No Social Distancing

I was out with Alfie quite late yesterday afternoon.  (Monday)Well, when I mean late, I don't mean it was dark, with the sun going down. I mean, around 4.45.  Oldbrook Green was busy, but any sense of social distancing had been totally disregarded. There were youths in the skateboard park, using it to . . . skateboard. People sitting on the grass in groups. We walked around and one boy was on a bicycle, attempting to ride it on its rear wheel. He came up behind me on the final lap, near the children's playground, and didn't make any sort of sound, which made me jump somewhat. What would have happened if he had come off and hit his head, requiring hospitalization? There were a couple of girls climbing over the fence into the children's playground, which was locked and had a notice clearly stating it was banned from use, due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it was obvious that they wouldn't have seen this notice and then proceeded to sit on the swings, not designed for people of their size.

I had a telephone call this afternoon. Wow! That's a thing. From the cardiology department of Milton Keynes Hospital. I am going to get a call on Thursday at 3 p.m. from one of the cardiology doctors to see how I'm getting on. Not bad, just bored and sick of the lockdown, but I don't suppose they can do anything about that. Or maybe they can. Would be good if they could.

(Tuesday) Here I am, wide awake at 4.55a.m. I have had a shave, and done all the washing up (my kitchen must be the tidiest in the country.) Lockdown has turned my world upside down. It's no use sleeping, as I just can't get back to sleep. I have watched a further episode of the Peter Ackroyd 'Thames' documentary series on History Hit. It's fascinating. Read a bit more of the Simon Heffer book, 'The Age of Decadence,' and currently reading the chapter on the Suffragettes. What a brave lot of women. When people say that they don't intend to vote in an election, they should bear in mind all those who fought to get them the right to have a vote, not just women, but men as well. The force-feeding of women in prison would be considered abuse by today's standards.

I needed a different place to take Alfie for a walk this afternoon, so I put the cage in the back of the car and installed his nibs in it and we drove down Chaffron Way to the Ouzel Valley Park, which Carol and I visited on many occasions with the dogs. I was able to let Alfie have a run, and he seemed to appreciate the fact that he could run free, but I made sure that there was no livestock in the meadow we were walking across, although there were cattle in the adjoining meadow. There were lots of other people who had the same idea as myself, many with dogs, in family groups and many with children in various forms of pram and buggy. We walked through several kissing gates. This is how Wikipedia describes kissing gate:

'A Kissing gate is a type of gate that allows people, but not livestock, to pass through.

The normal construction is a half-round, rectangular, trapezoid or V-shaped part-enclosure with the free end of a hinged gate trapped between its arms. When the gate is touching an arm, it must be pulled or pushed to pass through. The gate may need to be pushed to give access to the small enclosure, and when in the enclosure, the person pulls the gate past the bulk of the enclosure to exit. Some examples have latches. Most are installed self-enclosing, to the side away from the pasture (livestock field), by hinge geometry, a spring or weight.'

So, if you didn't know, now you should. They are usually installed where livestock are in a meadow and allow people to move through without allowing the livestock to go through, usually where there is a cattle grid. (no, I'm not going to explain what they are here.)

We went through several kissing gates and then began the walk back towards the car. Several more people with dogs and then as we approached the car park, a couple was coming towards me with a large dog. Alfie was on his lead and when we got closer Alfie began barking and the dog came at him, attempting, well it seemed to me, that it wanted to pick him up in its mouth. I scooped up Alfie in my arms and the couple were most apologetic. Alfie was just as much to blame, barking as he always does, but he always wants to be friends with every dog he meets, as he has virtually no fear. The other dog continued to growl. Probably because it didn't like Alfie's aggressive noise, or so it probably was thinking. What do dogs think? That's a matter of dispute. I was upset, as anyone would be who has their dog attacked by another dog. But it probably wasn't. The bigger dog was probably just putting Alfie in his place, a big dog telling off a smaller one. We walked on and I put Alfie in the cage in the car and drove him.

(Wednesday) It has been raining, although very lightly, this morning, and we didn't remain out very long. I think Alfie was quite happy to return home quickly when he discovered that he was getting wet. We needed the rain, whatever the amount. It didn't last long, and it barely laid the dust. The grass is beginning to look very brown and parched in many areas.

I have managed to stitch together various parts of my writing project and it is now over eighty pages long. I cut and pasted these elements into the 'core' storyline, and I'm grateful to the technology because I can't imagine writing it in longhand or on a typewriter. 

Overcast Saturday Walking

I went out for a walk with Alfie at around 8.20 this morning. Carol was asleep up until then and if I'd taken him earlier he would have woken her up with his barking and noise. As we came out of the walk-way down to the park where I usually let him off his lead I could see the lady who has a disabled chair with her alsatian moving along one of the paths in the distance. I didn't immediately let Alfie off as I wasn't sure the alsatian might attack Alfie or at least bark at him or even go for him by picking him up in it's mouth. I'm not going to risk his safety so we walked in the opposite direction around the path, along past the houses and on towards the Redway which crosses Eaglestone Park and then up towards the shops and we came across the lady with the two small chihuahuas. One named Poppy, whom we have met on several occasions. Poppy, the black one which carries around a yellow rubber ball in her mouth, wasn't keen to relinquish the ball or to play with Alfie. The lady (who's name I don't know.) told me that her dog didn't want to play because she is obsessed by the ball although Alfie just runs around in circles and just wants to be friendly. He doesn't meet many other dogs so it's good for him to socialise like this. The lady told me that the woman in her disabled chair with the alsatian doesn't control her dog. She says it's a wonder the alsatian doesn't pull her chair over as it's quite big and I said I didn't want it near Alfie as I didn't trust it to not attack Alfie. She said the woman doesn't control her dog as she ought to.

It's currently much more overcast this morning which means it is so much cooler. Nevertheless,  I insist on continuing to wear my shorts as it is so much more pleasant.

Carol's into crafting and wanted some ink pads so we drove to The Range as they have a good range of crafting materials. We also wanted a rake to help to clear up the grass on the lawn at the front of the house. The grass trimmer does a good job but you are left with lots of cut grass which then needs collecting up. We found what we needed in the gardening section of the store. When we got to the till to pay we saw crisps and drinks which we added to what Carol had already picked up as we intended going for a walk with Alfie at the Ouzel Valley Park which we'd visited yesterday.

Once we got back home we organised ourselves so that we could go out with Alfie to the Ouzel Valley Park. We didn't put the cage in the back of the car, instead Carol drove and I held Alfie on my knee. It saved time and effort, but even so he made a lot of fuss and noise. It's not far to drive and we parked in the carpark at the park. We also took the food and drink items we'd purchased in The Range. We started off with Alfie on his lead, but once we went through the gate into the meadow we let him off. There was no livestock in the field and if there had been, Alfie would have ignored anything such as sheep or cattle. He doesn't run far and always comes back when you call him. We walked on and went through another gate and then walked besides the river, The Ouzel, where Alfie was quite happy to trot along beside us, occasionally running ahead of us.

If we'd had Poppy with us she would have been tempted to jump in the river and swim, but Alfie isn't interested, but on one or two occasions I was concerned that he might get too close and fall in. He did one end up in water when we went to walk along the banks of the Grand Union Canal and Alfie jumped over a low wall and found himself in the canal and had to be extricated by myself. I think he got something of a shock when he got wet and has never tried that game again, and who can blame him. Looking back it was quite funny, but at the time it was concerning that he might drown. He looked thoroughly miserable as a result.

We walked on, under one of the concrete bridges which carries Chaffron Way over the river and onward towards Woolstone, where we walked past the remains of the Medieval fishponds. There is a map on an information board which describes the landscape and the significance of the fishponds. We went through several kissing gates and eventually came to a wooden bridge and crossed over to the opposite side of the river and walked back towards the car. We met several people with dogs, at one point a couple with two West Highland Terriers. Poppy was a schitsu/Westie cross. She is greatly missed since she died. Both these little dogs barked when they encountered Alfie, butwe kept him tightly under control on his lead. He just wants to be friendly, but these dogs were determined to be somewhat aggressive towards him. We walked on and actually found we'd walked too far along the patch once we'd crossed another wooden bridge and had to walk back, eventually walking back across the open meadow which lead us back to the carpark and our car.

We sat at one of the conveniently placed picnic tables and ate our pasties and crisps. Alfie ate most of Carol's. I'm not surprised he was so hungry, because of how far we'd walked. He can be a picky little dog when you feed him scraps. He quite often turns his nose up if you offer him left-overs when you're having a meal, but on this occasion he ate it as fast as he could.

It was becoming quite windy and it took us all our time to keep the crisp packets from blowing away and the put the remains in a litter bin and drove home.

Here and There

I went out for the, by now, routine walk with Alfie, around the park. He came back slightly damp because the effect of the recent rain had left the grass quite wet and he also came in the house with bits of twig and other plant matter stuck into his coat. He really doesn't like it and kept stopping to pull it out with his teeth.

Carol had to be at the Maple Centre this morning to have the P.I.C.C. line removed. This was scheduled for 10.30, but on the way we went to Ashfield to check to see if a repeat prescription was ready for collection. One was for oramorph, is a controlled medication so the prescription can't be sent electronically to the pharmacy at Lloyd's at Sainsbury's as can other medications. You have to sign specifically for it. Fortunately it was ready for collection. We got there at around 9.30 which meant we would be far too early at the hospital so we drove to the Ouzel ValleyPark, somewhere we've taken the dogs to but haven't been to for a long while. It's a pleasant place and not far from our home. We walked for quite a way, and considering Carol's health condition we managed to go quite a way and then came back to the carpark and sat at one of the picnic tables. It was a warm and sunny morning. It was actually strange walking without a dog and may come back tomorrow with Alfie.

We then drove to Milton Keynes hospital. We managed to park the car directly opposite the Maple Centre so it wasn't too far to walk. We reported to the reception desk in the A.E.C.U., which is within the Maple Centre. We came here a few months ago when we had to wait for Carol to see a doctor after a blood test and we waited something like six hours. Not a particularly pleasant experience but there's nothing you can do to avoid it. Fortunately this time Carol was attended to very quickly and the nurse managed to remove the P.I.C.C. line relatively quickly and they did all the obs they always do, blood pressure, temperature and so on. After having the P.I.C.C. line in her arm for so long (actually the second of two. The first put in late last year before the 12 cycles of chemotherapy began in December and the second when she was in hospital for a total of 4 weeks.) Carol was totally relieve to be without it as it has been rather restricting having it in place for so long.

We then drove across town to Sainsbury's to have the two prescriptions made up at Lloyd's pharmacy and to do some shopping and then returned home.

More Creative Writing

I'm currently following a creative writing book written by Chris Sykes, very imaginatively entitled "Complete Creative Writing Course (A Teach Yourself book, 2014). I am working my way through the various exercises within this book. It is similar to the Futurelearn course I did some while ago called 'Start Writing Fiction.' As part of the course, I have to find a location and then sit and describe it, rather in the fashion of a painter would paint a landscape, but, in this case it's in words. Not as easy as it might at first appear. I did my first one sitting in the Waitrose café. I chose that one because I had to go there for some shopping and also you can have a free coffee or tea if you have a My Waitrose card. Today I have done the second one, but this time, it was at the Ouzel Country Park at Woughton, and just off Chaffron Way. It has been a more or less perfect sunny day, although the day started off foggy, but this cleared by around 9.15, so it seemed perfect conditions for me to attempt this second exercise. It was no good it being wet or windy, or even very foggy. I spent around 30 minutes on the exercise and I think it went relatively well. I did a similar exercise as part of the FutureLearn course and on that occasion, I went to Sainsbury's cafe. 

Dog-Walking in Woughton

Sunday morning and the dogs need a walk. They haven't been in a while. The problem is, as soon as you say 'walk' Alfie goes crazy. If you so much as touch his lead, which hangs on a hook on the wall in the kitchen, he sets off on his barking. Poppy is no better, dancing around madly. As I have explained in an earlier post, we usually have to put Alfie in a cage in the boot, and you have to arrange things so he doesn't see what you're doing as it's quite an effort to get the cage out of the house without him seeing. But Carol insisted we take him in the boot, without the cage. Once we had his lead on she got him out to the car and by some fluke got him in the boot and got his lead tied up to something or other so be couldn't jump back out once the lid of the hatch was closed. All well and good. Then we had to get Poppy in. She insisted in coming through to the front of the car and sitting on my knee. In other circumstances, she will sit quite happily on the back seat of the car. So we drove to Woughton where we go rarely with Alfie barking madly in the boot and Poppy sitting on my knee. Once there we had to avoid the pond which is immediately in front of the car when we parked as Poppy has the habit of going in any water to swim, in all weathers, so we had to keep both dogs on their leads to avoid any dog-swimming. Which we did successfully. We then walked off towards what is called Ouzel Park and the river, walking along quite happily through a meadow where there can be cows grazing, but, fortunately, none today. We came across a few stay people ambling along, minding their own business, until both dogs have to ingratiate themselves, but fortunately the people didn't seem to mind, but as it's muddy and both dogs are covered in mud on their feet, and if they jumped up they would transfer mud onto the people's clothes. We walked on and then turned round to return. Carol was talking to me about Poppy, had I thought she might be getting older, slowing down and any signs? I wasn't sure. As we walked along we went past a flooded area with water standing on the grass and a man was playing with his dog which seemed to be enjoying being in the water. The next minute I'd turned round to look for Poppy, and she was in the water. No signs at all of being 'old' as she was happily splashing about. How on earth she had got there so quickly I can't think as it was quite a distance from where we were walking along the path. She doesn't seem to show too many signs of age. So we returned to the car and left for home.