiskey and ginger wine.

5.20 p.m. I've been to lunch with Margaret and Mike in Downs Barn. Plenty to chat about, and we went out for a walk around the block. It's great to get out of the flat for a while.

Friday. 12.15 p.m. It's bright and sunny, but it's been quite cold.

Into A New Year!

Monday. 1st January. 9.55 a.m. I didn't SEE the New Year exactly, but I definitely HEARD it. Fireworks were going off outside and being set off until the very early morning hours. They should last at most 10-15 minutes after midnight. I have only just got back from taking Alfie out around Oldbrook Green and there were the remains of many fireworks scattered all over the grass. There are several quite prominent notices which have been put up by Campbell Park Parish Council, who administer Oldbrook Green and the surrounding area, stating quite clearly that it is an offence to let off fireworks and that you can be fined quite heavily and even imprisoned for so doing. But some people will never obey such rules. But, saying that, there is really no point in having such rules and regulations if you don't enforce them.

4.15 p.m. If you read these blog posts regularly, and there's every chance that you might have read at least some of the 1,800-odd posts, (and believe me, some of them are very odd,!) you will have discovered that I am a creative sort of individual, writing, theatre, film, animation. I bought myself an iPad with a fair-sized capacity and downloaded an app called 'Procreate' which, with the addition of an Apple Pencil, allows me to do all sorts of art, not just drawing, but painting. But now, the company who developed 'Procreate' has introduced the world to 'Procreate Dreams' which will allow you to do 2D animation on your iPad (incidentally, these two apps will only work on an iPad. I don't think they intend rewriting the software to work on Android tablet computers.) The only problem is, that they never bring out a print manual to help you learn these software packages, so the only thing you have to guide you and discover all that these amazing apps will do is to look at videos on YouTube.

Tuesday. 1.20 p.m. It's a really overcast and dull day. Wet and not pleasant underfoot.

Wednesday. 10.40 a.m. I have been attempting to get through to my doctor's surgery. You aren't supposed to telephone to book an appointment and you are supposed to go online, having set up a username and password and make your booking from the appointments which should be shown there, but, even after all the rigmarole of password and username there were no appointments to book. The medication I'm on has to be reviewed, after three months. I at last got through to a receptionist, and she managed to book me a pharmacist's phone call tomorrow, so I will have to see what that person suggests.

The reason for all this was that the medication I was put on, Mirtzapine, was supposed to be for three months and after that time, I was to have a review, basically, to find out how I was getting on with it. The truth is, they are antidepressants and when I first took them, I felt a bit woozy, to put it mildly. When I was at Chloe's in Worcester, on Saturday afternoon, when we went out for a walk, I felt really awful. Over the next few days, things settled down, but last night I woke at around 4 a.m. and I could not get to sleep. Then, as the morning progressed, I felt more and more drowsy and it was quite pronounced and unpleasant. 

Thursday. 10.05 a.m. I have discovered an organisation called Simply Forward, which has outings and events for my particular age group. I have been sent their application form via email, but now the confounded printer refuses to function! As Victor Meldew would put it so succinctly, 'I don't believe it!'

Friday. 10.15 a.m. My Canon printer has been playing up. So, what's new? It doesn't get used much and sits on it's unit, all ready for when I need it. It's plugged in to the mains, connected via Wi-Fi to my laptop and when I require printing, it's easy enough to set it up. So, yesterday I needed an email printing, so I can join Simply Forward, the group that I discovered via AgeUK. I had the email sent which had the application form and a list of activities they do for a few months ahead. The idea was that I could print this off with my printer as well as the application form. Then, for some stupid reason, I thought it a bright idea to delete some of my emails. Well, they do mount up and it seems a good idea to do a bit of housekeeping sometimes. But I also deleted the email from Simply Forward so I had to text the lady who had sent it in the first place.

The printer would not work properly when I went to attempt to print the email. I kept getting a message on the digital display, telling me that the ink was running out. I thought at this point to buy a new cartridge. Which you will imagine to be a relatively easy process. I looked on the Argos website, which is where the printer had come from originally, but I got a message on there which said 'out of stock.' Then it occurred to me that John Lewis would be a good point of call so I looked on their website and it showed they stocked them. So, on Friday morning I went into the shopping centre and in to John Lewis, but they had none in stock! So the only alternative was Amazon, which had the right cartridges (black and colour, in the same package.) So I ordered it and I couldn't believe it arrived that evening, barely hours since I had ordered it!

New Year

So, Welcome to 2020! I didn't do anything in particular for the New Year, but I was well aware of things going on outside as the evening drew on. Fireworks being set off, but why start them before Midnight? What is the point? Why set them off in daylight? I could see them clearly from the kitchen window of my flat. When I went out with Alfie later in the morning, it was quite obvious where the fireworks were set off, because there were the remains of fireworks on Oldbrook Green as we walked around the circuit. Bits of rocket stuck in the grass, piles of burnt-out firework cases and other debris. If you insist on letting off fireworks to celebrate New Year, then, fine, but do at least have the decency to clear up the mess. Generally, there was no end of litter all around the park. It was awful. There are litter bins all around The Green, but two were over-flowing with rubbish and there was litter strewn all over the place. Why can't people just put their rubbish in the bins or, at least, take it home with them? It's a total disgrace. Then there's the matter of dog mess. I always carry bags to pick up after Alfie and I would never leave it because children play around The Green, but there is a lot of dog poo that isn't picked up because I've seen it. If you get caught (and it's unlikely, because who is around to police this?) you get a fine (not sure how much.) But there are at least three bins for this purpose, so why can't people who have dogs and don't pick up after their pets, just do the right thing and put it in the bins?

I went out with Alfie a good deal later and I noticed that a lot of the litter had been removed, especially around the bins, which, as I mentioned above, had litter over-flowing all around them. As We walked further around Oldbrook Green, I noticed a man in hi-vis clothing emptying another of the bins and the rubbish which had previously been overflowing out of it was now gone. It would appear that Milton Keynes Council have been on the case and the mess was being cleared up, but it still doesn't excuse people's disgusting behaviour regarding dropping litter.

(Friday) It's been raining over-night. Not much of a surprise. Alfie got a bit wet when we went out at around 7.30a.m.

I've watched the first episode of series 12 of Doctor Who. I rather object to them calling it series 12, because Doctor Who started in 1963 and they didn't have 'series,' well, as far as I remember. It seemed to be all year long, but I suppose it must have been off-air for some part of the year. I imagine 'series 12' refers to the fact that it was re-booted in 2005. I've been a fan of this show since forever. I was the right age, as part of the audience it was aimed at, when it began in 1963 (I would have been 13.) It captured my imagination, a quirky old man ('The Doctor.'), as originally played by William Hartnell, who had a time machine which could move around 'time and space.' It changed every couple of weeks, with each story running for 2-4 weeks (some stories ran for longer.) so that when the Tardis took off at the end of one story you never knew where the next story would be set, so when the doors opened, it was a surprise. I imagine that is how it was kept fresh, with new stories as well as locations (historical or in outer space, on a planet or earth.)

It's taken a while to accept a woman taking over as The Doctor. I suppose it's because the character has always been male. But, having seen Jodie Whittaker in the role, it really makes no difference whether the character is male or female. Unfortunately, what lets the series down are the rather pedestrian scripts. But the latest episode was crammed full of incidents, action, car chases and plenty of tension that it was worth watching. I certainly got caught up in the whole thing. It was an attempt to latch on to the James Bond franchise (hence the title of the episode 'Spyfall.')

Spoiler Alert! It did have a Bond Vibe, with a spectacular car chase. Also, something of a Men In Black feel, with our heroes and heroines approached by what would appear to be spies (of one sort or another and Stephen Fry introduced as a sort of spymaster. But he gets killed off far too early, unfortunately. If I have a complaint, why so many 'assistants'? We seem to be going back to the days when Peter Davidson was The Doctor and there were superfluous 'assistants.' When it was announced that Bradley Walsh was to be cast in 'Doctor Who,' I didn't believe it. It just seemed an odd bit of casting for a comedian and gameshow host to suddenly be cast in the longest-running sci fi show. But he was and it was genuine. But with three assistants it seems over-loaded and unnecessary. The show bounced from one location to the next, which was somewhat disorientating, to say the least. We live in a world where people have a short attention span, so I imagine this style of television drama is a response to this.

I have discovered that he viewing figures for this episode was the lowest for years, a little over 5 million viewers. But this doesn't take into consideration such things as BBC iPlayer or other catch-up services. I watched it on catch-up. Perhaps the show is just not as popular as it was, at the time it was rebooted in 2005 it had viewing figures in excess of 10 million. Maybe people don't accept Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor and also the producers keep fiddling with the format at well as moving it around in the television schedules (it's now going to be shown on a Sunday, when it was traditionally a Saturday evening show.) Perhaps Doctor Who is coming to an end. Might it just have gone it's course? Television programmes have a shelf life. These shows just come to an end. If the ratings are too low to make it worth producing, perhaps the BBC will cancel it. It would appear that it's just being produced because they can generate income from merchandise attached to it. Books, comics, toys, games, you name it, they can licence it and make money. Perhaps the core audience doesn't appreciate having the Doctor played by a woman. Who knows? Which is why the audience figures are so low, or at least, might appear so.

A Happy New Year

Another year begins. I just hope it's better than 2017. The last six months or so have been incredibly difficult for myself and Carol, since her cancer diagnosis. You can't believe how stressful and difficult is has been, not just the diagnosis, but the fact of having Carol in hospital for three weeks and having to cope with going to the oncology unit at Milton Keynes Hospital on a regular basis for the treatment. It's as well we live so close to the hospital as it makes it so much easier having to drive only a short distance. Also, since discovering that we can park immediately behind the oncology unit it make it easier to walk into the unit. It's a pity that no-one thought to tell me that you could park so close, particularly as you could see the carpark from the room which Carol was in when she was in hospital. I was under the impression that it was for staff only.

We're not the sort of people who like being indoors for any length of time. The fact that currently Carol is experiencing a great deal of pain means we can't go out and about as we would have done during the summer months. Even on Boxing Day on previous years we've visited Whipsnade Zoo. We'd rejoined English Heritage, National Trust and H.H.A. (Historic Houses Association) as we had planned our summer around visiting the properties managed by all these organisations and with Carol's Fellowship of Z.S.L. (Zoological Society of London) we can visit Whipsnade and London Zoo as many times as we like without paying for entrance. If you read this blog regularly you will have discovered how many times we've been to Whipsnade, although we had intended visiting London Zoo over the summer.

So, to those who follow my blog posts, here's to a happy and prosperous 2018 to you all!

True British Grit, where has it gone?

Oh dear. Here we go again. A little bit of snow and the whole country grinds to a halt. What's the matter with people? We're British and a little bit of the white, cold stuff, and we just get on with things. Go about our lives without letting things bother us. Just like Brexit (I hate the term, but we know what it means). Once we've been freed from the EU, we're going to manage perfectly nicely, thank you. I did vote to remain, but finding out about how the negotiations to leave have been going on, I think I'd be perfectly happy to be separated from this 'bloc.' (More like block-headed, the negotiators in my opinion. They need us more than we need them. I shan't make mention to this further as I don't want to bring politics into this blog.) British people are not effected by the weather, if it rains, we just get our umbrellas out, or don Wellingtons and macintoshes or wet-weather gear and continue. The old 'Dunkirk Spirit' comes into force. Have we really become so wet and wimpy to allow a spot of snow to effect our lives? Probably, yes. But why have we become so pathetic? There has to be a reason for this state of affairs. The media has a part to play in this. Weather plays a major part in the 'discussion' in the press and television. Scenes of snow make pretty pictures on BBC Breakfast or on the front page of tabloid newspapers, The Mail and Express in particular. When there's no other news, then our weather makes easy headlines, whether it's going to be a 'scorcher' or a 'chiller,' of course, depending on the time of year. No big political news, scandal, party-division or squabble? Then write a story about snow, sun, fog, frost or whatever. Easy peasy. And then big it up, hype it, mash it, over-write it and you have a story and a big headline, in over-sized type. Sells papers. 

As for the weather, well, we have a couple of inches and the motorways grind to a halt. When I was at school in the 1960's I seem to remember we managed to get there in the worst winter on record (I think it was the winter of 1962-3) and even had to help clear the snow in the school playground. None of this mamby-pamby 'health and safety' business then. We shovelled the snow into a pile at one end of the playground and against a wall. As the snow fell, and it froze and then thawed, but mostly froze, the wall began to get pushed over. I don't think it actually fell, but it began to lean at a dangerous angle. I can't imagine today's children shovelling anything. If it snows nowadays, schools close down. Pathetic. Are we creating a new generation of children who can't cope when problems arise? They can't cope with a little bit of snow and ice? They need to have a bit of resistance, some back-bone to cope with life's little problems. If so, they'll never be able to cope with bigger issues that arise, far bigger than what the weather throws at them.

A few inches of snow, and our railway system grinds to a halt. Excuses such as 'leaves on the line' or a little bit of frost and the whole network is thrown into total confusion. People insist on flying off for a break over the Christmas and New Year holiday and can't understand why they get stuck in long queues on the motorway and when they arrive at the airport they don't like the idea that their flight has been cancelled because of snow and ice on the runway or perhaps their plane is covered in ice and needs thawing out. Oh dear! Why not just stay at home and be environmentally friendly?  Just get a shovel out and start clearing the snow instead of wingeing on about compensation. If you insist on travelling when the weather is bad, just pack a thick jumper, a scarf, a wooly hat, a Thermos of tea, coffee or soup and put up with it.

Come on folks, if you don't need to go anywhere, unless your journey is vital, just stay at home. After all, we know perfectly well that it's winter, and the weather can become very treacherous and dangerous. The weather can cause very low temperatures, so this is what we can expect. The whole country grinds to a halt. Councils send the gritting lorries out. Apart from that, we just don't prepare for winter when we have such harsh conditions.

As for Brits becoming a lot of wimps, I blame things like Health and Safety regulations, burocratic spoil-sports, you can't do this, and you can't do that. Can't people take responsibility for THEMSELVES? Live a little life, even if it's a bit dangerous. Too much reliance on government departments and especially the N.H.S.

New Year 2016

Well, here we are, the first week of January 2016. It's has been a relatively stress-free Christmas and New Year. We were on our own, so nobody else to bother us. Carol had a hospital appointment on the Sunday after Christmas Day, so that was on her mind for most of the holiday period. It might seem odd to have appointments on a Weekend day, but it makes sense in some ways, when they are endeavouring to cut waiting times for appointments. We walked through from Eaglestone, but even then it was incredibly difficult to find the place where the appointment was. Nobody told us that you couldn't enter the hospital via the main, front' entrance, as it is closed off for building work. Where you would enter if you had parked your car in the carpark. So we had to walk back round to the side and go in through another entrance and then walk along a very long corridor until we found were we were supposed to be for the appointment. Not very well sign-posted anywhere, unfortunately. Up a few stairs to another floor. 

Today Carol had to go to Ashfield Medical Centre for a blood test. It was a little after 8 o'clock and we got there far too early. No queue at the door as you now have to ring to get a doctor to ring you back and then decide if you really need a proper appointment. (See my earlier post on this matter.)  The self-checkin system wasn't working. Now there's a surprise. It hasn't been working the last couple of times I've been to the surgery. A member of staff put a notice on the screen saying 'out of order.' No sooner had she put it there than it fell off. So she came back out and re-affixed it, but it fell off again. There was one other person waiting. Unusual, as the place is usually heaving with people waiting and attempting to get appointments. We were in and out relatively  quickly and easily but then we had to get back to the Academy and there was quite a queue of cars at the Standing Way roundabout. 

We have a house guest staying at present. She is from Canada and has begun as an English teacher at Milton Keynes Academy and is staying with us until she can find permanent accomodation. She flew in to Gatwick Airport of Saturday and was driven up to Milton Keynes by someone who is also a teacher at the academy. She is very self-sufficient and we have made her very welcome. Hopefully she will have sorted out a flat or somewhere to share within 4-6 weeks.

The weather has been exceptionally unseasonal over the last month or so. Certainly not cold and icy as it usually is at this time of the year. We went to Whipsnade on Boxing Day, which was great as it was a good excuse to get out of the house. The Fellowship membership of Z.S.L. makes it well worth visiting as we don't have to pay entrance to get in and we drove the car round which saves all the walking.

I mentioned that we'd set up a subscription to a magazine called PhotoPlus. I was surprised to get a delivery yesterday morning, the camera bag which is a gift for becoming a subscriber. A really fantastic Lowepro Urban Reporter, which is worth at least £80. It certainly makes being a subscriber worth while if it means you get this bag. We were looking for a camera bag when we bought the Canon digital camera before Christmas, so this makes a sort of late Christmas present. It also means I can keep not just the camera in it and carry around when we go out and about, but also if necessary, the Apple Macbook laptop (which, incidentally, I'm writing this blog on at the moment.) plus lenses and any additional equipment that goes with the camera. I was expecting the bag to arrive in a month or two, not so quickly as it did.

I haven't done any further serious writing over the holiday period, but I have been making notes for a piece of writing I have been working on recently and as a result I have since been doing more work on the actual writing  over the past couple of days and which is going surprisingly well,  so it's a really good start to 2016.

A Merry Christmas!

Well, it's only a few days until Christmas. We've done virtually all our Christmas shopping, although we're off to Sainsbury's early tomorrow morning in order to buy the last few items to cover the festive period. Why do people have to go so crazy when it's Christmas? You'd think there was a war on and there was a shortage of the most basic things, such as milk, bread, cake, eggs, wrapping paper, tinsel and so on. I was in Sainsbury's last week and it appeared as if they'd sold out of sugar so had to buy the smaller packs. It might be a good idea to keep away from supermarkets for the next few days. I've seen people pushing shopping trolleys over-laden with all sorts of things. It's mayhem, and considering that most supermarkets will be open again on Saturday (Boxing Day) really makes no sense. Also, another factor that always gets me, and I've mentioned this within a post I've written somewhere on this blog, there will be sales days after Christmas day, and what you can buy for goodness knows how much will then be reduced considerably. So (I know Ebenezer Scrooge would have loved this.) you can buy the same items for up to a half or more, less than the pre-Christmas day price. 

I will probably not write anything more on here until the New Year, although I have a tendency to write something when I find something quirky going on around me, which is one reason why I enjoy this sort of writing. So, with that in mind, to all my loyal readers, I will wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy and prosperous New Year and see you in 2016!

Putting It Together

I have mentioned in earlier posts on this blog about my writing. I have been developing a 'multi-strand' piece, set in a single location, with differing characters, and giving these characters their own individual story arcs. I have been struggling for some time with how I could link them together in a successful, cohesive fashion. I think I'm fairly positive how to do this, using a narrator, someone who observes the whole setting. I am now formulating a structure for the whole and writing material for this narrator. I will be leaving off working on this project over the Christmas and New Year period and will re-commence working on editing what I have already written in the New Year (I have a ring binder full of the material I have written up until now. I am very surprised by how much of this there is.)The ediing of written material is actually just as important as the writing. What you leave out is probably just as important as what you put in. So, the expression 'more is less' makes a lot of sense in some ways. Something you learn quite early on as you begin to write and develop your writing skills. It's a bit like acting, it's not always what an actor says and does, the unsaid things, body language, facial expressions etc etc which can be used to put across a whole host of emotions that are more telling in some ways than speech, used to develop a character on stage.

Back To The Academy

Well, the Christmas and New Year holiday is now over. The decorations are down, the Christmas tree dismantled and the ornaments packed away for another year. We had a real, live tree for a couple of years, with the intention of keeping it in the garden and bringing it into the house every Christmas, but for some reason we never discovered, both these trees just died. I recall when I lived at the farm in Cardington that we had a live tree which was planted out each year and bought in to be decorated and that lasted for years. I think it probably got too big and was left to grow in the garden. Maybe that was the answer; plant it out and take it out of it's pot. Maybe ours got pot-bound or something or even the fact they don't like being put out after the Christmas period.

Yesterday was really over-cast and foggy. I went to church on my own as Carol wasn't feeling too well. I had to scrape of ice from the windscreen as I was about to drive out of the estate. The car is desperate for some work doing on it, particularly getting the windscreen wipers repairs. We need to find someone who can do it at a reasonable price. 

Grey and Gloomy New Year

Well, Christmas and the New Year is over. The Christmas tree is packed away for another year. Carol has gone back to work at the Academy. The weather is milder, but today is grey and gloomy, with a fog hanging over all first thing this morning.

We went to Waddesdon Manor on New Year's Day. We go regularly to the annual Christmas event, when the house is opened up for a week or so (it's closed up for the Winter. All the statues in the grounds are covered in sheets to protect them from frost. The fountain is drained. See  last year's post for photographs of this.) The house is decorated quite beautifully for the festive season, and there are Christmas trees in many of the rooms, which must take a considerable amount of time to decorate. Fortunately the weather took a turn for the better and the sun actually came out, although rather weakly, but it did manage to cheer things up considerably.

We got to Waddesdon Manor in good time. This was an event where they'd got a timed ticket system, and you had to book on-line. Our 'slot'was 12.30-12.45, so, as we'd got there early we decided to have a bite to eat so got hot chocolate and sausage rolls and sat round on the fountain-side of the Manor. The sun was out and it was rather pleasant sitting there in the warm. Well, warm when you consider that it was the 1st January, the amount of rain there had been, and the weather in general.

There were an art installations at Waddesdon. They had been on show  all through December. They were by the 'light artist' Bruce Monro. These two 'installations', one in the ampitheatre and the other on the lawns as you approached the North Front of the Manor. This one, in particular, was quite spectacular, made up of hundreds, probably more like thousands, of CDs, spread out on the ground in a huge circle.

 Angel of Light by Bruce Monro on the North Front at Waddesdon Manor

The other work has more CDs, but this has a large blue globe in the centre. As the day progresses, the light changes, so the reflective surfaces of the CDs changes, some reflecting different colours as you move around. Fortunately the sun was out as we looked at the work on the North Front, although I don't think we got the full effect as we weren't at Waddesdon long enough.

 Bruce Munro's 'Blue Moon On A Platter at Waddesdon Manor. Copyright Getty Images.

We went in to the Manor to see the decorated rooms. We've been to Waddesdon on a number of occasions, and each time we find something that we haven't noticed before. This time it was the games room which we haven't been in before. This time we were able to take photographs, which, up until now, has never been allowed, although without the use of flash.

Having seen all we wanted to in the Manor, we went outside and began to walk back to the car. On the way we walked past the Ampitheatre, where the second of the Bruce Monro installations was on show. There were quite a few other people looking at it and some were taking photographs. It again used CDs and had a large blue globe in the centre. I managed to take a couple of photographs. Carol walked up a bank at the side of the installation, but it was muddy, following the rain we'd recently had. As she began to come down the slope, she slipped on the muddy surface and fell to the ground heavily. I think the fall was something of a shock, and she sat on the ground for a minute or two. Several people came up to help and to see that she was alright. We then went back to the car and drove home. Unfortunately the incident spoilt an otherwise enjoyable day.

Cold, wet, overcast and miserable

We're in that sort of interregnum of the Christmas/New Year's holiday period, where everything is downright boring. The weather is playing silly games; one minute it is bright sunshine and then it goes really dull, and the wind gets up. There's not a lot to do. I am writing this to fill in time. I gave Carol a bird-feeding station, which is set up in the garden. It comes with a central section, made of metal, with a point on one end, which you stick in the ground. Fortunately the grass in the back garden is relatively soft. I'm not going to call it a 'lawn' because it's hardly that. It slopes down towards the house and gets very muddy when it rains. Anyway, the bird-feeding station. From the central section you hang metal arms which take two feeding 'plates' one, which is clear plastic, is intended for water, and the other is made of metal, almost like a sieve, for food. The rather attractive top-mounted arrays take special bird-feeding 'cages' filled with fat balls. We set it up too close to the house at first, but have now moved it further back from the house. I think several birds have visited, but we haven't had too many. I will keep you informed as things develop, so keep reading these posts . . .

As for television . . . this years it's been downright pathetic. Apart from 'Doctor Who' and 'Great Expectations' there's been nothing really worth tuning in for. The 'Doctor Who' Christmas special has become part of the Christmas televison furniture for the past few years, at least, since the show was resurrected in 2005. It was a reasonably good episode, not stuffed full of 'special guests' and at least you were kept guessing with 'what would happen next.'  You would honestly think with all the extra channels with 'multi-channel' digital television that there'd be something worth watching. We only have Freeview, but even then we don't watch too much television. I got a year's subscription to BBC History Magazine, which I've been reading for the past few years. The first copy has just arrived. As part of the subscription I got the new Peter Ackroyd book 'The History of England: Foundation', which is the first part of a six-volume history of England, so I'll have that to read in the next month or two.

Dark Morning

I walked Carol to the Academy as usual. We left the house at round about 7.10. It did seem extremely dark, more so than usual. I can't think why. At least you know that once you get over the 'bump' of Christmas and the New Year the days will get longer and the mornings get lighter and lighter as the months pass, but this morning it seemed incredibly dark, and the sun was on the point of rising as we crossed the footbridge on the Redway.

I had an email yesterday inviting me to register with an agency in Birmingham to do 'walk-on' work. I have replied and I have to go to register in two week's time. I'm not holding my breath too long, as I got nothing out of my time being on the books of the Casting Collective (London agency.) I'll keep you posted if anything comes of this.