Bread and Circuses

Friday. 6.25 a.m. It's mild and sunny as I write this. I'm going to the Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre to get my haircut this morning. I booked my appointment online and it's paid for, so I just have to drive in, park and then walk through to the barbers.

Later. 11.40 a.m. I had to take his littleness out before venturing forth to the barbers. Easy enough parking in the usual place. I'm surprised to see that the old food centre, which is where Central Barbers used to be and in the same block which Sainsbury's vacated years ago, is currently being demolished to make way for a new development which is supposed to be a mixture of retail and residential properties. Just a pile of rubble and a bit of a shock to see it in such a state.

I'm also quite shocked by the number of empty units within the shopping centre. It looks as if Paperchase has gone. An empty unit. All shelving has gone. Carol would be upset, as she loved their products and we seemed to spend quite a lot of time- and money- in that store. One of Waterstone's two stores has gone, or so it would seem. As there had been two branches, one in the main shopping centre and the other in Midsummer Place, it's not surprising that one would close down. How many more are likely to close. Although I did go into the new Hamley's toyshop. This must be a new departure for them because they have always had a store in central London, Regent Street I think, which was a favourite place to visit when I was a child and a major focus on any London visit, especially over the Christmas period.

I got to Central Barbers and I had to wait outside until I could go inside the shop. Several other people also waiting. All this to keep to social distancing regulations. 

Came out after my haircut and a lot better as a result. I can't stand not getting my hair cut so the pandemic has been awful in that respect. A good ten years younger-looking I think!

I went into Lakeland's shop near Middleton Hall and bought two sponge baking pans. Heavy gauge as it's better, in the long run, to spend on better quality cookware because you get a far more even bake and they don't warp or rust like the cheap, thin baking ware. These also have loose bases which make removing cakes from the tin easier. Now to stock up on flour, butter, and other ingredients and get baking. Now I have almost all the equipment I need so there's really no excuse.

Saturday 3rd July. 6.50 a.m. Yet another mild and pleasant morning. Football this evening, England v Ukraine or something, but, as you know, I don't follow football, but I suppose it keeps the masses occupied. 

What did someone say, a Roman emperor probably, about 'bread and circuses? Keep the masses occupied and prevent revolution. (It was Juvenal who made that statement.) All that sport at school was just a means to work off excess energy. But at the school I went to in Bedford, Rushmoor, I reckon it was just a way to keep the heating bills down during the winter months. One of the reasons I hated it so much because I used to suffer excessively with cold and standing around (or running around.) didn't exactly help matters,  on a football pitch which was on the top of a hill, now the place where Bedford Modern School is today, in Manton Lane, was no fun when it was blowing a gale, or it was raining or snowing. Getting there was a bit of a hike from the school in Shakespeare Road and then up a sometimes muddy path to the top of the hill. Not my idea of heaven, although it might have been for some people. I think in all honesty it was because I don't like being told what to do, not compliant with the will of some people who should have known better. As I was no good at either football or cricket it was painful and then being the last person to be picked for a team for either game (I wasn't the only one to be left till last, there were several others.) Then they march back to the school and putting up with mud-clogged football boots and probably kit. Yuck! All that mud you had to pick off your boots was not a pleasant task. Memories! Memories! What is it someone said 'the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Harrow. . .' or Eaton, or some other public school. Rushmoor was certainly not of that calibre, but you get my meaning, or at least I hope you do. I think the purpose of that place was to inculcate its pupils into being the drones who would be the backbone of Empire, working in the administration, pen-pushers, civil servants who would do the bidding of their masters without making any sort of fuss. Without question. Something like in one of my favourite films, by my favourite film directors, Terry Gilliam, 'Brazil', set in a sort of dystopian Britain, where people work in offices, run-down, with poorly functioning machinery. The whole plot revolves around an error that occurs when a man's name is misspelt and he lands up being interrogated by the state police. I won't divulge the ending as you should watch it, even if it's to see the amazing production design and laugh at what is, in effect very much a black comedy.

Trip Into Milton Keynes Centre

As we were unable to use the car  at the moment(as described in the earlier blog post.) we decided to go into Milton Keynes Central Shopping Centre on the bus. As I have a free bus pass (now being of a 'certain age'.) it seems sensible to use it (Carol has to pay full price for a bus ticket.) and we left the house at around 9.30. It was unsettled, weather-wise, and we had to put on jackets. It wasn't raining as we left, but the sky was becoming very over-cast, with dark clouds. We got to the bus stop in Saxon Street and soon caught a bus. It took us to near the Milton Keynes Theatre where we got off and went into the Central Shopping Centre. Carol wanted to go into Pret a Manger, the coffee and food outlet in Middleton Hall, as one of her former pupils worked there and had said, if she visited, she could have free coffee. Which is what happened. She was so pleased to see the young man, who was very well-mannered and she was so happy that he is doing well. I presume he is working, like my stepson Daniel, who is at Newcastle University and has a part-time job to supplement his student loan. We had really come into the shopping centre more as a way to fill in time, and to 'window shop' as we can't currently buy much until payday this Friday. We did browse in The Works, which always seems to have an amazing selection of books at discount prices and the stock changes so rapidly you have to keep returning because of snapping up any bargains. We went into Hotter Shoes as Carol needs a pair of comfortable shoes for work. She tried a pair on and finds it difficult to get shoes in her shoe size, which is very small. Expensive shoes, but very well made. Good that they are all manufactured in this country. I think you get what you pay for. Later we went into Tiger, the new store further along from Pret A Manger. I mentioned that we visited the last time we were in the shopping centre. It would appear that their stock changes regularly because a lot of what we saw last time, and it was only a week or two ago (when we had walked into the centre along the canal.) and the stock was different then. We looked in at W.H. Smith, but compared to the stock in Tiger, such things as pens, ring binders and notebooks are a good deal cheaper in the other store compared to Smith's, which looks really boring and bland in comparison. Carol's favourite store in Paperchase and we had to visit, even if to just browse, and I was pleased to find that they had a particularly good selection of notebooks as well a range of pens which I have only just discovered called Lamy. I have purchased a mechanical pencil and ballpoint pend via Amazon as well as buying Carol a ballpoint which had free engraving. Actually quite expensive, but worth it, as they are well made and feel good in your hands when you're writing.  Next we visited Gregg's and had baguettes and sausage rolls. We then saw a display in a shop called Mr Simms' Olde Sweet shop, of sugar-free sweet in their window, so we went inside and bought a small amount of sugar-free sweets as Carol was recently diagnosed diabetic. It was quite encouraging to find such a great range of such products. We  gradually walked as far as Marks and Spencer which is at the opposite end of the shopping centre to John Lewis and purchased some bits and pieces for our dinner later in the evening.  I was most impressed by the cashier, because when we'd arrived at the checkout, Carol decided we needed some soy sauce to go with the stir-fry we were having that evening. The lady got up from her seat at the till and went to find Carol, who we could see struggling to find the soy sauce, and the lady managed to point out the location. That's what I call going beyond the call of duty and was really impressed. Not many staff in a shop would go to such lengths to help a customer. It had by now begun to rain quite heavily and we had to get to the bus stop next to The Point (which is in a really poor state of dis-repair. Sad to think such an iconic building left to deteriorate so badly. Shame on whoever owns it. Surely it could be restored to it's former glory and be put to some use or other.) and managed to return home, through the rain-soaked streets of Milton Keynes and were glad to get back and I made us tea.

Final Day of Half-Term

Today, Friday. The final day of Half Term. We have had a couple of outings, but today we went into Milton Keynes Central Shopping Centre. We parked in Debenham's multi-storey car park and got there before 9 and found the place virtually empty. We couldn't get into Debenham's as they weren't open until 9.30. We have found that it's the best place to park as you can almost always guarantee there will be space to park, provided you get there early enough. You take a ticket from the barrier when you arrive and then, when you are about to leave you go to the machine and put your card in and it registers how long you've been in the car park and works out the cost so you just put the amount in the slot and the ticket is returned and when you drive out you put the ticket in the machine at the barrier which rises and lets you out. Much fairer than just guessing the length of time you'll be parking for if you park in any of the street-level car parks elsewhere in Milton Keynes.

We walked down into Midsummer Place and then through the  central shopping centre. None of the shops were opened but we walked as far as Middleton Hall where they usually have some sort of display or exhibition, the place where there's a Christmas display or something on during the school holidays so it was a surprise to see it completely empty over Half-Term. We decided to go into Costa and have coffee. Actually I had a cold drink and Carol had latte and we sat at a table near the window and could see out across the vacant Middleton Hall and were intrigued to see the little birds flying around inside. We went into Paperchase as Carol wanted to find a pencil case and then on to the Disney Store. Not somewhere I would  normally go on my own and surprised how much low-quality junk they sell. A real pity, I'm sad to say. We then went into W.H. Smith's and they had a good offer on if you bought any stationary, a really large set of pens which were originally priced at £20 and on offer for £9.99. Also, we got a voucher for £20 off books and statiionary when we went to pay at the till, so I will have to return next week to take advantage of this offer. We walked back through the shopping centre, stopping off at Waterstone's in Midsummer Place. I wanted to see whether they had a book of short stories in written by Susanna Clarke. She wrote 'Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" which is currently being adapted for television and being aired on BBC1 on Sundays. No sign of this book or the book of short stories which is a surprise considering the television serial. They generally have stocks and displays of books that are being dramatised on television in very prominent places so somewhat surprised that I couldn't find either book. Easy enough to find on Amazon. We walked on and reached Marks and Spencer and had a browse in their men's department but didn't see anything I would want. Then we went into the foothill and got food for this evening's meal, a £10 for several items, which turned out to be two meals for £10 so that sorted the evening's meals out for today AND tomorrow. Good value I must say. When we got to the till the poor girl on the checkout had real problems with the printer which printed the receipt as it wouldn't stop churning out a long print-out and she had to call a supervisor to get the thing to work. Then, when we got back to the car park the machine you use to pay wouldn't accept a £2 coin Carol put in the machine but eventually things seemed to sort themselves out. It's surprising that these bits of technology have a habit of going wrong and causing a lot of problems. But we managed to leave the car park and went home. By now it was raining really hard but as the afternoon progressed the sun did eventually come out.

Birthday, Theatre and Broken-down Car

On Friday it was Carol's birthday. A momentous day: her 50th. I had to give her something special, out-of-the-ordinary. I decided to give her 50 presents, but not large presents, you understand. I planned to buy 50 tiny 'treats' and wrap them up in five seperate parcels, each representing each of her 5 decades. I went to the Central Shopping Centre in Milton Keynes the Friday before last and went first to perhaps her favourite shop, Paperchase, and bought 10 little figures, erasers, pencil sharpeners etc and then went round the shopping centre buying more for the parcels, from W.H.Smith, Hawkin's Bazaar, Blott etc. It was a lot of fun choosing the items, then bringing them home and carefully hiding them until I purchased wrapping paper and carefully wrapped them without her knowledge. I managed to buy a birthday card in Clinton's and a 'Happy Birthday' sign in the form of bunting on a long ribbon from Waitrose and put this up across the window in the lounge on Friday morning when she was at work.

In the evening we went to the theatre. We went with one of the girls she does tutoring for, who is studying 'A' Level English Literature. She has to study several plays and part of the study is on stagecraft so Carol thought that if she saw a 'live' performance it might be to her benefit. The play we went to see was an adaptation of the Charles Dickens' novel "A Tale of Two Cities" and was at the Royal Theatre in Northampton. We have been to see several productions of various shows in the theatre next-door  in the complex, the Derngate Centre, but nothing in the old rep theatre. I have myself seen quite a few productions over the years, and I nearly got a job there when I left school but eventually ended up going to work at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham.

We left in what we hoped would give us plenty of time to drive to Northampton but as soon as we'd got on he M1 outside Milton Keynes we encountered a tail-back of traffic caused by an accident further north and crept along at around 5 m.p.h. We eventually left the motorway near Northampton and found a multi-storey car park but had barely 15 minutes before the curtain rose on the show as it started at 7.45. The play had actually started as we took our seats in the stalls. It turned out to be a very good show which we thoroughly enjoyed. We drove back to Milton Keynes and arrived home at a little before midnight.

The next day it was really bright and sunny.  During the morning there had been a card stuck through the door by the postman, informing us that £1.09p was owing on a letter or some item or other. This was somewhat annoying as the postman never attempted to knock on the door and let us have the item, or let us pay the small amount owing, so we had to drive to the sorting office in Brinklow, which is around two miles from here. It was even more annoying to find, when we got there, that the sorting office was closed. So this item will have to remain there until we can get there to collect it. We had to do some shopping but decided it would be preferable instead  if we went out somewhere as I wanted to take Carol out for a birthday treat and we ended up at the Millennium Country Park at Marston Mortaine, somewhere we've been before with the dogs. The place was extremely busy, it must have been the warm weather which brought the people out. We had something to eat in the cafe and then drove back towards Milton Keynes and went to Tesco's store at Kingston. We did our shopping and then returned to the car and it was at this point that Carol couldn't get the car to start. No amount of attempts would get it to start. Carol had her mobile phone on her but there was very little battery life left in it so she decided to text here friend Pauline, who had worked with her as a teacher at the Academy. Fortunately she texted back saying that she and her husband Paul were on there way to us and would arrive in about 45 minutes. When they eventually arrived we again attempted to get the car to start but still no joy. Paul said that it could be something to do with the petrol, not getting into the engine or something, but that seemed unlikely as I had only  filled the car up a few days previously. But we decided to try filling it with more fuel and purchased a can from Tesco's and then went to the filling station and put £5 in the can and then transferred this to the car. But when we attempted to start the car it still wouldn't play ball.

By now it was clear that the car wasn't going to start so we were taken home with our shopping  by Pauline and her husband. When I got home I telephoned Laverne, who I know from church and who is a motor mechanic. He was as good as his word and came out to pick me up outside our house and took me back to Tesco's carpark, but he could not get the car to start. After a while he asked me whether I had any breakdown cover and remembered that we were insured with Swinton but had no reference number for the policy. As luck or sheer coincidence would Laverne said he was with the same company and said that if he used his mobile he could ring and see whether he could get Swinton to send out a recovery truck to get either the car started or transport the car home. He managed to get through and fortunately they sent someone. It took a further 45 minutes or so for a truck to arrive and the repair man eventually got the car started. It would appear that the starter mechanism where the key goes in to turn to start the car was not functioning properly and preventing the car to start. So, once the car was running the mechanic left and Laverne followed me home just to make sure the car didn't stop running. I will now have to find a garage to repair the car as it's not advisable to drive when it's likely to cut out again. The car it due for it's MoT this month so it can be done at the same time.

Easter Holiday

Carol is now on Easter holiday, the Academy breaking up last Friday.

Yesterday we went into the Milton Keynes Central Shopping Centre. We parked in Debenham's carpark, arriving a little after 9 a.m. and finding the place virtually deserted. We went down the escalator into Midsummer Place shopping centre, with the sun streaming in through the windows, although we found it was chilly. The weather is somewhat deceptive at the moment. We were somewhat shocked to discover how many shops have closed down, presumably as a result of the recession. Game was on the verge of closing, but apparently has found a buyer. They have, or had, two shops in the shopping centre, one was closed up. It makes you wonder why companys have two branches in the same town. Barrets shoes has gone, including the cafe Let's Eat, down opposite W.H.Smith. That has been there ever since the shopping centre opened in the late '70's and was a good place for a snack. Pity it has gone. There are several other vacant units, including Pumpkin Patch, which sold children's clothing.  Virgin Megastore, which sold CDs, DVDs and so on went ages ago and became Zavvi, but even that has now gone. I begin to wonder where all this is going to end and how many shops we are going to end up with. We eventually got to Waterstone's, which used to be part of H.M.V. but has now been sold to another company, Russian I believe, but I'm not sure. They also  have two branches in the shopping centre. We had a browse and then had coffee in the in-store Costa's. A clever idea to have a coffee shop inside a book shop as you can browse the books over a latte as you decide which books to buy. Carol bought a book on teaching learning disabilities, and I have seen several books I'd like, but may eventually buy them on Amazon, as they are cheaper (with Amazon you pay one lot of postage and packing to cover however many books are in one order. They have their U.K. warehouse just up the road from here at Ridgmont, on the intersection with the Milton Keynes/Bedford road and junction 13 of the M1 Motorway, and we see it regularly whenever we go past.) Carol had a look at the in-store branch of Paperchase, as she love their products and bought a couple of pens. Having finished in the shopping centre we went to Sainsbury's and bought some items for lunch and then came home.